LAFAYETTE – The Hodges family enjoys eating fresh turkey, particularly turkey nuggets from the breast of a wild turkey.

A 12-year-old Lafayette outdoorsman recently ensured his family would have more tasty, fresh turkey to eat when he overcame the newness and nuances of turkey hunting to shoot and kill a 15-pound jake with a 4-inch beard March 22 on his maternal grandfather’s lease near Woodville, Miss.

Luke Hodges, a student/athlete at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School, and the grandson of Jimmy Shea of New Iberia, was hunting with his father, Trey Hodges, for the second time that day, his first-ever day trying to outwit what even veteran, wily hunters call ghosts of the woods.

Sure, Luke harvested his first buck two years ago, but turkey hunting is a different animal, so to speak. No one knows that better than his dad, a former professional baseball player and all-around hunter who began hunting turkeys in 2010.

“There were a lot of things new for him … shooting with a shotgun, first turkey …,” etc., the 46-year-old Hodges said this past week, vividly remembering that Saturday in Mississippi at his father-in-law’s place off Mississippi 24 near Woodville.

“Yeah, this was his first chance to hunt turkey. Being a 12-year-old, it probably wasn’t the most exciting thing in his life to wake up so early. We got out there in the dark and had our decoys set up, a perfect morning if we could have cherry picked a perfect morning. Clear skies. The wind was calm,” he said.

They set up in a “good area,” he said, but for some reason the turkeys “didn’t gobble.” The father and son, who loves to spend time outdoors catching fish and hunting, patiently sat for three, four hours, before the dad called it a hunt. C’est tout.

“I decided without hearing anything to get back to the camp, let him be a kid. We stayed (at the camp) until about 4. I said, ‘Hey, let’s go.’ We set up in a food plot, went to a different spot, a different angle. They had gusty winds,” he said.

“I think we got in the food plot around 4:45 and called till about 6 p.m. All of a sudden, I see a turkey coming out of this bottom on a ridge. I got Luke’s attention. It was a jake,” he said.

It looked like a male bird, darker in color, but he was unsure because it was similar to the size of a hen. In a matter of moments they became aware they were dealing with two turkeys.

“The next thing I know, that bird heads to the bottom of the food plot and about that time, I see a blue head pop up, and a fan. I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, there he is,’ ” the elder Hodges said.

“So, yeah, he comes out. They’re both feeding together. I’m whispering, ‘Wait till they separate (to take a good shot with the youth’s 20-gauge Mossberg pump shotgun),’ ” he said. “The bigger of the two jakes ended up working his way to us. He got out about 30 yards from us. The other bird got out of the way and gave us a good, clean shot. I told Luke, ‘As soon as he gets his head up…’ ”

Luke went through the physical checklist before squeezing the trigger for the “perfect shot” despite his nervousness due to the various new factors he was experiencing, according to his dad, who was born and raised in Spring, Texas.

“The turkey literally folded in his place. It was exciting,” Hodges said. “I told him, ‘Look, I’ve been out here hunting 10, 15 years. I don’t know how many times – I could count them on one hand – I’ve had a legitimate shot at a jake. One gave us a very doable shot.’ ”

His son was “super excited,” he added. The Fatima baseball and basketball player was oh-so ready to go see the jake, to make sure his dad got the fan, beard and shell, which probably will go on his wall with the buck he downed at age 10.

Now that the soon-to-be teen has his first taste of turkey hunting, he wants to bag a real gobbler. He’ll probably have to wait another year, according to his father.

Luke’s grandfather, Jimmy Shea, and his son-in-law plan to hunt turkeys in a few weeks in Nebraska, where there is a Rio Grande and Hybrid Merriam (mix). Hodges said his father-in-law fulfilled a wish by killing a turkey with a crossbow within the past week in Mississippi.

That bird was added to the family’s wild turkey supply.

“We really enjoy eating fresh turkey. I grew up eating turkey nuggets. To me, it reminds me of my childhood,” said the financial advisor at Northwestern Mutual.