Idaho Turkey Hunt

The day started at 0400am. The moon was only a silver in the dark sky but with only a few scattered clouds the 35 degree temperature somehow didn't feel real cold! Optimism ran high as the truck was loaded at Duane's house. The one hour drive ended in the parking area of a rural cemetery. The tombstones shone in the headlights as Duane parked the rig. We set off across the field in the dark using small headlamps to light the way. I had to keep it in "high gear" to keep up with Duane. After a few minutes we started dropping down an old logging road. It dropped down the slope into Fordes Creek. The side hill was an open Pondersosa Pine habitat. The moon light made walking in the dark possible so the headlamps went out. There was no need to announce our arrival to the local residents. thirty minutes later Duane broke off the old trail and found a comfortable spot under a big pine in the pine needle duff. He scratched out a few rocks and placed his backpack for a pillow and whispered "wake me when you hear a gobble"! He had barely settled down when the cool morning air was shattered by a ringing gobble. The woods was alive!

Duane's head was off the pillow and pin pointing the direction the gobble had come from. Another gobble was echoing in the woods as he grabbed up his pack and headed towards the sound. 200 yards later Duane crawled in under a big Ponderosa Pine tree. His camo blended in perfectly. I found a hiding spot about 10 yards behind him behind some low brush. I seen Duane check his Browning autoloader. The gobbles continued right directly ahead of us in a draw. The eastern sky was light by this time. I hope that those gobblers hadn't seen us sneak in.

Duane soon announced our location to the gobblers on his box call. A smooth "purr" sounding like a love sick hen rang out in the early morning light. the gobblers answered immediately. They sounded almost as excited as I was! It was only minutes but it seemed a lot longer as we waited for the birds to fly down off the roost. A gooble from above our location announced that the birds had flown down. About that time a deer snort announced to the woods that something wasn't quite right. The deer was directly down wind from us and sounded like a "choo choo train"as she announced to the world that something was wrong in this neck of the woods. The gobblers could be heard heading directly up the hill away from us. We waited until the herd of deer had dispersed and Duane quickly made a plan to circle around and try to get ahead of the gobblers.

It was a chore keeping up with Duane. I was sure glad that I have been walking every day! The early morning air soon lost it's chill and I broke out into a sweat. I had wore too many clothes for this kind of hike. We gained a lot of elevation as we made a wide circle to the west of the opening that we had last seen the turkeys in. Now hopefully we could get into the area and call them in with some pleading hen calls. We took a short breather before heading east on another old logging trail. It was going directly ro where we needed to be, I was sure glad that Duane knew his way around these woods.

An opening was soon visible through the trees and Duane went into super sneak mode. We covered another 100 yards as we listened to the toms gobbling ahead and below us. Duane dropped of the road through some heavy brush and crawled towards the opening. He made a short hen call and moved up a vey short distance. I stay behind on the old trail and watched through the timber as the gobblers went quiet.

It was only a few short minutes but it seemed like hours as the time dragged by....where had they gone? A flicker shown throught the veil of trees and brush. There he was! Anothe rwas right behind him! Oh boy! Duane should have the 12 guage talking real soon. The birds disappeared for a brief time and then they could be seen heading back the other direction. BOOM!

Duane was up and running through the brush. I got to edge of the meadow as he grabbed the flopping tom. I grabbed my camera out of my pack and started taking a few pictures of the trophy tom and the hunter. A couple gobblers could be heard directly below us and then the woods went silent. Duane set to work plucking the bird. The feathers come out of a warm bird while if left until they get cold they are very hard to remove without tearing the skin.

I carried the gun and Duane carried the bird back up the old logging trail. The trail was steep but it felt real good to have a turkey in the "bag"! We arrived back at the truck as the full morning sun shone on us. It was a beautiful day!