My "Good Luck" Truck

Private land, shmivate land. No need to vent my "lack-of-private-land-access" frustration today because yesterday I was finally able to shoot a turkey on land as public as it gets. My wife is convinced it was because yesterday was the first time I ever took my new truck hunting.


Who knows if the truck had anything to do with it, but there must have been some luck involved because those public-land birds are so call shy. It's late in the season and by now most of the hens are sitting on eggs, but the gobblers are still looking for love, so you'd think they'd come looking for a hen if you can make yourself sound like one. Instead, they just quietly sneak away whenever we call to them. To get close to this bird my buddy and I had to crawl through mud behind a small hill in order to "head 'em off at the pass". When I thought we were close I peeked up over the hill....


...and saw seven gobblers within 45 yards...


Turkeys don't smell you like deer or elk, but their vision is incredibly keen, and if they see any movement they're gone and your hunt is over. My heart was pounding out of my chest but somehow I was able to make a clean shot on a good bird.


For those of you who don't know, the beard and spurs on a turkey are a way of telling how old it is, like the antlers of a deer, or weight of a fish.

The older the animal --> the smarter it is.
The smarter it is --> the harder it is to hunt.
The harder it is to hunt --> the more bragging rights you can claim.

Personally, I think the location you hunt, (the hunting pressure they feel), also contributes to their smarts and makes them more of a trophy. Certainly I worked my little turkey-loving butt off to get this one; spending weeks learning their habits, where they roost, where they feed, etc. But like I've said before, the pursuit is 95% of the fun. Having a wild turkey Sunday dinner with friends is the sweet icing on the cake.