The end of November was quickly approaching and we had not had a chance to get out with the kids for a rifle hunt.  I was talking with a friend at work, Mark Reinhart, and told him about the situation and he offered to let us come up the weekend after Thanksgiving and let the kids try their luck hunting over one of his oat fields.  The words had just barely finished coming out of his mouth when quickly I accepted his offer.

We got an early start Friday morning and we were taking a tour of the property by 2 p.m.  Mark showed us a few of the prime hunting spots and after a short discussion we decided to set up our Double Bull BS5 blind near the corner of the first oat field.

We were settled in our blind by 3:30 p.m.  We had a wonderful view of the oat field and I just new the deer would start appearing any time.  Well I was wrong!  Darkness arrived and we did not see a thing.  The weather was unseasonably warm and even though the moon was almost gone, it was still bright enough outside to read.  I knew we were going to be in for one tough hunt!

Saturday morning, we moved over to the second oat field and sat in a huge 4 x 8 box stand that was situated atop a 6-foot tower.  Once again the view was great and everything just felt right.  Around 8 a.m. I saw some turkey moving to our right.  They were working their way to the oat field when a shot rang out.  Mark’s uncle, Bruce Edmondson, was hunting on the first oat field and it sounded like he had just scored on something!  The birds did not like the gunshot and headed for the tree line and were gone for the morning.

After a long wait in the deer blind Michael, Morgan, Donna and myself were tired of sitting so we decided to go get some lunch.  As we were heading to the truck we met up with Bruce and his son.  Bruce had scored on a nice 8-point buck with his Muzzleloader.  This was Bruce’s first deer with his black powder rifle and he was all smiles!

Saturday afternoon we were back in the elevated box stand, but once again it was a uneventful hunt.  The weather would just not give us a break!

In preparation for our last hunt we all discussed where we should hunt at and I decided we would give the elevated box stand one more time.  The deer may not be cooperating with us but I had a good feeling the turkey would be back again and man was I right!

Sunday morning just as it was light enough to film I heard a hen yelping.  I looked at Donna and I could tell by the look on her face that she had heard the noise too.  I quickly turned and looked out the side window to see if I could see the turkey on the fence line.  I did not have to wait long until I could see two turkey walking down the fence towards the oat field.  I put the rifle out of the window and got Michael all situated on my lap.  The windows were a little high for Michael to shoot from while sitting in his chair.  As Michael was trying to find the birds in the scope, two more turkey flew in from across the fence.  The birds must have roosted just on the other side of the fence the previous afternoon.

Before it was all said and done we had 8 turkey working their way towards the edge of the oat field.  In the fall season in this particular county in Texas you could shoot hens and gobblers so we did not have to worry about identifying the birds.  We just had to find a bird in a clear shooting lane.

As luck would have it a big hen turned and walked towards the stand and stopped right in the middle of a clearing.  Michael adjusted his aim and squeezed the trigger.  A sharp crack broke the morning silence followed up by the sound of wings flapping.  Michael had nailed the bird and dropped it in its tracks!  The other birds headed for the cover of a near by tree line and cheated Morgan of her chance at a turkey.

All of us were very excited but I could tell that Michael was pumped!  I thought he was going to hyperventilate there for a second.  By the time we all congratulated him and listened to him tell us all about what we just witnessed an hour had passed.  We were hoping a deer might come in after it all settled down but no such luck.

We packed up our gear and exited the stand so Michael could go and recover his very first turkey.  We did not have to look hard for the bird.  Michael walked right to it.  I think he had that spot burned into his permanent memory bank!

It turned out that Michael’s bird was definitely a hen but she still had a beautiful tail.  Michael told me that he already had a spot picked out on his wall for this turkey fan. 

Even though the weather was not conducive to deer hunting we still had a blast on a wonderful family hunt that had a great ending!

If you have kids be sure and spend some time in the woods with them! 

James Ferguson

President/CEO

Bowhunting North America, LLC

This hunt was made possible in part by our sponsors:  

Mathews, Inc., Carbon Express,

The Gean-Edwards Company, Rynoskin, Trophy Ridge, North Starr Tree Stands, 

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