Larry A. Smail's Blog

Mu cousin Donnie and I stood along the field’s edge waiting for the music of gobbling turkeys. A very distant tom gobbled at 5:20 A.M. There was silence for ten minutes and we were wondering why the woods were so quiet with such a beautiful morning.    Suddenly, a gobbler erupted with his morning serenade soon to be joined by a couple of more. Donnie and I moved towards these birds and set up. We were close. I could see something white as I called and the birds gobbled. The white proved to be a skunk with more white on it’s body than black. Another gobbler opened up about way off. The close birds left the roost and thundered away. I called once more to await their next move and then I heard it…soft yelps from the direction of the gobblers. This hunt was over. I contacted Donnie asking if we should move towards the distant gobbler and we were in agreement. We jumped in our vehicles and headed the mile distance. I saw the gobblers and hen in a field below where we were calling from moments ago. Deer and squirrels were prevalent and we lucked out seeing a very young fawn with the mama. What a beautiful sight to see.                                                                             As you may have guessed the bird that was gobbling his head off moments ago was now quiet. I mustered one “here I am”  gobble from him with a loud call as we walked about. Two hens were in the field. We heard another gobbler off to our right and we headed towards that bird and, it too, was quiet by the time we closed in. Another gobbler began gobbling way across a road and hollow. We began a tour along the ridge and calling. We heard a gobbler answer me down slope and he began gobbling on it’s own. This can be a good sign for the hunter. We set up and I heard hen talk again off in the woods. The tom shut up! I heard two other gobblers off in the distance. Donnie stood around listening and talking about our dad’s and uncle’s and their leaving us. I looked behind me and in the field was a gobbler. He may have seen us as we circled around the woods for a better position for he disappeared. We quit around 9:45 for the heat was becoming stifling. Later my allergies claimed me and made life miserable Oh well! I saw a nice longbeard on my way home.