SETH HERROLD
@HERROLDTIMES
Saturday morning I stepped out of my house to the sound of turkeys gobbling in the bottom to the east. Saturday afternoon, I was setting up my turkey blind.
My latest escape from the reality that has placed our daily lives in paralysis was a good one.
Spring turkey season in Missouri started on Monday. The season runs through May 10. Chasing the birds Benjamin Franklin once pined for to be the national bird of the United States presents unique challenges in the world of hunting and because of that, it has become one of my favorite hunting seasons.
Growing up, one of the reasons I took to hunting was the challenges the sport presents. It is not easy. It takes, above all, patience. That’s something I haven’t always been good at, but hunting has certainly helped better myself in that area. Perhaps one of the reasons I am surviving as a parent of a now three-year-old is that I’m patient. Enduring a tantrum, the discipline and the fallout comes easier if you are the kind of person who is willing to sit in a tree stand in freezing temperatures for hours on end, letting plenty of nice deer walk by because they are not “the one” that you watched on your trail camera all summer long.
I said I enjoyed hunting because of the challenges, so I guess you could say I am enjoying parenting quite a bit.
But patience is just one of the challenges associated with hunting.
When I started hunting, it revolved around two weeks in November – the firearms deer season. Spring turkey season with a shotgun came along later and then, in 2015, I bought a bow.
Bowhunting extends your hunting season vastly. The fall bow season runs from Sept. 15 all the way into January. If you thought hunting was hard before, try it with a bow. Your target has to be much closer and your margin for error is razor thin. There is more movement required to get into shooting position, thus more opportunity to spot for whatever you are hunting.
The first year I bowhunted I went out a lot and every time I came back home empty-handed. What I did bring back, though, was knowledge. Every time out I learned something new – draw your bow earlier, draw with less movement, set landmarks with your rangefinder when you first sit down so you don’t have to try to get a distance in the moment. Literally every time out I got smarter, better.
The lessons learned paid off. In my second year of bowhunting I got a 10-point buck. The feeling was unlike anything I had ever had while hunting. The reason was because I worked harder for that buck than I had ever worked for any deer before. It wasn’t easy, but the payoff was huge.
The last two years I have ventured out to the turkey blind a few times with my bow. Two years ago I had a gobbler lined up and let the arrow fly. The arrow hit the bottom of my window in the blind on its way out and skipped over the turkey. I was mad. I didn’t use the bow again the rest of that season, taking the traditional route with a shotgun the rest of the year.
Last year I had another opportunity with my bow. This time I took care to aim higher to keep from repeating the window incident from the previous year. I overdid it, though, and sent the arrow over the turkey once again. Two years, two misses, but two learning experiences.
So this year I plan to hunt the bow pretty heavy with the goal of finally getting a turkey with it.
Hunting teaches a lot of valuable lessons. Patience, humility and dedication are traits you will find in almost all outdoor men and women. As with every walk of life there are exceptions. But chances are, if you know a hunter, you know them as a pretty good person.
This week’s recommendations are…
Read: Ted Williams by Leigh Montville. I have just started this book, but it has been a great read so far. If you are a baseball fan you will really enjoy this one. If you aren’t that big into baseball, you will still probably enjoy this one.
Watch: The NFL Draft. The machine rolls along. While the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out nearly all sports the NFL has found ways to continue on unchecked. This year’s draft starts at 7 p.m. on Thursday with the first round. You can watch it on ESPN or the NFL Network. The World Champion Kansas City Chiefs pick 32nd.
Eat: So, since this column was on turkey hunting, here is my go to for grilled turkey breast from a recipe I cut out of a Field and Stream magazine a few years ago. You cut the turkey breasts into “turkey steaks” a little bigger than a deck of playing cards if that helps you on the size. Then you marinade it in a mixture of the following: 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, three cloves of garlic crushed and peeled, one table spoon of sea salt and a half teaspoon of pepper. The recipe says one to two hours in the fridge is good, but I have let mine sit in the mixture overnight before. Pull it out of the fridge 20 minutes before you place it on the grill and let it sit at room temperature during that time. Then throw it on the grill over medium-high heat. About 350-400 if you are a temperature person. Five minutes or less on each side gets it cooked through for you.