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My First Turkey
Posted by Junior Shooters
By: Abbigail Taylor (10)
Last year my dad took me to Scooters Youth Hunting Camp for the first time. The camp is held in Emmett at Gem State Rod and Gun Club. The camp has six different stations. They allow you to shoot shotguns, 22’s, muzzleloaders, archery. They also show you the proper techniques for knife sharpening and gun cleaning and have a station for survival. The camp also has mini-seminars. One was Larry Lansdowne (known for his turkey calling). He demonstrated three different types of calls: the yelp, cluck, and purr. After hearing Larry’s demonstration, I knew I wanted to go turkey hunting.
This past winter I took hunter’s safety with my mom. Being 10, I can’t hunt big game for another two years. So now was my time to hunt turkeys. Unfortunately, my dad has never hunted turkey before either. We talked to Paul Waldon. He said, “I will take Abbi out, put her in for a controlled hunt, and if she gets drawn, I will take her.” My mom and dad bought my hunting license and put me in for the draw. A few weeks had past, and finally I got a postcard in the mail saying that I had been drawn for the controlled turkey hunt. I was jumping off the walls with excitement.
My dad called Paul to let him know I was drawn. A couple weeks into the season, Paul called and said, “I found a great spot.” On Sunday, April, 28th, we met Paul at Fred Meyer at 5:00 a.m. Paul had us put all our gear in his truck so we could get to the property we were hunting in Notus. After we parked, we walked on a dirt road along the river to the blind. We got all set up, and Paul told us the plan. We waited and waited, listening to Paul call to the turkeys as they answered back. Soon we heard gobblers all around us. After about an hour of calling, Paul saw a tom and hen come around the corner. As soon as the tom saw the decoys, he ran over to them and started jumping on them. I then got a good eye on him and Paul said, “SHOOT!” so I did. “You got it,” Paul and my dad said. After we celebrated, Paul said, “Let’s sit quietly and see if we can get some more to come in.” Paul started calling again, and in a little bit, two more big toms and two hens came in. We took tons of pictures and videos of the turkeys. One turkey was pecking at the head of my dead turkey that was lying on the ground. We heard tons of weird noises from the turkeys. Paul explained all the noises and why they make the noises while strutting.
When the turkeys walked off, we went out to look at the turkey I shot. We then tagged it and took lots of pictures of me, my dad, and my turkey. We stopped at a great café (The Garage) for breakfast and talked and enjoyed the time together. After breakfast, we went back to Fred Meyer to get our car. He showed us how to preserve the spurs and pluck the beard and feathers. My dad and I took the turkey back to our house to show my mom and sisters and clean it. We took some feathers to keep, skinned it, and washed all the meat to clean it really good.
I told everybody that it was the best day ever, and I would always remember the day I got my first turkey in one shot. I learned so much. I really enjoyed every part of it, and I can’t wait to go turkey hunting again!
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