If you want to make an impact on a child, spend quality time with them. Chances are, you can’t recall what you received for Christmas when you were 10. Yet, you can recount memories from the same era of adventures experienced with special people. Youth Turkey Seasons are set to open across the Midwest. Providing an excellent opportunity to connect with a child in your life.
Youth hunting seasons are one of the greatest advancements of hunting culture in my lifetime. They provide children the opportunity to hunt at a time when all of the attention is on them. These special seasons have made success easier to find. I understand how this easier road may have some negative side-effects by making it too easy to take a turkey or deer, but I believe in most cases the success is infectious and new hunters are made. Some of those new hunters will elevate to conservationists. They’ll become the next voices to advocate for the protection and wise use of our natural resources. Without them, care wanes and our traditions parish.
The number one reason people tell me they don’t hunt is because no one has ever asked them to go. Think about this for a minute. In country where only an estimated six percent of citizens hunt, we could easily double our number if we’d just each ask someone to go hunting. Your own child. Your grandchild. A nephew, niece, neighbor, child from church or foster care. The list of kids who would say yes to going hunting if asked is long, very long. You just have to ask. Many adults complain about kids on their phones. Are you providing opportunities that demand putting those devices away for a while? It’s hard to scroll with a fishing rod in your hand.
I am excited to take a young man turkey hunting during youth season this year. He’s a first-time hunter. His family bought a turkey hunting trip with me from a charity auction. This young man has since earned his Hunter’s Education Certificate and has stocked up on camouflage clothing and gear. We’re just a week away. Birds are gobbling. Crappie are biting. Red buds are in bloom. I can almost hear the mushrooms popping. His mom keeps telling me how excited he is. What she doesn’t realize is there’s no way that boy is more excited than me. I hope 30 years from now, when he’s my age, he’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
We’re going to have the privilege of hunting some turkey rich, private land owned by a benefactor of the charity. I like our chances. My plan for this first-time turkey hunter is to have scouted enough to know where birds are roosting and flying down to. We’ll have at least two blinds set up. I won’t pick the one we’re hunting until the first morning. The gobblers will let me know where to go. Then we’ll settle in. Me, him, and his dad. I’ll lock his shotgun in a tripod rest pointed out of the blind in the direction I expect the turkeys to come from. We’ll have three decoys set out. One jake and two hens. I’ll call as situations dictate. He’ll only take a shot on my say.
We could find success first thing on Saturday morning, or we might not kill one in two full days of hunting. I wouldn’t bet on that. But either way, my intention is to create an experience. We’ll be participating in the Missouri Governor’s Youth Turkey Hunt hosted by Governor Mike Kehoe, the National Wild Tukey Federation, and the Conservation Federation of Missouri. I join Missouri sportsmen in being grateful to have a strong supporter of hunting, fishing, and the outdoors in general running our state. This event should create a special memory for all youth hunters participating.
Our property has a lodge where we’ll make camp meals. Even if he tags out at first light on the first day, we’re making some eggs and bacon, and biscuits and gravy. Breakfast is part of it. Hopefully, we’ll also fire up the deep fryer for turkey nuggets and crappie filets. Mid-day naps are best taken in a hammock. There’s fishing to be had, as well. If he shoots a turkey on either day, we’ll do what we can to complete the Spring Trifecta. This is killing a turkey, catching a crappie, and finding a morel mushroom all in the same day.
Turkey hunting can be as hard as you want to make it, or it can be a super enjoyable way to spend time in nature during one of the most beautiful little windows of time each year. If you need a real test, chase birds in the Ozarks on the ground with a recurve bow wearing blue jeans. The ninja turkeys running around those mountains are the wisest I’ve found on the continent. But if your goal is simply to enjoy turkey hunting, it can be pretty simple and you can change a child’s life by putting in the effort to take them.
First, find some turkeys. You can do this by seeing them or hearing them. Decide what property you’re going to hunt, then spend a couple of sunrises there listening for gobbles. Pick your spot and pop up a ground blind. Stake a couple of decoys out around you. Add a couple of lawn chairs, a cooler with drinks and snacks, and a blanket if need be. A tripod shooting rest is a big help for kids and new shooters. Run a simple box call and wait for the turkeys to show up.
Whether or not you kill a turkey will not define the story. When that kid grows up, they are going to remember the time you took them hunting. They’ll remember it like it was yesterday, because hunting is a profound experience. They’ll tell stories about it. No matter if you are leaving the field with or without game, you will find success in some form. No greater trophy could be achieved than changing the trajectory of a child’s life towards nature.
See you down the trail…
Brandon Butler
bbutler@driftwoodoutdoors.com
Pic: If you want to make an impact on a child, spend quality time with them outdoors.
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