This is a story about John Stevens of Gillette-Thompson, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. He is an energetic thirteen years old, who is extremely, fascinated with hunting, and has no one to teach him, or take him. This spring season John harvested his first turkey. John wanted in the "worst way" to harvest a turkey with his bow, probably because of hearing my stories, of it being my preferred method of hunting. He as been practicing with his bow, however, he did not have all the equipment needed. I knew money is tight; I gave him a CamelBak and a shopping bag filled with equipment I no longer used.

 John being too young to hunt alone invited me to accompany him during Pennsylvania's youth week, which I accepted. Speaking with John one evening, I told him, there is an excited big Jake, gobbling and strutting here every day and would he like to hunt on my property. Of course, he said yes. His Mother brought him here on opening day before dawn with all his equipment and a package of home made bread.  

 As we both walked through the rain soaked field to the hunting blind, I began the Do's and Do not's with him. Once at the blind I explained how to set up a decoy for bowhunting and gun hunting to bring the bird in as close as possible.

As the time went by, which probably felt like an eternity for John, but actually, it was not. Still hearing gobbles, I believe he did not have much trust in my calling capabilities and my call. I would later serve him a large piece of hot humble pie with whipped cream and a cherry. He asked me if I wanted to use his friction call, which I did; his call sounded like someone scratching nails on a chalkboard.

 As we sat, I gave him some pointers in hunting and being patient, which we all know, is not easy for a thirteen year old. It was now daybreak; the woods became alive from birds chirping. He kept pointing to turkeys gobbling. Whispering to him I said, "John, there isn't that many gobblers here." I heard a few hens that that I believed to be a distance from our hunting site. I told John to get up to stretch out his legs and back, when; I saw a hens slowly walking in from the corner of the blind. I quickly grabbed John's forearm and motioned him to sit and ever so slowly bring his gun up onto the shooting sticks and get ready.  

 John listened carefully to my directions and I noticed the gun begin to shake. I previously told him that I would tap his shoulder when the appropriate time came to shoot and to aim directly at the turkeys head. The minutes must have felt as if it were years to him, watching the hens pecking the ground, nevertheless he patiently waited for a gobbler to appear.

 Then we both heard two thunderous gobbles from two turkeys coming on my north field. It would take them a short time to get to us because I knew this love stricken bird antics. He would be doing his rendition of the Paso Doble in my field to attract the hens. I gave a few soft yelps, and watched for their approach. My calling aggravated one hen; her yelps certainly aided our hunt. After a nail-biting time, the birds gobbled again, and again. I saw them at the edge of the field near the wooded area we were positioned. I sounded off with one soft cluck, which drove them directly into John's zone.

 John's gun began to shake more, I told him to take a couple of deep breaths and ease into the gun, and wait for my signal. The first bird came into sight and the second was at the first's six o'clock position, all puffed out, neck stretched, and gobbling as he saw the hens. I whispered to John, "Shoot the second bird when I tap you, get a good sight picture, relax, and squeeze the trigger." John looked like Sgt. York taking aim with his old flintlock. The jake gave John a great shot opportunity; I tapped him, and without hesitation, John touched off a round, and the 12 gauge jumped off the sticks and the recoil sends John back. The bird fell and began to thrash about. "Get out there and get your bird!"

 John ran up to the bird, it was still thrashing. I showed John how to place his foot onto the Jake's neck. I grabbed a short piece of Para cord from my pocket and looped it around the Jake's legs. After the bird succumbed, John knelt down to look at the bird with a big smile; he stood, and gave me a hug. He carried it back to the blind and began to fill out his tag. He said, "That's the closest I've been to a hen let alone a Jake, I was shaking so much, Jeff was right, that gun kicks!" I told John, "Hunting from a blind you will get "close" to what ever you are hunting, especially if your setup is right. You really did a terrific job; you listened to everything I said and you were only out for an hour and a half. Now one more important thing, this is the way you hunt turkeys, not driving up and down a road, shooting from a vehicle. Go out scouting for birds and look for the right signs, then on opening day go back out, setup, and call sparingly, be patient and hunt like the old timers did back in the day, and enjoy the time and the hunt."

I have several great custom-made calls; I presently own two of Doug's hand-made turkey calls. It is a suction baffle call that produce the best turkey sounds I ever heard and the gobblers and jake loves them, however the hens hate it. I have never met Doug, but from corresponding by e-mail, we became friends. Doug promptly sent an e-mail back to me requesting John's mailing address and he would send him a gift. When I told John's Mom, she began to cry on the phone.