Gabe's Gobbler
Gabe…….. As the son
Chris ……… As the dad
Cody………As the guide
Henny and Penny…… as the hen sisters
Young Jake….. as himself
Written, Directed, Filmed, and produced by: Chris Smith
Brought to you by: Outdoor Mentors & The Ranch Outdoors
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE: https://youtube.com/shorts/cHbgP9MpYdY?feature=share
I like hunting and fishing shows after all, what outdoorsman doesn't have their favorite sportsman or type of show they like? For my twelve year old son Gabe, it’s turkey hunting. Every time I watch a turkey hunting show, Gabe is usually right there watching with me. “I wanna shoot a turkey dad.” That and “how come they always get one and we don't?” This has been the statement/question my son would make to me for several years. “ok, son, we’ll get it done one day. It just takes patience.” I would reply. Today would be that day. We’ll just make our own show…
After a tap of the snooze button once…..OK, twice, I woke my son up, watched him get his hunting clothes on… “What time is it?” he asked. I told him it was earlier than he normally woke up for school, but that once we headed out, he could sleep in the car as we had about an hour and a half drive. The car was loaded, we jumped in and headed out… he was back to dreaming about a 50-lbs, 20-inch bearded gobbler by the end of the drive…
We arrived at The Ranch Outdoors around 4:45am and met Cody Shankeland. More on Cody later, but to say he is passionate about turkey hunting is putting it mildly. We loaded up the side by side buggy, and traveled out to the 1st stand. The walk from the buggy to the stand was interesting as it had rained the night before making the traction “fun”. The son handled it with little trouble using only a red headlamp. Cody opened up the blind and making sure we were using caution and safe measures to get in the blind, we climbed in and shut the door. Earlier, Gabe had said he was worried about getting cold, but to his (and my) delight, there was a portable heater in the stand that took the early morning chill off of us. Hoping to see birds early, we waited eagerly for the birds to come down off the roost….nothing. No calls, gobbles, or any signs of turkeys… to this Cody was baffled. Not to worry, after about an hour and a half, Cody said let's move to another spot. Back to the buggy and down the dirt trail to the next blind…
After about 3 or 4 minutes, we arrived at the next spot, parked about 200 yards away and headed to the blind. A beautiful spot with a small stock pond about 35 yards away to our northwest. It was a 3 man hard sided blind. window directly to the front and sides. Centered about two feet in front of blind was a tree about 18” in diameter…more about said tree later.. again, settle into the chairs, gun on the Bog Pod, cameras set…. cue the stud of a gobbler, “ACTION!”.... only the crickets responded…. apparently Studley Gobbler never got the script. However, 2 hens did, and they walked in… about 12 to 15 yards in front of the stand. Non-shooters, however, it gave Gabe a chance to be close up to a bird and as he would tell me later, his heart was racing “super fast”. After about ten or so minutes, the hens walked off in different directions, one going behind the pond. It was about this time that I was informed a “potty break” was needed, so we took a stretch and walked out back for said break and back in the blind about 15 min later…
My concern that we had ruined any chance at getting a bird was quickly squashed as Cody spotted the hen that had wandered behind the pond, coming back out and that's when the Stud Gobbler’s stand-in, “Young Jake '' entered the scene… He came in on the north side of the pond and Cody got to work on the call. Young Jake was, much to the angst of Gabe, working his way down the left side of the pond. “Don’t Move” whispered Cody, “he’s going to go out of sight for a min and then we can swing into position.” The moment he dropped down out of view everyone got ready… Young Jake and Gabe were about to engage in a battle of patience that would drive the most patient of veteran turkey hunters batty….
Jake came back into sight just like the hens had earlier 12 to 15 yards, Gabe looked down the barrel of the .410, hammer cocked back, finger out of the trigger guard… just waiting… “take the shot when he’s clear” said Cody.. a stifled “OK” from Gabe… and then “I don’t have him in my sights, the tree is in the way”.. there was a small twig that was almost directly in front of the barrel and at first I thought that is what he was talking about… Gabe kept saying he could see his head for a second, then he would pull it back in.. from the angle myself and Cody were sitting at, we could see just fine. what we didn’t realize is that the 18” tree in front was blocking the view of Jake and somehow Jake knew it! For over 20 min, Jake would toy with Gabe. He’d walk out just to the edge, sit down just out of sight, then stand up and walk away from the blind out to 20 or 25 yards, then back in towards the blind, to add insult to the situation, Jake would stick his head up, nice and high and present that poster/target profile shot…. Gabe however was waiting, patiently, then to much delight after what seemed like eternity, Jake walked out from the right side of the tree at 15-18 yards, only this time he didn’t stop… cameras rolling, script finally being followed…. Cue Gabe and he had definitely been rehearsing his role… Jake stuck his head up nice and high one last….(Gabe squeezed the trigger on the .410 sending the #5 shot from the 3” shell down the barrel…)
BOOM!!.... time. Jake jumped up flopped around and fell back to the ground…
The ensuing hooping and hollering of “OH YEAH!!” and “WAY TO GO, YOU GOT HIM!!!”..... “OH MY GOD, I GOT A TURKEY, I SHOT HIM, I SHOT A TURKEY!!” was quickly halted with Gabe saying “oh wait, he’s still moving!” We quickly assured him that was a dead bird laying out there and the flopping was normal…. resume hooping and hollering, hugs and high fives. I am not sure who’s reaction and facial expressions were more fun to watch, Cody’s or Gabe’s.
It's at this point I want to stress the appreciation for Cody Shankeland, whom without, this hunt could not have happened. His generosity and patience with Gabe and myself. Cody cares about hunting, the outdoors, Veterans and passing on all this to others. It is men, ranchers, farmers, and good people like Cody that need to be appreciated and not taken advantage of. To be able to hunt is a privilege... to hunt on private land is a gift that is very rare these days and if abused, can and will be taken away.
Our thanks also goes out to Outdoor Mentors. Without their help as well, hunts like this don’t happen. Gabe has been blessed to be a part of several events through Outdoor Mentors and has learned much from all the staff he has encountered. As outdoorsmen, we owe it to our own children as well as the youth that come from non-outdoors type of families to pass this knowledge on. Take a kid fishing, hunting or camping, better yet, get mom, dad, big brother/sister to take them out.
Again a big thanks to Cody, Outdoor Mentors and all those that made this possible…Oh, and Jake.. 12lbs, 5” beard, rounded spurs. Not the “50 pounder” but this was a reality show, not fantasy.
