Sons first Turkey

Hello all, I trust everyone is doing as well as they can be as we inch closer to spring, I know Dan, I know , I had the pleasure of getting to go turkey hunting with my son this past Friday morning. It was a treat to be sure as his life has gotten busy pretty fast and as the low man on the totem pole attorney he works more than he likes. That combined with the news that come September we will be grandparents for the first time has only eroded more hunting time. So it was a treat for us to go together, the morning was really clear and just about perfect at 42 and a light north wind right before daylight. I chose to take him to my favorite spot because I had been working a big bird since the season opened April 8th but I just could never convince him to leave his nice open field with his harem of hens at his beckon call. I sure didn’t blame him, why in the world would you leave the ladies in an open field where you could really strut your stuff to enter a wood line with only the possibility of finding the one female that was calling. Like I said I had worked him on several occasions previous to this hunt once for right at three hours with no luck. Friday we got all set up with Caleb sitting about 15 yards in front and to the right of me with his back against a huge red oak that had to be at least 60” in diameter, I set up in the back against a similar tree and we waited for the sun and hopefully the birds as well! Daylight was at 7:13 and we could hear the birds across the field coming down from their roost and starting to stretch and scratch much as humans do in the morning I suppose. After sitting just as deathly still as possible for about 45 min we saw the few immature jakes the big tom had in his clan , the ladies soon followed and finally the patriarch made his appearance! I have seen and killed my share of birds but he looked almost too magnificent to harvest, the sun just breaking on the old pasture and hitting the itridesince of his feathers was truly breath taking! I let him work the field for another half hour until I thought Caleb might have a heart attack, I tried to be ever so soft and sweet when I started to call, he answered right away trying to locate where this new lady might be. The next time I called I really let him have it and I suppose it was just more than he could stand. The next thing I saw was him running straight at the two of us! He had decided he couldn’t stand it any longer and had to see what awaited him, he broke into the woods still a good 80 or so yards away. I clicked three more time as soft as I possibly could and he started coming our way. He made almost a perfect straight line towards Caleb and at a later measured 56 paces Caleb was able to harvest his first turkey! Since we were hunting on national forest land we had to go to the check station. He weighed 22 lbs 8oz, had an 11 1/2” beard and almost 2” Spurs the biologist there estimated him to be a mature 3 year old bird. Needless to say I’ve been in a fine mood ever since then! I can’t express the pleasure I got being able to call in that bird for my son, it’s like a circle unbroken truly! If I can get my wife or Caleb to help me post a picture I’ll try and get that up for y’all to see!! Good stuff!