COMMUNITY: My first turkey

Editor's note: Addilyn Munger is a third-grader in the West Central school district. This is her story about her first turkey.

By Addilyn Munger, community contributor

It was about 4:15 a.m. I could hear my dad saying 'Addi wake up.”

As I was getting ready I thought about all the things we had done to get ready for this morning.

The night before I had to call my uncle Bob to get permission to hunt on his land. The gun I used was my grandpa Lizard's, one he bought from my school about two years ago when it auctioned off the guns it used in an outdoor education class. It is a Remington Youth 870 20 gauge. I also had to get a Youth Turkey Season Tag. It was pretty easy - they only needed a little information.

That morning, before I left, I got all my gear on and ate breakfast before my dad and I walked out to the woods. We stopped and had coffee with my uncle Bob.

Then we started walking. It was a long walk. As we got closer to the woods, I had to be very quiet. We set up the blind and got the gun ready. As we were waiting, we heard a gobble. My dad promised me we would here another gobble. We did. We heard quite a few more gobbles. My Dad said 'the turkeys were going to fly out of the tree soon.”

When they flew out, I had to be quiet and not move very much. I got the gun up to my shoulder, ready to shoot. There were about eight turkeys around me. I could have shot at one, but it was about 25 yards away. I knew that might be a little too far.

Then my dad said 'Addi, there's one coming from the left side.” He was clucking and purring with his Woodhaven mouth call. There it was, I had the gun up to my shoulder and was ready to shoot. When it was about three yards away, I shot and hit it.

I was pretty excited, but not as excited as my dad. We packed up our stuff and headed to the car. I called my mom and grandpa to tell them the news. My grandpa brought my brother to uncle Bob's to see the turkey. It weighed 24.5 pounds, had a 10-inch beard and one-inch spurs. My dad said it was probably three years old.

When it was time to dress it, I picked most of the feathers off, but my dad helped. We are going to make turkey jerky out of the meat. I kept the fan, beard, tag and bullet.

I can't wait until next year.