My dad passed away last summer and there was not a single morning this spring that he wasn't on my mind. My dad let me use his old Remington 1100 during my very first turkey season in 1995. I was lucky enough to get 2 gobblers that first spring with my dad's old gun and decided I wanted to kill one with it this spring in my dad's memory. I only hunted with the gun on days when I was hunting alone. I knew I'd be pretty emotional if I was lucky enough to kill one with it and that was certainly the case.
The moment I pulled the trigger on this bird I was instantly flooded with emotions. The adrenalin rush from the hunt and all the memories of my dad and that old gun were overwhelming. I sat there with the bird and that old gun for what seemed like hours, just soaking it all in. I thought about turkey hunts of the past, life lessons my dad taught me, and memories we both made with that old gun. I thought about how life and turkey season are both too short and just how lucky I was to have such a damn good dad. At one point I looked down at the 54 year old shotgun and 25+ year old shotgun hull laying beside a dead turkey and chuckled at the sight. It's funny how both life and turkey hunting can be so simple and how we as humans unnecessarily complicate both of them. For a few hours there were no complications, just fond memories of past and present that I will carry with me forever. I'm sure my dad was watching the hunt from above and smiling down at the outcome.
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