A special turkey hunting story by Shannon Beck
My husband, Brian, was a police officer, who was killed in the line of duty on January 23rd, 2014. For years beforehand, he had told me when he died, have some of his ashes put in a shotgun shell and kill a turkey with it.
I remember asking, “What if I miss?”
“It won’t matter. I’ll be out there where I want to be,” Brian said.
As I laid in bed recovering from a hysterectomy, depressed and riddled with grief, I began wondering what my purpose in life was and going down a dark path. My mind kept taking me back to the idea of the hunt… if I could just fulfill his wishes, life would be okay.
I got on Facebook and searched for turkey hunts in western Oklahoma. The first post I found was a guy wanting to trade a spoonbill fishing trip in eastern Oklahoma for a turkey hunt in western Oklahoma. This caught my eye because Brian had this arrangement with one of his best friends Jerad Langley in eastern Oklahoma.
I scrolled through the comments and noticed a lady named Cassie had tagged her brother, Kip Peck. I clicked on his name and saw some of his harvest photos and a picture of his daughter. I thought to myself that he seems harmless and sent him a crazy message about arranging a turkey hunt.
To my surprise, Kip answered right away and said he could take me in two days! I knew I couldn’t go because my surgery had been just four days before. I thought I had lost my opportunity, but he said no worries and suggested the next Saturday. I said, “Deal!” I was going to do whatever it took.
I met Kip that Saturday on the side of the road in Binger before daylight. I introduced myself and hopped in his truck, off to fulfill a wish with two very special shells. We walked quite a ways to the blind and then had an owl roosted on the tree we were under. Every time the owl would hoot, we could hear a gobble.
When daylight cracked, we heard a gobble and fly down. Kip called just one time to him and that old turkey made a mad dash for us! Through the tears, I put the sight on him and jerked the trigger back… I missed!!
Heartbroken and defeated, I dropped my head and fought back more tears. Not only had I failed, I wasted this stranger’s time. I felt a gentle squeeze on my leg and looked up through the tears.
“Turn around,” Kip said. “He is right behind you.“
I turned around in that blind like a bull in a china closet – hitting my shotgun on everything! But the bird didn’t take flight – he just stood there almost like he knew.
Through the tears, I eased the trigger back – BANG! And then watched him flop! I ran out and put my hands on the bird – thanking him, thanking God and thanking Brian for leaving me with this task.
I’ve hunted most of my adult life, but this hunt saved my life! There is so much healing in hunting, and so much more to it than killing an animal.
~ Shannon Beck of Texas
