Top_Heavy's World

"Honey, we are here. Come on baby, it's time to get up" I gently rubbed her leg in an attempt to wake my sleeping daughter. "I just want to sleep daddy" was her almost closed eye response. "We will be straight down this fence at the timber OK? Are you listening? Straight down the fence OK?" Korin was asleep again. I covered her up and shut the door to the truck. We were parked in the middle of a 200 acre farm. The entire farm is a cow pasture, so I would be able to see the truck if she got out, and being more than 5 miles from the nearest "real road", I was pretty secure with leaving her. I had really wanted to take both of the important women in my life, on this hunt, but it just wasn't to be. Stephanie and I doned our camo headnets, gloves and hats and started down the fence. This fence row led to my favorite and most productive turkey spot of all time... The Dream Field. The toms were gobbling before we even got to the edge of the field. "Did you hear that?" I asked in an excited whisper. "Hear what?" was her response. I stopped and pulled back her stocking cap and that old gobbler sang to her, as if on que. "That's a turkey? I hear it, I hear it, that is cool!" Her excitement was becoming visible. I hurried the pace, I wanted to get a decoy set before it got light enough to see us.
I had been trying to get my young wife to hunt with me for years, she was a tough sell, but she finally agreed to shoot a turkey. Deer are too pretty, ducks too small, pheasants take too much walking... I happily agreed on a turkey during the next spring season. I took Steph shooting to get her used to the feel of a gun. She shot very well and soon was having no problem shooting pop cans out to about 30 yards. This was great time together and really brought us together. Steph took her hunter's safety class, a great step for any wife who might have children that hunt. I took her to my favorite sporting goods store and purchased her a complete set of women's camo. Comfort is much more important to women, so if you want her to enjoy herself, spoil her! Silk long jons, silk camo shirt, womens cut pants and she even got her own pair of Lacrosse rubber boots. We were set for opening morning.
I led the way to the intersection of the East/West fence we were on, and the North/South fence that was the West edge of the timber. The big tom was still gobbling his head off and he sounded about 100 yards away. We slipped through the fence and slid into a brush pile. I put a flock of decoys about 10 yards into the picked field in front of us. We were set up to have a clear shot back into the field the truck was in, into the field in front of us and good visibility into the timber to the North of us. With in minutes the tom was on the ground and he answered every call I made. The strange thing was, this bird was working behind us into the field the truck was in. We hadn't been in the brush pile for 10 minutes and the tom was running down the fence right at us! Steph was hyperventilating! The tom passed us about 8 feet away at a trot, passed a goose berry bush and came through the fence. The decoys were visible to him at this angle and he went into strut. I have taken a lot of turkeys, but this was the first time I had one between me and the decoys! Steph could hardly control herself, she had been a turkey hunter for about 15 minutes and there was a mature tom turkey at about 5 yards, in full strut. She slowly moved the gun a few inches and jerked the trigger. BOOM... let the flopping begin! I couldn't believe it, my wife had harvested her first animal, a big mature tom Eastern Turkey. I took an entire roll of pictures of that bird, firsts don't come often, so I was loving this morning. We gathered our gear, Steph carried her bird, and we headed for the truck. Korin was still sleeping, the entire morning lasted just under an hour!

This is my wife, Stephanie's first turkey, a great tom taken at about 5 yards. When Jim Kindig mounted the turkey he only found 5 tiny holes... last time I checked, a 3" magnum 12ga shotgun shell has more than 5 pellets in it... Congratulations honey, I am still very proud!