LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. — A wise man once told me, what your children are interested in is what you should be interested in. The wise man was my neighbor and the advice came last week. That leads us to where I was Sunday.

Easter dinner lay in shambles and Easter eggs had been gathered. We were sitting on the front porch listening to my nephews’ tales of the turkeys that had harvested the day before. My kids practiced their turkey calls with the only response coming from the house dogs.

With the dawn soon setting on another youth season, Maggie’s interest had once again turned to turkey hunting.

She wanted to use her crossbow, but when we tried a practice shot the crossbow would not cooperate. She couldn’t use my 20 gauge. The recoil would send her spinning through Daniel Boone National Forest like the Tasmanian Devil. The only option I had was a single shot H & R Topper Junior 20 gauge. It was the first gun my dad gave me. It’s funny how things come full circle.

Old Topper hadn’t seen a hunting trip in years and had never been pointed at a turkey. The shells were leftover from a squirrel hunting trip with buddies before we all became married with children. They were the wrong shot size for turkey, but I wasn’t going to tell her. I would worry about that after we saw a turkey.

So we packed the truck for Cane Creek with a 12 gauge and a 12-year old.

There are few things that excite a child like Christmas. This had to be close judging from the volume of conversation as we scouted for a place to hunt. We found a spot we thought was the one a seasoned hunter told us was a roosting site. It a dirty trick hunters play to wait for turkeys that just want to go to bed. We walked about a mile into the woods holding hands. I can promise I have never held hands while hunting until then. The conversation continued. And continued.

We talked about boys. We talked about what we wanted to do on spring break. We talked about what we would do if we saw a bear. Rumor has it a few bears are hanging out in the Daniel Boone National Forest these days. I told Maggie should we see a bear, she should start heading to the truck and I would deal with him. She said there is no way she would leave me to battle a bear alone.  

There was so much talking that the only reason a turkey would have wandered in would be to tell us to be quiet.  Maggie also insisted on doing the turkey calling herself. She used a new turkey call that was in her Easter basket, along with a hunting license.

We never saw any sign of a turkey. There were no gobbles, no feathers, not even scat. It got cold as the wind began to rise and the sun began to set. We shot an abandoned water bottle on the way out just to see if Topper still fired.

Another turkey hunting trip without a trophy. Still I would call it great success.

 mhoward@sentinel-echo.com