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Stefen's Dad, Chris Gomes sent me this story. I it great to hear about a kid take his first animal. The best part is that Stefen really worked at it; he practiced, he put the time in and he made the shot. Stefen great job and thank your dad for taking you hunting. - Take Care Jason  Stefen started helping his dad hunt turkeys when he was seven years old. On his father’s first turkey hunt, he used a push button call to bring three toms in the last 100 yards while his dad positioned himself for the bowshot. Stefen has looked forward to the annual turkey hunt in Nebraska ever since, waiting for the day when he would turn twelve and be able to hunt for his very own bird.  In preparation for his first bowhunt, Stefen shot weekly leagues and as many 3D shoots as possible since the age of seven. He excelled in these competitions and became a very good archer, but still needed to be able to draw the legal minimum of 40 pounds to archery hunt. Finally old and strong enough, a 40-50 pound Mathews Mustang was selected to meet this requirement. Two blade Magnus broadheads were chosen to maximize penetration.
On the first day of the hunt John Cannon, a hunting partner, described the location of a roost he had scouted the prior day. Sneaking into the woods in the dark, Stefen and his dad setup the blind and decoys, and waited, hoping to hear nearby gobbles. When the gobbles came, it was obvious that they were too close, and had actually snuck past the roost in the dark. After flydown the birds went the opposite way, uninterested in the yelps and clucks from the hunter’s setup. Things went better for John, who killed his first archery turkey. After sharing the excitement of John’s success on a mature tom, it was time to setup for the evening hunt.
A large flock of jakes and toms was spotted, and the blind and decoys were moved into position. Another opportunity was blown when the rancher came to work on his fence, but Stefen continued on, undeterred. Later that evening a very large gobbler followed a group of hens and jakes past the blind, with no birds presenting a closer shot than 32 yards. Stefen held back knowing that any shot past 25 yards was too far on such a small vital target.
The next day dawned colder, cloudy and windy. The birds had vanished, and the morning hunt passed without so much as a gobble or a yelp. That evening was much the same, and Stefen and his Dad wondered where the birds had gone. They spent the time calling, glassing, and talking. As darkness neared, they knew the birds would be moving to the roost. With his head out of the top of the blind, Stefen’s dad spotted a large tom suddenly in range!
Afraid that he had scared it, his Dad ducked back into the blind, telling Stefen to get ready. The bird was behind the opening in the blind that Stefen planned to shoot from, but moving closer. Just as it was about to move into the shooting lane, the gobbler turned and walked down into a gully. Stefen’s dad gave a couple of soft clucks, and the lone tom turned back to the decoy setup. Stefen came to full draw, but the bird stopped just out of the lane. Waiting at full draw, he finally had to let down after more than a minute.
With a couple more clucks, the gobbler slowly moved into the opening, and Stefen drew again. Fighting against his racing heart, he settled the gap between his first two pins on the turkey for the 15-yard shot, and the arrow leapt off the bow. The tom dropped immediately at impact.  Ignoring past experience and wisdom gained from previous hunts, Stefen’s Dad excitedly ran out of the blind to recover the bird. The gobbler took flight, flying 75 yards before crashing down across a small river. After wading the river, Stefen had his first archery kill, a beautiful mature tom with an 8-inch beard and 1.25-inch spurs.
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