RE: Where would a guy go...
LAST EDITED ON Jul-13-10 AT 10:33AM (MST)[p]The story behind these pictures is very unique
I wanted to share these pictures with you and tell you about Madison?s (my daughter) first Turkey Hunt. She drew a tag for Southern Utah. She is 11 years old and has worked really hard to get her hunters safety so that she can be my hunting buddy. I was out of town when she attended her hunter?s safety classes but I made it back for her shooting test. She did it on her own!
We took our whole family (mom, younger sister, two younger brothers and Taz the dog) down to camp for the hunt and to take some time to play in the mountains. As we pulled into the hunting area on Friday night we saw several turkeys standing in our camp site. We were all excited and couldn't wait to head out hunting then next morning. I have a friend Bo Shaheen, who works with Primo?s that has helped me to get ready for the hunt. I should add here that I know almost nothing about Turkey hunting so this was a new thing for us. I am still amazed by the fact that we got anything at all.
Morning came and we got up and dressed. A quick four wheeler ride later and we were on the birds. I gave a couple of crow calls and you'd have thought I was rock star at a NASCAR race. About 6 toms yelled back. I ran up and set out our decoys, this?ll be a layup I thought at the time. Then I got my daughter ready and started to put up our double bull blind. This is the same blind that I let my dad use a couple of years ago and he brought back in pieces in a trailer. When you are in a hurry and you forget exactly how to put them up very bad things can and do happen.
After attempting to put the blind up for a few minutes I realized that I was in trouble. My dear sweet daughter was there waiting with an expectant look on her face for me, to get the blind up so that we could hunt. I was a little stressed but still thought I was smarter than the blind. I was wrong. As it turns out the blind was much smarter than I gave it credit for. I felt like an all star wrestler as I began my first bout with the Double Bull. The sun was getting ready to make an appearance and the sky was starting to lighten. We were only 100 yards or so from the roost tree and the turkey?s day. It almost sounded like an air raid as they left the tree. They quickly started to move our way and it felt like they were about to overrun our position. I started to have flashbacks to my time in the Gulf. Every few seconds or so there would be a thunderous gobble. There was starting to be a question as to who was hunting who. We were about to be invaded by blood thirsty toms. I started off with a case of mild panic at this time. I was more nervous about getting my daughter a bird that I ever have been getting anything of my own.
That's when the blind struck back. I had been cursing it under my breath because I was sure it was resisting on purpose. I felt a sharp pain on my index finger and realized that a sizeable chunk was now missing. At this point I really had to bite back (pun intended) some comments that I never want my dear sweet daughter to hear. Gripping the polls became much more difficult due to the fact that blood is an amazing lubricant. The Double Bull just didn't want help out. For some reason we were no longer friends. As I was in the act of pulling and prodding the dang thing bit me again. One of the fiberglass poles cracked and sent shards into my hand. I hope that my daughter didn't hear most of the words that I quietly muttered but I'm afraid that she might have.
So there I was holding the blind bleeding profusely and trying to be my daughters hero. She looked over at me and asked ?dad is everything ok?? I said sure it is sweety, just give me a minute. Evidently that was a minute I didn't have because several of the toms started to come our way fast. In the absence of any other options or ideas (I was getting more flustered at this point) I threw the blind on the ground in a pile for us to hide behind. The dang thing didn't even have the decency to stand up. I held a couple of polls like the rabbit ears for an old TV and muttered to myself?.?be the blind?.
Several of the turkey scouts came around the corner and glared at us. I'm not sure if at that point they were laughing or just surprised that someone would try to hide behind a big black pile of rags. They watched for a minute and then ran off to tell the rest of the turkeys about the two bozo?s that they just seen. The first battle went to the turkeys but the war was far from won.
I picked up the blind and pulled back behind some bushes to get it together. There were turkeys all around us and we needed a place to hide. I started to take it apart when I felt a chill from a beady stare and looked up?...The tom?s were back with friends. They had gathered some buddies to watch the gong show. My daughter couldn't see them but they were giving me the eye and laughing amongst themselves. They watched me for a minute or so, then sure we weren't a threat, they wandered off.
I finally got the blind put back together and carried it up to where the turkeys were had been watching us. I ran back and grabbed my daughter and the decoys. As we got up to the blind two more turkeys were inspecting the blind. Word gets around fast in those hills, I think they were trying to count coo. We got into the blind and listened to the turkeys talk, plot, and laugh for another hour or so. We then packed up, for some reason we were friends again and the blind went down much easier than it went up. We headed back to camp for breakfast and a blood transfusion. I was starting to get light headed.
At camp I patched my wounds and tried to rehydrate from the blood loss. My daughter bless her heart had a great morning and with a smile told her siblings about dad?s lost fight with the blind.
Then I cleared a space got the blind out and decided that only one of us was going to walk away from this fight. I'd remember the trick and putting it up or die trying. Short while later as I was sitting there sweating and muttering more words I don't want my children to know, my daughter came over and asked me how it was going. I explained that I was trying to remember how to put up the blind. She stood there and looked at it for a minute. Then she said ?you are doing it wrong?. She knelt down grabbed the other side of the blind and popped out the first side. Everything else just goes up after you pop out the first side. I guess she gets that from her mother?s family.
We practiced putting the blind up and it went up great. We played with the family and had a fun day. That evening Madison and I went back to the scene of the morning?s crime. I thought the turkeys might be back for laughs but we were ready for them this time. We put out the decoys and popped up the blind and were ready for a wait.
My daughter and I both love to read so we started to read and relax. Every once in a while I would call a few times. After about 45 minutes my phone started to vibrate. I thought it might be my wife so I reached to grab the phone. As I was bending over I looked up and saw a large flock of turkeys start into the clearing. They looked like they were doing a Marti Gras line dance into the clearing. I dropped the phone and told Madison to get ready, the turkeys were here. She put down her book and grabbed her gun. Revenge was in our grasp and I smiled as she got ready for the fight.
The first 6 birds were all toms. When they saw the decoys they forgot all about our altercation that morning and went into full strut. At this point I was a little stressed. It was game time and I wanted my girl to get her bird. She calmly started to track the birds using a tripod I had ready for her. She came to the first fiberglass poll and had to readjust the gun. The longer she waited the more nervous I became. The turkeys continued to strut and intimidate the decoys?..and then she shot. The third turkey in line did a back flip and hit the ground. We were off like a shot to get her bird. There was no reason to hurry it was stone cold dead. We performed our turkey dance and had high fives and hugs. I called my wife to come up with the rest of the kids and we kept high fiving while we waited.
We carried the bird over to the blind and I noticed that in the excitement she'd shot a hole in my blind. However I figured that after the exciting morning and a fantastic evening a hole in my Double Bull blind was a small price to pay for my daughter?s first bird?...Blood sweat and tears. Besides the blind deserved it anyway, I think I need stitches!
My family got there and we took pictures and had some more hugs. It turned out to be an awesome camp and we all had a great time.
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