DeSerfs double their fun on father-son turkey hunt

Douglas DeSerf and his father, Doug, went turkey hunting on a Saturday (April 15), it was a perfect day for hunting, but they struck out.

They made plans to go out again the next day, but didn’t have high hopes since it was a rainy day, and not ideal for a successful hunt.

Turns out it was just the right day.

They got a double, each shooting their own gobbler.

Douglas, who was a sophomore member of Hall’s 2001 state championship football team, tells the story.

“We had went out on Saturday. The sun was shining and it was calm and turkey like that dry weather, because they pick up bugs. They don’t like getting their feathers all wet,” he said.

“Sunday, it was raining. I woke up at 3:30, saw the weather, and I texted dad and said, ‘Hey I’m going to come to the house at 7 o’clock and we’ll just take a ride and see if the rain quits.’ We checked on a couple of properties to see if anything was wandering out and there was nothing. So we went up to my father-in-law’s property. It was miserable, it was cold, still drizzling and windy. I said, ‘Let’s just go to the blind, we’ll sit until 1 o’clock, because that’s the time you can hunt turkeys in Illinois. We let out a couple yelps and there was no gobble response, so we continued walking.”

Very soon they would be in luck.

“Then I caught a glimpse of a head running across our path that we were heading toward. So I crouched down real quick. My dad, he followed suit about 5-10 yards behind me. I gave another call and the turkey gobbled back at me.

“I peaked my head behind the (shoot and scoop) decoy and I could see it coming right at me. It’s already within shooting distance. Then I caught a glimpse of the second turkey. And I wanted that second turkey to get in range, because if I shot that first turkey, the second one was way out in the distance. My dad, whispered, ‘shoot, shoot.’ I didn’t want to say anything, so I threw the No. 2 behind my back and hopefully he got the idea there was two coming. When that second one finally got in range, I stood up and dropped (the first one). Then I laid on my back and yelled at my dad, ‘Get the other one.’ It was a 40-yard shot and he dropped it.”

From the time they walked from the truck until they shot the turkeys, it was all of 10 minutes.

“It was exciting. You could feel your heart pumping,” said Douglas, who once doubled with his father-in-law, Randy Ganschow, on a pair of Jakes. “I was not expecting that. We’ve had turkey hunts we’ve had 4 or 5 Toms walk in, but I didn’t have a tag and I just wanted to go out with him (to watch).”

Douglas said his dad just started laughing and said, “I can not believe this just happened. It’s something you see on TV on a hunting show.’ I texted him the other day and he said, ‘My blood is still boiling from last weekend.”

It was a moment neither father or son will soon forget and one Douglas captured on video with his Tactacam attached to his gun barrel.

“You try to cherish all the memories and eat up the ones you get,” Douglas said.

Douglas first tagged along in the fourth grade watching his dad hunt and bow hunted for the first time about three or four years later.

“That was the first time I got to see him shoot his bow and that’s what got me started,” Douglas said.

He got his first deer in the eighth grade and “I’ve been hooked ever since.”

While his dad no longer bow hunts, they go out together during the shot gun season each year.

Douglas, who plays a mean guitar for the Illinois Valley band Regal Beagle, is hopeful to share his love for the sport with his daughters, Aubrey, 9, and Jade, 6. He said Jade has been bugging him for some camo.

As one who started hunting with my dad, there is nothing quite like sharing moments like these. On our pheasant hunts on the farm, dad would always let me take the first shot, and he would take the second. Whenever I hunt today, which is not near often enough, I think of those moments with my dad.

Kevin Hieronymus has been the BCR Sports Editor since 1986. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com