Kevin Eisermann Jr., 14, of Millerton, N.Y., is having a big turkey year, and it’s about time.
Last season, Kevin pulled the trigger too soon when the tom of his dreams strutted to within 80 yards, said his grandfather, Otto Eisermann. He missed and the tom flew away.
Last weekend, Kevin got a second chance. First a hen, followed by a tom, appeared in a field adjacent to Kevin’s position. Spotting Kevin’s decoys, the tom headed straight for him.
It was cold and windy that day, and Kevin was shaking from the cold and nerves. But he waited patiently this time until the tom got within 35 yards, then pulled the trigger.
The unstaged photo is blurry, “but you can see the true excitement and happiness in this young man’s face,” said Otto.
The bird weighed 21-pounds, had a 9.5-inch beard, and half-inch spurs.
On another hunt, Kevin, Hannah, Elizabeth Eisermann got another Columbia County gobbler, shown below.
Send us your turkey pics!
We’d love to see your bird: big beards, little beards, it doesn’t matter. Just send us your turkey pics. Don’t forget to provide the name of anyone shown in the photo, along with the bird’s weight, length of beard and/or spurs (if possible), and where you bagged it. And provide a few colorful details about the hunt.
Steve Featherstone covers the outdoors for The Post-Standard, syracuse.com and NYUP.com. Contact him at sfeatherstone@syracuse.com or on Twitter @featheroutdoors. You can also follow along with all of our outdoors content at newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/ or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/upstatenyoutdoors.