Hangin with the 'Hen' Crowd

As each day brings us closer to Spring, the chances increase of seeing a gobbler putting on a show for the ladies during the early morning hours. Have you been seeing any strutting toms around yet this year? I have seen a few, and there is one that I got a glimpse of Friday morning that I cannot help but write about. So here goes - there is one residence that I pass by each morning on the way to work where a flock of chickens are usually moving about in front of the house. On this particular morning, a quick glance in that direction signaled to me that something seemed out of place. I looked again and noticed that there was a lone tom turkey beginning to strut in the yard right up in the middle of the chickens. I have heard the expression "It's hard to soar like an eagle when you are surrounded by turkeys", but this scenario brought those expectations down to an even lower level! At any rate, he certainly looked out of place, as well as a bit confused by the reactions of the chickens to his presence amongst them.

1 Corinthians 15:33 (NASB)
"Do not be deceived: Bad company corrupts good morals."

Colossians 3:22-23 (NASB)
"Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve."

The Best Made Plans

I took the opportunity last Monday to try something I had never done before - predator hunting. My primary reason for wanting to learn how to do this is to thin out some of the coyotes that have been moving into eastern Virginia. Many area hunt clubs saw significantly fewer whitetails this past season, and popular opinion is that coyotes are playing an impact in these lower numbers. Well, the presence of coyote tracks and scat, as well as sightings by deer hunters, indicated that a pack was spending time in our hunting vicinity, so we felt pretty confident that we could have at least one come into our setup. However, despite being well camouflaged, setting up in locations with good predator sign, playing authentic-sounding wounded rabbit sequences on our electronic call, and keeping the wind in our favor, we did not have any predators, including coyotes, come into our multiple set-ups. What we did discover, though, was that there were plentiful numbers of crows in the area that were curious and that even responded to our coyote calling. Fortunately, we had a couple dozen crow decoys in the truck and several crow sequences loaded on the call, so we decided to change gears, change firearms, and take advantage of the crows' receptiveness. We had a huge group of crows come into our layout within the first 30 seconds of playing the initial fighting crow sequence, and had a great time shooting that group and those that followed as they circled back on several occasions to check out the commotion. We were even able to replicate our setup and have similar success in another other area before the action slowed.

Proverbs 19:21 (NIV)
"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."