"What cancer?" he said of his thoughts while shooting a jake on property owned by Dave Heitke on the Tri-County Road in April.

Skrypek, who taught and served as a school counselor in Paynesville for nearly 35 years, received a special early season permit for the terminally ill from the DNR to hunt turkeys this spring. He had a seven-day tag but needed only one day.

Ron Welle of Spring Hill, the statewide coordinator for Wheelin' Sportsmen, and LeRoy Wiener, an avid hunter from Elrosa, set up the side-by-side blinds on Saturday, March 31. With Welle, Wiener, and his longtime friend and teaching colleague Bill Ryan, Skrypek went turkey hunting on Sunday, April 1.

Skrypek had hunted deer and pheasant and loved to fish but had never hunted turkey. Ryan, a disabled veteran who has been on several hunts through Wheelin' Sportsmen, pushed his friend to try turkey hunting. "He showed me the films, and it looked like something I would like," said Skrypek. "When I heard about it, I said that would be a fitting way to end my sporting life by shooting a turkey," added Skrypek.

On Palm Sunday, they met at 6 a.m. and were in the side-by-side blinds by 6:15 a.m. It got light out around 6:30 a.m., and they heard gobbling within ten minutes.

"We called just enough to let them know we were there," said Welle. They believe that first bird took off after a half hour or so of calling, but soon another bird was calling. Around 7:55 a.m., a hen walked out of the CRP. The second bird was a jake, which soon separated from the group of hens that followed.

Welle was halfway through whispering that Skrypek could wait if he wanted to see if another tom might come out, when Skrypek shot, hitting the jake with a 12-gauge blast from 25 yards. The 18-pound, two-ounce bird took 46 steps before a second shot down him for good.

Shooting a wild turkey was exciting, said Skrypek. "Oh, lord, yeah. It was just doing something the first time and having success at it," he said. "And he tasted very good," he added.

Welle made a wood mount, and another Wheelin' Sportsmen volunteer, Brian Matthews of St. Cloud, pieced together the feathers to fan the tail for the mount.

Skrypek said he would go turkey hunting again. "They really are a majestic bird," said Skrypek. "I was amazed by it. When they're in full bloom, they're massive. You'd never expect them to fly." Skrypek thanked everyone who was involved with the hunt. "It was a fun experience, from beginning to end," he said. "It made cancer that much easier to deal with."

He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer again last July. He is still being treated for it, but his prognosis is only a couple months of life.

Now living in an assisted-living facility in Litchfield, Skrypek said, "My days are numbered, but death is part of life." Doing something normal, with the guys, is "what made it so special," said Skrypek of the turkey hunt. It was so well planned, he added, that "Ron even had a blanket for me, so I wouldn't get cold."

"If it wouldn't be for Ron and LeRoy," added Ryan, "we never would have done it."

For Skrypek, wild turkeys are a symbolic bird. When his wife Lorraine died at home from cancer in November 2002, in her last hours, Don told her: "You'll get to heaven before I do. I'll have to spend a little time in purgatory first." He asked her, though, to send him a sign when she got to heaven, if possible.

A couple days after her funeral, a family friend was taking a morning walk when he came across six wild turkeys on the path. Meanwhile, at home, Don and his family were writing thank-you notes when a group of wild turkeys came to the bird feeder in the backyard, the first time that had ever happened.

"I took that as a sign that she was OK," said Don. "I can't tell you how much peace I felt with that."

When his friend called to tell him about his wild turkey experience, he said, "You know what she's saying: `Hey, you turkeys, I've got it a lot better than you." Throughout his cancer, Don has maintained a phenomenal attitude, said Ryan. Still, after the hunt, Don's daughter called Ryan and told him that it was the happiest she'd seen her dad in a long time.

Skrypek said he plans to have his mounted turkey feathers included in his casket.