The Misery of a Miss
Credentials for the Misery of a Miss Fraternity
Editor’s Note: Most veteran gobbler takers belong to a secret fraternity, but few will admit their membership. This fraternity's painful and memorable initiation develops a bond for life that comforts the members and will help you when you join the group. You can recognize members when they use certain secret passwords like, “Been there, done that,” “Yeah, buddy, I know how that feels,” “Get over it, I've done it too,” and “Only thepeople who don't hunt them don't miss them.” Members of the fraternity also communicate differently. When someone describes how he's missed a turkey, one of his fraternity brothers will simply smile and nod his head. Then both men know that they belong to the Misery-Of-A-Miss Fraternity.
A member must...
* have missed a turkey and have felt miserable about it,
* have told someone about his or her miss,
* have survived being joked with, ridiculed and persecuted about the miss,
* have hunted with another sportsman who has missed a turkey and comforted him,
* have matured enough in his turkey-hunting experience to share misses as well as successes around the campfire,
*havenever taken a miss lightly and must realize that a miss always hurts for a true hunter, regardless of the number of years he'shunted,
* realize that missing a turkey is one of the Good Lord's ways of keeping hunters' egos in check, * know that sometime, somewhere, regardless of your turkey-hunting expertise, how straight you shoot and how fine a gun you hunt with, you will miss a turkey,
* realize that when you miss, you join an exclusive fraternity made up some of the finest turkey hunters in the nation,
* know that no matter how many calling contests they've won, magazine articles they've written, calls they've made, positions they've held in any turkey-hunting organization, the number of stories written about their great hunts, and the noble birds they've bagged, all those who go into the spring woods to hunt wild turkeys will sooner or later join the Misery Of A Miss Fraternity.
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