My name is Jessica Bailey and I live in West Plains, Missouri. I like many sports including basketball, softball, track, cross-country, volleyball, hunting, fishing, gymnastics and more. I also love writing stories and poems. I grew up around sports and hunting all my life. My Aunt Tracy used to participate in almost all the sports I participate in now. I grew up around my grandpa and he does a lot of hunting and fishing. He works for Quaker Boy Game Calls and he also does taxidermy and even has his own shop right in his backyard. My grandma also goes hunting; she has killed turkeys all over the country. I grew up seeing animals brought home and put in the freezer, but now I am old enough to hunt and it is my turn.

I started shooting a bow when I was probably five. It was not a compound bow like I have now, but a learning bow. It was made of plastic and a cord type string. I would shoot it when my Aunt Tracy shot hers. My aunt shot her bow every day practicing for competitions, but I could not go because my bow was too small. Then for my ninth birthday, my aunt got me a compound bow that was real little. It had sights, a rest and a quiver on it and it was even camouflaged. Soon after that, I started going to 3-d competitions with my aunt. I always had problems because my bow was so little the arrows would not stick in the targets very well, especially when the target was farther than ten yards away. But it was fun so I kept trying. About two years ago, I got a new compound bow that will make the arrows stick in the target. It is a High Country Outlaw and I can even hunt with it. It is a kid's bow that is just my size and it goes from twenty-five to forty pounds. My newest bow has not let me down yet and I have even won a few 3-d trophies with it. I want to kill a turkey and a deer with my bow, but first I need one with my gun. I have gone turkey hunting twice and each time it made me want to kill one even more.

My first turkey hunt was last season. I had been deer hunting with my aunt and watched her kill a doe, but this was the first time I got to take a gun. I borrowed my Uncle's shotgun, which was the first shotgun he had ever owned and it was just my size. We got up really early that morning. It was still dark when my Aunt Tracy and I sat down in a blind. I could hear birds gobbling in the trees. After it got light, we called in three birds to about one hundred yards away. They were gobbling their heads off. I was ready and I knew that I was going to get a turkey, but about five minutes later I heard a big shot. Somebody had apparently got between me calling and the turkeys. I was so upset but I didn't give up. We waited a while and called again. It wasn't long before they started coming back and this time we called them in to about fifty yards. Then all of a sudden, another shot was fired and again the turkeys ran away. This time I was even more upset, but I didn't give up. I stayed there. Tracy explained to me that sometimes other hunters hunted near you and that just happened. It didn't help how I was feeling. We tried one more time. A little later, we called and a bird started to come in. Just then, somebody shot in another field and it ran away again, but this time nothing would come back and it was getting late so we went home.

Now my second turkey hunt was a little better. It was during this year's Missouri youth hunting season. My Aunt Tracy and I sat down at a tree about 6:00 a.m. and started yelping softly on my Easy Yelper. We heard three birds gobbling on the roost and they gobbled every time I called. It wasn't long before they flew down and started getting closer and closer. They got so close that we could hear them walking in the leaves, but I wasn't nervous. I was ready to take a turkey home. They came in and I could see by their beards that they were three jakes. I was ready to shoot and they were close enough, but I was facing the wrong direction. The birds came in almost behind me and I couldn't turn to where I could get a good shot at them. We had not put out any decoys, so they just stood back there and gobbled and strutted. Their gobbles were so loud it seemed like the air shook. Eventually, after seeing no hen, they walked back into the woods and I never saw them again. This hunt was better than the last one, even though I didn't get a turkey. At least I got to see some turkeys this time.

Even though I didn't get a turkey on either hunt, I won't give up. I will go back next time and I will bring home a turkey. My Grandma was the first woman to kill a grand slam with a gun and she always tells me, "You won't get a turkey if you don't have confidence."