Turkey Hunting Essentials...

My oldest son recently turned nine, and is now getting to the age where I am beginning to take him along on real hunting trips, as opposed to the "hunting trips" we've taken in the past.

Such was the case this weekend, when I asked if he'd like to go turkey hunting down at the farm, actually an old homestead that has been in my wife's family for over a century now, and will, I suppose, eventually be passed on to our sons.

I was hesitant to ask him, however, because while it's a good place to take a kid deer and duck hunting, it's not so good for turkey hunting with a child tagging along. Virtually all of the area's turkeys roost along a creekbottom a half-mile away and feed along the creek as well, so locating and setting up on a bird coming off a roost is out, and finding scattered and close-mouthed mid-day toms involves a lot of walking, spotting and stalking. Combine that with the fact that it's early season and many toms are still shadowing unbred hens and therefore require a higher level of calling skill than I possess, and it was looking like a low-percentages day.

Of course, it mattered not. When I asked if he wanted to go, he immediately jumped up, ran to his bedroom and began preparing for the following day's hunt. In hindsight, I probably should have supervised that...

The next morning I got up, drank my coffee, got my gear together and in the truck, then went to wake my son. I drank another cup of coffee as I waited.

What emerged from my son's bedroom was not my son, but a camo-clad, clinking, clanking child-sized blob of "survival gear" wearing a headlamp and a backpack he himself could have fit in. Around this creature's waist was a belt containing his "survival knife", his "hunting knife", his Leatherman, a canteen and an official Field & Stream survival kit (including pocket knife, sewing kit, compass, signal mirror, whistle and flashlight). I have no idea where he got the survival kit. I think my father-in-law got it as a gift for subscribing to the magazine.

He had an old pair of binoculars slung around his neck. An additional pair of "Eye Clops" children's night-vision binoculars was stowed in his backpack, along with an additional flashlight, granola bars, string cheese, a water bottle, a roll of kitestring, various items of clothing and - inexplicably - one of my old Jimmy Buffet cassettes.

I briefly considered making him leave it all there, but I saw the excitement in his eyes and kept my mouth shut. He's only nine. There'll be time enough for all that later.

 No turkeys died that day, but we had a lot of fun. God I miss the sheer joy and excitement and magic dust of being a kid...