king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Hunting Illustrated April/May 2008 - Index

You can imagine my surprise when Jeff informed me one cold
January evening that I had drawn out on my fi rst turkey hunt. Dad and
Jeff were so excited to get me out turkey hunting, but I have to admit that I
was a little worried that I might catch the turkey fever myself. At the time,
I was nine months pregnant with our little boy, so that made it even more
diffi cult to muster up too much excitement. Jeff was also a little concerned
and wondered if I would be feeling up to hunting six weeks after the baby
would arrive. I decided that I would probably be feeling better by then,
and I assumed that there wouldn’t be too much hiking involved.
Our son Huntington arrived in February, and we all settled into
our new life with another little one in the house. It was very nice to draw
out on a hunt that was close to Mom and Dad’s house. While we were
caring for a newborn, Dad was out doing all the work for me. He spent
countless hours “putting the turkeys to bed” in their roost and watching
them fl y down from the roost in the early morning hours. He knew all
about the fl ock’s feeding patterns, and he had even picked a perfect bush
for our set-up. Thankfully, Mom was willing to watch the new baby and
our two-year old, Brooklyn.
The afternoon before the opener, Jeff decided that I should
practice shooting the shotgun. I had been on several big game hunts, so
I felt comfortable shooting a rifl e, but a shotgun was a different story. It
did give me some piece of mind to know that my target would hopefully
be on the ground, not fl ying in the sky. We stopped at the gravel pit before
leaving town. I shot two shells. Jeff must have been satisfi ed with my
pattern because after that we were on our way to my parents house.
Opening morning seemed to come too early, especially after
several feedings with the baby in the night. I did feel some excitement
running in my blood that morning as I layered on my Mountain Shadow
camoufl age. As we drove up the hills in the truck, I sat between my two
favorite men. I felt lucky to be spending some one-on-one time with them
in the beautiful mountains. I was starting to feel a little nervous about the
kill shot. I apologized in advance to them if I missed the shot. I knew Dad
had spent a lot of time spotting for me so that I could have a successful
hunt. I also didn’t know if we would be able to make it back later in
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