I know a lot of us have been present on others first birds. It's a special time no doubt.
But have you ever been present on someones last bird? I've been in on two in my life. As spring approaches I find myself reliving those hunts. At first it was a saddening memory for me, but now I find myself remembering those last hunts with a smile on my face and feeling blessed to have been a part of it.
R.I.P Rex and Big'un, save a bird for me and we'll do it again someday.
No Ronnie i have never been on "A last hunt" but if it ever happens it will be a hunt that i would always look back on and Cherish
Thats a cool tribute Ronnie., but no I havent.
Yes Ronnie I have
My son Rick died 6 years ago this month at the age of 25. I called in the last gobbler he ever killed. That very same spring I killed a big gobbler on the same ridge. I had it mounted in his honor.
RIP Rick :jesus-cross:
never thought of that.the old man that got me hooked on this great sport will be 84 and is able to walk ..alright,may take him for a walk this spring.i owe that to him.he gave me a lohman scratch box when i was 15 that sounded aweful.was supposed to be up at 430 the next year the last day of the pa season to go with him and he left the house without me cause i wasn't up.got up at 600 and walked up the road and set in a neighbors property and listened to a bird gobble for 3 hours non stop to what the old boy said(3 yelps every 15 min.)finally made my move to close the distance without calling and set up in a hedge row and i set up by a tree and tried to make 3 yelps from a ben lee box,yelp,yelp,yelp,gooobbble 20 yards in the woods corner.put the call down and i had my dads 16 gauge single shot with what the old guy told me for shells,#8 shot because it penetrated the feathers better,low brass to boot lol.here come the bird out of the corner and i was shakeing like a leaf and had one hell of a time trying to pull the hammer back.it was a bird that all the big dogs in the area were after and i walked down the road with him over my shoulder like i was the greatest person in this world.think i may pay the old boy a visit this weekend and thank him.
I was involved in a special deer hunt 4 years ago.
A good friend of mine was in his tree stand, and his dad and I were pushing for him.
As I came over the ridge, I heard a gunshot. My buddy's dad and I had pushed a nice buck to him, and he was fortunate and tagged out that cold November morning.
Well, that was my buddy's first deer, and the last hunt his dad participated in. We lost him the following spring, and I always thought how special it was that Wes' dad was there to see him harvest that fine animal.
RIP, Terry :cross2:
Not turkeys but deer, once in Utah with my dad and I left the meat for him to make dinners with in the winter and again with my best friend 6 months younger than me on his first elk kill. My dad passed away in Utah and I will always remember that last weekend with him. Ben my friend hunted and prospected together for years, he went into the hospital with a stroke and did not make it out. Rest in peace both of you. :jesus-cross:
Great question.. I have been involved in many first birds, but never a ''last bird.'' Those are the things you will remember when, perhaps, your memory starts to fail..Gosh, I sure hope so..
Cool tributes Everyone. I hope there will be a next hunt together for you and yours someday.
My buddy Marvin Robbins came to CA in April of 2009 to turkey hunt with me. This was something we did on a yearly basis, somewhere. That first morning we were almost to our destination when Marvin said UH OH, I think I forgot my shells. We looked and he didn't have a shell on him. I only had 3 1/2" and his gun shoots only 3". So he says your up, lets go hunting. We called in a big old gobbler that strutted perfectly across a green pasture right to us and I killed him. The next morning I made sure he had shells and we headed out to the same area because there were several turkeys gobbling. We ended up calling the whole flock right to us and Marvin killed the strutter. I got it all on tape. A few days later I took him to the airport and said goodbye. When I left him the Lord told me that I would never see him again. I talked to him a few times on the phone and on Oct 22nd 2009 he was on a deer hunt and after killing a deer he walked up to it and had a massive heart attack and died laying next to the buck. The way he would have wanted to go. So yes I have been on a last turkey hunt with my best friend and will one day see him again.
TRKYHTR
Joe
Not yet, thankfully. I am sure it will happen and it will be a cherished time for sure!
Ronnie, this is a great post, which, well, gets a person to thinking. My Dad died in 1970, before turkey hunting was common in most of Missouri, so he never turkey hunted, but he was an avid quail hunter. I wish I could recall the very last hunt we took together, but I honestly cannot. I remember many days in the field with Dad, from the time I was barely old enough to walk, and I'm sure the last hunt is mixed in there somewhere, but my memory is unable to separate it from the others.
No matter, though, because I think of him often every spring, and wish I, just once, could have called a big gobbler in for him. Neill
Not a gobbler hunt, but similar story. I had the good fortune of introducing my boss who became a good friend and hunting buddy to turkey hunting and waterfowl hunting. I helped call up his first gobbler a couple years ago. I was with him last Friday on a great hunt where 8 of us killed our limit. I was with him Monday morning on a fantastic hunt that was cut short when he collapsed from an apparent massive heart attack just a few seconds after shooting a beautiful greenhead.
I am very grateful for the hunts we shared and that he went quickly while doing something he enjoyed so much.
although i have none these are all great stories and memories to be cherished a life time thank you for sharing
:( you guys are killing me i get too emotional when i read stories like this
Quote from: gob09 on January 06, 2012, 08:03:24 AM
:( you guys are killing me i get too emotional when i read stories like this
Talk about emotional. You should go and sit at the same tree where you watched a hunting partner kill their last turkey, deer, duck or whatever. I sat at one last year and was actually working a bird. I wanted so bad to kill a bird against that tree but it just didn't work out, but it is on my to do list. All kinds of emotions storm your body in a situation like that, at least they did mine.
That's a cool pic 2ounce6s ! :icon_thumright:
vaturkey :newmascot:
I was with my dad when he killed his last deer and his last Turkey. The last deer was a nice 4x5 Muley he took back in 2005. The morning of that hunt he got to watch me shoot a really wide 3x3, then that evening he got his buck. In 2007 I went back home to Iowa for a spring hunt with my dad. We hunted Iowa's first season and he shot a two year old on the second morning. I can still remember walking to the truck and seeing him leaning against the bed with a huge grin. I heard him shoot earlier and as I walked up and saw the grin it confirmed that he had scored. At the time I didn't know this would be dad's last bird, but he was really slowing down, and I knew he wasn't healthy. I ended up shooting a jake on the last day of this hunt, and it was neat to tag out with dad one last time.
I went back up in the spring of 2008,for the first spring season, and we hunted a couple of days, but this year dad was in really bad shape and could hardly hunt. Words can't describe how horrible this was to see. My dad died that following December a few days before Christmas. When he passed I grieved, but I was awful busy handing all of the arrangments, so I really never had time to really get over it, or really go through the grieving process. The follwoing spring I killed a bird on the second weekend of the GA season. I threw the bird over my shoulder and made the long walk back to the truck. When I got to the truck I reached for me cell phone and went to call my dad. After dad was gone for 4 months my first reaction after a succesful hunt was to still call him. It me like a ton of bricks, and it may sound strange but that is when it hit me that my dad was gone. I sat on the tailgate next to that gobbler and cried my eyes out. We had some great hunts over the years and I will always be thankful for the memories, and I will always be grateful to my dad for passing on the great hunting tradition. I am extremley thankful I was with him for his last deer and his last bird. SOrry to ramble guys this thread struck a nerve with me.
Quote from: Hawken on January 06, 2012, 01:44:51 PM
I was with my dad when he killed his last deer and his last Turkey. The last deer was a nice 4x5 Muley he took back in 2005. The morning of that hunt he got to watch me shoot a really wide 3x3, then that evening he got his buck. In 2007 I went back home to Iowa for a spring hunt with my dad. We hunted Iowa's first season and he shot a two year old on the second morning. I can still remember walking to the truck and seeing him leaning against the bed with a huge grin. I heard him shoot earlier and as I walked up and saw the grin it confirmed that he had scored. At the time I didn't know this would be dad's last bird, but he was really slowing down, and I knew he wasn't healthy. I ended up shooting a jake on the last day of this hunt, and it was neat to tag out with dad one last time.
I went back up in the spring of 2008,for the first spring season, and we hunted a couple of days, but this year dad was in really bad shape and could hardly hunt. Words can't describe how horrible this was to see. My dad died that following December a few days before Christmas. When he passed I grieved, but I was awful busy handing all of the arrangments, so I really never had time to really get over it, or really go through the grieving process. The follwoing spring I killed a bird on the second weekend of the GA season. I threw the bird over my shoulder and made the long walk back to the truck. When I got to the truck I reached for me cell phone and went to call my dad. After dad was gone for 4 months my first reaction after a succesful hunt was to still call him. It me like a ton of bricks, and it may sound strange but that is when it hit me that my dad was gone. I sat on the tailgate next to that gobbler and cried my eyes out. We had some great hunts over the years and I will always be thankful for the memories, and I will always be grateful to my dad for passing on the great hunting tradition. I am extremley thankful I was with him for his last deer and his last bird. SOrry to ramble guys this thread struck a nerve with me.
Ramble on Brother, I shed a tear reading this as well.........God Bless
Wow, good stuff. And great picture 2ounce6s , I like that a lot. Looks like a place I could just hang out and relax.
These are the times that leave an impression on men's souls forever. Really puts into perpesctive of what really matters. People matter. Thanks to all for sharing.....