Level 2 Turkey Hunt

Level 2 Turkey Hunt

 

The toughest part of a morning hunt is just dragging yourself out of bed at 5:00 a.m.  It's a heck of a lot easier to do it in mid-May than late November, though, and once I got the boots and camo jacket on it was just a 5-minute walk through the timothy and orchard grass to tuck myself in just above the fenceline on the field going up toward the spring.  I had seen 3 of them strutting across right there a week or so ago at 6 a.m.  I settled myself in among some little pines and enjoyed the caucophony of birdcalls.  A rufus-crested towhee alighted on a fence post just twenty feet away and serenaded me for a while.  I got real comfortable and dozed a little.  After an hour, maybe an hour and a half, a coyote bounded out of the edge of the orchard and was zip-zapping right toward me.  I figured for a close encounter, but then he amazingly stopped, circled a little bit and returned the route he had come.  I sat amazed that he could possibly have picked me up because I was absolutely still.  Then I saw why...he hadn't picked me up at all.  Two deer, possibly the same two I watched last night in the draw, came creeping out, tails straight and very, very alert.  They crossed right to where he had been and slowly melted away into the old orchard, stalking very carefully.  I rested some more and was dozing in and out when a turkey glided in from the woods on a low trajectory and landed in the grass down in front of me.  It sat very still for five minutes, then started moving around, very alert!  I could not help but see the similarities of behavior with cormorants, the head looking left, then right, then left again.  My hunt was suddenly promoted to level 2, but it was a hen and I would not shoot it.  I played around slightly with how much motion I could get away with and the bird strutted around, standing very still for periods of time, then sneaking back and forth.  It seemed to be waiting, and I was hoping that it was for some toms to appear, but to no avail.  After about twenty minutes of teasing me, it sneaked into the draw.  I waited another half hour, then returned, very happy with the day's excitement.  I am one notch farther along on this learning curve, and it was fun.