The Joys of a First Hunt
By Ryan Biltz, Realtree UC Land Pro
Shells. Check. Calls. Check. Realtree Camo. Check. License and tags. Check. The joys of the first hunt of the season. After checking everything two and three times over I usually go to bed the night before with the gut feeling I’m forgetting something. On a turkey hunt last spring with an eager young hunter, I went through the checklist and seemed to hit all the boxes. Besides, I have extras of just about everything packed to be able to handle any situation.
Fast forward to a morning full of gobbling, several encounters, and an eastern long beard at 25 yards offering to be turned to the young hunters first punched tag. There just happened to be a minor problem at the moment of truth.
