My Dad Looks Nothing Like a Turkey!

Yeah, yeah, I’ll write something about the M83 show when I get a little more time. But for now, I have some bigger news. Last Thursday, my dad was shot!

Don’t worry; he’s alright – thank goodness. He was out hunting turkeys near Red Wing, Minnesota, and, apparently, another hunter mistook him for a turkey. I can’t imagine what was going through my dad’s head at the time. He was all alone in the middle of nowhere, my mom wasn’t even in the country, and there was no way he could have contacted me or my sister. He must have been in shock, because he drove all the way back to the Twin Cities after he was shot (if surgery was necessary, he didn’t want to be in Red Wing for the operation).

Now, when hunting turkeys, you are only allowed to shoot gobblers with a visible beard (a beard is a set of hair-like feathers that grow out of the chest of mature male turkeys). This means that you have to pay close attention to what you are shooting – it is not a good plan to just shoot anything that moves. The first thing my dad said to the trigger-happy hunter when he arrived at the scene was, “Does it look like I have a beard!?” (He was freshly shaven.)

My dad has about twelve pieces of shot lodged inside his body. Most of the shot entered through the backs of his legs. His hand also received some of the shot. This Thursday, he’ll be coming up to Hennepin County Medical Center (they obviously have a better gunshot unit than the Burnsville hospitals do) to find out if they need to remove the pellets. He might just end up living the rest of his life with pieces of metal inside his body.

I don’t know how much pain my dad is in. I think it’s mainly just uncomfortable at this point. Not that my dad is ever one to complain (or brag). Last Thursday evening, my sister happened to call home. She and my dad small talked for a good while before she asked him if he was going to go hunting the next day. He responded, “Nah, I don’t think so. I was shot this morning.” So, of course, I didn’t even know about it until my sister called and told me the next day. Some son I am