04/15/2026
Life is busy… don’t nearly have the free time to hunt like days past. Those days will come again but in the meantime we make it work…
For 8 years i’ve put in to draw this permit. Two years before my oldest son was born I decided it was draw this permit or bust. I’ve hunted this slice of heaven before on a friend’s redraw but never on my own, never behind the gun. When I finally drew the hunt my six year old son was in his first turkey hunt prime! When he said he wanted to go I knew I had just taken a back seat on an 8 year old journey.
I would not trade killing a million turkey hunts for JW’s first bird with his Papa and myself in the blind. Since then he’s strutting around the house like a new man. That hunt was one of the coolest experiences I’ve had in the outdoors but I still felt the need to get my own.
T-ball, bdays, family time, church, chores, The Masters… it’s tough to balance a hunting lifestyle and be a great father/ husband. Luckily, .bates has always went out of her way to allow me to chase these hunting dreams.
I was able to slip away Sunday afternoon for one final try at these local longbeards. As a run and gun turkey hunter these afternoon hunts can be tough but I found a perfect shady midday post. Sitting with my back across an oak tree branch that has grown towards the ground, with three shooting lanes cleared, I locked in and committed to a long sit. Sunday at The Masters streaming on the phone kept me content as I called every 15 minutes.
An hour later he appeared. He worked in from 250 yds over about 15 minutes, silent, on alert, reluctant. For 5 minutes he stood at 15 yards behind the oak leaves, blocking our view of each other. When he finally broke strut and committed to the decoys he hit the gap at 12 yds and it was over. Blessed.
Love chasing these birds. Love being in God’s great outdoors. Love the challenge of balancing all of the good in life.
