Kiz Jr. gets his first (& last) Ga. youth season gobbler

Kizmo

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Well, Georgia FINALLY implemented a turkey youth season which opened, on private land only, the weekend before our regular season. Unfortunately, it was for 16 years of age or younger, and Kiz Jr. had turned 16 the week before. Also unfortunately, Kiz Jr. and Miz Kiz had to leave for Kerrville for a trapshooting tournament the next day. Our vegetation, and our birds, are running about a month behind due to all the cold weather. So, without much hope, we set out in the predawn darkness on the one hour drive to our main hog and coyote hunting spot.

We set up 66 yards from the Flint river, with 2 hens and a jake decoy at 15 yards in front of us. The turkeys generally roost across the river and fly down into our pastures. As daylight grew across the river in the east, one gobbled about 250 yards to our north. We also heard a couple to the south, which are generally out of play. The bird gobbled at everything Kiz Jr. threw at him. He was using an old (Allen Jenkins) Lynch Foolproof 101, and the gobbler was liking it. While it was still nearly dark, we could tell the gobbler flew down on our side from his gobbles. In fact, it was so dark, I could only see him through binoculars. He literally ran along the edge of the river to us. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to us, a bass fisherman was right below us in the river. When the gobbler got about 40 yards from us, the boat cranked up right below us, causing the gobbler to turn away, as if to flush back across the river. At this point, I decided to give Kiz Jr. a little help and softly clucked and purred on my mouth call. The boat sped away and the gobbler changed his mind and reversed course. When he was about 25 yards away, I whispered to Kiz Jr. to take him. He was using my Browning BPS 3 1/2" 12 gauge.

At this point, I need to point out that Kiz Jr. shoots Olympic double trap with a Perazzi MX 2000/8. His gun is set up to "float" targets well above his sight bead, due to the necessity of his needing to see two targets at once. As a result, he perceives any other shotgun as shooting low. He let the gobbler have it, but hit him low in the chest. The gobbler gave a really good imitation of a flopping dead gobbler before flopping enough to fall off the 20 ft. bluff onto the river bank. As he did this, I hightailed it to the edge of the bluff, just in time to see the gobbler get to his feet on the 1 ft. wide bank and disappear around the bend. I made it down the bank as fast as I could to give him the coup-de-grace.

Unbeknowst to me, the gobbler went a short way down the bank and had enought life left in him to climb back up. Kiz Jr. saw him pop up from the abyss a mere 10 yards from him. He corrected his aim and let the gobbler have it, blowing the gobbler "Dirty Harry style" off the bank and into the river. I rounded the bend just in time to see the gobbler floating dead in the water like a giant duck, being carried downstream. I was ready to shuck my boots to swim after him when I spied a dead cypress tree that had been undercut by the current. I grabbed the 30 ft. long tree skeleton and heaved it at the gobbler just in time to entangle it in the (formerly) uppermost branches. I hauled tree and dead gobbler in hand over hand and retreived the prize. I then scaled the steep 20 ft. bluff with gobbler in tow. Kiz Jr.'s first inkling of my success was when the dead gobbler came flying over the bluff when I heaved it. He said I looked like a mountain climber as I dragged my old carcass over the edge, panting and gasping for air. Of course, as we gathered our stuff to head back to the truck, we spied Henry VIII, The King of the Rye (a huge old coyote I've pursued for years) at 350 yards, calmly watching the proceedings, well out of shotgun range.

We didn't weigh it, but I promise it weighed over 20 lbs. (my shoulder is a good judge of such matters) and it sported a 10 1/2" beard with 1 1/8" spurs. It was Kiz Jr.'s 5th gobbler, and certainly one of his most memorable. At 7:10AM into his first (& last) Georgia youth turkey hunt, Kiz Jr. had scored himself a nice one. The wet gobbler picture only adds to the memories.

KizJryouthhuntgobbler_zps54b1bed2.jpg


 
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Great story. Reminds me of a lot of the near fiascos I've had in the past. Those are some of the hunts I remember best. Congrats.
 
As I was thinking about shucking my boots to go for a swim, I was thinking about how cold that river must be...

I would have never thought a turkey would float like that, but I once lost a fine gobbler in Kansas to a creek. The durn thing flopped over the edge, and I got there in time to see feathers floating downstream. It never occurred to me the bird did too, so I spent the next 2 hours searching the underbrush around the creek for a hiding or dead bird. Only later did my old turkey hunting mentor tell me that they float like ducks in very little water.
 
I would think twice before getting in the river for it. About a month ago a hog here drowned because his hog dogs had bayed on the opposite side of the river. He tried to swim across to get to the dogs and they game wardens found his body next day.

The water is always colder and swifter than you think.
 
Awesome story Kizmo! Those are the kind you always remember. Some (most!) of the best hunts of mine and my kids are not the ones measured by inches of beard or antlers, but the story and memories that go with it!
 
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