Youth Turkey Hunt

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FIRST TURKEY PUTS ON SHOW IN YOUTH HUNT
by Steve McCadams
www.stevemccadams.com
March 27th 2008

Last Saturday morning young Houston Forsythe of Henry County was in the woods early during the Youth Turkey Hunt and bagged his first bird before most folks had their biscuits.

By 6:45 AM he had a taste of victory courtesy of a Tom that tipped the scales at 23 pounds and four ounces. The gobbler had a 11 ¼-inch beard and one-inch spurs.

“Not sure who was the most excited as we both and a proud moment there in the outdoors.” said Chris Forsythe, Houston’s dad.

This was actually a hunt he won at the recent NWFT banquet here in Paris a
couple weeks back. It was sponsored by Tim Pharr and Dr Scott Summers, and
also included a new youth model Remington Model 870, 20-gauge shotgun.

“We hunted Scott's farm off 641 South and he and Tim roosted the birds Friday afternoon,” according to the play by play report sent in from Chris.

“When we got set up, we put out a flock of decoys with a strutter, and three submissive hens, about 15 yards from our set up. In the night, the birds had actually limb hopped and moved, and we ended up setting up right under them, way too close for comfort.”

“As light broke, the trees were full of birds, and the first gobble was from plain sight at twenty yards. We were pinned down and couldn't move at all. They finally
pitched down to the corn field about 75 yards out, and the pecking order dance began.”

“Five Tom's total, several Jake's, and hens filled the field. We were finally able to move and get set. The Tom's saw our strutter decoy and made a B-line to it on a dead run! They moved so fast that they blew right by our shooting area and went straight for the decoy.”

Houston had to re-position, but with all the commotion, they never saw him move.

“I have been hunting for 20-plus years now and have
only seen turkeys flog a decoy on film,” said Chris in his report. “We actually got to witness four Tom's pulverize Tim's decoy only 15 yards from us, for about 10 minutes.
They were flogging him so much that Houston couldn't get a shot for all
the heads moving.”

“This was definitely video quality, but we didn't have
one. The fighting purr, the spurring, the beating it down to the ground, all was absolutely amazing!”

“Finally Houston got one to stop for a split second, and a load of number 5’s to the head dropped it like a sack of potatoes.”
“Yet the fight continued! I stood up, and they finally ran off. Tim's decoy now has puncture marks from spurs, paint scraped off the head, and the fan has seen its better days.”

Congratulations to both Chris and Houston for a fine day in the woods they won’t soon forget.

Steve McCadams is a professional hunting and fishing guide here in the Paris Landing area. He has also contributed many outdoor oriented articles to various national publications.

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