The Bird & a 40 Year Old Gun

Bird and old 870

The turkey hunting business is a juxtaposition of long hours of waiting, watching and listening and a flurry of action and anticipation.  Perhaps that's why I'm drawn to it.  I'm okay with long hours, especially now, when I'm not taking even the little things for granted.

As I sat tucked inside my blind, protected from the strong cold wind, sipping the coffee slowly.  The spent 12 gauge shell still smelled of burned gunpowder and was tucked in my pocket.  The 40 year old Remington 870 leaned in the corner.  It had done it's job, as if there was any doubt.  The dead tom was still and 30 yards away, very near the 2 mismatched decoys.  I didn't have to run out there, I could sit and stay and warm my chilled hands up on my coffee cup.  My season was over.

The week of my hunt started out cold-just 9 degrees and 8" of snow on the ground, not ideal and I'd be lying if I said I was in the blind at the crack of dawn.  I wasn't.  The first couple days I'd head out later, sit a few hours, call and scout for tracks and would find none.  Two neighbors were kind enough to let me hunt their land, so I had options.  I'd need them.

One thing that I've always loved about turkey hunting is the sounds and unexpected things you see when in the woods as the day wakes.  Stepping out of the truck in the dark, I noticed the beautiful crescent moon over the farm field-stars out but also an oranging sky, then 2 deer heads with alert ears are silhouetted staring me down yards away.  They hustle away as I must have interrupted their morning feeding time on the alfalfa field.

In the cocoon of the dark blind, the sounds start.  Cranes unison calling, so loud, shattering the morning sky.  Pairs of geese coming off the roost.  Always crows and a boss mama robin.  The odd call of a hairy woodpecker then their hammering on dead trees echoing in the otherwise still air.  I call on the slate, but get no reply.  I repeat, louder and in different directions, but nothing.  This scene repeats for a couple days, which is fine. It's hunting.

Run and gun is a phrase some turkey hunters use when they call and hearing no replies, move on to the next spot to try their luck.  It works best early, when birds are still roosted of just hitting the ground and gobbling.  I had 2 blinds and by 7:00am, wasn't doing anything. I move on a mile distant to the Reed Farm.  It's odd waltzing across the field in broad daylight like that and the red fox ambling, then  stopping to check me out must have thought so too.  I'd seen tracks in the snow, but now could actually see him-not in any great hurry, but moving off to continue his hunt.  I'm sure there are hungry kits and a vixen nearby. 

High winds during the night did a number on my tent as it lay flattened the following morning.  A tom was gobbling just across the field in the dark, so I really needed to get this set up and deeks out.  He kept it up for a good 45 minutes, but never in answer to my yelping.  Frustrating.  The winds were still high, but I was pretty sure he could hear me.  A hen there?  Wait and see.  At full sunrise, the trees where he had been were lit up by warm light.  His calls were on the ground now and moving. I think he was romancing a date.  Sure enough-a hen appeared, 400 yards away, but no visible suitor.  She worked her way diagonally toward me picking along for 20 minutes.  I'd call for fun and she might look up disinterested.

The relentless wind didn't let up and had knocked my jake decoy off kilter. Fretting that my set up looked off, I belly crawled over to it and slit a hole in so the stake could keep it in position.  In the end, worth the effort of sneaking out when birds were around.  Two dark birds walked out in unison, distantly following the hen.  Now my call made them take notice-this might be game on?  They never gobbled, but now realized another "bird" was yelping away from the one they were perusing.   They eventually caught up to her, but she was still having none of it and the pair changed tactics and peeled off in my direction. They'd seen the decoys and walked straight across the hay field to them.  Shot gun at the ready, but they were side by side and getting closer-safety off, bead on the front one and wait til they they separated just enough to make a clean shot.  At 20 yards the hunt was over, new shell chambered and safety pressed back on.

That's how it goes.  There is a sense of thankfulness and respect at this point, so no need to hurry out.  The excitement of a successful hunt should be appreciated just as being out there is.  Let the steam rise and the sun warm take non of it for granted.