I can’t begin to remember how many turkey hunts I’ve been a part of but it would surely have to be in the thousands. I have been blessed to call most of them “work related” which means I had no other thing to do for the whole day other than turkey hunt. Granted most of them have been while lugging a heavy camera and guiding another hunters but over the years that has become my standard MO and one that I have grown to love. During all this time I have been with every type of person you can imagine, male, female, veteran hunters, neophytes, customers, clients, businessmen, doctors, governors, senators, astronauts, rock stars, pro athletes and the list goes on but my favorite hunts are always with my family.
I have enjoyed what I do so much that I always wanted them to feel the joy and share some of those events in the woods with me. Having all girls it was not always easy to get them to go. They had their trips with me early on but as they grew older hunting was just not that high on their list of things they really wanted to do. I enjoyed many outings with both girls (Amy and Lauran) who collected their fair share of venison and turkey breast through the years and even got my wife Pam to shoot a few turkeys, but if they had to choose between a Saturday walking the woods with me or hitting the mall for the day, then I was always a distant second. I have been on a few of those mall excursions and I can tell you those three girls could walk further, faster and longer than I ever dreamed of while turkey hunting.
For me it was never about being able to tell someone that my girls hunt, I just wanted them to know enough about it so we could talk and relate from time to time about the outdoors. That mission was accomplished and I could not be more proud of them today for many reasons but certainly for taking some interest in what I do so around the dinner table we can all talk a little about hunting.
