Mentoring Payback

I've written several entries about some of the wonderful mentors I've been fortunate enough to have in my life. One was a good friend I met at college who introduced me to hunting ducks over decoys. Kurt grew up hunting Cheyenne Bottoms, and he passed on his love of duck hunting to me. I've been hunting ducks over decoys ever since, and I've been indebted to Kurt for his generous help. However, while turkey hunting the other morning, I reminisced about past hunts, and I remembered one from more than 25 years ago. Though I wasn't exactly an expert spring turkey hunter or caller, I had a couple of spring toms under my belt, and I wanted Kurt to experience that thrill. We hunted for a day-and-a-half without results, then while driving to a new spot, we spotted a tom crossing a field. We had permission on the land, so we hurriedly moved to intercept the bird. We eased down an old shelterbelt and started calling. The bird was moving faster than we thought, and we were well behind it, but it was in the mood for love and gobbled immediately to my amateurish calls. We scrambled to get into shooting position, and I called again. Another gobble, this time closer. We both spotted the top of the bird's fan at the same time. The tom was strutting back toward us, but he had a creek and fence to cross. I knew enough at the time to be anxious about whether the bird would cross those obstacles, but I underestimated this bird again. Without the slightest hesitation, the tom flapped across the creek and went right back into strut, maintaining on a beeline toward our position. Then a cow and calf trotted between us and the bird. Again, the tom was undeterred. When it got to the fence, it was in range, but before I could tell Kurt to shoot, the bird squeezed under the bottom wire and went right back into its strut. Now it was in the clear and well within shotgun range, and Kurt made the shot. We were both elated, but the normally even-keyed Kurt was as excited as I'd ever seen him. I'd like think I paid him back in mentoring, but I think I enjoyed the turkey hunt as much as Kurt did.