TERRE HAUTE —
I recently spoke to a young man — Brody Shaw — about all the year’s and animals he has taken, along with fish.
Already a veteran hunter at 5, Shaw took his first turkey weighing in at 21 pounds, a 101⁄2 inch beard and one inch spurs. A 20-gauge semi automatic was his choice of shotgun. Bob Weil, Brody’s uncle, was with him, and told Brody since he shot the bird, he had to carry it. The turkey was literally as big as the hunter.
As the family dog looked like a dust mop laying on the concrete floor in Larry Shaw’s taxidermy shop to keep cool. Brody was rolling his eyes and shaking his hands recalling his first turkey hunt, when a coyote scared all the turkeys away.
His first bird was taken on an evening hunt, Brody squirmed around on his dad’s lap and you can see the love between the two.
Scouting for turkeys is a lot of fun, Brody says, so they set up where some birds had been crossing the road and it worked great. They sat a long distance away but could see them coming.
Dad said a hen came in first and they thought sure they were caught, then they looked across the beaver dam and the gobbler was catching up to the hen. Brody said his heart was beating so loud you could hear it. He was sitting on dad’s lap and kept sliding off so dad helped hold the gun and the hunter at the same time.
With the hen at 20 feet away and the gobbler at 22 yards away Brody took the perfect shot to drop the bird. The kick of the 20-gauge shotgun knocked his hat off, but he didn’t care.
He yelled while jumping up and down, also while running out to claim his trophy. He says the turkey was so heavy he could hardly hold him up, the turkey was as long as he is tall. He told dad he wanted to mount the bird that evening and then cook it for supper.
One of the highlights of this story is he harvested his first turkey on Mother’s Day. Believe me, mother Becky Shaw was so proud of him and it was a Mother’s Day that will never be forgotten.
No mom can hold a candle to Becky in the woods either, you name it, she has harvested more game than most men. The entire Shaw family lives the outdoors. After all, Brody will save a lot of money on taxidermy, because his dad owns Autumn Oaks Taxidermy shop on Highway 46 east of Riley.
Fishing
A smile a mile-wide was on this young man’s face when I asked him about fishing. He caught a seven-pound bass on his antique Zelco 33 fishing reel. His uncle, Dan Shaw, built a pond with kids in mind … what a great person. Brody Shaw used a bobber and live bait.
I wish you could have seen this young man talking about catching this fish, going through all the motions, throwing his arm, casting and walking backward pulling the fish in and counting down to set the hook.
After getting the fish on shore, father Larry Shaw picked it up and Brody said, “Oh my gosh!”
Pictures was sent immediately to mom, via cell phone, and word came back of being so proud of her boy.
Brody said dad was being mean when he said they were going to cut it up to eat and Brody said, “No, we got to mount it.” Dad with a serious nod of the head, said, “We are in the process of mounting the fish.”
A seven-pound bass … many people never catch one in a lifetime, me for one. I’m going to talk Brody into taking me fishing.
Tradition passed on
Sister Sarah Shaw is 9 and also loves the outdoors. She goes turkey, deer hunting and fishing with her dad. She is still in the apprentice mode, learning everything she can. Larry Shaw said, with a smile looking at Sarah, that she will take a big deer some day.
Larry was in the military also, and has great pride in his country and endless love for his family. Larry and Becky Shaw are outstanding military and family folks, we can all learn deep felt values from them!
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REDNECK QUAKER: Shaw follows family outdoors tradition
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