Talking Turkey With an Old Friend

[zelmo1]

I did as we all did when starting out as solo turkey hunters, fumbled and learned, recalibrated and tried new things.I got lucky and hooked up with my buddy Joe here at work. Joe has a turkey brain in his pocket that talks to him, lol. I was immediately drawn to his knowledge of turkey behavior. He had a young daughter with the same name of my wife and she loved turkey hunting. Thing was that after more than a dozen good oppurtunities, she missed them all. Joe was frustrated and so was she. I, being a helper, offered to help. We went to the range and her issue was immediately noticeable. She was not putting her head on the stock, she was looking right over the barrel. Well this was an easy fix. We corrected the issue and she hit 3 turkey targets in a row. I went over to his house every day that week before youth day and we shot 1 shell, she was 5/5 of course. Youth day came and I tagged along for luck. Turkey man Joe struck a bird and it was on. After 37 hours, it felt like it, the bird worked in. I watched as the big tom worked in cautiously and she held her ground. At 22 yards she put his lights out. Joe sat back, his eyes rolled up and that big goofy smile came out. That moment we were all bonded. Fast forward 12 years and my youngest daughter and I rolled through Dunkin Donuts, made our order and rolled to the window. When I saw who was in the window I said "Hello". The young lady looked puzzled. " You don't remember me huh?" "Sorry I don't" was her reply. " I was with you and your dad when you shot your first turkey". "OMG, Big AL", and she started to cry. She waved us in and we went in. we spoke for just a couple minutes but it was wonderful. When we left, my daughter turned to me and said" That was awesome dad" and grabbed my hand. One of my shining moments. Have a nice day everyone. Z 

[bbcoach]

This is what God put us here for.  The Fellowship, LOVE and Kindness that each of us can provide our Fellow Men and Women.  Each of us are provided gifts that are supposed to be used to mimic God's Grace and Mercy.  Z you provided one of your gifts to Joe and his daughter, that took Joe's frustration away and provided Happiness and Joy, for his young daughter.  And in the process, allowed Your daughter's Respect and LOVE for you to GROW exponentially.  This is what is called a Life Changing Moment for 4 Special People!  To God Be the Glory!!!  Thanks for Sharing, Brother!!!

[TrackeySauresRex]

I did as we all did when starting out as solo turkey hunters, fumbled and learned, recalibrated and tried new things.I got lucky and hooked up with my buddy Joe here at work. Joe has a turkey brain in his pocket that talks to him, lol. I was immediately drawn to his knowledge of turkey behavior. He had a young daughter with the same name of my wife and she loved turkey hunting. Thing was that after more than a dozen good oppurtunities, she missed them all. Joe was frustrated and so was she. I, being a helper, offered to help. We went to the range and her issue was immediately noticeable. She was not putting her head on the stock, she was looking right over the barrel. Well this was an easy fix. We corrected the issue and she hit 3 turkey targets in a row. I went over to his house every day that week before youth day and we shot 1 shell, she was 5/5 of course. Youth day came and I tagged along for luck. Turkey man Joe struck a bird and it was on. After 37 hours, it felt like it, the bird worked in. I watched as the big tom worked in cautiously and she held her ground. At 22 yards she put his lights out. Joe sat back, his eyes rolled up and that big goofy smile came out. That moment we were all bonded. Fast forward 12 years and my youngest daughter and I rolled through Dunkin Donuts, made our order and rolled to the window. When I saw who was in the window I said "Hello". The young lady looked puzzled. " You don't remember me huh?" "Sorry I don't" was her reply. " I was with you and your dad when you shot your first turkey". "OMG, Big AL", and she started to cry. She waved us in and we went in. we spoke for just a couple minutes but it was wonderful. When we left, my daughter turned to me and said" That was awesome dad" and grabbed my hand. One of my shining moments. Have a nice day everyone. Z 

This is what God put us here for.  The Fellowship, LOVE and Kindness that each of us can provide our Fellow Man and Woman.  Each of us are provided gifts that are supposed to be used to mimic God's Grace and Mercy.  Z you provided one of your gifts to Joe and his daughter, that took Joe's frustration away and provided Happiness and Joy, for his young daughter.  And in the process, allowed Your daughter's Respect and LOVE for you to GROW exponentially.  This is what is called a Life Changing Moment for 4 Special People!  To God Be the Glory!!!  Thanks for Sharing, Brother!!!

Love this!

And make no mistake. This didn't happen by accident!

[GobbleNut]

Great story, z! That must have been a very rewarding experience for you.

As for the issue of newbies (and some of us oldies) missing turkeys, I can't tell you how many times I have had to tell folks to aim DOWN the barrel, not OVER it. It seems that no matter how many targets someone shoots, the moment a real gobbler comes along and that adrenaline kicks in, they can't help themselves. They raise their heads off of the stock to get a better look, put that bead at the end of the gun on the bird, pull the trigger, and watch that startled gobbler head for the hills unscathed after that swarm of shot flies harmlessly a couple of feet over their heads! 

Of course, it's always a good idea to practice what you preach. Yours truly MAY have inexplicably missed a gobbler or two over the years...but I always claim that it was a mis-manufactured shell that didn't have any BB's in it that was the problem!  THAT has got to be the only explanation...