Turkey

Turkeys, yea we will all eat some this coming week but have you really ever seen them out in the wild? Hanging out looking for food or better yet roosting for the evening? Well in case you didn't realize turkeys sleep in the trees and I was lucky enough to be out with my dad a few sundays ago and got the chance to see a "turkey" fixing its "bed". Seen here in a rare photo, i'm standing below the "turkey". He doesn't even realize I'm taking a picture as he prepares to nest in for the evening.

Ok so its not a real turkey but its my dad acting like one! Why would i say that? because hes in his sixtys and still climbing trees to hunt whitetail deer! This particular weekend I went with him to carry some of the gear he needed in to the spot where he hunts. Now I wish I could tell you where that is but ever since I was 12 and started hunting with my dad he has kept his hunting areas top secret. To the point where my brother and I where both blindfolded before leaving the house and he would untie the blindfolds only after we had reached a parking spot. Sometimes I actually felt as if he just took us for a drive up the road and we where really only hunting behind our house but I'll never be sure of that.


So after getting blindfolded again this wekend and having the flashbacks to younger days. My dad and i hiked up over the hill to an area where he wanted to place a stand. We walked around scouting for some signs but there really wheren't any. He made the comment how there is always something around so he picked out a tree and I helped him put the stand in. Once in place he started shouting out orders to remove some brush from there and cut those limbs out of there and so on. All the while I'm thinking there isn't a dog gone sign of a deer trail anywhere he has told me to clear a shooting lane but whatever I did it. We walked down out a different way just to scout a little more before i was asked to put the blindfold back on for the return trip.



The next night i called the old "turkey" to see how he made out in the new stand and wouldn't you know he missed a small buck right thru the shooting lane we made by clearing brush. Now how in the heck did he know something would come thru there? I have no idea but thats the way hunting has always been with my dad. I remember as a kid seeing turkeys and deer when nobody else was. In fact back then turkeys where nowhere near as abundant as they are now and just seeing one in the woods was something out of the ordinary!

Anyway to this day my dad continues to fill his tags with turkey and deer both. He may be a bit slower getting up the hills or climbing the trees but his sense for finding game is still spot on! Since I started riding bikes and racing I've stopped hunting so I don't get out much with my dad but it really isn't suprising to hear of his bagging a deer as its more or less expected. It was nice to spend the short afternoon with him in the woods and it brought back many many memories. In fact one was how he would always "fly" thru the woods so silent and it was hard as a kid to keep up so we tended to more or less run which made alot of noise. My dad would always look back and tell us to "lift your feet and keep up" but on this adventure I was the one telling him that. Funny how things change! Another memory was one time my brother and I where told to walk up in on the other side of the hill from my dad to our spots. So he dropped us at a fireroad and took off. This was early and it was still dark and both my brother and I where terrified of the dark! As he and I walked up in we made a plan to sit together until daylight then split to our designated spots. This sounded good but if dad found out we where up and moving around after light we might get in trouble for spooking any deer in sight. Oh well we took the chance and never did tell dad. Funny funny stuff.

Anyway besides teaching me how to scout and hunt deer my dad has givin me many other qualities that have made me the person i am today. For instance his work ethics and commitment to family probably are the reasons I have done so well in my career and with bike racing. So I was happy to get the afternoon with him which is usually hard with my training and racing.

stork