It all started 15 years ago on Feb. 23, 1994. Here was a wonderful little girl that hardly anyone had given a chance of survival to. That’s because nobody knew the spirit of this child, or the stubbornness of the parents. Arianna came out fighting and will go down fighting with her family fighting along side. A mother lion is an ominous sight; imagine the sight of a pride of mother lions. As a family, we spent almost as much time in Children’s Hospital as we did our own home those first few years. Arianna has had more procedures and surgeries done to this point than I will my entire life. I can remember having to hold her down, telling her that it would be fine, but in the back of my mind not necessarily believing it. All the while doctors and nurses prodded, probed, and told us all the things that she wouldn’t be able to do rather than what she could do.
Another factor that allowed us to get to this point was the support of our families. Laura and I both had very supportive families that were learning how to deal with Arianna’s problems at the same time as us. We’ve also been fortunate to meet a lot of wonderful people along the way to offer helping hands, shoulders to lean on, and words of encouragement. Probably most importantly as Arianna grew older we began to realize not only the presence of God, but that Arianna was truly a gift from God.
Laura and I really enjoyed fishing and camping at the time, so we had 2 choices. Stop fishing and camping, or take Arianna with us. You can probably figure out which route we chose. In fact, one of our first major purchases was a baby stroller with big tires that would handle the trail and carry a tackle box and small cooler to boot. We couldn’t really justify the $100 price tag at the time, but we’re sure glad that we did. That stroller made it through 4 children and in fact sits in the garage awaiting its next adventure. “Man that stroller afforded us a lot of freedom.”
When Arianna was 5 we moved into Camp Coffman, an old Boy Scout camp that a number of people were trying to maintain as a church camp. The work there was hard, but the fringe benefits were huge. We would commonly see raccoons, deer, cottontails, bear, and turkeys in the yard, not to mention the numerous snakes, and salamanders. There was also a nice pond and stream that allowed us to fish and enjoy the calm of nature. Our next major purchase was a canoe that allowed us to explore the waterways as a family. We were constantly finding ways to get the family involved in nature, is it any wonder that Arianna enjoys the outdoors the way she does? If we weren’t enjoying the outdoors, we were enjoying La-Z-Boy time dreaming of all the stuff we wanted from the Cabela’s catalog. If she wasn’t looking at the Cabela’s catalog, she was flipping through pages of the Bible. She couldn’t read at the time, but if I asked her what she was reading she could often tell me. I’m almost certain that Arianna learned to read from the Bible and the Cabela’s catalog.
We hadn’t lived in Camp Coffman long until we met the people from Clarion County Sportsman for Youth. Arianna was too young to participate in Youth Field Days, but we offered to help in any way that we could. I think many friendships developed from that first meeting. Arianna had participated for 8 years and every person at that event was always very supportive. One of her favorite events was the shotgun shooting. Daryl, and Ken only asked if she wanted to try and they helped her do the rest. One of her other favorite events was fishing, especially the time that Randy Culbertson helped her catch a trout at the fishing pond. It really wasn’t the trout, it was the fact that Randy called her “Babe” that really made her giggle. He still calls her Babe and she still giggles. In other years her Uncle Gary was able to help her catch a trout, as Daddy was rarely able to do so. She was always a hit at the archery event, because I would hold her on my lap as I helped her stabilize the bow. “If deer and turkey only wore balloons in the woods.” Archery had become a big part of our life at that time, because it was something that we could easily do together. I think Tony Tazza was a big draw for the archery event as well, because she thought he was cute.
Last year was the year that we met Dick Blauser from Horton Crossbows. This was the first year for crossbows at Youth Field Days. When we went to the event, Dick approached me and cautiously asked me if I thought I might let her try. It was an understandable question, he didn’t know us and caution should be a high priority. He may have also been thinking, “How are they going to do this?” I looked him in the eye and returned his smile and said “Not only is she going to try the crossbow, she’s going to hit the bulls eye!” He smiled back, gave us our instructions and we gave it our best shot. The first shot barely hit the target, the second was closer to the middle, and I believe the third was right where Arianna wanted it to be. A couple of months later Dick was handing Arianna her very own Horton Crossbow. We had made up our minds that we were going to get her a crossbow for Christmas, but now we had no choice but to get her girl things.
As many of you know, Laura wrote a story of Youth Field Days and shortly after Jason called asking if PA Sportsmen Portal could sponsor Arianna for a Hunt of a Lifetime. We had been following the Timmy Mickle story closely, so the decision was a simple one. Tickets were made and sold; we met most of the people from PA Sportsmen Portal for the first time on March 28 at the check presentation. It was really nice to meet many of you in person, and only hope that we may spend more time together in the future. We also would like to thank Jim, Deb, and Madison from East Coast Gun Sales for all that they had done. Madison, the gloves, hat, and fanny pack were awesome. Arianna looked at them a 100 times between Knox and Custer. We actually wrestled for the hat, but she won.
This would not be Arianna’s first turkey hunt. We thought that turkey hunting would be the easiest for her to try, not because of how easy a target turkey are, but in the method that you usually hunt them. Andy Traister offered to help me out the first year. Andy had a blind and I hadn’t been able to afford one yet. Andy was a successful caller and I hadn’t proven myself yet. Lastly Andy liked Arianna, so we needed someone along who did.
Andy and I cleared out an area the week before. We watched the turkeys go to roost a number of times before our hunt, and I had hunted there for years without much of a change. Andy helped me get Arianna to the blind, and we set out a few decoys. As we sat in the blind and listened to the morning gobbles and fly downs, Arianna was getting more excited. Since nothing came in right away, the excitement faded. Arianna was soon sound asleep in the blind. We had a hen walk in front of the blind and felt she would lure a gobbler behind her. We had 3 jakes fly down on the other side of the woods and come near and then walk away, come near and then... We watched numerous deer cross the hillside in front of us and we watched a red fox work at catching his morning breakfast. “Incredible!” As Andy and I focused on bringing those 3 jakes across the field, we weren’t being attentive to anything else. We decided to take a break when Andy sucked all the air out of the blind. Less than 20 yards away stood a longbeard. We waited patiently to see if he would walk in front of the blind. After a number of minutes, we grew impatient and tried to position Arianna so that she could get the gobbler in her sights. You or I would have swung and shot. If it was only that easy for Arianna. I had to reposition Arianna’s chair, give her the gun, help her line it up, and help her squeeze the trigger. At this point the gobbler was 20 feet from the edge of the blind. Needless to say he walked away unscathed. It was all my fault, just ask Arianna.
Now to the hunt. On Saturday we started our trip as soon as Arianna finished her dialysis. While waiting for dialysis to finish, Uncle Gary called to let me know that he shot his first longbeard. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there to share it with him, but I had never heard him so excited in my life. “I think it’s going to be a good week.”
While we were traveling across Ohio we saw orchards and a few lakes, but to be honest with you, Ohio appeared to be a flat, boring state. We crossed Ohio twice and couldn’t wait for it to end each time. Indiana seemed to be a little more interesting as there appeared to be some rolling hills of cropland. We also spotted a few deer to break the monotony. We all noticed that my wife Laura has a rough time distinguishing between whitetails and canada geese. We saw 2 deer and 2 geese, Laura saw 4 deer. There were also a lot of horse farms and aluminum trailer manufacturing. Heck, I could pick out a trailer to haul my bird dogs in, or a camper trailer for the family at 75mph along Interstate 80. We also started to see a lot of irrigation systems in the fields that the kids questioned me about. Everybody was awake and attentive through Indiana.
Eventually we made it to Gary, Indiana, the home of John Cougar Mellencamp. You could tell that Gary was a flourishing town at one time, but just like everything else, those silly ideas just kinda came and went… There was a Cabela’s nearby that we decided to stop at for supper. We also needed to pick up a few things, but that could have waited. I’ll be honest with you when I tell you that I didn’t enjoy my time there, and felt very anxious about the amount of time there. So even though Jason is far worse than I, I was wanting to get back on the road again too.
The Cabela’s in Gary does have an incredible statue of whitetails, done by Dick Idol, at there front entrance. This would be the 5th Cabela’s statue that I have seen. At one time I wanted to see all the statues outside of a Cabela’s store, but they’re poppin’ up so fast this goal is becoming an impractical one.
Probably the best thing about staying at Cabela’s for so long that we didn’t realize until the trip back is, we got to travel through Illinois in the dark. Other than the Chicago, the Illinois, and the Mississippi rivers I don’t think we missed a thing by traveling in the dark. Maybe if we had been traveling further south I would have appreciated Illinois more. I was looking forward to seeing Moline, home of John Deere, but we must have missed the heart of it. As we got further into Iowa the rain increased, the winds nearly pushed us off the road, occasionally we saw hail, and the lightning would light up the sky for miles. Little did we know at the time we were skirting a tornado that had gone through Oklahoma and Kansas. We traveled near Kellogg and saw the huge Quaker Oats Plant in Cedar Rapids. “Look kids the… Oh never mind they’re sound asleep in the back.” Finally we reached Waterloo and the Comfort Inn around 1:00am.
The next morning I was up at 5:30, had 4 cups of coffee, and watched a little Outdoor Channel. “Oh look they’re hunting Merriam’s turkey in South Dakota.” Then I switched to the local news. “Hmmm, tornado in Oklahoma and Kansas.” I hadn’t run into a scarecrow, a tin man, a cowardly lion, or a yellow brick road, so I felt secure in the fact that I was where I needed to be. Then I grabbed a quick shower as the kids had their breakfast. Threw everything back in the van, cleaned it out a little, and was ready to rock,Doc. I think I gave Jason a good “We are, Wired Outdoors!!” as I climbed inside the camera. I’m certain that I saw Don flinch, as he was looking through the view finder. I doubt they’ll ever use that footage? As we were traveling the rest of the way through Iowa, it was obvious that the deer had to run a long ways between woodlots, but I’m sure that they have plenty of corn to hide in most of the season. “Hey what are those huge propellers doing off in the distance?” There were times when we could see 20 to 50 windmills in the distance. I’ll bet they were spinning pretty fast last night. “Hey, doesn’t Lee and Tiffany live around here?” “Maybe we could stop in and see them.” Jason and Don said emphatically that Lee and Tiffany weren’t ready for me. I don’t know what they meant by that.
Well the coffee was wearing off and it wasn’t long until we entered into the land of Laura Ingalls Wilder and childhood memories of Little House on the Prairie. This was also the Land of 10,000 lakes, but I think I counted more than that just along Interstate 90. All those little potholes really warmed my heart as we saw duck species after duck species; mallards, wigeons, shovelers, ringneck ducks, blue-winged and green-winged teal, and my first ever pintail sightings to mention a few. Though Don wasn’t in the same vehicle as me, I’m sure he was slobbering on the windows like a rabid dog. More windmills, more prairie potholes, and more lakes.
Next state South Dakota, we actually stopped to make a production of entering South Dakota. To be honest with you we got great footage, but it was mostly the fact that Jason had to pee. God does work in mysterious ways. Shortly inside South Dakota, Don spotted some turkey on a distant hillside. I’m sure that they were Eastern Turkeys that far east in South Dakota, and not quite what we were looking for, but they were turkeys just the same. As we traveled farther west throughout the prairies we began to see more and more wildlife; deer, ducks, geese, and we began to see a few ringneck pheasant. I’m telling you that had we had “Meg” in the van, she would still be locked in a permanent point. People had told me that South Dakota was a boring state to cross until you get to the Black Hills, but I didn’t see it and neither did my traveling companions. Crossing the prairie was cool; seeing the ducks in the different potholes, the ringnecks using the wildlife fence as nesting cover, and the different terrain. We were seeing things for the first time, whereas everyone else has taken the view for granted.
Let me tell you that crossing the Missouri River was a sight to behold. You reached the top of the prairie and then you dropped into a deep river valley with smooth flowing slopes to the top that were covered with a mixture of cottonwoods, aspens, and spruce. The sight took my breath away, but came back quickly when they confused me. There were signs all over the place about some Lewis and Clark guys. Anybody know what they were talking about?
Well we continued west and watched how the terrain had changed. As we were staying in Custer, people talked about East River and West River. Had I not driven across South Dakota I wouldn’t have fully understood, but I had a visual to relate to. On the east side of the Missouri most of the land was used as cropland, but as you crossed to the other side and climbed the west bank the terrain changed. Not necessarily in appearance, but in its use. On the west side you saw more and more fences with beef cattle inside, Black Angus to be exact. On the east side people wore John Deere and Pioneer Seed hats, but on the west side you began to see a lot of people wearing cowboy hats.
As we traveled further west we could see in the distance, land formations that we believed were probably the Badlands. We also began to see different wildlife. Arianna spotted them first, “What’s that?” As I quickly turned to see what she was asking about I saw my first antelope. A little while later we spied a coyote and a few more antelope. We had even spied some prairie dog towns, but we didn’t really know what we were looking at, at the time. My senses were being over stimulated with new sights, until we reached a town called Box Elder. At the top of the hill after traveling through this valley town I had to pull over and catch my breath. “I think we have just reached what they call the Black Hills.” It was breath taking to say the least. I’ve traveled to a number of different places, but nothing had moved me like when I started to see the mountains and the rolling hills and stream valleys surrounding. Arianna spotted the first Merriam’s turkey. There was a flock of more than 10, yet less than 20. There was a big gobbler trailing that was all fanned out and in full strut. “It was going to be a great week!”
Once we hit Rapid City and began traveling Route 16 towards Custer we were no longer seeing the mountains in the distance, we were driving through and around them. There was 6 to 9 inches of snow covering the ground which made it easy to see the deer. We found out later that we didn’t need any help spying deer; they are all over the place. In fact we saw over 200 between Rapid City and Custer which is about 40 miles away. “There’s the sign for Crazy Horse!!!” That’s where we were going to be hunting, but little did we know…
We finally reached the town of Custer and the Days Inn that we were going to stay in. After we checked in the manager tried to show me our rooms. “Follow me up the stairs.” he said. I asked “Don’t you have an elevator?” At that point we both had a dazed and confused look. Laura came in and the mood turned ugly for a bit. The manager didn’t realize we had a child in a wheelchair, so the second floor seemed perfect since there was only one other room that was being occupied in the hotel. They were turkey hunters too. They found us two new rooms in the basement. Jason and Don brought us pizza and brought Laura some lemonade. She was really thirsty!!!!
The plan for the next day was to meet Frank Schmidt the Hunt of a Lifetime Hunt Coordinator and he would take us to where we were going to set up. Frank is actually the Taxidermist Coordinator for all participants west of the Mississippi, but his role had changed for Arianna’s hunt. Frank looked exactly how I thought he would look, and he drove a big Crew Cab Ford with a diesel. We drove to where we were going to set up and there were about 50 turkeys within sight of the horse paddock. There were a couple of nice long beards and they all had the beautiful white tail feathers. While we decided where to set up the blinds, we had spooked all the turkeys out of the area. They didn’t go far though, as we could hear them yelping and gobbling on the hillside above the horse paddock. To say that they were henned up, that there were a lot of them, and that they were beautiful would be understatements. Little did we know…
I had spoken to Frank for weeks in advance and he kept telling us that we would be hunting near the Crazy Horse Monument. I kept checking aerial maps of the monument before we left and there is a lot of area around the monument, but I had no idea that we were going to be so close. When we drove to our hunting site, we were driving the lane that takes you to the Crazy Horse monument. The horse farm that we were hunting at belonged to Paul and Anne Christensen. Anne was once known as Anne Ziolkowski. If that’s an unfamiliar name to you I understand. Anne is 1 of 10 of Korczak Ziolkowski’s children. He’s the man who was asked to carve the Crazy Horse Monument more than 60 years ago. Yea, you guessed it, I was moved again. This is one heck of a story, and what a legacy to leave your children and grandchildren. The best I got right now is some old turkey calls, a couple of double barrel shotguns, and some old longbows.
We all drove back to the motel and picked up Arianna. This was when Arianna and Frank met for the first time. She was excited to get started to say the least. Frank was too! While driving back to our hunting location Arianna got a good look at Crazy Horse. “Wow!!” was about all she could say. When we finally arrived at Paul and Anne’s, Arianna got a good look at what she was up for in the next few days. Those of you that saw the video, this is when she is bouncing up and down with excitement in the back of Jason’s Trailblazer. Unbeknownst to you, there were about 50 birds within sight. When she’s saying “Don behind you!” there is a huge longbeard gobbling on the other side of the corral. He might actually be the one that ended up in our family room.
We climbed into the blind around 11:00. It was about 34o, clear, with about 9” of snow on the ground. I suppose this is my fault, because I had made the statement a couple of weeks ago that I would like to hunt turkeys in the snow. “Be careful what you wish for!!!” We sat there for 2 to 2 1/2 hours and Arianna had had enough. We unpacked the blinds; cameras, gear, Arianna, and were just getting ready to head to the vehicle when I picked up my Penn’s Woods Waterproof Wizard. We had been soft calling the entire time, and I just had to give it one good call. I peeled off my best yelp and a gobble came back from less than 100 yards away. “Everybody back in the blind!!!” We tried different calls, but the old box call was the one that was getting his dander up today. I lost track of time, but we had hen’s yelping their disapproval and not just one gobbler, but we believe as many as 3 responding to the call. We continued to hear them get closer, and then move away, closer, then… I’m certain that at least one of the hens was less than 10 yards away and one of the gobblers wasn’t far off, but when you’re in a blind it is hard to tell. We listened as one of the gobblers had completely circled the blind. I peaked out my window as he was within range of me, but he must have known that Arianna was the one looking for a turkey today. When he came into Arianna’s sight he was well out of shotgun and crossbow range. He gave us a show, got our adrenaline pumping, but never offered Arianna a shot. When everything quieted down, we gathered everything up and called it a good day.
While we were hunting, Frank had taken Laura and the kids on a trip through Custer State Park. While there they saw whitetail deer, mule deer, antelope, buffalo, elk, Rocky Mountain sheep, Merriam’s turkey, a sharptail grouse, and a coyote. It was rough, but somebody had to suffer through it. “My poor family?”
Day two in the hunting blind had us hearing our first gobble at 4:45. We weren’t actually in the blind yet, as it requires a lot of effort to get Arianna and all our stuff to the blind, but I certainly appreciated the help that Jason, Don, and Gabe offered. I think they also got an understanding of what I have to do, just to get Arianna into the woods. Luckily the battery never died while we were hunting. We had a pretty good idea where the turkey were roosted as Paul had told us, but we weren’t sure as to where at exactly. As we were making ourselves comfortable, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the first longbeards, we got to hear more yelps and gobbles then probably any of us had ever heard in our lives. Maybe more than all of us combined had ever heard in our lives. As the sun began to peak over the horizon, birds began to lift from the trees. To be honest there were few fly down cackles, just the rustling of the branches as the birds prepared to lift and then finally committed to fly down. We could sit and listen as the wind was going over the turkeys primary feathers. Occasionally we could see the turkey, occasionally we could see the shadow, and occasionally we could just hear the wind. One hen walked past the blinds within feet of Jason. Others landed to the right of our blinds, well out of Arianna’s position. She still got to see and hear a show though. One jake launched from the tree, hung a sharp right and appeared as if he was going to sail into the blind. I know that Don, Arianna, and myself all ducked. Others barely cleared the top of the blind as they sailed to the horse paddock. It was obvious at that point that we had placed the blind to close to where they were roosted.
During this time Don took off one of his jackets to give to Arianna. He said that he wasn’t cold, but I’ve heard those controlled deep breaths before when you are cold and trying not to shiver. “Thanks Don, you’re a heck of a guy!”
As the morning grew longer we started to notice some turkeys to the back of the blind. At one point there were 4 gobblers in full strut about 70 yards from the back of the blind. One either started chasing a hen, or his stomach was controlling his behavior. Then I watched as two joined forces and headed towards a lone gobbler, I see a fight about to happen. The 3 of them went round and round for a few minutes and gave us quite a show. We tried a fighting purr to peak their interest. They looked up, but continued to fight amongst themselves. We kept trying, in fact I had to sand two strikers during that time I was burnishing them that quickly. It was an incredible morning to say the least, but the turkeys were mostly focusing on doing their own thing and filling their crops in the horse paddock.
Before we left for the day we decided to move the blinds to a new location. Here are some things we needed to consider. There were a lot of hens with the gobblers. We were not going to call the gobblers away from the hens. The turkeys were aware of the blinds and seemed to be skirting away. The turkeys were seeking food, and there seemed to be only one main food source that they were focusing on. Lastly, they may not have been as dumb as we had been hearing.
Next we had an appointment at the Crazy Horse Museum. I’ll be honest with you when I tell you that I knew little about the Crazy Horse Monument. I read a short article about it in a magazine once. I can’t remember if the article was subversive condemning a man for carving a mountain, or creating a monument of an Indian. It may have been a supportive article written shortly after Korczak’s death, or maybe the 50th anniversary of the monument. It might have been an article of hunting turkey in the land of Crazy Horse. I don’t remember, but it is all I ever knew of the monument up to this point. After we entered the museum we met Anne. We spoke for a short period of time and then went into the theatre to watch the film of the Crazy Horse Monument. It was during the film that I had my epiphany. “Anne is Korczak’s daughter!” The film was interesting and moving to say the least. The museum itself was truly a work of art. The museum, like the monument is a constant work in progress and will continue to grow as long as the people running it have the passion, and the people visiting it desire the passion. While there we also met Ruth, or Mrs. Z. Ruth is Korczak’s wife, she is the one maintaining the passion. After touring the museum and meeting Ruth and Anne we were taken to the top of the monument. It was a cold, blustery day to say the least, but we were honored to be taken where very few ever get to venture. While there, one of the sculptor’s came out of the work shed and handed Arianna a hard hat that had been signed by all the workers who diligently work on Crazy Horse daily. Again, “What an honor!!” We truly have been blessed by everyone at this monument. A short while later, Monique came out of the shed and greeted us. Though I never saw Korczak’s eyes in person, I could see them through Monique. She stared right into the depths of my soul as she shook my hand and said how honored she was to meet us. We were the one’s that were honored! I told her that we were touched by how kind and sincere everyone was. She told us that Mom and Dad had been good teachers. I can see that they were.
Can you imagine working on something your entire life, and never really seeing much progress? Can you imagine being the wife of a man who did this, and never really see much progress? Lastly can you imagine being the children of a man who asked you to carry on what he could not complete in his lifetime? Probably many of those who are presently working on the monument will be asking their children to continue their legacy. “Moving, truly moving, to meet people with that much caring and passion.”
After visiting the Crazy Horse Monument we had just enough day to check out Custer State Park. I know that most of the family got a tour yesterday, but Arianna and I hadn’t had the pleasure yet. We got to see some bighorn ewes first, some whitetail deer, and a few Merriam’s turkeys. When we moved into the prairie section of the park we were able to get some close-ups of some pronghorn antelope bucks and does. Antelope lose their horns every year, so the horns on the bucks weren’t fully grown but were still very respectable. Sometimes we got a little to close for comfort to the buffalo, or bison. The bulls and cows were separate at this time of the year since the cows would be dropping their calves. The calves are adorable, but I wouldn’t get to close. A cow buffalo can weigh 800 to 900 lbs. and is probably one of the most formidable creatures that you may find in nature, especially if you are between her and her calf. A bison bull is no slouch either. They can grow to 2000 lbs. and always seem irritable. “When the head goes down and the tail goes up, get out of there quick!!” Arianna thought one bull was going to try to join her in the same seat of Frank’s truck. We also saw over 100 elk in the park. Some of the young bulls still had their antlers, and we did see one bull with a new set of 6 point antlers. We also got to see some mule deer and some prairie dog towns.
While we were seeing the sights Jason got his turkey today. They had to work hard to get it and I wish I could have been along, but my life would have been so much less for missing what I had seen today. After all, this is why Arianna wanted to come to the Black Hills; to see the prairies, to see the Black Hills, to see the Badlands, to see the Merriam’s turkeys, and to see all the new wildlife. Maybe Jason and I will get to hunt again. This will just be another reason to revisit the Black Hills. Still I wish I had been along when Jason got his first turkey.
When Arianna was asked where she wanted to do her Hunt of a Lifetime she could have went anywhere, she could have hunted anything, and she could have hunted with anybody. Ted Nugent was high on her list at one time. I’m certain that I had influenced her in the past with my talk of the Black Hills and of Merriam’s turkey. I’d never seen the Black Hills and never really read of the Black Hills, but Arianna and I always talked of how we wanted to hunt Merriam’s turkey in the Black Hills when we watched them on the Outdoor Channel. The original dream was to hunt with Tom Neumann from Penn’s Woods just like we saw on their TV show. Arianna had never really met Tom, but he did give her a squirrel call at the Allegheny Valley Sports and Travel Show. Months later while we were watching Hunting with Penn’s Woods, Arianna looked over at me and said “There’s Tom.” How she remembered after a brief meeting and a long lapse of time is beyond me. The following year Arianna was racing through the Sport’s Show like she owned the place and there was Tom. They chatted for a while, and Tom showed her how to work their new Waterproof Wizard. Of course once they were done he had made it hers. “Thanks Tom!” Another year of watching Hunting with Penn’s Woods and dreaming of hunting Merriam’s turkey. Another trip to the Sports Show. This time, same scenario except he showed her a Twistin’ Hen. The most amazing thing is that they only saw each other once a year, yet they were old pals once again. When I asked Tom if he would be willing to go with Arianna on a Hunt of a Lifetime he said “Sure, just let me know where and when!” We exchanged email addresses and phone numbers, and we weren’t home for more than a week when Tom wrote me and said “Hey we don’t have to wait for Hunt of a Lifetime, why don’t you just bring Arianna and Tanner down and hunt with me here?” So it was done, weeks later we were hunting in the land Penn’s Woods. We never had a turkey within 75 yards, but we all agreed that we had the best hunt of our lives.
The following year, same Sports and Travel Show, and the showing of Arianna’s hunt was to be on that Sunday. We decided to watch the show, before heading to Monroeville. About the time we got to Harmarville, Tom had called us to let us know that we better be prepared for when we got there. A star had been born. People were pointing and staring, and many flocked around us completely walking past people like Chuck Adams, to get to Arianna. They all wanted to shake her hand, some wanted an autograph, and others simply said “Hang in there, a big one will come your way.” I think mostly people are encouraged by two things; One that she wants and enjoys hunting, no matter how hard it is for her; two that we make every effort that we can to get her into the outdoors even though it requires so much time and work. Much like the You tube Video, Tom’s story of Arianna brings a tear to the eye of the most hardened man. If you get to see the show, you don’t have to look very hard to see that Tom is getting choked up while telling the story. I never asked him how many times he had to retape that section, but I’m certain that it was more than once. I still get a little misty eyed when I watch the show.
I couldn’t sleep at all Tuesday night in anticipation of what Wednesday had to offer. I awoke at 1:30 and lay in bed waiting for morning to arrive. Laura woke at 3:30 and started to get Arianna ready. Jason arrived at 4:30. Everybody had high expectations for the day. It was after 5:00 that we finally got tucked into the blind. It was going to be a foggy morning as the snow was beginning to melt. We could hear the turkeys casting from the trees, but often could not see where they landed. It wasn’t long until we had 2 hens scratching and pecking for food directly in front of the blind. Hens and Jakes would appear and disappear in the fog while Arianna and I were checking to see if anything would interfere with the movement of the gun. I promised Arianna that we would use the crossbow first, but today I told her that we were going to use the shotgun. I would discover later that I probably made a big mistake.
I suppose now would be a good time to explain how we get Arianna to actually shoot. When Arianna uses her crossbow we simply have her hold it against her shoulder, just like you or I would, and then I help her move the bow up, down, and left or right. In the stock of the bow is a round hole that I slip my thumb through and keep pressure against her shoulder with my fingers gripping the back of her shoulder. The bow has a red-dot sight that allows her to line up the target, and with Arianna’s help I stabilize and move the front of the bow which ever direction we need to line up the shot. When we shoot the shotgun though the story is different, we have had Arianna hold the gun against her shoulder with light loads, but a turkey load is a different story. Besides a 50 pound little girl can get recoil sensitive pretty quickly. Lastly, since Arianna has been receiving dialysis she has 2 catheters in her shoulder where the butt would rest. As far as Arianna holding the gun against her shoulder, it is now simply out of the question. How does she shoot a gun then? Well the butt goes against my left shoulder, her right arm goes under the stock to grasp the grip and pull the trigger. The rest is similar to what we need to do with the crossbow. We’ve practiced this for a while, but have not been successful at taking anything with this style. We will though!!
Let’s get back to the hunt. As hens and jakes would appear and then disappear into the fog a long beard showed up directly in front of the blind. The bird had about a 9” skinny beard and was 18 steps away. I got the end of the barrel out of the blind and positioned against my shoulder. I told Arianna to lean over and line up the sights because we had a longbeard within range. Arianna told me that she was feeling sick. We’ve all been there before, having that big buck or longbeard in front of you for the first time. We all had an upset stomach the first time. I reassured her that it was ok. I had been through it; Don who was sitting next to us reassured her that he had been through it. I told her that even Andy, Uncle Gary, and Tom went through it. It was ok, it is a natural thing. “Let’s line up the shot, take a deep breath, squeeze the trigger and it will all be over.” Arianna again said that she was sick. “It’s ok, let’s line up the shot and it will soon be over!” I did the best coaxing and reassuring that I could for over 15 minutes. It didn’t seem to be helping. I even tried to grab her left hand to help me hold up the gun. She jerked her hand away from me. I was in shock; Arianna has never reacted that way towards me. I switched tactics and went to a more directive approach. I’m certain that I went from the Worlds Greatest Dad to the Worlds Biggest $@^&% in a matter of minutes. It didn’t seem to matter. Tears were in Arianna’s eyes, she said that she was sick, and she was not going to pull the trigger. At that point I could have easily shot the bird, even left handed. Would that have been the right thing to do? I don’t know. Would it have been any different if we had the crossbow? Again, I don’t know? We have practiced with both. She can be successful with both. I don’t think that she was camera shy, since this was Arianna’s 7th filmed hunt. To say that there was a lot of pressure though, would be an understatement. Why she wouldn’t shoot is still a big question.
Last year when hunting with Tom Neumann we had 2 really nice jakes with 6” beards come in to the decoys. Arianna wouldn’t shoot. She said that they weren’t big enough. I thought at the time maybe it is because they didn’t go into strut. That could have been her idea of a big turkey. Who knows? The next day we had an 8” bearded hen come in. Arianna still would not shoot. This time she claims it was because it was a hen. Maybe that was the reason; personally I think it was something deeper. The last day of the season, Andy and I took Arianna out. We had two different jakes within range. With me holding the gun against my shoulder, I finally convinced Arianna to shoot. Before she shot, she said that she couldn’t because her heart was beating too hard. It probably was, the two jakes gobbled about 100 times before coming into view. My heart was beating hard and Andy’s too!! We cleanly missed over the jake’s back, when Arianna jerked the trigger, but at least we shot.
In South Dakota the gobbler finally left, and I opened the blind to step out. I needed to move away for a while. Jason, Gabe, and Don each took turns comforting and talking to Arianna. They reassured her that I wasn’t mad, but to be honest, I was. I was disappointed that we had put so much time and effort into getting to that moment only to not try. Was I being irrational, or impractical? Probably, I don’t know! I do know this… Arianna was sick! She was starting to show a fever.
Later that day we were going on a tour of Bear Country U.S.A. before taking Arianna to dialysis in Rapid City. Frank had made arrangements for us to have the opportunity to get to feed a baby bear cub. Arianna loved it, but as the tour continued, you could notice the energy level decreasing in Arianna. When I held her, I could feel her temperature increasing.
Arianna had dialysis in Rapid City at 3:00. When we got there they took her temp. Her temperature was 1020, I guess she really was sick. Next stop, the Emergency Room. Frank and Jan, their daughter Sara, and Gabe watched the kids as Laura and I stayed with Arianna. The doctor thought it was just some kind of infection and that she would probably come around soon. He prescribed an antibiotic, some rest, and more turkey blind time. He was a member of S.C. I. and was really impressed with Arianna and the fact that we had her out hunting.
We got Arianna back to the hotel at 10:30. I was beat, if you remember I was up at 1:30 that morning. What you don’t know is that Laura had booked us at another motel, so between hunting and Bear Country, we packed everything and moved to another motel.
My intention was to take Tanner out on Thursday and let Arianna rest. When the alarm went off at 3:30 my feet touched the floor, but the rest of my body did not follow. I struggled until 5:00 and finally conceded, I think I might have needed some rest. When I finally rolled out of bed at 6:00 we had a little breakfast, tried out the motel hot tub, and then had an appointment with 4 dead Presidents.
First stop was part of the Needles Highway and viewing some of the spires and granite rock formations. Though we didn’t travel the entire distance of 14 miles, we had seen enough to be impressed. We also stopped to check out Sylvan Lake. If you had ever seen National Treasure II, Sylvan Lake is where they found the gold. When we were there, we didn’t find any gold, but we saw the rainbows. As we were looking at the lake a South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks truck pulled up with 1200 trout. Tom Johnson, a Conservation Technician showed us some of the trout and let the kids and I help in stocking the lake. Some of these trout were 5 to 7 lbs., and they were some of the most beautiful fish I had ever seen. They didn’t have pink stripes, their stripes were more of a fuchsia or purple and they had dark green backs. I wish I had a couple more days to rent a canoe and try a fly. I guess that’s another reason to head back to the Black Hills. “Thank you Tom!”, the Presidents are calling.
Just the drive up to Mt. Rushmore is awesome. “Hey what’s that?” I think, the van was stopped before I jumped out with the camera. Laura had just spotted a Mountain Goat down over the bank. I had hoped to see one on this trip, but up ‘til now it hadn’t happened. “Good eyes, Dear!” He patiently ate as I snapped pictures, but I wouldn’t have wanted to get to close. He was a wild animal and deserved that respect. We finally made it to Mt. Rushmore, the park is impressive and the monument is awesome. Definitely worth traveling 1000+ miles to see along with everything else. Arianna’s spirit perked up when Frank ran while pushing her through the Avenue of Flags, racing to find the different flags. The story of Mt. Rushmore is also a story worth hearing. After all Mt. Rushmore led to the inspiration for Crazy Horse. Korczak Ziolkowski had worked with Gutzon Borghum, the sculptor of Mt. Rushmore and had learned many lessons, both practical and philosophical. Another bonus was that we saw 2 more Mountain Goats.
Arianna was feeling better and our next appointment was with some Merriam’s turkey. On the way back to the motel Arianna sang All Summer Long by Kid Rock as Gabe carefully recorded the entire sequence. God help us all, if that doesn’t hit the editing room floor.
Tanner, Frank, Gabe, and I headed to Crazy Horse. I can’t remember if Don had got his turkey yet or not, but it had to be somewhere around this time. Again I wish I could have been there with them, but I wouldn’t have missed the other for the world.
After we got set up in the blinds we had a hen walk within feet of the blind. “This could be a good sign!” A while later 2 longbeards appeared over by the hen. They had no plans to come see the hen in the strange things at the edge of the pasture. After an hour or so, I decided to move out of the blind and maybe they would skirt me and head over to the blinds. I couldn’t call the gobblers any closer, but I needed to watch my back as a small flock had me pinned down from on top of the hill. Two gobblers were puffed out and drumming from less than 30 yards behind me. I froze with my neck turned watching them. I think my neck has finally straightened nearly 3 weeks later. As the turkeys put some rocks between me and them, I crept up against a rock. I could hear turkeys around me, but couldn’t spot any. I could still see the hen and 2 longbeards below me in the horse paddock. As I sat there a hen appeared less than 15 yards to my left as I was calling with a glass. As I slowly put down the call, another hen, then a gobbler, another gobbler, 2 more hens and I reach to bring my gun up. Another gobbler, a hen, another gobbler, 2 more hens, 1 last hen and she busts me. The gobblers all had short beards, but appeared way to big to be jakes. I honestly was straining to check their spurs as the hen was putting in my ear at less than 5 yards away. They all walked away as I had my double barrel beads lined up on each one.
It began snowing later, as I saw Paul sneak over to the blind. I think he was going to try a tricky maneuver with Frank and Tanner. As I watched them the snow began accumulating on my blue jean clad legs. After all I was planning on staying in the blind. One inch later, turkeys began to fly up into the trees above my head. When I thought the last one settled into the trees I stood up to knock 2” of snow off my body. With light fading fast we moved one of the blinds over to the corner of the pasture. Frank said “I don’t know who it will be, but somebody will shoot a turkey from that blind in the morning.”
At this point I thought we would be heading back to say “Bye!” to Jason and Don. Little did I know they were scheming a plan. Somebody was going to watch Lia and Parker. It might have been Don, or it might have been Frank. Luckily, Laura had a friend that she had met during Hurricane Katrina come to Custer to meet the rest of the family for the first time. Sue volunteered to watch Lia and Parker. “Thanks Sue!” This allowed Frank to take Laura out for her first turkey hunt, Don would take Tanner, Gabe would sit in the blind at the far end of the pasture, and Jason, Arianna, and I would use the blind that we had just moved. Little did we know that Frank was a prophet? We asked Arianna if she was going along in the morning. She said “Yes!” and snuggled back into Jason. He looked me in the eye and said that she was still hot. I knew she was, but I wasn’t about to tell her she couldn’t go tomorrow.
During the middle of the night the fever broke!
We all got up and got dressed. Frank met us outside, and Don, Jason, and Gabe were ready to go. “Hmmm, more snow!” “It was going to be a good day!!” When we got to the blinds it was a little late, but I think the new snow was keeping them in the trees and quiet for a little while longer. I think it was pretty close to 6:00 before we heard our first yelp. They seemed to yelp and gobble for a long time before any started to cast from the trees. The first to cast from a tree landed in the tree beside the blind. Jason said, “One just hit the ground.” I told him “No.” as I pointed up into the tree beside the blind. You could see the sun glistening off the snow as it filtered down through the limbs. Each time the turkey would move, more snow would fall. We couldn’t tell if it was a gobbler or a hen, it was just exciting to know that it was there. Others started to fly over the blind to the horse paddock. We saw others sneak behind the blind. They may have actually come from the hillside that Frank and Laura had set up on, we weren’t sure. We listened to the morning serenade for close to an hour as I was trying to psyche Arianna up for what was about to happen. Arianna was very cold; she already had 2 of her own coats, 2 of mine, and 1 from Jason. It was at this point that Arianna said “You shoot Daddy!” I tried to get her prepared to shoot, but she was just too cold.
It wasn’t long until I spied a hen walking down towards the blind. She fed and watched in front of us for about 10 minutes, when I spied movement back in the trees and rocks. “More turkey!” It appeared as if they were going to take the same route as the hen, or they may actually move to where we had the blind set up yesterday. I’m certain that Don and Tanner could see the turkeys too, and they may actually be the ones to shoot. Laura and Frank were also seeing turkeys stroll by them at about this time. Laura asked Frank if she shot, would that disturb any chance for Arianna. Frank said “Probably.”, so Laura chose not to shoot. The turkeys that were back in the trees were starting to make their way towards us. When the gobbler stepped into the pasture he fanned out and went into strut. Jason and I could both see that he had a long beard. Don was telling Tanner at this time that someone was about to shoot a longbeard. They got to watch the entire thing from their vantage point.
There was at least one other gobbler within the group of 3 or 4, but we were only focused on the lead strutter. They were probably about 50 yards away when they started to make their through the pasture towards the blind. They stopped under some tall Ponderosa pines to look around before committing to come any closer. We were trying to get Arianna ready, but because of the cold she again said “You shoot Daddy.” Jason and I had been talking about where we would shoot, but the battery was dying quickly. As the turkeys were making their way past the blind I raised the gun to my shoulder, waited ‘til he entered the site picture, and followed him as he continued walking. Jason was telling me to shoot quickly as the battery was dying fast. When all was right, I squeezed the trigger which brought a roar through the valley. The silence had ended and turkeys were running and flying in all directions. I ran to him, but he wasn’t moving. As I stood over him everyone started to make their way over to us from all different directions. Laura and Frank had tried to put a bead on a running gobbler after I shot, but it never presented a shot. When I got back to the blind I told Arianna that we got her a beautiful gobbler. She asked “Is it a big one?” I told her that it was bigger than Jason’s and Don’s and she seemed happy with that.
After many pictures and video takes, numerous hugs and handshakes, the weight on all of our shoulders seemed to be finally lifted off. I’m glad that Jason, Gabe, and Don stayed to the end. This was probably one of my most incredible hunts, and you guys know that I’ve had some awesome ones. I can only hope for more hunts, with more friends. I’m glad that we got to share this hunt and our experiences with so many people.
After Saturday’s breakfast with Frank and Jan we picked up Arianna’s turkey and headed home. We took one last trip through Custer State Park. We were able to see 2 Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep rams with their ewes. Before we left I wanted to see a Rocky Mountain Bighorn ram, I guess I got my wish. We also saw more deer, elk, turkey, antelope, burros, and bison. Before we reached Rapid City there was a lone coyote standing at the peak of a hill. Maybe he was watching us leave.
We also decided to take a tour of the Badlands on the way home. The Badlands were beautiful and ominous at the same time. After all they didn’t get the name Badlands for nothing. We did get to see more antelope, lots more prairie dogs, a pair of burrowing owls, and one large gobbler and his hen. I told Laura that I wanted to see one last gobbler fanned out and gobbling. She gave her best yelp out the window and he gobbled in return. The tour put us way behind schedule, but I wouldn’t have traded any of it for the world. In fact next time I’m scheduling more time for the Badlands tour, and more money for the museum.
When we were crossing Iowa we began to see the Dogwoods and Redbuds in bloom. If that isn’t a sign of gobbler season, I don’t know what is. We also saw some gobblers fanned out and in full strut on our trip home. “Oh, life is good!”
We will be back! We will check in with the Ziolkowski family to see the progress of Crazy Horse. We will spend more time in Custer State Park and The Badlands National Park. We are all going to get a Merriam’s turkey eventually. I also want to hunt the prairies for ringneck pheasant, and Frank really wants us to come back to hunt pronghorn antelope and mule deer. We really made some good friends while we were in South Dakota, and really want to maintain those friendships. I think I would like to try a fly in some of those mountain streams and ponds.
Thank you to everyone that allowed us to share this time with Arianna in some of the most breath taking land in the country! There have been a lot of people who have helped us get to this point, “Thanks for being part of our journey.”
Probably the biggest thank you needs to go out to Tina Pattison and everybody from Hunt of a Lifetime. “Thank You!” I guess our next step is to help the next child achieve their Hunt of a Lifetime.
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