Youth bags nice spring turkey

Daphne Papatriantafyllou, 5, harvested a wild turkey on April 19 while hunting with her dad, Andrew, in the Iron River area. The gobbler had a 9-inch beard and 3/4-inch spurs. It was shot from a pop-up blind at 24 yards in the early evening before the birds were going to roost. She was using a Stevens 301 custom .410 turkey gun with a stock her father modified to fit his daughter. This was the third day they had been hunting. It was snowing inside the blind. The day before the father-daughter team had been in the warmer deer blind, but they chose the spot because it was where they had seen the birds. On the day of hunting, the flock was near the deer blind, so they watched and waited. Andrew used a slate call, purring them in. As he was coaching and encouraging Daphne, asking if she was ready, she sighted in on the Tom’s head, took the shot and it went down. This was her second turkey hunt, as she had harvested one this past fall. Daphne and her dad participate in the Michigan Mentored Youth Hunting Program, which allows youth hunters 9 years old and younger a package license to be used with a licensed mentor who is at least 21 years old and hunter-safety certified. (submitted photos)