Jacob's first

[Gobbler2577]

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I am not much for posting things, but I love to read other's posts and see pictures.  Today is a bit of a slow day and I have found myself reminiscing about the past season and thought I'd share a bit about Jacob.  He is my only child and his personality and gifts are very different than mine.  He loves music and singing and he is very much a people person.  I prefer quiet places and long to be in the woods.  I also prefer wood to people.  Anyway, I long envisioned a child who would want to do the things I love, but I purposed in my heart never to push those things on Jacob.  If he expressed an interest I would feed that, but also if he showed other interests I would be okay with that as well.  This past fall he shocked us when he wanted to start squirrel hunting.  We went several times and he shot a few squirrels and then he seemed to lose interest.  As February approached he began to talk about turkey hunting, but I suppose I was skeptical.  Turns out he really wanted to go and we made our preparations.  For the first time in several years I had planned to stay in MS this spring and not travel to hunt so I knew I'd have plenty of time to devote to getting him on a bird.  Youth season came and went and we only heard two birds one morning and despite my best efforts they wouldn't play nice.  With school (he was in 4th grade this year) it was difficult to hunt mornings, but we hunted almost every afternoon.   On the 26th of March we were hunting on our place (we've had good hatches the last couple of years and had several adult gobblers and a huge gang of jakes) and after some cold calling we began to hear jakes yelping.  I asked him if he would shoot a Jake or did he want to wait on a longbeard.  He said if it was legal he'd shoot whichever gave him an opportunity.  I began trying to get him situated with his gun and shooting sticks and finally started trying to work the jakes.  As turkeys do, they did their own thing and circled us and slipped in from behind.  I finally saw the 5 over curios fellows and knew we were in trouble.  Jacob's gun, a franchi compact 20, is a bit long and cumbersome for him and I was not sure if he could handle shooting freehand.  I told him to try to take the gun off the shooting sticks and turn almost 180 degrees and be ready.  He did so without any trouble and was actually pretty quiet about it.  He finally was able to see the lead bird and told me he was about to shoot.  I honestly thought I would die sitting right there.  The bird caught a little of Jacobs movement and stood erect and putted, but before he could turn to leave Jacob pulled the trigger.  The woods exploded with turkeys running and flying as his bird was busy doing death cartwheels.  We jumped up to go get him and I noticed Jacob was crying.  I thought maybe the recoil had hurt him but he said "daddy they're tears of joy, I just killed my first turkey!"  I'd be lying if I said I didn't shed a few myself that day.  I don't know if he will ever love hunting as I do, but we will always have that day and the joy of the memories.

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[Wvgobbler]

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And that my friend is what hunting is really about!!!! Getting the young ones involved in this great sport. Congrats to both of you and your little boy that's awesome right there!!!!!

[guesswho]

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Way to go Jacob!

[daddyduke]

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Wonderful story! Congrats

[cwb04]

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From one Mississippian to another congrats Brother!!!!  That picture says it all.  A blessed day for certain.  I hope you have many more like that in the future!

[shoer2]

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Congratulations I know you are proud.

[Dukejb]

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Awesome! Congrats to you both.


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[Happy]

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Congrats. Watching your children experience sucess is a memory that lasts forever.

[1iagobblergetter]

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Great picture...Thats a great memory that both of you will have forever...I hope you both have many more together..

[fishr64]

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Jacobs smile says it all. Awesome job!!

[Sir-diealot]

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Great story and great picture, congratulations to both of you.

[tomstopper]

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Very nice. Congrats to the both of you

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[bigbird]

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Good job guys

[J-Shaped]

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That's as good as it gets. Congrats to you both!

[Gooserbat]

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Great job young man.