12 Hours with a 6-Year Old

I don’t have a 6-year old child, and I’ve never spent an entire day with anyone of that age. I also never been asked if ever fished for dolphins or ever been attacked by a turkey. However all of these topics, and those similar to them, were brought up by Nolan Johnson on his first turkey hunt with his dad Rich on Saturday.

Hunting a patch of Open Fields and Waters land near Auburn, Nolan’s dad guided him to a locale where toms sounded off right at daylight, then disappeared soon after they left their roost never to be heard from again. Nolan, however, was heard from quite often.

The questions were fired from his semi-automatic mouth, clip after clip. And when he couldn’t get the answer he was looking for, or had sat a few minutes and seen or heard nothing, it was definitely time to move. So we would, then set up again, and then wait another 10 minutes before we moved again.

For 12 hours he lasted, finally nodding off in the backseat of the car on the way home. And while I’m pretty sure his dad was happy for his son’s brief silence, for he listens to Nolan’s frequent interrogations on a day-to-day basis, I’d have to say the quiet kind of made me sad.

I mean, when else is someone going to ask interestingly random questions to me like, “Hey Jeff, have you ever been to Tanzania?”