Well, I had the opportunity to go out again with my neighbor chasing turkeys. After a rough night of dodging some serious storms, we met out in the driveway at 4:45 a.m. to give us plenty of time to listen for gobblers on the roost.
All was quiet until about 6:00 a.m. when an ol’ tom struck back at a crow that was squawking in his vicinity. The gobble wasn’t loud, but after a second listen we thought we had a good chance of cutting the distance down quickly.
15 minutes later, we were sneaking into position with the turkey slamming every crow that dared to utter a “caw”. We had snuck within 200 yards or so and were debating on our best approach to finish off this easy hunt, when we ran into trouble. Trouble in the form of a beaver.
We were separated from the bird by a large pond and as we were gathering our thoughts and strategies, a beaver detected our presence (course he could have been just slapping the water for the heck of it). Regardless, 2 tail slaps and the gobbler never made another peep the entire morning.
We set up and did some hen calling, but after we heard 2 different wingbeats down to planet Earth, the hunt was over. They headed in the opposite direction, and we were left birdless.
A future NWTF magazine cover
But we would not be denied. The male providers for 2 households would not be outdone by wild critters. Fortunately, Philip stuck a few fishing poles in the back of the truck and after dealing with some dry-rotted line, we still managed to put food on the supper table with a couple of Texas-rigged plastic lizards. In about an hour and a half of casting, we managed to reel in 8 largemouths from the pond.
The largest – a 2 pounder – proudly shown off by the neighbor’s son Hunter.
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