MONTANA DAN CONTINUED
By now all these turkeys were call-shy and knew what our call sounded like , so this evening , my dad left his call in the truck . We waited for about an hour , and then my dad notices a hen out the corner of his eye , so he motioned for me to get ready . Sure enough here comes the big old tom out into a little opening . My dad sees me taking aim at the gobbler with my gun and whispered for me to " shoot ". I take careful aim , then squeeze the trigger . When the gun went off the gobbler immediately jumped in the air and there were feathers everywhere . He quickly took off running before I could get another shot , and as he ran into the trees we could see he had a broken wing . My dad thought that we had a wounded turkey , so we walked over to where he was last standing . Dad then had me wait there while he went into the trees to look for him . Pretty soon he yelled , " Alexis , you got him ", and told me to get over here and check out my turkey . It had run about 50 yards and died perfectly with its head over a log . When I finally saw him I think that was probably one of the happiest moments of my life . Dad made me pack him back to the truck while he carried my gun . After reaching the truck we had to go show Jim , he was very excited for me and insisted that we weigh my trophy with his scale . Jim stood on our tailgate to get the tom high enough off the ground , it weighed 20 pounds and had a ten inch beard . My dad and I were very happy , getting that turkey was a lot harder than I expected , especially after hunting with Dad when he got his the previous year . I sure hope it gets easier next season . By the way thanks Dad and Happy Fathers Day , I love you Dad ! I also want to thank Mr . & Mrs . Jim Shallenberger for letting me hunt on their property and kill my first turkey .
Publisher ’ s Note : I took an excerpt from Dan ’ s version of the story and I think this sums a Father ’ s feelings between a father and their son or daughter when it comes to their kids hunting or fishing buddies successes :
“ We found a comfortable spot at the edge of the meadow and got ready to wait for the turkeys evening arrival . Alexis had actually become pretty good at holding still and being patient while waiting for a turkeys approach , all of the unsuccessful past hunts had taught her small lessons that she was now able to put together , and help her to connect when that tom finally entered into shotgun range .
I think I had dozed off several times that evening waiting for the turkeys to appear in the meadow , but each time I would look over at Alexis she was holding perfectly still and not fidgeting around like she had done on previous hunts . I was scanning the trees were I anticipated the turkeys to move into the meadow from when on the edge of my peripheral vision I caught a glimpse of a hen cutting through the edge of the trees .. I slowly motioned for Alexis to raise the gun and get ready , I figured the tom would emerge shortly . After several minutes of looking at the edge of the trees for the tom , I saw that Alexis was taking aim with her shotgun . I then shifted my focus to the area that she was aiming and suddenly there he was , the unmistakable telltale red head , a mature gobbler . From my angle I could only see his head but he was well within 20 gauge range so I quietly whispered “ shoot him ”. The words had barely cleared my mouth when Alexis fired her shotgun , shattering the evening silence . I expected the turkey to start flopping in their usual manner when head shot , but instead the tom jumped into the air then hit the ground running . As he re-entered the timber I could see that one wing was definitely broken , not the expected outcome I was hoping for . When I looked at Alexis I could tell she was disappointed , to say the least . We immediately went to where the tom entered the trees and told Alexis to wait here while I went and searched for what I thought was now a wounded turkey . Words can ' t describe how relieved I was when I spotted the gobbler dead a mere fifty yard inside the timber after a short search . I yelled back at Alexis , “ You got him , get over here and check him out !” I honestly don ' t think I ' ve ever seen her more excited and I ' ve never been more relieved when we laid eyes on that dead old bird . My chest puffed out like a strutting Tom I was so proud of her !
Alexis has since been pouring over several of the Turkey Country magazines that Jim gave her to read , and she is already telling me what we need to do different during next years season , and so it begins !”
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