Monday morning was the opening of general season turkey hunt
Chris had to work
Mom and Dad are down in Beaver hunting
Todd had to work
So me and Peanut headed out
Shes such a good little hunting buddy!
We left our house at 5am
Of course we had to stop for donuts and chocolate milk
We got to the trailhead just before 6 am
It was starting to get light
There were already 6 trucks there! Thats the most I have ever seen in the parking lot before
Kennedy and I started hiking to where we were headed
I had a feeling the turkeys were going to be kind of low
It was nice weather 40 degrees when we parked that morning
Plus with all those people in there I had a feeling the people were going to be kind of high and that Kennedy and I should stay on the outskirts a little bit and wait for them to push the birds around
She had outgrown all her camo from last year so I had to buy her new stuff!
She looks so cute I love it!
We sat on a hillside and watched the sun come up
We tried a few calls and couldnt get anything to reply
I let her call a few times too
She has been practicing a lot
We headed through some trees to a meadow area
Took our time walking around
Rested some..
called some more..
The turkeys were being really quiet
We werent getting any response at all
We came along one part of rolling hills that is filled with sage brush and kind of meadowy
I saw two hen turkeys run along ahead of me probably 30 yards or so
They ran over the crest of the little hill
I told Kennedy you sit right here under this tree and moms going to sneak over the hill and see where they went
She sat down and waited
I snuck right to the top and then popped up
Two hens took off running to the east and started flying
I saw a few more birds moving below me
Two took off running to the east also and I saw one had a beard
They ran around a piece of sage brush on a dead run
I kneeled down to shoot and was waiting for it to come out on the other side
With in seconds the tom popped out and I shot
He was about 40 yards away on a dead run
He fell right where I shot him at
I started walking down to him to make sure he was down
Kennedy came running
She was SO SO SO excited
Jumping up and down and just thrilled!
This is the first turkey Ive ever shot!
I was pretty ecstatic myself :)
And it just topped it off that it was me and my peanut out hunting when I got him
He was a pretty good size bird!
She jumped up so fast and came running to see the bird she lost her hat where she was sitting!
We found it eventually though
My co hunter had to have her picture taken with it too of course!
All tagged, loaded up and ready to hike the mile and a half out!
It was a long hike out!
Momma was tired
The last little leg to the truck is a steep incline to come up out of a basin
That dang bird was heavy and I was carrying everything else also
Kennedy was following right along behind me
We got to one point I told her to start up the hill behind me and I was going to go as far as I could and then rest and wait for her to catch up
I made it 3/4 of the way and had to stop
I sat down the bird and made sure Kennedy didnt need any help
She came up behind me and said "Come on mom lets go! Pick up your bird and get going"
I started laughing and she just kept on hiking ahead of me to the top
We got in the truck and started to head down the hill
It was acting really funny and I thought maybe the 4 wheel drive wasnt disengaging or something
I tried a few times to see if it would unlock and when it wasnt I called Chris
I told him what it was doing.. that it was acting funny.. and the noise it was making
He kept telling me its ok.. just drive it
I tried to explain to him no honey it broke..something is wrong
Hes all just drive it home and it will be ok
I hit 20 mph and the front end started jumping and shaking
I told him hang on Im gonna climb under it because its acting like your ujoint went out or something
I climbed under and saw this..
Carrier bearing.. sigh
I text him a picture and waited for him to call me back
Kennedy and I were pulled over on the side of the road
Luckily we werent far from the hunting spot and were in a pretty rural area
He called Davis dodge to see if they'd pick it up since its warrantied and I called Jana to come get us. She works from home on Mondays and we lucked out since about everyone else was at work or out of town!
I gave her directions and she found us easily!
Davis would warranty it but not pick it up..
So Chris had to leave work and meet us at the house
We both got there about the same time
Grabbed his Dads truck, Chris had found a trailer to put his truck on by this point too..
One problem we had is his dads truck has a 5th wheel hitch not a goose neck so we needed a trailer that was bumper pull or 5th wheel and big enough!!
We headed back up to his truck and got ready to load it on..
Well..he drove up to the ramps and started to pull on
With his wheels on his truck was too wide
We ended up having to take the spare tire off his truck and his dads truck and swap out the passenger side tires to make it narrow enough to fit
Finally with all that accomplished it was loaded!
We ended up putting a crimp in his steps but that was the only choice we had
Loaded up and ready to go!
We made it home.. grabbed some Calls because we were starving to death!!
Took Jana some for rescuing us
Skinned out the turkey
It had about 1 inch spurs on it
I went home and crashed!
I was whopped!
Later on Kennedy wanted to go hunting again
She got dressed and was begging daddy to go
He was beat and his truck was broke so we stayed home
Dad however got a nice turkey opening morning too down in Beaver!
Congrats Dad!
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