Hunting with Mom by Joshua Rather

It was a cold crisp morning and I was up and getting ready to go Turkey hunting. I couldn’t believe it when Mom got out of the bed and started getting reading too. My Dad and I got my sister’s shotgun ready for her to carry; I believe my Dad was more excited than either mom or myself he wanted to go too but was leaving for work. We headed out on our little adventure, all I could think of was,  I hope I can call a turkey in for my Mom. How cool would that be to call in my first bird and have Mom take it.

We headed down the road and mom couldn’t stop talking about how excited she was.  I was nervous; I had never called a turkey into shooting range.  We finally made it to the piece of property that my dad and I knew very well.  We have hunted this place for several years but we’d had little luck when it came to calling turkeys in, every time we went hunting there we heard five or six each morning.  As my mom and I walked down the road to the field we heard a turkey gobble, my mom looked at me and I said we need to hurry.

We still had to go about 300 yards to the spot I had set up for us.  We finally made it to the spot;   the turkey was still gobbling his head off.  I told my mom to sit and I walked 20 yards out in front of our spot and set up the decoys.  I quickly went back to the row of trees were she was sitting in and sat down next to her.  Little did I know I had made a grave mistake, I sat us in a little row of trees in the middle of the field.  I though the turkey would come out in front us because that’s the direction he was gobbling from.  I told my mom to sit still and started calling.

Every time I called he would let out a beautiful gobble, he was coming closer and closer.  I couldn’t believe I was calling in my first turkey and it was for my mom who had never even heard or seen a turkey except for on TV.  I told my mom to keep an eye out behind us in case he came out there.  When all of a sudden I heard my mom say   “O my god, Josh look” I said “What, you see him?”  She said “He’s right behind me”.  The turkey had come out behind us and was standing 15 yards away.  I told her don’t move a muscle, I called a little and he gobbled he started to walk around us when he just stopped and looked right us.

I could tell he was about to bust us. I whispered to my mom to get ready, I made a clucking noise and he raised his head .I said now, but before she could even raise the gun he was running away. I pulled my gun up to see if I could get a shot but I let him go, not wanting to wound him. I looked at my mom who was staring at me and said “Wow, now that was exciting” we laughed and continued sitting there.  We sat there for about an hour and didn’t hear a thing.  I told her lets go, I knew another place we could go. We started out to the truck and I called as we walked and still didn’t hear anything.  We left and went to the other spot.

I stepped out of the truck and called, nothing.  I drove a little further down the dirt road and called again still nothing.  I turned around and went down another road to some fields. It was a little muddier than it usually is.  I came up to a spot where you could tell people had been playing in the mud; I looked at my mom and said hold on.  No sooner had I started through the mud, I realized I wasn’t in a little mud hole.  I gave it the gas and nothing; I was stuck with no one there to get me out.  My mom looked at me and said “we better not be stuck”.  I laughed and said sorry. She was not happy.

We went to get out and she couldn’t even open her door. I called my dad at work and he wasn’t happy either, he said that we would have to just sit there till he got off of work, Ha-ha.  I called a few friends and one came and picked us up and took us home to get our other truck.  I thanked her and we headed back to get my truck.  We made it to my truck and pulled it out.  When we got it out I looked at my phone and realized we still had about 40 min to hunt.  We drove out to the first dirt road and I called, and out of all the things we heard one gobble. I told her grab just her gun and follow me.  We ran down the road and walked about 20 yard in the woods and sat.

I called again and he was right on top of us.  I told mom to be still and as soon as she saw it to shoot it. I looked at my phone again 10 min was all we had left. I looked back up and there he was 40 yards away and walking right towards us.  I said “I see it don’t move”.  He was about 20 yards in front of me but mom couldn’t see it, he walked closer and I knew he was getting too close,  we didn’t have any cover.  As soon as my mom saw him he saw us and ran off I yelled shoot him but it was too late.  We had run out time and we started walking back to the trucks.  When we got home we waited for dad to get home, my mom was still excited from all the stuff that had happened that day.  She told dad she wanted to go again.  He laughed and said “you’re hooked now”.

That day I will never forget, it will always be with me just like all the hunts I went on with my dad.