# 8 yr old "Tagged out"



## Carpn (Apr 5, 2004)

My son killed his first longbeard of the yr on the 2nd sat of regular season . Time hadn't allowed us to get out since and he wasn't too worried about shooting another so as long as he was content so was I . 
I'd been out of town for work all week but had put a camera in field scan mode on a property that I hunt just to keep tabs on what was going on . I pulled the card before work Fri and there had been a good amount of activity there this week . With my wife going away with her mom for a quick overnight "girls trip " I was hooehop my son would wanna hunt this morning . 
Showing him a few pics last night was enough and we made a quick trip to the store where I bought him another tag .

Hunting with a youngster presents it's own challenges and one thing I learned quickly is although I hate using a blind and decoys , they are the way to go when hunting with younger youths . 
So at 530 I popped up the double bull , placed a couple decoys 20 yds out in a area I've learned the birds in that area frequent. And we waited . We heard a couple gobbles close which sounded jakish but overall it was quiet . We did have a mama possum wander thru ....and if you wanna know how I could tell it was a mama the baby's clinging to it's back we're a dead giveaway . 

A hen appeared about 610 and proceeded to start dusting . At 625 my son was trying to lay on me , so I told him to lay on the ground and nap if he was tired . While he was getting situated I heard 3 gobbles in the woods but they were faint . So I didn't mention it too him. But the birds usually roost off this field a ways so they were doing their normal thing . 

He hadn't been laying down more than a minute when a loud gobble erupted just inside the woods . He sprang up . We got the gun on the shooting sticks and he got ready . 
I made some excited calls and got responses and I could tell they were getting ready to enter the field . 
When they got into the field the one bird popped into strut and they slowly worked to us. Pffft.....step ....pffft . Step . 

After 5 minutes they were at 30 yds . I told him to start aiming good and I'd tell him when to shoot . 
When they got to 25 yds the strutter separated from the other bird and stuck his head up . 
I whispered to shoot him and the gun went off , down went the longbeard flopping . 

His buddy flopped and worried over him for a bit . Then we got the bright idea to see how close he could sneak up to on him . He crawled out the back of the blind and made it to about 10-15 yds before the other longbeard had enough and scooted . 

A couple quotes from my son as we packed up and walked out .
"We got to see turkeys do all their turkey things today " and
"When I'm a daddy I'm gonna take my son or daughter turkey hunting " 
And


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## Kenlow1 (Jul 14, 2012)

2 long beards in one season for an 8 yr old-that's gonna be hard to top! But maybe he will catch a 12 lb walleye as lucky as he is. Congrats Kai.


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## undertaker (Jan 20, 2013)

Congrats to you an the happy young man behind the fan of the longbeard.


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## miked913 (Feb 29, 2008)

Great job! Great story! Thanks keep up the good work!

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


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## fireline (Jun 14, 2007)

Congratulations to both of you.


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## Carpn (Apr 5, 2004)

Unless you've been privileged enough to take your own child hunting it's a tough thing to explain . 
He's been lucky these last 2 yrs . But I consider myself the one who has received the most . Watching him grow , and being able to share and experience something that I truely love , with someone I love so much is a feeling that is unexplainable.


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## Beepum19 (Apr 9, 2016)

Nice job. That turkey has some beautiful color.


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## Alaskan20 (Feb 18, 2013)

Awesome story!!! There is NOTHING more fulfilling than hunting with youths! My daughter only has 2 more seasons as a youth and then I’ll have to try to recruit another! Congrats to you both! And don’t blink... enjoy every second it goes by so fast! Congrats again!


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## Snook (Aug 19, 2008)

Great job Carpn! Awesome hunt and story. Congrats to the little guy!


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## jaybird71 (May 31, 2017)

Awesome job young man thanks for sharing


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