MONTANA DAN CONTINUED
Once again we found ourselves hiding in the predawn chill listening to several gobblers as the readied themselves to fly down from their roost once daylight arrived . With our decoys placed strategically in front of us , Alexis ' s turkey tag was as good as punched . Soon it was daylight and I started in with some seductive sounding hen clucks on my box call . It didn ' t take long to get a response either , we could hear a gobbler answering from behind us . Every time I stroked my box call he fired off an immediate response and each time he was getting closer , in no time he was blasting out gobbles right behind us , I whispered to Alexis to slowly raise her gun and get ready , shortly before the gobbler came into sight at ten yards making a beeline for the decoys . What I neglected to tell Alexis is wait until he stops to strut at the decoys before shooting . When the gun fired and the load of five shot went whizzing by his head , that gobbler didn ’ t waste any time putting a large amount of real estate between him and whatever just made that god awful sound from that brush pile !
Later that morning , while Alexis was warming up in the truck , I spied a pair of Jakes in the creek bottom and was able to sneak and cluck my way into shotgun range and fill one of my turkey tags , I have no doubt that Alexis was disappointed at her missed shot and not bagging the first turkey of the season . It ' s hard to try to explain to an eleven year old that hunting takes practice and time to develop the skill set necessary to be successful and one doesn ' t become a good hunter overnight . We have been hunting every weekend and some weeknights , and we ' ve had many more close calls and missed opportunities , but have yet to connect with a bird for Alexis . On multiple occasions ,, toms tending hens would answer us but were unwilling to leave their ladies to come check us out , we have had several gobblers come in from behind us and give us the slip before we could get a shot . One morning while a friend was calling for us we thought we had a single gobbler approaching until , not one , but six Jakes emerged into the clearing , all gobbling in unison sounding like one bird ! They worked their way directly at us , then turned just out of 20 gauge range and filed past us ! Alexis had her gun up and the safety off but she made the right call and said they weren ' t close enough . Now if that doesn ' t leave a lasting impression on a young hunter I don ’ t know what will .
We still have two weeks left in the season and the hens are starting to nest so the gobblers are more receptive to approaching a call , with each encounter we are both learning new turkey hunting tricks and it ' s just a matter of time before Alexis connects . I never would have guessed turkey hunting could be this hard , I guess I ’ m paying for last years easy hunt ! We are making plans for next weekend and the proverbial “ fat lady ” hasn ' t warmed up her vocal cords quite yet ! To be continued …
3D SHOOT CONTINUED from page 5
Next up was 13 year old Marina Cesarone of Kalispell and then following her was 10 year old Carissa Cesarone . Finally Dad ( Jack Cesarone ) got his chance . That poor pink lion didn ’ t know what hit him .
As we wrapped up a few interviews and photo ops we headed back down the mountain to find Sarah She was busy directing traffic to make sure everyone was safe in their arrival and departure .
Sarah stated , “ We had a great day at Lone Pine and were very pleased with our turnout of 125 shooters . I would like to thank all of them for supporting our club . I want to extend our appreciation to our sponsors as well , Cabela ’ s , Spirit Quest Archery , Flaming Arrow Archery , McDonalds , Peak communications , Valley Bank , and Lower Valley Processing .
We are now preparing for our next shoot July 23rd and 24th at the MBEF property . We got some exciting news that Rocky Jacobsen will be hosting his elk bugling seminar at our shoot Saturday evening . There will be games for all and camping available . You can visit us on Facebook at Flathead Valley Archers . I hope to see a lot of folks in July .” Continued on page 30 .
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Three gentlemen watched patiently as we completed the interview and at first they were a little camera shy . Jerry Siemens , Gary Grober and Jerry Manske all of Trego , MT ( pictured below ) with a combined experience bow hunting of over ... well just say they have seen many seasons come and go . All in there 70s and still hanging out and having fun as life should be lived .