After driving to Pa to visit my family and help out on the farm I was greeted by my father in his camo outfit with a big smile. It was late in the evening Friday and my father anticipated I would try and roost a turkey for the Saturday opener. He asked if he could go with me. I was shocked due to the fact my father had been fighting neck cancer, chemo and radiation. He said he didn’t know how much physical exercise he could do, but would love to get back into the woods. I accepted his offer with a smile and we headed off.
We drove to a ridgeline where I have roosted birds in the past seasons. As darkness approached I could see my father was in his glory, being back in the outdoors in the environment I know he loves. I let out a few gobbles and was answered back immediately by a few gobblers. I knew right where they were for the morning hunt.
4 a.m. came quickly the next morning. As I was getting dressed, I was shocked to hear my father’s voice asking if he could join me in the mornings hunt. Taken back by the request I replied “ I’ll get you stuff for ya.” After gathering up everything I felt he would need, we headed off. It felt awesome driving to our hunting spot knowing my father was going hunting with me; something we did many times when I was younger. After arriving at our hunting spot I grabbed his gear from the truck and we headed off to the ridgeline. I knew my dad would have problems staying still and holding up his shotgun. I decided to put him further back in the brush to conceal his movement. I set up his chair and a shooting stick in place.
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It was a beautiful morning. The air was calm, warm and clear sky. I could just start to see the silhouettes of the decoys.
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A fox started barking in the thicket behind us. That is when the thunder chickens opened up! One would gobble then another would sound off. I could count 9 different turkeys. I responded with a few soft tree yelps and was quickly answered by the thunder of gobbles. Now it was just a waiting game. As the sun started peeking over the horizon I heard the first turkey leaving the roost. I responded with a few fly down cackles, followed by yelps. Every gobbler in hearing distance was answering back. As I was sweet talking the gobblers, I had this feeling something was behind us. As I slowly turned to look back I met the eyes of a coyote at 4 yards. My father turned his head just in time to catch the coyote walking up the field edge. Focusing back on the turkeys I spotted two jakes at about 200 yards in the open field. They were gobbling and heading straight to the decoys. I knew this was it. Could my father finally seal the deal on his first gobbler? I told my father to get his gun up and keep his gun on the decoys. As the two jakes approached my flock of decoys they went into strut. It was funny watching the two jakes act like they were the studs of the woods. One of the two turkeys and a decoy met the load of 5shot.
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The second turkey just stood there gobbling at the downed bird. Shocked to see the other bird not leaving, I picked my shotgun. The second turkey met the same fate.
I could careless that we took two jakes. My father cheered and smiled. He had got his first turkey, and shot a double with his son. I would not trade that smile, on his face, for the world. We sat there on that ridge recapping the events and watched the sun rises to a beautiful morning. After taking photos and loading up the gear, we headed home. I told my dad I never expected him to go hunting, never mind us shooting a double. He replied back to me, “I don’t know how much longer I have here, and want to enjoy it as much as I can with my family”. If time can stand still, it was at that very moment.
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