Many years back 3 friends and I went on our first ever turkey hunt on a riverside ranch SW of town. (I drove Larke and Jerry past in enroute to the ranch we went pheasant hunting at) Over the years our group has grown due to kids getting of hunting age, wives wanting to take part, friends being included, and my dad joining in. We call it our Turkey Safari and depending on who all shows up we can have upwards of 11-12 people hunting on a given year. Given this is my 10 year old daughter's first year hunting I decided it best to do a solo hunt with just her and I instead of subjecting her to the crowd.
That was the plan until a friend, who doesn't hunt much, mentioned his son was interested in going turkey hunting so I told him I would be more then happy to take such a well-mannered kid hunting with us. This past Saturday was the day, just me, my daughter, and a 13 year old hunter ready for some "big" game.
I always worry over the hunt with a newbie involved as I want them to not only be successful but to have fun also. I tend to be a bit driven when it comes to hunting and have to continually remind myself that others don't always have the same drive, desire, or capabilities that I do so I need to slow things down a bit. Everything seemed to fall in place on Saturday though.
My daughter, being the seasoned pro she is with a whopping one turkey to her credit, was kind enough to allow the newbie first shot at a turkey and what a shot he made! This kid is pretty reserved but I can tell you he was pretty tickled with his bird.
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Next it was my daughter's turn. It took a fair bit of strategizing and sneaking but we finally were able to get within range and after a single shot with a borrowed .410 she had bagged her second bird.
Two newbies and two birds all within an hour of sunrise. Not a bad day's work.
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This coming weekend it is the old folk's turn at the birds while my daughter gets to spend some quality time with Grandma.
(Note: another reason the hunt took place the weekend before the turkey safari was that although my daughter enjoys hunting, she wasn't willing to give up her weekend with Grandma (read: shopping, crafts, and eating out) just to go shoot a turkey.)
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