Vt Bird

[Dean Romig]

I took my grandson, Cam, with me to 'Turkey Camp' last weekend for his first turkey hunt. He didn't hunt because of a glitch in the NH (where he lives) rule that he has to be 15 to take the Hunter Education program.... but in Vt where he and I will be hunting, there is no age limit on buying a hunting license - only the requirement of a Hunters Education certificate.

Anyway, Saturday morning we had two gobblers on roost in the trees about 50 yards behind us but when they flew down they went the other way... They may have seen Cam fidgeting (kid can't sit still... )
So we moved and sat at two other places in the woods on the other side of the ridge.

Here comes a turkey (with a red head and wattles) sneaking in looking for the 'hot' hen he heard coming from my mouth diaphragn call... then I could see a fairly good beard... but then something spooked him and he turned and started back the way he had come. Now, all I could see over the little brow of the meadow was just his head forty yards away and I tapped the front trigger of my 1898 DH 12 with .036" and .036" chokes.

Cam said "What did you shoot at Grampy?!?"... he was looking the other way and never saw the turkey and probably fidgeting again and that's what spooked the turkey.

Anyway, it was a jake with a 6" beard and just buttons for spurs. Only weighed 13 lbs. But it sure excited Cam and that's exactly how I wanted it to end...


.