Dave Richey OUTDOORS

This was Day 6 of my seven-day spring turkey season in Area K, and I hunted hard the first five days and had yet to see a turkey of either sex. Minka came along to call for me although I'd called for myself the first five days. I know that turkeys move around in this or any other particular hunting area, but I'd never gone through such a lengthy dry spell of not seeling a bird. It was as if the turkeys had disappeared without a trace.

We gave it more  than an hour at the first spot, moved on and tried a couple of other spots, and we never saw or heard a bird. We were scratching our heads and wondering where the birds had gone. About 9 a.m., we were on the move again when the cell phone vibrated. A friend wanted to know where we were and how the hunting was going.

"No birds seen and no birds heard," I said.

He described where he had seen birds crossing one of his pastures, and they were headed north. It now became a definite race against time.

The author is shown aiming at a gobbler.

We weren't too far away, and we cut through a field and into a 20-acre woodlot. We were running through a low area of the woods, looked through binoculars, and could see two gobblers and a hen moving in our general direction. They weren't moving fast but were steadily getting closer, and we didn't have much time to spare.

The fall.

We stopped to peek at the approaching birds, and they had changed directions a little more, and we raced off 50 yards to put ourselves directly in line with them. I slipped on a wet log, and went down heavily. My Knight muzzleloading shotgun landed on my left forearm, and then I landed on the firearm. The pain in my arm was intense, and I wondered whether I'd clumsily broken it.

"You OK," Minka whispered at me, and I crabbed along the ground for the last six feet and  got set up. "They're still coming. You see them?"

I was set but holding up the heavy muzzleloader was tough on my sore arm but I grunted at him that I was OK. He was sitting behind me, but slightly higher uphill. He could see the birds but I couldn't.

He yelped softly once, and the birds were slighly visible through a small clump of several trees. I now had one gobbler located, but the head wasn''t visible. I couldn't move because the gobbler was only 35 yards away, and staring out way. I had to be content to wait him out. It's important to be patient at times like this, and we were too close to the moment of truth to make a mistake.

"Can you see his head?" Minka asked. I answered that all I could see was the fanned-out tail.

Dave Richey walks with his gobbler over his shoulder.

"I'll make him lift his head to look around," he said. "Be ready because I'm not sure how long he'll hold his head up."

He clucked at the gobbler, and the bird went out of strut and the  white head rose up and looked to be centered with the fanned tail, and it took just a second to center the crosshairs of the scope on the head. The safety was softly clicked off, and the shot charge hit the bird in the head-neck area and it went down. Minka raced to the bird as I squirmed out of my awkward sitting position.

Straight shooting.

This anecdote of my successful hunt proves the importance of staying on top of birds. They may disappear, but seldom disappear for five days as they did for me. There have been many turkey hunting seasons for me, not only here in Michigan and in other states, but this is the first year in my turkey hunting career where I've gone five days without seeing a bird of either sex. Today was simply a case of being in the right spot at the right time, and we didn't hear those birds gobble until they closed the distance and spotted the decoy.

I've killed far bigger gobblers over the years than this one, but I've never had this kind of a season before. I've never had to work this hard for a good bird. If nothing else, it proves that putting in your time and hunting several different locations can ultimately lead to a gobbler. The trick is not to give up, although trust me, that thought had crossed my mind.

Turkey hunting requires mental and physical toughness and straight shooting.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors