Father and daughter’s first turkey hunt a success thanks to DNR

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Father and daughter’s first turkey hunt a success thanks to DNR
(Released May 13, 2010)


It was raining the morning of April 15 when David Tietz woke his 16-year-old daughter Mattie to do some turkey hunting on a farm south of their home in New Prague.

“It was 4:30 a.m., it was raining, and I asked her if she’d like to go the next day,” her father said. “But she’s a real trooper and said, ‘No, let’s do it.’”

The family has a tradition of hunting with Mattie and her older sister tagging along with dad before they could legally hunt. Both girls have hunted  waterfowl and took antlerless deer last fall. This would be the first time that Mattie and her father have hunted turkeys.

Mattie Tietz with turkey.
“We don’t have any boys in the family so my sister and I went with dad because we love him so much, but we both discovered we loved hunting too,” said Mattie.

An hour after leaving the warmth of their home, father and daughter were tucked into a ground blind overlooking a hen decoy 30-yards from their position. In camouflage from head to toe, the two sat in silence listening to the avian symphony unfolding around them as the moon waned and the day slowly brightened.

“Hearing all the sounds of nature early in the morning is so cool,” Mattie said. “There’s nothing like it.” It wasn’t long before they also heard the gobbling of turkeys off in the distance. Using a box caller, David softly yelped and clucked to the turkeys.

A few minutes later, six hens flew within 150 yards of the Tietz’ blind, followed shortly by six strutting toms. But there was a problem. “They were all behind,” Mattie said, Dad, you set up the blind in the wrong direction!’ I couldn’t get my gun around to take a shot.”

David had told his daughter that turkey hunting requires a lot of patience. That’s a tall order for most teenagers.

“It’s hard for me not to talk, so I had to contain myself and stay still, but it was good advice,” Mattie said. Luckily, several of the turkeys strayed from the group, more interested in the decoy than finding breakfast.

“I had my gun ready when they approached, but one of the hens moved right in front of me,” Mattie said. “She was so close I could have reached out and touched her.”

The hen eventually moved, closely followed by a large tom. The New Prague High School sophomore’s mind went blank. “In the excitement I forgot which turkey to shoot. My dad said, ‘Mattie, shoot the big guy with the long red beard!’”

The teen sighted her prey, checked beyond the target like she learned in her Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) firearms safety training, and pulled the trigger.

“Because of the latest movement of the turkeys I wasn’t positioned quite right so I bumped my nose when the shotgun recoiled,” Mattie said. “I thought it’s all over, I had missed the turkey and given myself a bloody nose!” Sheepishly peering out of the blind she saw the turkey lying motionless on the ground.

“I looked at my dad and he looked at me and we both started screaming with joy,” she said. The gobbler weighed 23 pounds and sported a 9 ½ inch beard and 3/4 inch spurs.

The Tietz’ said their successful first time turkey hunt was made possible by a DNR initiative this year that allowed all youth age 17 and younger by April 14 to purchase a youth turkey license over the counter from a DNR license vendor.

“The DNR’s offer of teens Mattie’s age being able to simply buy a turkey license instead of drawing one was great and goes a long way toward introducing more young people to the outdoors and turkey hunting in particular,” said David. He also praised the timing of the event stating more youths are likely to try hunting in mid-April when temperatures are moderate than when it’s cold and snow is on the ground.

The event made a lasting impression on Mattie and introduced another young person to the thrills of turkey hunting.

“She carries around pictures of the turkey like ones of her family and friends,” David said. “She has a real sense of accomplishment. When I think of our experience as father and daughter I get goose bumps. Anytime you can introduce a young person to the outdoors is awesome.”

Mattie said “When I told all the guys in my grade that I shot a 23-pound turkey, no one believed me until I pulled out the pictures, then it was, ‘wow.’ No one thinks of me as a hunter, but I think every kid, even if you are a 16-year-old girl, should try it.”

And how did the self-proclaimed “girlie girl” celebrate when she got home? “I guess it was like hens trying to attract toms, I curled my hair and put on a dress.”