Short Story: The Feeling

It was 6:15 A.M. I was standing at the end of a big agricultural field waiting for the first gobble. I had roosted two hens the night before opposite the line of timber in front of me, and figured that the old gobbler would be roosted close. To my dismay, a bird gobbled on the other property, and too far to work. I eased to a line of timber between the field I was on and another to see if I could get a better listen for any other birds that may be gobbling...sure enough, there was. A bird hammered immediately after a crow flew over head with a lot to say. He was roosted on a ridge right off of the big agricultural field I had walked too. I set up the decoys in a hurry as the sun rose and he began to get hot. I sat back against a tree 10 yards from the decoys and started to yelp softly. Once he answered me, I  shut up. He continued to gobble and then got quiet after about 10 minutes....I knew it was close to fly down time.

Even though I knew the bird was close, I didn't know I'd be able to hear him pitch down. His wings crashed through the leaves and he gobbled as soon as his feet touched the ground. I couldn't see him, but he had defiantly pitched my way in the woods and he was threatening to enter the field. My heart began to race as I visualized the bird's approach. I slowed my breathing as much as possible and tried to stay clear headed as my hunter's intuition was telling me that it was going to happen. I made an almost involuntary click of the safety on my gun.....pretty much confirming that the bird would step out and lay eyes on the decoys very soon. He gobbled.....right inside of the woods this time. I gave a few more soft yelps and scratched in the leaves. Then, I heard him drum. An unexplained numbness came over me.....and all of a sudden....to the opposite side of my set up...."ooomm". I looked....there in the sun light was a half strut gobbler. He hadn't said a word all morning and had slipped into my set up and was now headed straight for the decoys. He staggered as he entered the field drumming the whole way and cocking his fan from side to side. He got to the decoys and started purring as he postured at the jake look a like. He backed off and went back into a full strut while stepping right outside of the decoys. I clucked twice...he raised his head.... "BOOM!"

It all happened so fast. At first, my confidence was low for not being able to locate a workable bird. Then, I am one on one with a hot gobbler and out of nowhere another one hits the scene ready to fight. It is truly something amazing and hard to explain to those who choose not to hunt these monarchical birds. When I think back.....I don't hardly remember the whole thing...all i know is that the feeling is something irreplaceable and I'll go back for that reason alone.

SPRING-oholics Anonymous

Its here. The flowers are blooming and the turkeys are gobbling. The days are getting longer and warmer and the Spring DST has kicked in. You're out of your thermals and skull caps and in to your shorts or your all green camouflage. If your like me, then you weren't to sad to see the cold weather go. You had about all you could of deer season and your ready for Spring turkeys and great fishing.

Looking back is the thought of the worst few months of a Spring crazed outdoorsman's existence......the lull. There is no deer season and no duck season....but the turkeys aren't gobbling and the fish aren't biting. You look ahead and it doesn't seem too far away but believe me, if you are crazy about Spring seasons, then you will need someway to keep yourself busy. 

                                                     

The way I start getting myself into the swing of Spring is to start teasing myself by taking out my turkey vest and playing with calls, checking the line on my rods, and finding the "keeper" items or the ones that need to be tossed out and replaced in my tackle box or turkey vest. This can be exciting and time consuming, which is exactly what a Spring addict like yourself needs right now.....time consumption. 

PACE YOURSELF! Don't go out and buy the next closest thing for one of your replacement items right off the bat just to fill the void of a half full tackle box or a sorry excuse for a turkey vest. Instead, start researching. Unless your old worn out item was your go to thing, then I would suggest finding a new one.....a better one.

This strategy is going to help in several ways:

• You will use time that you would normally be fantasizing with

• You will replace your old or worn items

• You will better your selection

The only bad thing is....this time period won't last long. Before you know it, you'll have an overflowing tackle box and a 50 pound turkey vest on your hands. Everything in front of you is going to have you itching to get out there and do it. Just hold tight and maybe grab a magazine. Stay in tune but don't wear yourself out. I've found that there are online forums where you can ease your pain talking to other outdoor enthusiasts like yourself. 

One day.....all of a sudden....your going to see a flower bloomed in your yard, or a bird singing outside your window. The only problem is that the extended length of the days doesn't match the cold, windy, and sometimes dreary weather. Its almost as if Spring is here.....but its not. Now is the time to start getting active. Strap on your turkey vest, sit up against an oak tree, and pattern your turkey gun. Take the cover off the bass boat and go get a feel for how shes running. Practice scratching on your favorite slate or just making some blind casts on your old bait caster. No doubt you'll be prepared for your first adventure of the spring. 

You don't have to take my word for it.....but for sometime now, I've been suffering from the pre-spring jitters. I've managed to get through the days by doing exactly what you see here. From it, I have more confidence in my gear, I have stayed in tune and cooked up more tricks for this season, and mostly...I haven't gone completely insane waiting on it to get here. If you're crazy about it like me, you might not get as much success out of the program....but it'll help.

Hunter's Digest: Is Your Turkey Party Crashed?

If you've ever heard of or had to deal with hogs, then there is no doubt you've heard mostly negative things about their presence, and well.....their overall existence. I for one have just previously encountered a wild hog population for the first time, and on one of my properties. This discovery brought to mind the fact that I have heard so much negative about the adverse effects that a hog population may have on other animals....especially turkeys.

The most common reason people have for assuming that hogs are the party crasher of the animal world, is because hogs seem to directly compete with deer. Deer and hogs inhabit the same types of areas and do bump heads often and mostly because hogs seem to uproot and destroy the same food sources that are so important to deer. Hogs are not commonly known as browsers but will eat some of the same food plot grasses that are planted every year for deer. Agricultural fields provide great food sources for deer, even though the deer are unwanted in most cases, but, taking the farmer out of the equation and making it deer vs hog, we see that hogs can truly destroy an agricultural field in no time at all. This alone is not always the case. Hogs are not just destroying the food source for the deer, but they can become very aggressive and territorial towards them. Hogs are flat out no good for deer, thus, they have given themselves a bad rep in the animal world.
                                                                                                                   
A hog is very opportunistic. Anything that is dubbed food by a hog will be eaten when they come across it. Hogs will eat acorns, but will not make it a point to seek them out unless it is the only source of food that is available to them. This is very rare being that hogs can pretty much make a meal out of anything. They eat all types of vegetation, including seeds, nuts, bark, other plant material and grass, even though they are not browsers. Hogs are relentless as they will eat baby animals and other easy meals such as snakes, lizards, birds, and birds eggs...which brings to mind nest predation of turkeys.

Though some people may have seen a turkey nest where a hog had snouted it out, it is not to say that hogs are definite nest predators. Like I said before, hogs are opportunistic, and based on the rest of their diet, why wouldn't they eat a turkey egg.? Turkey biologist, Lovett Williams, had this to say:

"I've worked with wild turkeys for many years in Florida and have examined more than 300 turkey nests in wild hog country, but I've never seen evidence of a hog destroying a turkey nest. No doubt, a hog will eat a turkey egg if it finds one, but I don't think hogs are serious nest predators, as is sometimes claimed."

It seems people automatically get their hopes destroyed when they find hog sign while scouting for turkeys. This is a common misconception. Hogs DO eat some of the same foods that turkeys relish, however, they DO NOT compete. Even better, turkeys can thrive off of plenty more food items that hogs don't eat. So, if you are out scouting for turkeys and find hog sign....DON'T FREAK OUT! Take advantage of the situation and when life hands you hogs.....make bacon!