Leah Allison is a 13 year old Benton County resident who attends Cole Camp R-I schools.
It was a beautiful spring day for the opening day of spring youth, turkey season. It was very windy out of the south. We (my Uncle Brian & I) crossed a creek and walked to our blind around 5:30. Settled in and started to call to see if we could get a gobbler to respond. We didn’t hear anything for at least a half an hour and then heard a gobble. We called to it, but it didn’t respond.
About 15 minutes later, we noticed three gobblers and three hens entering the field on our right, they came up from the creek behind us along the tree line.
We ranged them at about 80 yards and watched them cross the field towards our decoy. The hens were in front and the toms were pushing them. One of them was all puffed out and strutting. It seemed like it took forever for them to get in range, but once they crossed our path, the Tom’s spread out enough to safely take a shot. I didn’t think I could do this because of how nervous I was. It was my first time turkey hunting. At about 33 yards I finally gained confidence and took the shot on the Tom in the front. I used a Mossberg 410 SA shotgun and a Hevi-18 TSS shot shell. The turkey dropped to the ground and flopped around for a while. With all the work that it took to get prepared for this hunt and all the waiting for them… Pulling the trigger seemed easy, but turkey hunting is anything but. After the bird had laid still for several minutes. We went to check and see if it was really dead. It was and we noticed it had two beards, one large and one small. Then after looking at the spurs, we noticed it was banded by the Missouri conservation department. I didn’t know what that meant…but quickly found out how unique that is. Once I got back home, I used the MDC app to report that I had harvested a turkey and I took a closer look at the band, I contacted the number on it and left a message. I’m excited to hear back from them because my grandma found out that I may be getting a certificate from them and the band mentions a reward.
Needless to say, it was a really great day! We started it in the woods with a prayer that we would get a chance to take a gobbler. We ended it at a bonfire with a thankful heart for all God had blessed me with.
