Nebraskaland

A Turkey Hunt for Warriors Story and photos by Jeff Kurrus A scratch on a box call, a respond from a bird. Scratch. Gobble. Scratch. Gobble. But each time the response was farther and farther away. "We need to get on the opposite side of him," said Tim Cahoy, a volunteer guide from O'Neill, to fellow hunter and guest Travis Marshall who quickly, but silently, followed. When they stopped this time, Tim scratched again. Gobble. Another scratch. Gobble. But there was something different this time. The bird was getting closer. Even before Tim could call again, the bird was interrupting him, belting out that heart- pumping, cacophonous sound that turkey hunters know so well. Before they knew it, the bird was 50, 40, 30 yards, running as if being chased from behind. Boom! The sound of Travis's gun also echoed and then, surprising all of us, the bird turned and bolted through the woods, uninjured. After a couple of common obscenities, Tim and Travis looked for feathers and blood, quickly determining that the extra full pattern on the shotgun, combined with the running bird, was the reason for the miss. But those facts still weren't going to help the potential problem once we arrived back at camp. For Travis was an Army Green Beret, and the others back at camp may not let him live this one down. Travis and five Special Operations brethren were guests on the land of Ron and Eileen Schmit, staying in their guest house for their first-ever Nebraska turkey hunt. Yet even as first-timers in this state, these young men had seen far more than many of us would see in a lifetime. These were all combat-injured soldiers who had spent a significant part of their adult life fighting in the Middle East. The guest house had a dorm room atmosphere, as each ribbed the others about their wounds like college kids would do about a recent basketball game. But instead of making disparaging, yet humorous, remarks about each others' jumpshots, these friends took time to poke fun at the eight bullet holes in one of their backs, or the "two feet" of intestines still left after one of them had been hit by an explosive device. It was no holds barred, even when I entered the room. One soldier, Trevor Peterson from New York, asked if I worked for Cosmopolitan, the famous women's magazine. The conversation was edgy, not unlike what you would see in a military movie or documentary, but it was also real. This is what needed to be remembered later that evening. These soldiers had come to O'Neill through the Wounded Warriors Program started by Ken Barnard, who seeks opportunities for injured military personnel to hunt throughout the country. Ken and Tim had met in 2011 when Tim was guiding in South Dakota, and Ken had come along with a couple friends on a deer hunt that year. After the hunt was over, the Landowners Eileen and Ron Schmit accept an American flag that had flown over a base in Afghanistan as a gift from the green berets who had the opportunity to hunt on the Schmit's land for turkeys last April. Guide Tim Cahoy works a box call in an attempt to draw a tom turkey within shooting range. 52 NEBRASKAland • MARCH 2015

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