Twelve-year-old Michael Lucas of Auburn is a remarkable young lad.
To date, he has successfully hunted caribou, deer, waterfowl and an assortment of other small game.
I came to know Michael because his mother is our daycare provider. Michael’s grandfather, Roland St. Pierre of Auburn, once owned Luco Caribou Adventure in the Caniapiscau Lake region of northern Quebec, so his introduction to the shooting sports is no accident.
Last fall, I was fortunate enough to accompany Michael on a caribou hunt in Quebec, and we both took home gorgeous bulls.
Later that year, I invited Michael to hunt deer on my woodlot on Youth Day.
We spent the morning hunting birds in Eustis, where Michael took his first ruffed grouse.
Later that evening, Michael shot a beautiful eight-point buck, his first deer, from my tree stand. It seemed only fitting that I invite him to join me on last week’s Youth Turkey Hunt.
We planned on hunting at a friend’s farm, and I told Michael that I would pick him up at 4:30 that morning. Just before going to bed, I checked the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Web site to check the time for sunrise.
While there, I read the turkey hunting regulations.
Much to my surprise, I noted that Michael needed a turkey permit in addition to his junior hunting license.
I had incorrectly assumed that the turkey hunt was run similar to the youth deer hunt, and no permit would be required. I was glad that I had checked the site before facilitating a violation in the field, but I had a bigger problem on my hands. I had a 12-year-old boy who was probably in bed, dreaming of his first turkey hunt.
As I continued to read the site, I discovered that I could sign my permit over to a youth hunter, but the deadline was midnight of that very night. This would mean that I couldn’t hunt this spring, but I have shot turkeys before, so it would be no great loss to me. I filled out the online form and went to bed.
On the prowl
The previous afternoon, my friend and I had used several bales of hay to create a blind in a row of trees where he had seen turkeys.
Michael and I made it into the blind just as the sun was beginning to rise.
As day broke, we heard a series of gobbles in front of us and to our right. Clearly there were birds nearby. We were in the middle of two fields, hiding in a thin strip of trees that separated the two fields. We placed a hen decoy in the field to our right and a jake with hen decoy in the field to our left. There was a big gobbler that had been visiting the farm, and I hoped that the jake with hen would infuriate him. An old gobbler doesn’t like a young male tending to his females and will often come charging in at the sight of such an affair.
Michael and I nibbled on an apple fritter as we scanned the fields for birds.
Believing that any birds in the area were out of their roosts and in the fields, I began a series of plaintive hen calls on my box call.
Occasionally, I would use my gobbler shaker call to tempt any tom turkey in the area. We continued these tactics until 8 a.m. without so much as sighting a bird. I told Michael that there didn’t appear to be any birds nearby and suggested we walk the fields to try and locate some for another day of hunting.
We jumped a lone hen that ran like a greyhound for the nearby woods, and I saw two other turkeys when I crested a ridge as Michael waited below. We made our way back to the blind, hoping that one errant male turkey would wander by. Despite seeing a bird on a distant hill, we were unable to draw anything in. While I was disappointed that I couldn’t experience another “first” with Michael, I sensed he had an enjoyable time. With my permit signed over to him, we could continue to hunt during season “B” later this month.
Avid turkey hunter, Corey Hinkley of Turner and both of his daughters, Ashley and Jessica, participated in the youth hunt. Corey said one of his daughters had a bird come in but was unsure of the shot, so she passed him up. This is an admirable decision for a new hunter, but one that any ethical sport would make.
Bill Locke, the new owner of Dag’s Bait Shop on Minot Avenue in Auburn, reported tagging nine birds from the youth hunt, the same number as were tagged last year at Dag’s. The clerk at Wing’s Tank n Tummy on Route 100 in New Gloucester reported four lucky youth hunters tagged birds there.
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