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UPDATED 5/13/2020 TO REFLECT PUBLIC LAND AND HUNTING SEASON OPENINGS, THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY CLOSED DUE TO WASHINGTON’S CORONAVIRUS SHELTER-IN-PLACE REQUIREMENTS.
With the 2020 Washington youth season just three weeks away, it is time to start rounding up the gear and getting your plans for a successful youth turkey hunt finalized!
This is going to be a special year for us because I get to take our boy on his first hunt. Not really his first, but it is in terms of him doing the shooting.
Unlike his Dad, he will not be waiting until he’s in his 30s to start hunting!
We’ve been doing prep-steps with him for the last 6 years; going to check cameras, scouting, going on family turkey hunts, and letting him do some calling. This year he will be in the driver’s seat with me calling for him.
We will, unfortunately, be missing the youth weekend. But we will be out there for the general season, thanks to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) hunter education deferral program.
WDFW’s hunter education deferral program lets the first-time hunter of any age “test drive” a full year’s worth of hunting seasons. I think this is a very cool, once-in-a-life-time, offering from the department – which allows people to try out hunting without having to commit to taking and passing the hunter ed course right away.
Whichever way you are getting your little jake or jenny out there, here are my 10 must-haves for making a memorable and successful youth turkey hunt.
1. License and Tags or Hunter Ed Deferral License
This probably goes without saying. But If your kid has taken and passed hunter education, make sure in the haste of getting ready you don’t forget one of the most important things to keep you legal – your hunter’s licenses and tags!
It’s been known to happen before.
Luckily, they are available over the counter at many outlets including Fred Meyer, Walmart, Cabela’s, and other retailers and smaller sporting goods stores.
If you, like us, are doing hunter ed deferral this year, permit applications are now available on WDFW’s site. Fill it out and email it back to the department. Lead time for the license is only 1-2 days if you do it through email. Otherwise, the wait is up to 10 days.
In Washington, you are allowed 3 total turkeys for the youth and general seasons.
2. Pre-Season Scouting or Previous History of an Area
For your kid, seeing is believing. Motivation quickly starts nose-diving if you are not seeing the animal you are there to hunt.
Granted, no one can completely guarantee there are going to be birds on a given day or weekend. It can be a tall order.
Ideally, you have an area you are already familiar with which holds good populations of turkey.
If not, then hopefully you’ve done your homework and either: 1.) Scouted within the weeks leading up to the opener or 2.) Obtained leads on places to go, where you can try and locate birds.
One of my favorite things is getting to a new area at 2 or 3 a.m., then go around listening for gobbles or getting roosted birds to shock-gobble.
Once you’ve located a gobbler, get in there – within 50 or 60 yards and get your blind set up. Wait for fly-down and get ready to start working that bird.
With a two-second attention span, it is important to go where there is a very good chance of seeing and hearing birds. Think about how hard it is for you to stay motivated when you aren’t seeing birds. It is 10 times as bad for your boy or girl!
3. Snacks and Drinks
Bring plenty. And then bring more.
This cannot be overstated enough. Nothing will kill a turkey hunt with your child faster than a grumbly belly and running out of food a couple of hours in.
When we took Jo the first time, we somehow ended up a little light on food. We had snapped family pics at the Jeep and were ready to head-out. We were all camoed up, with our decoys and chairs and headed into the woods to find a place to set up.
After a couple of call setups, we moved to another new location. That’s when the hunger fits started.
We finally had a bird coming in. We could hear it spitting and drumming but couldn’t see it. Sara and I were all excited, quietly reminding him, “Okay buddy, stay really still and quiet.”
Yeah right.
All he could think about was his growling gut. In protest, he stood up and cracked a branch across the trunk of one of the trees we were set up next to.
WHACK!!
Game over.
I sat there exasperated with rage building. I yelled under my breath “What the hell are you doing???”
Sara echoed my sentiments with a few more expletives.
As you can imagine – this was not a successful youth turkey hunt.
A pack full of granola bars, jerky, sandwiches, and gummy snacks is a powerful motivator. Even if you have a big lunch planned, don’t skimp here!
4. Extra Clothes
Mornings in early April can be cool. Especially, when you are leaving at or 3 or 4 a.m. in the dark to get into your site. So, make sure to put them in a good base-layer (top and bottom). Follow it up with a camo shirt (preferably not cotton), camo pants or even camo overalls, and a medium, breathable camo jacket.
Peel layers off as the heat of the day dictates. Don’t forget the rain gear, camo boots, gloves, ballcap, face, and headcover!
5. Comfortable Turkey Hunting Chair
A comfortable chair that you can quickly pack-up and deploy is a great thing to have for your youth hunter.
We love the Cabela’s brand Gobbler Lounger. But they seem to have been discontinued.
However, the Browning Strutter MC Chair or NWTF McChair will fit the bill nicely. They are low to the ground and have a perfect reclining profile.
Turkey vests are great but sitting on that pad after about 45 minutes gets pretty tough on the rear-end.
Although more cumbersome than just parking it on the ground, these hunting chairs are the ultimate in comfort and were made for extended sits.
The profiles of these chairs are too low to use in a ground blind. But if you couple it with a quick setup blind like this or make a natural blind; you’re golden.
6. Ground Blind
To not blow the hunt before it begins, do yourself a favor and opt for a ground blind for younger kids. It is nearly impossible to keep them still enough to avert the keen eyesight of a thunder chicken.
A ground blind can go a long way in ensuring a successful youth turkey hunt. Sure, it depends on how fidgety your little hunter is; but you will avoid some aggravation and blown opportunities this way.
Jo is now 11 and I’m still putting him in a blind this year! He just moves around so much. It takes about 3 minutes to set up and will allow them some “wiggle room” in the literal sense of the word.
7. Something Quiet to Play With
What better to do in the blind when boredom overtakes the chitlins? Bring a Rubix cube, coloring book, or the like for those inevitable moments.
Cell phone games are another option. Of course, those will eat up your battery.
8. Shotgun Sight
When that fateful moment comes, you can make acquiring the turkey target a lot easier. Attach a red dot sight or the NWTF endorsed TruGlo Magnum Gobble-Dot, and even in lower-light, you will increase your little shooter’s accuracy.
Snap the two-piece Gobble-Dot on your vent-rib and for under $20, you’ll have an eye-popping targeting system. This is the one going on our Remington 870 Express this year.
9. Shooting Sticks
The benefit of using a set of shooting sticks is two-fold. First, stabilizing the shot from an unwieldy pump-action shotgun will be a tremendous help.
Second, adding a compatible 2-point gun rest to the shooting stick will reduce recoil. To go even further, stick a recoil pad on the end of the stock and it will improve the punch to the shoulder even more.
It won’t be as inoffensive as shooting a .22 LR, but it won’t be totally like getting kicked by a mule either.
10. Keep it Light
Things are going to happen during the hunt(s) and you have to know it isn’t going to be perfect. Go into it knowing that and you won’t set yourself up for aggravation by having unrealistic expectations.
My wife had to help teach me this after a few years of frustrating turkey hunts with Jordan. I was so focused on the mechanics and the how-to, that I forgot to make it fun.
Sure, you are trying to make it a successful youth turkey hunt and bring home a bird or two. But scoring a thunder chicken doesn’t have to be everything.
Don’t kill the vibe with a “bad dad attitude.” Make it a learning experience but make it fun! You are instilling memories (hopefully fond) that they will look back on for years to come.
These memories are the building blocks – the things that will serve as the early framework and what will help drive their passion to hunt year after year. With your guidance, let them find their way on their own terms.
Youth turkey hunting season is the weekend of April 4 – 5, 2020. Age 16 years old and younger. UPDATE: YOUTH SEASON IN WASHINGTON HAS BEEN CANCELED DUE TO SHELTER-IN-PLACE REQUIREMENTS
General Spring turkey season runs April 15 – May 31, 2020. UPDATE: STATEWIDE SHELTER-IN-PLACE REQUIREMENTS IN WASHINGTON HAVE BEEN EXTENDED TO MAY 31. SOME PUBLIC LANDS AND HUNTING SEASONS REOPENED ON MAY 5.
TURKEY GENERAL SEASON IS OPEN UNDER RESTRICTED GUIDELINES, MAY 5 – MAY 31. HUNTERS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO HUNT LOCALLY AND NOT TRAVEL LONG DISTANCES. PLEASE CONSIDER YOUR IMPACT TO THE RURAL TOWNS IN YOUR HUNTING AREA. CHECK BACK FOR UPDATES.
Is your state’s youth hunting seasons shut down due to coronavirus? Got a wee-one you are taking out for a first turkey hunt this year? Tell us about it below.
~Shawn