Turkey season began Sunday, April 15th, but it didn’t look like Tom was going to get one. Though we had seen as many as 50 turkeys at a time, and a small flock of two toms and 7 hens drifted around our place the week before the season opened, Sunday was cold and blustery and there was nothing about, no preening males dancing, saying, "Look at me!" and no females studiously ignoring them.
Tuesday morning, however, Tom called one in from the neighbor’s property, over 500 yards away. It took almost an hour for the bird to get within range, but he was patient. Tom pronounced Ms. Pearl "a champ,” tied up ten yards up the hill from where he sat, and told to “be quiet.” Pearlie obviously liked this turkey.
Three days later, Tom decided to try filling his second spring tag, and seeing some turkeys by our south fence, went out and sat in front of a tree on the other side of our wall. He called a little and then waited, and sure enough, another “gobbler” strode in front of his shotgun, across the creek. A little longer shot this time, it took two to put the turkey down permanently. Ms. Pearl was again nearby, behaving excellently like the half a hunting dog that she is. She was delighted at Tom’s----and her----success.
When I asked him how he knew how to call, he said “That part was easy. I just tried to sound like you during our fight the other day……”
Turkey.
Good Job! Now remind Tom to behave himself, your along ways from civilization and it might be YEARS before they found his body. ;0)
ReplyDeletejeanie
He said what! Cheek!
ReplyDeleteFun to see your pictures of Tom's hunting success! Our son hunt's turkeys every year with one of his clients, but I've never seen the pictures of "trophies."
ReplyDeleteSo who had to clean the bird after his comment about his call???
We've got a pheasant that roams the fields behind our property. We've named him Ralph. I would love to catch a picture of him, but I guess it takes more patience than I've got--and he only shows up a few times a day!
Tom used a youtube video to learn how to deal with the turkey. He didn't need to clean it, but just carefully removed the breast after plucking, and cut off the legs and thigh. The coyotes got the rest.
ReplyDelete