I think one of the first things that a man begins to think about when he’s holding his newborn baby boy is all the adventures they’ll share. I know that’s what I thought about, and being a hunter, what hunts we’d share was foremost in my thoughts.
I was blessed with a son, Liam, in February of 2009. With everyone knowing I’m an outdoorsman, the camo baby things rolled in as gifts. From little knit hats, to onesies, to blankets. That very first spring turkey season after his birth I snuck out one morning before work and shot a bird that I called in straight off the roost. When he pitched down he almost landed in my lap and when I called my wife to tell her I succeeded already she was concerned that something had happened because I hadn’t been gone very long. I told her I was on my way home with a bird and to have Liam waiting in a camo onesie so I could get a picture before she took him to daycare. Little did I know that the first animal I killed after he was born would also be the first animal I killed with him by my side.
I had to wait several years before I felt it was the right time to take him actually hunting with me. He’d been in the woods with me a bunch, and we’d gone fishing a lot. Heck, he was even in the truck while I ran my trapline asking “Daddy, did we catch any coyotes today?” from his carseat behind me as I drove past fields and checked sets with binoculars. I finally decided this past winter that come spring gobbler season, I would find a good place to take him. Not too far from home, not too far of a walk, some place I could set up my blind, and that had a good population of turkeys.
I frequently take the back roads home from work to scout for game and during my early spring drives there was one farm not far from my house that seemed to hold a fair number of birds, including several nice long beards. One day as I drove past in early April I saw 3 long beards pushing hens around the field next to the barn and decided to stop and ask permission. The landowners wife told me that he wasn’t home and I needed to talk to him so I left a card with my name and number on it and crossed my fingers. The next day while at work, my cell phone rang and it was the landowner. He called to tell me that he was going to have to turn down my request as the 2 previous hunters he’d let on had trespassed on neighboring property and caused him grief. I told him I was disappointed to hear that but I understood and thanked him for calling to let me know. We ended up chatting a bit and I told him I was looking for a place to take my 4 year old that was close to home and an easy walk and his place was perfect. He asked if my son would be shooting and I said “No, I just want to bring him along for the experience and in fact, I was going to try and do this with my bow, because hunting turkeys with a 4 year old didn’t seem like enough of a challenge already!” He laughed and said “I tell you what...” and shortly after I was thanking him profusely for changing his mind. I had a great place to take my son for his first hunt!
I had every intention of going in and setting up the blind before the season and such, but as usual, life got in the way, so on the chosen day I decided I’d just carry in the blind and my gear and Liam could follow me. I determined that Liam would have a more enjoyable experience if he wasn’t woken at the crack of dawn so I decided to hunt the “late shift”. We woke up at our usual time, had some breakfast, watched some cartoons and I got prepared. I put Liam in a dark colored shirt, camo pants, mud boots and his hat. I packed a portable DVD player, his Leap Frog computer, and headphones, plus snacks and water.
We left the house about 945 for what was about a 5 minute drive. Liam and I talked about turkeys gobbling and how we need to be really quiet and only talk in a whisper and we can’t move very much either. I’m not sure who was more excited, he or I, but we both definitely were!
Arriving at the pull off spot I got him out of the truck and he put on his little backpack with the entertainment in it and I got his binoculars for him that he uses to look for dinosaurs. They’re an old pair of my Nikons, a scratched up, pocket-sized set. I went around to the bed of the truck and grabbed my pack with my blind, 2 little chairs, my bow, decoys, calls, etc., and told Liam to be careful and quiet and follow me.
I intended to set up in the corner of the field, but as we approached I realized it was completely choked with multiflora rose and there was no way a turkey, let alone a man and small child, were getting through it. So we started skirting around to the back edge while I kept an eye on the field looking for birds. Through the briars I could see something black, about 100 yards away. Realizing I didn’t have my binoculars, I asked Liam for his, telling him that daddy had left his in the truck. He graciously let me use his and my eyes about bugged out of my head when I realized that black blob was in fact a strutting tom!
I told Liam I could see a turkey and we really needed to be quiet as I frantically searched for a place to set up near some sort of an opening to the field. I finally found a deer trail that zig-zagged through the multiflora and appeared to be big enough for a turkey to come through, provided it was love-sick or feeling adventurous...
I found a great opening in a dry, sandy, stream bed, and popped up the DoubleBull blind. Quickly setting up the chairs I ushered Liam inside and told him to watch out the window while I set up the decoys. I set a strutting gobbler about 10 yards in front of the blind and two hens decoys on the bank to the left; I expected the tom to enter the set up from the trail to our right. I then slipped back into the blind, got things situated, the dvd player and computer out of the backpack in case I needed them in a pinch and the headphones within reach. I moved Liam tight to the right side of the blind so that he was afforded the most cover and could move around a bit and put a mouth call in and grabbed my slate call. I told him to listen for a turkey because I was going to try to make one gobble.
Taking the striker in my hand I scratched out a series of clucks. GOOOOBBBBBBLLLLE! Liam excitedly whispered “Oh! Daddy, I heard a turkey!” and I smiled and had to swallow a laugh as I pulled him close and said “I know, he’s up in the field remember?” “Yes, make him gobble again daddy!” So I called again and again was immediately answered by the turkey, and my son saying he heard it again. The bird gobbled again on it’s own and I knew he was alone and hot and I pulled Liam in close and whispered we needed to be very quiet and still and watch for the turkey to come looking for us. I waited a few minutes and called again and this time when the gobbler answered I knew he was between us and the field edge and I was either going to kill him or screw it up because he was coming.
I turned Liam and told him to watch, and as soon as I did so I saw the tom’s head go behind a tree within 30 yards of us. He was coming directly at us and I told Liam to watch by a tree I was pointing to, expecting the bird to pass on the far side of it. To my surprise, and I’m sure Liam’s, the tom passed on the close side of the tree and there I was, 15 yards from a mature longbeard, with my 4 year old in 1 hand and my bow in the other and nothing between us but thin air!
I whispered in Liams ear not to move or say anything because daddy was going to shoot the turkey and slowly moved my right around from around him and toward my bow. Finding my release in my hand I clipped it to my loop and watched as the tom moved in closer and closer to my strutting decoy. He looked away and I eased the bow up and drew at the same time. He stopped just to the right of the decoy, I found the base of his wings with my top pin and the arrow was gone! I saw the lighted nock blow through the bird, feathers flew and the turkey jumped and took off running back the way he’d came, but was obviously struggling. I reached down and flipped the blind up and over us and the turkey was gone!
...
I was blessed with a son, Liam, in February of 2009. With everyone knowing I’m an outdoorsman, the camo baby things rolled in as gifts. From little knit hats, to onesies, to blankets. That very first spring turkey season after his birth I snuck out one morning before work and shot a bird that I called in straight off the roost. When he pitched down he almost landed in my lap and when I called my wife to tell her I succeeded already she was concerned that something had happened because I hadn’t been gone very long. I told her I was on my way home with a bird and to have Liam waiting in a camo onesie so I could get a picture before she took him to daycare. Little did I know that the first animal I killed after he was born would also be the first animal I killed with him by my side.
I had to wait several years before I felt it was the right time to take him actually hunting with me. He’d been in the woods with me a bunch, and we’d gone fishing a lot. Heck, he was even in the truck while I ran my trapline asking “Daddy, did we catch any coyotes today?” from his carseat behind me as I drove past fields and checked sets with binoculars. I finally decided this past winter that come spring gobbler season, I would find a good place to take him. Not too far from home, not too far of a walk, some place I could set up my blind, and that had a good population of turkeys.
I frequently take the back roads home from work to scout for game and during my early spring drives there was one farm not far from my house that seemed to hold a fair number of birds, including several nice long beards. One day as I drove past in early April I saw 3 long beards pushing hens around the field next to the barn and decided to stop and ask permission. The landowners wife told me that he wasn’t home and I needed to talk to him so I left a card with my name and number on it and crossed my fingers. The next day while at work, my cell phone rang and it was the landowner. He called to tell me that he was going to have to turn down my request as the 2 previous hunters he’d let on had trespassed on neighboring property and caused him grief. I told him I was disappointed to hear that but I understood and thanked him for calling to let me know. We ended up chatting a bit and I told him I was looking for a place to take my 4 year old that was close to home and an easy walk and his place was perfect. He asked if my son would be shooting and I said “No, I just want to bring him along for the experience and in fact, I was going to try and do this with my bow, because hunting turkeys with a 4 year old didn’t seem like enough of a challenge already!” He laughed and said “I tell you what...” and shortly after I was thanking him profusely for changing his mind. I had a great place to take my son for his first hunt!
I had every intention of going in and setting up the blind before the season and such, but as usual, life got in the way, so on the chosen day I decided I’d just carry in the blind and my gear and Liam could follow me. I determined that Liam would have a more enjoyable experience if he wasn’t woken at the crack of dawn so I decided to hunt the “late shift”. We woke up at our usual time, had some breakfast, watched some cartoons and I got prepared. I put Liam in a dark colored shirt, camo pants, mud boots and his hat. I packed a portable DVD player, his Leap Frog computer, and headphones, plus snacks and water.
We left the house about 945 for what was about a 5 minute drive. Liam and I talked about turkeys gobbling and how we need to be really quiet and only talk in a whisper and we can’t move very much either. I’m not sure who was more excited, he or I, but we both definitely were!
Arriving at the pull off spot I got him out of the truck and he put on his little backpack with the entertainment in it and I got his binoculars for him that he uses to look for dinosaurs. They’re an old pair of my Nikons, a scratched up, pocket-sized set. I went around to the bed of the truck and grabbed my pack with my blind, 2 little chairs, my bow, decoys, calls, etc., and told Liam to be careful and quiet and follow me.
I intended to set up in the corner of the field, but as we approached I realized it was completely choked with multiflora rose and there was no way a turkey, let alone a man and small child, were getting through it. So we started skirting around to the back edge while I kept an eye on the field looking for birds. Through the briars I could see something black, about 100 yards away. Realizing I didn’t have my binoculars, I asked Liam for his, telling him that daddy had left his in the truck. He graciously let me use his and my eyes about bugged out of my head when I realized that black blob was in fact a strutting tom!
I told Liam I could see a turkey and we really needed to be quiet as I frantically searched for a place to set up near some sort of an opening to the field. I finally found a deer trail that zig-zagged through the multiflora and appeared to be big enough for a turkey to come through, provided it was love-sick or feeling adventurous...
I found a great opening in a dry, sandy, stream bed, and popped up the DoubleBull blind. Quickly setting up the chairs I ushered Liam inside and told him to watch out the window while I set up the decoys. I set a strutting gobbler about 10 yards in front of the blind and two hens decoys on the bank to the left; I expected the tom to enter the set up from the trail to our right. I then slipped back into the blind, got things situated, the dvd player and computer out of the backpack in case I needed them in a pinch and the headphones within reach. I moved Liam tight to the right side of the blind so that he was afforded the most cover and could move around a bit and put a mouth call in and grabbed my slate call. I told him to listen for a turkey because I was going to try to make one gobble.
Taking the striker in my hand I scratched out a series of clucks. GOOOOBBBBBBLLLLE! Liam excitedly whispered “Oh! Daddy, I heard a turkey!” and I smiled and had to swallow a laugh as I pulled him close and said “I know, he’s up in the field remember?” “Yes, make him gobble again daddy!” So I called again and again was immediately answered by the turkey, and my son saying he heard it again. The bird gobbled again on it’s own and I knew he was alone and hot and I pulled Liam in close and whispered we needed to be very quiet and still and watch for the turkey to come looking for us. I waited a few minutes and called again and this time when the gobbler answered I knew he was between us and the field edge and I was either going to kill him or screw it up because he was coming.
I turned Liam and told him to watch, and as soon as I did so I saw the tom’s head go behind a tree within 30 yards of us. He was coming directly at us and I told Liam to watch by a tree I was pointing to, expecting the bird to pass on the far side of it. To my surprise, and I’m sure Liam’s, the tom passed on the close side of the tree and there I was, 15 yards from a mature longbeard, with my 4 year old in 1 hand and my bow in the other and nothing between us but thin air!
I whispered in Liams ear not to move or say anything because daddy was going to shoot the turkey and slowly moved my right around from around him and toward my bow. Finding my release in my hand I clipped it to my loop and watched as the tom moved in closer and closer to my strutting decoy. He looked away and I eased the bow up and drew at the same time. He stopped just to the right of the decoy, I found the base of his wings with my top pin and the arrow was gone! I saw the lighted nock blow through the bird, feathers flew and the turkey jumped and took off running back the way he’d came, but was obviously struggling. I reached down and flipped the blind up and over us and the turkey was gone!
...
