Tennesee’s Wild Side Weekly Article

The First One!

I think I must have withdrawl symptoms every time a hunting season closes… When deer season is over I start counting the days till turkey season and when turkey season is over, well how many days till bow season? You get the picture…

In between seasons I am constantly checking the areas I hunt. Cutting shooting lanes and working on hunting blinds is kind of my own playtime. At least that is what my wife tells me.

Just before turkey season this year I had the bright idea to outfit a little shooting house with some camouflaged material over the windows. I had built the “condo”, as we call it, to hunt deer with my baby girls. As the father of three beautiful girls I will do what it takes so that they are comfortable. They don’t hunt. They just like to be with Daddy and watch what happens. I love it and that is why I am putting up camo windows, so that maybe my girls will come watch Daddy call in some turkeys.

My idea is that I am going to use magnets so that I could pull the windows down and put them up however I want. I stayed up late gluing magnets to the material… “Man it is going to be cool” I thought.

Next morning my 8 yr old girl Kate and I headed to the condo. I took a drill and mounted metal washers to the wooden wall of the blind.  Next I took out the window material that I worked so hard attaching magnets to. I put the first one up and it looked great. Worked great… Then I put up the next window and that is when it happened. A gentle breeze blows them both down. I quickly realize that my big plan of using the magnets isn’t going to work. As I sit there somewhat perplexed Kate throws in her two cents. “Screw them up there daddy.” She said.

“You think that is what I should do,” I asked.

She said “sure just screw them to the wall”.

So, that is what we did…. and you know what?  It looks great. When we get the last one up I take a knife and cut vertical slits in the material and the condo is ready for a turkey hunt. 

Standing there looking at our new turkey spot, I asked her,

“Kate, you gonna get you a turkey outta that blind?

She caught me off guard saying, “Sure I think I will.” 

This is the first time that either of my older girls has expressed any interest in actually being the hunter. I am tickled to death and go straight over to her granddaddy’s house and borrow a youth 20 gauge for her to use.

The first day I would really be able to take her was two days away and I don’t have time to get her out to shoot the gun she is using. So, I draw her a diagram and she practices aiming the gun in our den. Propping the gun on the back of the couch and aiming at the wall.

My wife just watches and shakes her head. “Do you think she’ll get one?” “Oh sure.” Is my reply.

Now I got to admit I have my doubts about her actually being able to be quiet and still and wait long enough to even see a turkey.  Whether or not she can put the bead on a turkey and squeeze the trigger and hit what she is aiming at was a whole different story. I mean she is propping the gun on the back of the couch pretending to shoot at the wall socket…but we are going and that is all that matters…

On the morning of the hunt Kate is up and at ‘em, bright eyed and ready. She gets into her camo and I tie her boots. I grab a fleece blanket and a snack for my little hunter. We get to the condo in plenty of time. It is fun just being with her. We are ready. Only one problem…we don’t hear the first turkey sound. Kate gets a good nap and at 8:30 we leave.

That afternoon as I’m sitting with the wife talking about where I might hunt the next morning Kate chimed in that this time she would kill one.

“You’re going again?” I asked.

“Yep and this time I’m going to get one.”

That’s when Rachel, my oldest, decided she was going go with us just to watch. So, I pack up two blankets and two snacks and the next morning we are back at it.

Morning number two is a lot like the first. Lot’s of songbirds, slightly cooler and still not the first gobble. Kate and Rachel eat their snacks and settle in for a mid morning nap and I just keep throwing out some come hither yelps hoping a lonely tom will hear me and come running.

“What time we leaving.”? That is what Rachel asks after her nap… Kate joins in with  “I’m ready to go.”  And with that I think our second hunt is over.  I am just starting to put all my gear back in my vest when a crow lands just in front of the blind. “Caw, Caw, Caw.” He is sitting there not ten feet from my decoys and putting on a show… I don’t know about you but I have never really seen a crow up that close. The girls are sleeping again and since I just happen to have our little video camera I start doing the wildlife photography thing.  Eventually I get bored with the crow and I start turkey calling at him pretty aggressively to see if I can run him off. Wouldn’t you know it, a turkey answers. Go figure.

So now I see a glimpse of a turkey across the ditch in front of the condo and looking back to my left I see two jakes walk into the field about 60 yards away. This is about to happen.

Shaking Kate, who is sleeping in a fold out camp chair with her head between the arm and the seat.

“Turkeys in the field, wake up.”

Then I get Rachel up. She is the cameraman for this adventure. I look back at Kate. She is lying down again…

“Get up turkeys” I said.

Now Rachel is lying down again….

“Get up, get the camera”

Now we are on the same page. The Jakes are taking their time but they are coming and we are ready! I think…

“You want to sit in my lap?” 

“Yes.” is the reply.

So, Kate is in my lap and we got to get the gun out one of those little slits that we cut. Kate tells me which window she wants to shoot out of and now we wait…

If you know anything about kids at all, you know that they just can’t quit talking. I don’t care what you say. Shhh, be quiet, quit talking, please whisper. All of that means nothing when you say it to an 8-year-old girl who is looking at two turkeys. She can’t stop asking me questions and talking about the birds and what they are doing.

I just know they are going to spook. My heart is pounding I want so much for her to be able to do this but I can’t get her to quit talking. Rachel is doing the best she can with the camera but the sunlight is coming through the window directly on her so she can’t move.

The birds get into range and I tell Kate, “O.K. See that first one?”

“Yes.”

“Shoot it.”

“I’m not ready.”

She is breathing hard and so am I. Straining my neck to see what she is aiming at but I can’t tell.

I just tell her, “When you are ready go ahead… go ahead…” 

Nothing…it seems like an eternity, and then. “Boom!”

I can’t believe my eyes. My little girl has just rolled her first turkey at 18 yards. The kick of the gun shocked her a bit and I think it scared her too. She turns to me with tears welling in her eyes and I give her the biggest hug and she hugs me tight. “You did it girl. You did it.”

The rest of the day she is on cloud nine. She is a turkey hunter now. I am proud for her. I didn’t care if she harvested a turkey or not but I wanted so badly for her to succeed. She did.

Kate’s decision to hunt this year may have been just a simple invitation. It may have been because she had some input on how to prepare the blind. Whatever the reason I’m glad she went.

Nowadays more and more kids grow up not ever setting foot in the woods before daylight. Not hearing the barred owls morning wake up calls and the first sounds of day. Our youth are the future of the outdoors. Preserving and protecting it will be their responsibility one day and it’s hard to appreciate something unless you have experienced it. Don’t miss your chance to introduce a youngster to the great outdoors.

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