Yesterday my dad drove up from Dallas to go turkey hunting for the day. He took me hunting for the very frist time when I was 3 and we've spend lots and lots of time hunting just about everything for a lot of years. We've hunted pheasants, chuckars, huns, quail, grouse, antelope, deer, elk, hogs, small game... and done just about every kind of fishing you can imagine. For some reason, we've never really hunted turkeys together.

Anyway we met at 6:00am and headed to a spot where I've called in a lot of birds in the last couple weeks. We set up and as soon as the birds came off the roost they quit talking. After about 2 hours we heard a few gobbles way off in the distance and I responded with a couple of loud yelps. Immediately the birds gobbled back and I quit calling. The birds gobbled a couple more times, obviously getting closer and I let out one more yelp and stopped again. My dad was video taping and I told him that I wasn't going to shoot a jake.

*Let me give you a little insight on the pops. I've seen this guy kill probably 25 mule deer, multiple antelope, elk... you name it and I've NEVER seen him get the fever, regardless of how big the animal was. He has an antelope in Pope & Young that he spot and stalked and shot at 40 yards in 1983 (I think).

Anyway... He says, "There he is!!!" and immediately I recognized the bird one that I called in the previous weekend, the bird has a 4" beard that sticks absolutely straight out. I told him to get his bow and I'd take the camera. I didn't have any decoys out, pretty much because I was lazy (which is why I didn't call much, I wanted the bird to come looking for us). Anyway, the bird gets to 12 yards behind a bushand my "Ice cold" pops says, "Is it my top or bottom pin?" I cracked up laughing and said "Top!", which you can hear on the video and the bird turned to go to our right. Eventually the bird walks into the clear at 20 yards and my dad lets it go and shoots over the top of him (all on video). I start laughing hysterically and look over to see my dad shaking like a leaf with a giant smile on his face.We picked up our stuff and went to eat lunch before the evening hunt.

We set up inpretty much the same location and had a few pigs come out but never got close enough for a shot. Pretty soon we hear a bird gobble, again I call once and shut up. Fifteen minutes later the bird gobbles not more than 50 yards but we still can't see him. My dad starts getting excited again and this bird pops out at 30 yards. He immediately spots my B-Mobile and goes into full strut, running to the decoy. Soon as hisfan comes up I realize he's a jake. My dad is now ridiculously excited and tells me "take him,take him!"Iwasn't going to shoot a jake, but becausethe situation and my dad's excitement, Ichanged my mind. The bird came to 17 yards and tried to fight my decoy, at full draw and full strut he gobbled and then I let it go. The bird went 10 yards, layed down and expired. It was the smallest bird I've ever killed and definitely the most meaningful, just to share the hunt with my dad.

Again we packed up our stuff as it was getting dark and headed back to the truck. We took a few photos and as he was getting ready to leave some coyotes started howling very close to where we were. Predator hunting is a passion that my dad instilled in me a long time ago. I grabbed the .243 and handed it to him, as I grabbed my FoxPro. We ran down the road towards the dogs and set up on the corner of a short, yellow grass field. I turned on the caller and it wasn't 10 seconds there were three dogs running at us full speed. In our rush I didn't grab shooting stix or the shotgun... Anyway, the biggest dog got to 30 yards and he dropped him in his tracks. The other two took off running and a 4th coyote came out a few seconds later. I barked at he stopped at about 200 yards and my dad missed. It was pretty exciting none the less and had I grabbed the benelli and shooting stick we probably would have killed 3 of 4.

Here are a couple of pictures from yesterday. Sorry for the long post, and I apologizeto TeamFeather Fluffers for not shooting a bigger bird first.