Challenges....... new.......and...... Old
As I approach 40 years of hunting.... I await the up coming turkey season next week here in WV.
I will go stay at the cabin with dear friends, and enjoy good meals as well as fellowship. I can not help but to reflect on the many times I have entered the woods with a new challenge for myself....
The first big buck with a bow......or a gun...... First turkey......first turkey with a call I made....my first called deer.... My first called squirrel.... My first called coyote..... My first killed coyote..... My first time seeing a bobcat.... first time I called in a bear by accident, while coyote hunting at 2 AM.....
So many stories......and memories....
I cant help but remember one of the most satisfying hunts was many years ago when I decided to make a wing bone call and carry it into the woods to call in and kill an eastern wild turkey with it much like my ancestors did....
I set this challenge for myself.....and I stuck with it. It was frustrating.... Hard...... and More of a challenge than I had anticipated... After all the practice my wife could stand on the wingbone call at home..... I had realized it was much harder to sound like a hen when the gobbler was right there listening.... some of the sounds I made as I got excited were not unlike that of a goose getting stepped on.....
I must have scared off 20+ gobblers in my search of one I could call in...... Finally one crisp warm spring morning... I heard a gobble from the roost a half mile away....... I hurried to within 100 yds. as daylight awoke...... yelp Yelp Yelp on the wingbone and a Thundering gobble told me I was where I needed to be...... I waited...... GOBBLE.... Flap flap flap as the bird flew down then another thundering Gobble!!! Yelp yelp Yelp! on the wingbone again and he double gobbled...... I shut up knowing he was on his way..... Nothing...... Still nothing..... Yelp yelp yelp, once again.... He triple gobbled and came running in to my pitiful calling attempts...... BANG!!!! less than 20 yds. I put him down!!!!!! I did it...... It is the only one I can remember calling with a wingbone as it was one of the hardest challenges I had ever had...... and MAN am I glad I never gave up..... as I will never forget that experience.
I have killed a LOT of turkeys in my life..... God has blessed me with a place to be able to do that..... But none were more satisfying than this one...... Accept maybe the first one I ever got....
I cant wait to see what challenge I get to choose next....... Here is a pic of......
My favorite challenge.....
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...goodOlDays.jpg
When I hear folks say....... Oh thats to easy..... I cant help but wonder what they are missing by not challenging their self to try something new......... It has showed me.......and taught me so much.....
