November 27, 2017

A Failed Turkey Hunting Test

Chris Jones | Mossy Oak ProStaff

turkey approaching hunter

I took my son Colton on his first turkey hunt when he was 5 years old. We hadn’t walked too far from my truck before I started calling, and several gobblers answered. I knew about how far the turkeys were from where we were. So, I set up a ground blind. I told Colton to get inside the blind and be as quiet as possible, while I ran back to the truck and parked it in another place. Then hopefully the turkeys wouldn’t see the car and get spooked.

Colton Jones turkey hunt Hurriedly, I moved the car, got back in the blind with Colton and started calling again. I could tell by the way the turkeys were gobbling back at me that they were coming on the quick step to try and find this hen that had been talking sweet nothings to them.

I told Colton what was about to happen. I got my gun loaded, brought it to my shoulder and started trying to pick the spot where I thought the turkeys would show up. Colton was like a bird dog on point. He was looking in the same direction I was looking, and the direction my gun was pointed.

Each time I called, several gobblers answered. We could tell they were coming closer and closer. Colton was like a coiled spring he was getting so excited. Just about the time the turkeys broke out of the woods into an opening, and before the gobblers separated so I could pick out the one I wanted to shoot, Colton jumped up, pointed his finger out the window at the turkeys and screamed, “There's the turkeys!”

Well, you already know what happened. The gobblers went right back into the brush, and our turkey hunt for that day was over.

I was really frustrated, but I couldn’t get mad at Colton. After all, he was only 5 years old. To make sure I could shoot one of those turkeys, he wanted to point at them and let me know where they were, even though I was looking at them. That’s the reason I decided to wait until Colton was 6 to go again. I wanted to do more coaching and prepare him to go on his first deer hunt at the beginning of this season when he and I took the doe with the bow.

Chris Jones is Mossy Oak’s Regional ProStaff Manager for whitetails, turkeys and big game for Mossy Oak in the State of Texas. But Jones also hunts Oklahoma, Arkansas, Ohio and Tennessee.

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