Tale of the Hunt

 

I drew an either-sex quota tag for the fall Turkey hunt in Tennessee and invited Terry Nicholson and his son Cody to share my hunt. They had read the books and watched the videos and now it was time to get into the woods!

Once we arrived and daylight approached, Cody was really excited and could hardly sit still. We had set up near a creek bottom but we saw no turkeys. We decided to move up to the top of the ridge behind us. As we were walking up the old roadway through the woods, I would stop and call with kee-kee-runs and soft putts. Cody and Terry would stay about 20 yards behind me as I advanced. I would then stop and wait for them to ease up to my position. We would stop and go like this all the way up the hill like a yo-yo. I was trying to be as safe as I possibly could with three of us walking and me holding the gun.

We finally came to the edge of an open field where a jake had probably heard our calls and was walking toward us. He caught a glimpse of us standing there and spooked away to the left. I told Terry and Cody that if there was one, there might be twenty-one so we slipped around the left edge of the field and positioned ourselves in front of an old fallen tree lap. I handed Cody the slate and showed him how to work the peg. Terry had my box call and started making soft yelps and purrs. I told Cody that the worst calling I ever heard was from a real turkey and he shouldn't worry about calling perfectly, just keep trying. In just a very few minutes, to our surprise and amazement, we saw two turkeys fly up into the trees acrosss from our position about 60 yards away. I eased my shotgun up and waited. Cody called again. Terry purred and yelped softly. The first turkey flew back to the ground and turned toward us.

As the turkey advanced to the realistic calling, it crossed the clearing and strolled into range. Then it stopped and raised its head straight up to take a look. I squeezed the trigger and the shotgun roared! 35 yards away was a flopping hen and I shouted for Cody to go get that turkey! He ran and grappled for the bird as I hollered not to let it get away! Cody jumped on the flopping bird and rode it like a bronco! As the bird slapped Cody with its reflexing wings, he shouted, "This is so cool!"

His Dad and I were just as excited as Cody was, well maybe almost. Cody later told his big sister Megan, "We're having REAL turkey for Thanksgiving!"

I was as tickled as I have ever been on any turkey hunt and very thankful myself for sharing something I love this much with a new generation of turkey hunters!