My First Turkey

It was the spring of 2005 when I went on my first turkey hunt. The nervous excitement of a first hunt swept over my whole body. My friend Rik took me to a meet a friend of his that owned some land in south east Nebraska. He was very happy to have me hunt his farm and I was very grateful. Rik set up a blind for me to use for the day. The blind would help to conceal me and my wheelchair from the birds.

I have heard many stories about how tough it is to hunt turkies so I really didn't think I had much of a chance being my first time out but I was sure excited about the opportunity to try it. Rik helped get me all set up in the blind then he cocked my crossbow and took off to another location that he wanted to try. I could hear birds in the distance so I tried calling to them to see if I could get one to come my way, but nothing was moving at my location. A couple of hours had passed with nothing and I thought that this was going to be a bust, but it was great to be out of the house.

I think it was about three hours when out of the woods to my right came a single young tom. He was no monster turkey but that didn't matter to me, he would do just fine. He slowly walked to the front of my blind stopping from time to time to pick at the ground. If I could only keep from shaking long enough to make the shot. Then he stopped, that was the second that I needed. I let loose with the arrow. It was a hit!! I could see the feathers fly. He walked a little ways back toward the woods and was then out of sight. I know that I hit him so I didn't think he would make it very far. I just needed to be sure of where he went into the woods and the time. I new where and when, so that when Rik came back by to check on me I could give him some good directions to start looking for my turkey.

It was about 45 minutes before Rik returned and I told him of the turkey and the shot. He walked out to were I hit the bird. He saw the feathers on the ground, and then walked toward the spot I told him were the turkey went in the woods. There he was. Rik bent over picked up my prize and brought it over to me. I was so excited I couldn't believe it.

My first turkey!!
Dave Burgess