See the Gobbler?
Well, I am certainly living the soap opera. Geez, we outdoor types tend to be emotional. It's bad enough that I have to wait until May 9th this year to hunt turkeys. Worse? All my buddies have been out and most have great stories to share while I just sit around, waiting. I've become a turkey junkie. This time of year, turkey hunting is just about all I can think about. To "scratch my birdy itch" while I impatiently pass the days, I drive by the property where I have permission to hunt. Twice I day, I pass on my way to and then back home from work. One or two nights a week, Bradya and I hop in the Jeep after dinner and drive around and check out fields near the house.
Brady, Scopin' Turkeys
He gets a kick out of watching birds out the back window of the Jeep. He even seems to get it when birds gobble back to my owl call. It's bonding time for us. Anyway, back to the soap opera.... So last year, I saw gobblers and hens in my field just about every day I drove by to and from work. This year, a very different story. For darn hear five weeks, I've been zipping by and I've seen "my birds" just once on a cold morning in March. That had me questioning if many birds called the property home this year. Last week, when I drove by during my morning check, my stomach dropped. Right in the top field very near the road; Two trucks. Turkey hunters...Rats. Now, I certainly don't own the piece of property and it's perfectly understandable that the landowner allows other folks to hunt there as well. It's just tough to think that I'd be hunting land that had already been pounded. Such is the game of turkey hunting. For two days, I drove by the field, staring down those two trucks, a deep scowl on my face. On the third morning, as I dropped my brow and prepared to drive by, a change. The trucks weren't there. That afternoon I zipped by again. No trucks. I wonder if the hunters killed turkeys. In the following days, I didn't see anything on the property. No hunters. No birds. Worried that the property had been beat up, I spent half a day last weekend looking for other spots to hunt. I couldn't find anyone willing to give me permission to hunt. Needless to say, I wasn't exactly excited about my
Gobbler!
prospects for the year. Finally, yesterday, I decided to check and see if my old spot was even worth hunting. I snuck out to the upper field just before five am. I tip-toed in darkness up the side of a freshly-tilled field towards the spot I think the turkeys roost. Almost instantly, a loud gobble. I froze in my dusty tracks. Another gobble. Then another. For the next 90 minutes, I stayed back and listened and watched for the hot bird. Eventually, the big, ol' gobbler wandered down into the green grass of the lower hay field. A big bird. I drove off to work, my scowl replaced by a giant smile.
See the three birds?
This morning, I went back again to watch. This time, three gobblers wandered out in the main field.
I hope he's around Sunday!
Two of them fought a bit. Needless to say, I am absolutely fired up to hunt on Sunday morning. I wonder if my 2010 turkey soap opera might finally be nearing an end.... I'll keep you posted.