Have you ever had a bad start to the hunting season? Our deer/turkey season opened on the 15th. My wife's brother was visiting from Florida and I had a cold so bad that on Friday all I could do was lay on the couch. Saturday morning I woke up feeling well...it was weird to feel so good so quickly. So I decided that after breakfast I would go out to the property and check the trail cameras. Well, while I was doing that two basset hounds were running deer for over an hour. When I got home I had pics of them on one of the cameras. I called the local police and reported it since Fish and Game can't be reached on weekends unless you go through police dispatch anyway. Well, they knew the dogs, talked to the owner (a whole different story) who promised to keep them off my land and they wanted to leave it at that. However, I told them I would "play ball" with them on the local dog leash issue but since the dogs were chasing deer it was also a Fish and Game problem and I was going to file a report.
Despite the fact that I knew that the dogs probably had the deer off their patterns I went out anyway. Saw nothing, heard nothing and when I got home I could feel that I had overdone it and was in bed very early for me.
Well, I got up today, did a trash run to the local "recycling center" (often referred to as "the dump") and when I got home I was feeling somewhat sick again. Aching sinuses, chest congestion and all that goes with that. Laura, too, was in the midst of the worst of it and the question was, should we hunt? I felt like going but Laura was coughing and sneezing ...dealing with all that gooey stuff you get with a cold. So I told her I would set up the DB blind across the pond and if she was up to it she could at least go sit and wait out a turkey.
As the day progressed I could tell that the exertion of walking that half mile to the property was not a good idea. Laura didn't get her coughing under control and told be that we could tape the Patriot's game and watch it when I got back. At that point I had determined my health was more important than getting out one night....it could cost me another week. So I decided I could walk across the brook, sit in the blind and see if I could get a turkey close enough to shoot at. So at 3 PM I put on my black shirt, hat, glove and face mask and went and say in the blind.
I had been there for over two hours when I heard turkeys clucking and yelping in the orchard about 150 yards away. I looked over towards the driveway and right off my back deck was a big Tom gobbling! Never heard of such a thing in the Fall. It went on for about 20 minutes then got very quiet. Apparantly something had broken up the flock, they were trying to regroup and it all sounded like they were headed away from me behind the orchard. I felt it was a good time to call it a day.
As I left the wooded area and entered a small clearing I could see two birds on the path on the other side of the pond. They saw me and started to run. I walked away from them and got back in the blind. About 10 minutes later there were several turkeys in the clearing about 60 yards away. I knew the blind was set in an area that they fed in almost every day so I sat tight. Five of them approached me and one walked in front of me at about 5 yards. The Razorcaped Beman zipped right thru the turkey which went about 5 yards around a big hardwood and dropped right there. Maybe, just maybe, things are getting better for this year. The bird was not one of the big ones I was after but I will leave that to Laura to take care of. Tender turkey on the grill. When we are all well and have our sense of taste back it will be a wonderful thing. Here's the hero pic.
Here's why I like razor sharp Razorcaps.
Topic: Fall Turkey (Read 273 times)
