Moose Droppings

Today is North Carolina’s youth turkey hunt day and I took a young man named Carson and his dad out on our land in Caswell County. Carson and his Charles met me up there last evening and we were all excited because we all had seen turkeys in fields as we drove up to Caswell County. We dumped our gear in the clubhouse, grabbed some binoculars and headed out to scout a bit for the opening day. The weather forecast for Saturday called for cold windy conditions with a chance of a snow flurry just before day break. With that in mind we located a couple of likely spots in fields were we felt the turkeys would want to get to feel the warm sun as it rose. We attempted to get a gobbler to sound off about the time they were going to roost in hopes of knowing where one would likely be in the morning (hunters refer to this action as “Putting one to Bed” or “Roosting a Bird”) We were unsuccessful at this task so we retired to the cabin for the evening as darkness fell.

At the cabin we kind of have a rule (that someone has stolen for an ad campaign but I won’t go there) that “what happens in hunting camp stays in hunting camp.” Thus I can’t share with you all the wild stories that got told nor any of the other activities that happened. I will share this little bit of information from last evening, I found out that Carson is a pretty good hunter he killed a nice 6 pointer last fall. His daddy ain’t to proud either as he hands me a photo to look at with Carson and his buck. (Ha Ha) Carson also claims he is a top angler too which I hope to get down his way and see for myself. A little birdie told me that Carson’s younger brother was a better angler oops that may be one of those things I’m not allowed to tell.

We were glad to have the propane heater working we fell asleep to the howling wind and rain on the tin roof. Somewhere in the night the rain switched to snow so we were surprised to see a white icy mess greeting us. The temps were down so we bundled up more like for a late season deer or waterfowl hunt and not a typical spring turkey hunt. The short walk across the road and across the icy field in the moonlight to the place we hoped a gobbler would come. Carson got set up under a tree at the field edge while his dad and I put out the decoys. I was glad as I sat against a tree behind them that I had remembered to trade out my mesh turkey hunting gloves for my deer hunting gloves.

The morning hunt was pretty uneventful, despite our calling and the decoy spread we didn’t have a gobbler respond. Despite being a bit cold the sunrise was pretty and we all welcomed the sunlight as it cleared the horizon and hit us and began to warm us. The wind picked up and all the icy snow particles got blown off the tree branches and showered down on us. Mornings like this are pretty and memorable and although we never even seen a turkey I think this was a memorable experience for Carson and hopefully one he’ll look back on from time to time.
As I write this story my mind wanders to another memorable turkey hunt from about 3 years ago when it rained like in biblical proportions and Charles was with me on that hunt. Hey Carson I think your dad maybe bad luck (ha ha).

Last Sunday I posted a challenge on the Black Bear Blog for people to take a youth out hunting. I hope many of you do. I received a few emails from folks that they were accepting the challenge and I hope to have some of their photos up here soon. I hope everyone has a great Easter and if you can in the next few weeks take a kid out hunting or fishing.

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