Posse Youth Hunt - Illinois

Jordan & her dad pose with her Illinois turkey! Congrats Jordan!!

Posse member Tim Brian lays down the footage as Jack takes aim!

Don & Colton (Left) and Rick & Jack pose with their beautiful Illinois gobblers. Congrats to all of you!!

Rick Rasmusen, his nephew Jackson Beard, several other kids and their parents, and I went to Adams county the end of March for the youth turkey season. Due to an unexpected rainstorm Jack hastily sighted in the 20 gauge T/C Encore that we borrowed from Ralph and Vicki and we prepared to head south for an exciting weekend of turkey hunting.

The trip started off with a 5 hour drive to a buddies hunting property in southern IL, we were scheduled to arrive at 10 p.m. the evening before our first hunt, giving us plenty of time to organize and get a good nights rest......However due to being pulled over for a broken tail light, inaccurate directions (the internet isn't always right you know!?!?), and poor cell phone coverage we didn't actually arrive until about 12:30 a.m.

After a short nights sleep, the alarm went off entirely too early...4:45 a.m. We awoke to fantastic weather, 50's, sunny and calm.....perfect turkey hunting weather. We drove to our hunting spot in the dark; luckily we found it without incident. We quickly grabbed our gear and camera equipment, and then headed out towards the picked bean field that would be our destination for the mornings hunt. The other hunter and his father who were in the truck with us chose a large winter wheat field on the other side of the property to try for the first morning. We were about 20 minutes later than we had hoped, so we chose to leave the Ameristep blind at the truck and take our chances at the base of a tree.

While walking to the spot we intended to hunt, the turkeys were gobbling like crazy. Jack was obviously excited to hear all the activity that surrounded us and we had high hopes for the morning! After quickly setting up we tried to entice a couple birds to within shooting range for several hours to no avail. We had two birds excitedly responding to our calls right at first legal light, but they became quiet after being on the ground for a while. We did get excited for a bit at about 7:15 when we heard a gunshot from the other end of the farm that our hunting companions were hunting at....cool at least they are having better luck than we are at the moment!

The calm morning was again interrupted at 8:30 by a gunshot from the general direction that a father/daughter combination were hunting......cool, 2 birds on the ground!

After no response to our calls for a couple of hours we finally decided to pack it in at about 9:45, upon further investigation we discovered the normally dry creek bed had several feet of water in it. Apparently that had denied access to the 2 toms that were trying to get to our location. We hiked up the truck expecting to see the bird that Colton had shot. As many of us know all too well, sometimes our nerves get the better of us! Unfortunately Colton was unable to connect that morning, his dad Don said he was pretty nervous when the big gobbler was putting on a show in front of him.

Well we had another shot to investigate; Jordan who was hunting with her dad had a great morning.....after a little running a gunning she was able to harvest a very nice jake! Upon returning to camp and swapping stories with everyone, it turns out that Jordan was the only one to harvest a bird on Saturday! I told her Vicki would be proud of her showing all of us guys up like that!!!!!

After an evening scouting session, a meal of venison and elk burgers we all turned in for a well deserved rest. The second morning arrived the same as the first—excellent weather, and lots of eager hunters.

After an early morning strategy session we decided that Colton and his dad would go to the spot where Jordan was able to harvest her bird the previous morning and we would take the wheat field they had hunted the morning before. We had roosted birds the night before and that would put us on either side of the roost, so one of us would hopefully cut them off and get a shot at one. We once again gathered our gear and headed out for the last morning of our hunt. We did have time to bring the blind with this morning, so after setting up the decoys, popping up the blind, and getting all the camera gear situated, we settled in with anticipation of the hunt to come.

Again we were surrounded by gobbling birds, all willing to respond to some calls from my H.S. slate call. After about 1/2 hour of listening to gobbles in every direction, the woods started to quiet down and we were afraid of a repeat performance of the previous morning. Rick, Jack, and I were all taking turns scanning the field with our binoculars trying to pick out any movement that would tip us off to a turkeys’ location. Finally I caught movement at the far end of the field about 450 yards away. I handed the bino's to Jack so he could see what I had just seen....a great tom!!!

After doing some calling to get his attention he spotted our decoys and started to make his way towards us. It seemed like an eternity for him to cross the field, and come to within range. He would stop and strut, getting all three of us worked up, but he never did gobble while working towards us. Jack had to change positions in the blind to allow for a better shot, I think Rick and I were making him more nervous than the turkey. We kept telling him, "stay calm......don't move......take your time.....make sure to line up your sights...stay calm....did I say stay calm???" I think all the "stay calms" were more for us than Jack.....I know I sure was nervous!

Now let me explain something here, Jack had hunted with Rick and I in Kansas last year during turkey season, and I had called him off a jake that had no beard, I was unsure at the time if it was legal or not, so I decided not to take the chance, and in doing so -- I prevented him from taking his first bird. I was determined not to have Jack go home empty handed this year!

When the tom finally reached our decoys I wanted him to put on a show for the camera and hopefully give us a good gobble for Jack to remember. I gave a real soft yelp to try and coax out that gobble....BIG MISTAKE!!! The tom spooked and started to run away!!!!!! I felt terrible -- I did it to him again!

The bird ran away for about 20 yards but his curiosity got the better of him and he slowly returned to the decoys, but he knew something wasn't right. You could tell he was on edge and could bolt at any second, so I gave Jack the go ahead to take the shot when he could. He immediately cocked the hammer on the T/C, took aim and fired.....perfect shot!! At 35+ yards with a 20 gauge he knocked the bird completely off its feet!

Jack and Rick shared a great moment of excitement together in the blind, before going out to collect his bird. It was a great first bird at about 20 lbs, 8" beard, and 3/4" spurs! Jack said he was shaking so much his chair was moving, I know now we have turned Jack into a lifelong turkey hunter! All of this excitement before 7:15.....he was sure glad he got out of bed this morning!

While filming our recovery and taking pictures, we heard a shot from the direction Colton was hunting......the way the morning was going we just knew he connected! After tagging the bird, packing up, and heading back to the truck (we made Jack carry the bird....after all, it's tradition, or at least that's what we told him!) it was time to pick up Don and Colton. Sure enough Colton had a grin on his face we could see from a 1/4 mile away, and when we pulled up there was a bird proudly displayed next to their gear.

They told us the story, it seems they were surrounded by turkeys but were competing with live hens. After the hens pulled some of the birds away, 3 jakes flew down to investigate the decoys, and Colton made an excellent shot at 32 yards and was able to harvest a great jake! We returned to camp to show off the results of the morning and take more pictures.

As other hunters started to come in, it was evident that Jack and Colton were the only two able to harvest birds on this morning. But it did bring the score to 2-1 in the guys favor!!! Sorry girls, you knew it was too good go last! Just kidding, we were proud of all the kids this weekend whether they took a bird or not. I wasn't related to any of the kids on this trip but I will tell you, after seeing the joy and excitement it brought to all the kids who participated, I know this is something I'll do every year from now on, and if you ever have the opportunity to help out on a kids hunt I'd do it.....you'll get way more out of it than what you put into it!