Close Quarter Strutters

The 2013 spring turkey season proves itself to be more and more exciting each time I step in the woods. My buddy and I were back in one of our favorite spots, and after verifying that the entire flock of turkeys was roosted where we hoped, we slipped into a hardwood ridge amongst them, set up the decoy, and quietly eased down next to a tree. Not long after, the gobblers and jakes around us opened up (it must have been 8-10 of them), and they must have gobbled at least 200 times during that first hour of daylight. With all that commotion, it was hard to clearly determine where the mature birds were roosted in relation to the jakes. The gobbling became so intense that it was difficult to find a quiet enough moment to slide in a few yelps before getting overrun by the next set of gobbles. But with us being close to several male birds, it only took them hearing a few calls, and soon thereafter, they were pitching down and on their way to us. Based on their gobbles and roost location, I thought the approaching birds were jakes, so I chose not to reposition. When they showed up on the ridge to my right, though, their snowball heads, long beards and full strut pose told me quickly that I had messed up. Being out of position, I had to wait for them to work their way ever so slowly toward the decoy, and the lead bird eventually got in line with my gun barrel for a shot at about 12 yards. Upon harvesting that bird, the other one did not flush or run off; rather, he walked around the downed bird, pecked and clawed at him a bit, then hopped up on our decoy and attempt to breed it for 15 minutes or more right in front of us!

1 Kings 19:11-13 (NASB)
So He said, “Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”