The Little Engine That Could

by Rusty Asble

Icall her Choo Choo but, her real name is Susie. She is my daughter. This girl amazes me with everything she does, tries and experiences. She is not afraid. She is willing. She is able. She makes me laugh. I need more laughter. We all need more laughter.

One thing she has jumped right into is hunting and fishing. She’s pretty good at both.

As the 2020 Turkey season opened, our goal this season was for her to harvest her first mature Gobbler. Multiple early mornings were involved in this season and many situations were experienced. However, none were productive until…

It was the morning of Friday, May 8, Susie shared the night before that she would give it one more try for a turkey. It was early, a clear quiet chilly morning for May. As we got to the hunting property darkness was all around us. We parked at the bottom of the hill to make an easy set-up about 50 yards near by hoping to intercept the gobblers as they flew down to meet the hens that regularly walked that way. Walking in the dark we had the pop-up blind, chairs, guns and calls in tow. At our location, set-up took just a few minutes and we were settled comfortably in the blind.

About 45 minutes had passed when the morning birds started to chirp. The world was beginning to wake up when a loud resounding gobble rang out 75 yards behind us. Within a few minutes we had multiple more gobblers, young and old, joining in. Knowing they would eventually come this way, I kept quiet and did not call. Right a daylight I heard a cackle and fly down of a few hens that were near by in the woods.

About 30 minutes had passed, I looked over at Susie and she was fast asleep in her chair bundled up in the extra camo coat. As I scanned through the blind opening, I saw a hen making her way from the woods behind us. Out of nowhere, there was one, two, three, four gobblers. All were trailing the hen while strutting along the way. I gently poked Susie who opened her eyes and I held up 4 with my fingers and pointed. She slowly sat up and reached for her 20-gauge turkey shotgun. She noticed which one was the biggest and shared with me the one she wanted to take. She took aim on the red, white and blue head and she slowly pulled the trigger. BOOM! She had hit it but it ran 38 // August 2020

right towards the blind. Knowing it was hit I whispered to reloaded. She quickly loaded another shotshell as the turkey stepped out from behind a brush pile that the blind was next to. She readjusted to her right, took aim and BOOM! Gobbler down. She squealed with excitement as hugs, high fives and fist bumps commenced.

Stepping out of the blind, we walked over to this beautiful mature bird. We admired what God had created and thanked Him for what He had blessed us with. We

talked through how it all happened and how components of the hunt like faith, opportunity, not giving up, being alert, having someone looking out for you and remaining calm, relates to life.

As was began the tagging process of the bird, we were amazed that she had harvested a 21.5lb, thick 11.25” beard, 1.0” spur Gobbler. What an incredible bird.

I hugged her once more and whispered, “You will always be my Choo Choo. The little engine that could”.

About The Author Rev. Rusty Asble is the pastor of recreation and pastoral care at First Baptist Church of Cleveland. He and his family have served our Cleveland community since 2005. You can contact him at Rusty.Asble@gmail.com.

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