Unforgettable. This was my first hunt and Matt made it one I will always remember. We were walking into the property at 6:30am and by 7:20am we were walking out of the woods with a 20lb Turkey and having a celebratory beer at the truck!
This was my first-time hunting anything so I really didn’t know what to expect. I was trying to mentally prepare myself to sit in one spot all day and then be ready to do it again the next day, but nature had a different plan for us. As we walked from the truck into the woods Matt began to make turkey calls on/off until we reached the large oak tree where we decided to camp out. As Matt was setting up the decoys, I positioned myself under the tree, thinking to myself – “I wonder how long we’ll be sitting here?!”

 

Sitting silently under the tree I was checking out the valley to the right while Matt was scanning the hills in front of us. After 30 minutes of sitting silent, Matt began to make a few more calls with no responses. 10 minutes later Matt whispers to me “Don’t move, he’s right there”. The turkey was walking 32 yards away, behind some brush, completely silent. He was right where we had walked 40 minutes ago!
I raised my Remington 870, clicked the safety off, and held the 12 gauge across Matts chest with the barrel about a foot past his left shoulder. I asked “Are you sure about this” (3 times), Matt smirked and kept saying yes. Matt made one last call, the turkey moved past the last bit of brush and I pulled the trigger. Direct hit to the head and upper back along the spine.

It was an unreal experience from the adrenaline pumping, excitement of pulling the trigger and seeing Matt’s reaction. After a few minutes of cleaning up the decoys, we walked over and captured our prize. Matt had me throw the turkey over my shoulder and we headed back to the truck. By 7:40am we had a celebratory beer and began our journey back to the house in time for breakfast!

As a first-timer, this was an unbelievable experience and I am grateful that Matt was willing to take me out. He helped me pick out which gun to get, bullets to buy, and licenses to purchase. I’m very thankful and will definitely be hunting again after an experience like this!