Smoke pole Success comes to youth hunter

Six year old Tyler Jacob Fenderson is no stranger to hitting the field with dad, Nathan D Fenderson and his mother, Lisa Fenderson. Both are avid hunters and are passing the hunting traditions down to their son.
Chris Cobbett and I are the owners of the nationally-televised TV show “Northwoods Adventures TV” on the Sportsman Channel. We are also owners and partners with Jayson Allian in the Outdoor Adventure Company Guide service in Maine.
Tyler has tagged along with me on many adventures in the field from bear hunting and deer hunting to the great sport of wild turkey hunting. Tyler always gets very excited when the birds start gobbling at first light, and has helped me with calling the birds on several occasions. The Extreme Dimension electronic game call and a little push-button are his favorites.
We reside in Maine, where youth hunters have to be 10 years of age before they can legally hunt and harvest a game animal with an adult. Fortunately, neighboring New Hampshire doesn’t have such an impediment to getting youngsters into the sport early and helping develop their skills as sportsmen and sportswomen. So, I asked Tyler if he wanted to try turkey hunting this year. Naturally, he was very excited about being able to get to the woods for his first hunt.
First, I went and looked at some guns with my son, but found everything was too big. I was also afraid the magnum turkey loads might scare him from wanting to shoot. I found the solution with one call to Craig Sanborn, owner of MDM muzzle loaders. Craig offered to modify one of his 12-gauge Tomwacker muzzle loading shotguns to fit Tyler, and add a red dot scope system for his upcoming turkey hunt. All he needed was one measurement to modify the stock and we were in business.
I really liked the idea of Tyler using a muzzle loader because I could adjust the load size to fit him, then practice with him shooting to find the effective range for his load size. We had a ball figuring the load size shooting at turkey targets. after all the shooting we went with 70 grains of powder followed by three 12 GA fiber wads, 1 ounce of #6 lead shot, followed by two more 12 GA fiber wads. The effective range was 35 yards, but I was hoping to keep the shot at around 20 yards. With kids Tyler’s age, shooting sticks (we used Predator) are a must. They help them balance the gun and move with ease to get on target. Paul over at HOTSPOTS sports shop in New Durham has about anything you could ever want to get ready to hit the field.

The First morning of Youth Day, Tyler was very excited, to say the least. We hunted hard with one opportunity presenting itself for the little guy. Tyler was a trooper when he heard the bird gobbling, working his way to our set up. My caller this day was good friend Dave Ames, master of the turkey woods when it comes to calling, and good friend Rick Seavey videoing my son’s special hunt. I just wanted to focus all my attention on my son.
The Bird showed up but was going hard to our left. Tyler tried to stay on target, but when he pulled the trigger, we saw the bird vault into flight through a veil of blackpowder smoke. I thought Tyler would be crushed. Instead, he stoically asked “Dad, you ever miss?” I proudly responded, “I sure have, son.”
Two weeks later, Tyler was itching to get back to the turkey woods and give it another try. I had Dave Ames calling and one of my partners, Jayson Allian, videoing with me on this hunt. The weather was awful, raining and windy, but my little guy was loving every minute of it. For what ever reason, the birds were going nuts, gobbling every where we went.
We had three setups messed up with interference, but not in any way you would expect. First setup - two toms were gobbling and on their way when they suddenly shut up. Why? Well, four black bears arrived on the scene and were very interested in the setup as well. They came in, walked around, then left. They blew our setup, but boy was it exciting to see them.
Off to the next set up. One tom was on his way; then he shut up. Would you believe another black bear showed up? This was 10 miles from the last setup. “WOW!” I thought, “This is getting crazy. Well, let’s go find another bird.”
The next location would be the last for the day. It wasn’t long before we had three birds on their way, a tom and two jakes. Things were looking good when they all took to flight. “What’s up with this?” I thought. “It can’t be another bear can it?”. Sure enough, another black bear came in, saw us and climbed a tree right in front of us. Fortunately we captured it all on video as, who would believe this?”. Tyler didn’t get his bird, but boy was he excited. He had seen six black bears in one day. His mother, on the other hand, was little concerned. I assured her, Dad had everything under control.
Our third day of turkey hunting turned out to be a day I will remember for the rest of my life. On this day, good friend Deven Morril was videoing and I was the caller. By now, Tyler had the hang of setting up with the shooting sticks and aiming the muzzleloader. He would aim at the decoy putting the red dot on its head, adjust his shooting sticks, then look back and say “good to go, dad!”
At our first set-up, we encountered one tom and one Jake gobbling their heads off. We set up on an old logging road and started to work the birds. I did soft calls at first, then got more aggressive to really fire them up. Soon, the birds were on their way, But Tyler had to go to the bathroom really bad, so I stopped calling while he answered Nature’s call. The birds ultimately came in to within 50 yards, but no closer. We decided to back out, and maybe come back later in the morning.
The next spot was awesome. We found one huge tom in full strut about 300 yards into an old cut. The plan was to cut the distance, set up and try calling him into the decoys. We’d gotten to our chosen location, and were getting ready to place the decoys when the tom erupted, gobbling his head off within 40 yds of us. All we could do was stay perfectly still as the bird walked by Tyler and me at 30 yards! There was some brush in the way, so I didn’t let Tyler take a questionable shot.
We let the bird go by, set up quickly and tried to drag him back. The turkey did his job - strutting and gobbling - but seemed disinterested in coming back, so I decided to adjust and reset. On the way to picking up the decoy I met the tom half way. Both of us were pretty surprised. He headed for parts unknown and I felt like such an amateur, not being patient and waiting 20 minutes longer to see if he was coming in silently. I just wanted my son to get an opportunity so badly. Little did I know, his big moment was coming soon enough.
On our way back to work the birds we had worked earlier, Deven noticed a hen in the back of a small field. I turned the truck around to see three hens and one MONSTER tom. I looked at Tyler and said, “are you read little buddy?” He replied, “I sure am, Dad;” so off to the woods once more we went, to try and make some magic happen for my little man.
We soon made it to a stone wall with some big pines. The spot was kind of open, and we’d have to wait for the right shot. We backed up next to the wall, and I started calling. One boss hen in the group went nuts, and started cackling back hard; so I gave it right back to her. The tom was gobbling, things were going perfectly, hens were on their way. “Maybe,” I thought, “Tyler will finally get his opportunity.” The hens showed up to our left about 15 feet away. I was quietly coaching Tyler not to move, and to get ready for the tom. I was expecting the tom to come the same way the hens did when suddenly Tyler says “Dad, I have the red dot on his head.” I questioned, “You do?” and before I could say anything else, BANG. Through a cloud of smoke I saw a bird flop over. Then Tyler dropped his gun in my lap, and we ran to his turkey. I couldn’t believe the size of this tom; he was huge! Tyler was dancing all over the place. Words couldn’t describe the feeling as the emotion of the moment swept over me. Boy, was I proud. And we captured his special moment all on video too boot!

After the excitement passed, I looked over the scene and was amazed at how far he had shot - 38 yards and the MDM Tomwacker leveled that bird. That’s what I am talking about!
Tyler tried to carry his bird but needed a little help from Dad. The bird weighed in at 22.56 pounds, had a 10 inch beard, and spurs of 1 inch and 7/8 inch. Not to shabby for a six year old boy!
He couldn’t wait to start calling folks and telling the story of his accomplishment. Listening to him talk on the cell phone about his special moment made me feel like I was on cloud nine.
We would like to Thank MDM Muzzle loaders for setting the gun up for my son. All of you out there who are thinking about taking your kid hunting at a young age should give Craig Sanborn at MDM a call. His muzzleloaders are proven performers, and are a great choice for youth hunters just getting in to the sport of hunting.
Now my son wants to see about those Black Bears in the fall !!
Good Luck to all who are out enjoying this great sport and sharing it with a youth hunter.