2025 Youth Turkey Hunt

This story comes to us from one of our young hatchery volunteers. As our board members continue to accumulate gray hair, one of the best things we see is the participation of our young hunters, anglers, and trappers. Perhaps selfishly, many of us want to share in the adventures of these young folks to see them as new again, to experience a sunrise through fresh eyes, to pass on bits of hard-earned knowledge. At some level, maybe leaving a legacy, to know our names will be uttered years from now in the telling of a story, in the way it has been done for all of human history.

Brayden shares his story below, likely unaware of the depth of humanity he is dipping his toes into. For now, this story is about the facts of the hunt. In a couple of decades, I hope to hear it told, flavored with all of the feelings and details that will bring it to life in his mind, and of those who are listening.

Brayden’s Turkey

On Sunday April 27th, at 3:45pm, I shot my first bearded bird. It was a rainy weekend. Me, my Dad, and Mike had been out since 4:30am. It was cold and windy and the turkeys were not moving. We saw two Jakes and a couple of Hens, but that’s all we could find, so we went back to my house and we picked up my brother, hoping he was my good luck. We drove around for a little while and then we went to the airport in East Brighton. We saw 2 Jakes and 2 Hens that we saw from the day before.

We were just going to turn around and try to figure out a game plan on one of those Jakes, but then we saw a Tom trying to go across the road. We slowed down and he turned back up into the field so my dad dropped me and my brother off. We walked into the woods about 65 feet and we could see him coming towards us so we got down behind some trees. He starts plucking; he knows something is up but I give a call or two and he keeps coming. Finally I stand up and, BOOM, I pulled the trigger. Immediately I know I got him. We both yelled, “Let’s go!” I got a 20 pound Tom with an 8 1/2 inch beard and 5/8 inch spurs.

It was a great weekend.