Time spent in the woods helps form bond between young, old
Gene Sullivan did a good deed when he purchased a spring turkey hunt at a National Wild Turkey Federation fundraiser hosted earlier this year by the organization's April AWOL Chapter.
The eastern gobbler hunt went for a nice chunk of change in the live auction. A portion of the money will be used in East Texas for projects involving wildlife habitat enhancement, youth education and various other programs aimed at preserving the hunting heritage.
Sullivan, 62, did an even more admirable thing when he gave the hunt to a 13-year-old boy named Gage Cullen. Just call it a premeditated attempt to infect another youngster with one of hunting's most contagious diseases.
"The way I see it, us old farts are going to die off sooner or later, and if we don't get these started kids hunting, the sport we all love so much will eventually go away," Sullivan said. "When I went to the banquet that night, I had every intention of buying that hunt and giving it to Gage. He is as good a kid as you'll ever meet, but he has never had much of an opportunity to hunt until the last couple of years."
Cullen is a southern California transplant who had never spent much time in the woods until his parents relocated to East Texas three years ago to be closer to his mother's family.
"There's not much to hunt in Orange County," said Cullen, a seventh-grader at Lufkin's Hudson Middle School. "About all I did out there was fish."
The youth killed his first whitetail in 2008 when his uncle, Don Knight, took him deer hunting on the Dollarhide Hunting Club in Angelina County. Unfortunately, Knight developed health problems the following year and was unable to take Cullen hunting last season.
That's when Sullivan, a close friend of the boy's grandfather, stepped to the plate in an effort to fan the flame the boy's uncle had ignited the previous year. The pair have since developed a special bond, one initially hatched around corn feeders, crackling campfires and deer stands.
"I started taking Gage with me to the lease last summer, just filling up feeders and such," Sullivan said. "We really hit it off and have become pretty good buddies."
Last October, Sullivan fostered the friendship when he made good on a promise to take Cullen deer hunting during the special Youth Only weekend. The trip paid off with a man-sized 10-pointer that scored 141 5/8 Boone & Crockett points as a typical. Not surprisingly, the young hunter was ecstatic.
"He was pretty fired up about it," recalled Sullivan. "When I saw how much he liked deer hunting, I decided I needed to introduce him to spring turkey hunting as well."
But not until he talked to Jason Isabelle.
Isabelle is a graduate student at Stephen F. Austin State University where he is working on a master's degree in forestry/wildlife biology with a major emphasis wild turkey management. His thesis is heavily linked to several eastern wild turkey restoration research projects that are currently under way across the region.
The main goals of the studies are to unravel some of the mystery surrounding why eastern turkey populations are holding their own in some counties while others have fizzled out over the last decade. Moreover, scientists want to learn what, if anything, can be done to give some stability to the troubled turkey populations.
Isabelle knows a thing or two about wild turkeys. He also is pretty good when it comes time to sweet-talking the regal game birds. His track record speaks volumes in that respect.
The 29-year-old wildlife biologist was recently named state champion in the NWTF Texas State Chapter calling contest. He also won fourth in friction calling at the NWTF Grand National calling contest held earlier this year in Nashville, Tenn.
"I wanted Gage to experience what it would be like to hunt with a guy like that," Sullivan said. "I approached Jason at the banquet that night and told him I would agree to buy the hunt if he would agree to guide it. When I explained to him about Gage, he said he would be more than happy to do it. He is really a first-class guy."
So on April 2 and hunting on private property, Isabelle introduced Cullen to the sport of chasin spring turkeys in a way he likely will never forget. Not only did the youngster get the opportunity to see a world class turkey caller in his element, but he also got the chance to play the entire game and witness firsthand what spring turkey hunting is all about.
The big show began about midmorning after the trio had closed the gap on a loudmouth gobbler that initially sounded as if it was about 200 yards away. The hunters were slipping down an old logging road that made a sharp bend about 30 yards ahead.
"The next time we heard him, he was about 125 yards away and closing," Isabelle said. "That's when I told Gage and Gene we better get set up."
Isabelle said Cullen had barely gotten his gloves on and his shotgun into shooting position when the Tom turkey sounded off again, this time from about 40 yards way just around the bend.
"I knew he would be in shooting range as soon as he came around the corner, so I whispered to Gage and told him to get his shotgun up and click his safety off," Isabelle said.
What happened next was vintage spring turkey hunting at its finest. Rather than slipping in like a cat, the Tom came barreling around the corner in full strut with its colorful plumage puffed and fanned.
A hen turkey might have been impressed by the pompous display. Cullen wasn't. He shot the bird in the head at 28 yards using a 20-gauge shotgun Sullivan had loaned him for the hunt.
The youth's reaction to the ordeal was similar to that of most rookie hunters lucky enough to witness one of nature's greatest shows at close range.
"It was one of the most awesome things I've ever seen," Cullen said. "The whole deal was pretty exciting, hearing him gobble and then seeing him come around the corner in full strut. It was pretty neat."
Sullivan witnessed the show from the confines of a briar thicket about 10 yards behind Cullen and Isabelle. His satisfaction came on the drive home when the budding hunter looked him in the eye and said he couldn't decide what he liked best -- deer hunting or turkey hunting.
"Just hearing him say that told me my money was well spent," Sullivan said. "I told him that's why we hunt deer in the fall and turkey in spring. You don't have to choose. You just do both."
Matt Williams' e-mail address is mattwilliams@netdot.com.
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