Grand Slam Turkey Hunter

Posted on July 06, 2016, 9:56 pm
9 mins

There are many things that father’s wish to leave as a legacy for their children one day; faith in God, a good education, and good morals and values. For some, in addition to these things they hope to instill upon their children something else as well. For Jimmy Barton, one of the most valuable things he hopes to pass down to his three children is his love of turkey hunting.

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“Besides their Christian faith and their education, I think this is the most important thing I’ve ever done with my kids. I know that if something ever happened to me, I know that spark I lit inside my children for the outdoors and turkey hunting will burn forever. That is something that will never be taken away from them,” said Barton, a native of Monticello, MS.

Barton is the Regional Director of South Mississippi for the National Wildlife Turkey Federation. Barton is an extremely passionate turkey hunter and has a deep desire to share this with others.

“Turkey hunting is a very personal thing. Most people won’t teach you how to turkey hunt. Some people will teach you how to deer hunt, some people will teach you how to fish, some people will teach you how to duck hunt, but turkey hunters are usually really hush-hush and tight-lipped. Traditionally, it’s not a skill that is passed on to other people. The most rewarding thing for me i to be able to pass what little I do know about turkey hunting on to my children” Barton said.

Barton began hunting turkeys when he was around the age of eight and was able to kill his first turkey at 15. From then on, he was hooked.

“The thing that captivated me, which I think is probably the same for almost every turkey hunter, was the sound of a gobble. When a turkey gobbles, it’s the most amazing sound in nature. I heard that at a young age, and it was a life-changing experience. It changes everything about how you view nature and the outdoors. It’s intoxicating, and it pulls you in,” Barton said.

Barton began taking his children turkey hunting with him when they were four. His children shared a similar feeling that Barton did when they heard their first turkey.

“The most memorable thing for me was the first time they heard a turkey gobble. Their face would light up, and their eyes got huge, and it was just like they were shaking over. It’s just unreal that a bird could have that much influence over someone. It’s amazing,” Barton said.

His oldest son, Tristan, was able to kill his first turkey when he was eight years old.

“He had the same reaction that most people do. He looked at me and said ‘Could you feel that?’ and I said ‘What do you mean?’ And he said ‘I could just feel the turkey. I could feel him gobbling. I could feel everything about him when he was so close and strutting’,” Barton said.

Barton’s younger son, Drake, had a similar reaction when he shot his first turkey at age eight.

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“Afterward, he made the comment ‘Could you feel it?’ and I asked him what he meant. He looked at me and said ‘The whole ground was shaking.’ And that’s the emotion people get when they turkey hunt. Both my sons said the same thing when they killed their first turkey, and probably don’t even know the other one said it too. They both made the comment, ‘This is the best day of my life’,” Barton said.

Barton’s eight-year-old daughter Isabelle has not yet killed her first turkey, but that is the goal for their next turkey season.

“She is a girly girl, but she likes to hunt too. She loves going with me, and she will sit with me for a good while out there. She’d rather sit on there with me longer turkey hunting than she would deer hunting. My goal for the 2017 season is to help her to be able to get her first turkey,” Barton said.

Even at his children’s young age, Barton has already been able to instill a love for turkey hunting and the outdoors in his children.

“They are so hung up on the outdoors, and I really love it. I can remember one time, we were at Disney World, and Drake was little at the time, probably only five or six. There were all of these ducks and fish swimming around the ferry by the pier. He made the comment, ‘You know, I sure wish I had my fishing pole or shotgun right now. I’d rather be fishing or hunting than sitting here at Disney World riding rides’. I thought that was pretty powerful. Here we were in the greatest place in the world for kids, and he would rather be fishing or shooting ducks,” Barton said.

Through Barton’s job with the NWTF, he has also been able to share his love of the outdoors and turkey hunting with adults as well. He has had the opportunity to take adults on turkey hunts and watch them be able to kill their first turkey.

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“A couple of them were very well off business people who could do just about anything in the world that they wanted to. One lady actually teared up the first morning we went out, and she heard the turkey gobble. She made the comment ‘This is very life changing.’ I thought that was pretty special,” Barton said.

 

Barton’s love of sharing turkey hunting with other people is something that is incredibly apparent and something that is a huge passion in his life.

“It’s just something that most people don’t show another person how to turkey hunt. And not that it makes me special, because I get to take people turkey hunting. But it’s just something that most people don’t do. Besides getting to see my kids kill their first turkey, it’s probably the most rewarding experience I’ve had. To see how excited it is to see my children’s face light up, then to see how exciting it was for a 28-year-old woman, a 45-year-old man, a 60-year-old man, a 55-year-old woman to see their reaction to a turkey gobble or kill their first turkey.  I just can’t help but believe that they sit back and say ‘I’ve lived my whole life and missed out on this.’ It’s just that special,” Barton said.

 

 

 

 

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