jryoung
Well-known member
My wife and I are on the hunt for turkeys and headed out again with our friend R.J. on a ranch about an hour north of us in Lafayette. We met R.J. at 5:15am, jumped in his truck and headed to the 100 acre ranch that is nestled up a canyon in the East Bay. It was about 20 minutes before shooting light and we were headed up the hill, a short walk of 200 yards or so and we hit a Y in the road and paused to catch our breath. I asked R.J. where we were headed and he said he wasn’t sure as we didn’t have a location on them just yet. I said, just give a call and we’ll see if we can get a bead on something. Sure enough they were roosted about 50 yards away. The main road paralleled them, while the break in the Y went away from them around a corner and that’s where we headed to get set up. The road led to a small flat of green grass on a steep hillside, we set up at the far end and started to call.
They answered nearly every call, and soon we could tell that there were two groups, one with at least two birds. Since we were around a corner on the hillside though it was tough to tell if they were coming in or not, their calls neither got louder or quieter. After about 10 minutes of back and forth, R.J. let out a gobble and we could tell they were getting closer. Another minute or two and we knew that they would round the bend any second.
Sure enough a tom appeared in full strut, then standing tail to tail, five toms wide, in full strut, came the posse. It was one of the coolest displays I have seen. The three of us were awestruck for a moment because this was nothing like we had expected, six toms and a hen. They wasted no time coming over to the decoys, caution was thrown to the wind and it was literally a gang rape on the decoys. Here they were at 10-15 yards, one tom on then one would knock him off and another would get on. They clustered around the decoys all in strut, then hen mixed in. Heads bobbing back and forth, there was barely any way to make a shot, let alone two.
Sitting side by side, our barrels tracked toms moving this way and that, one would isolate for a brief moment, but the others would stay bunched, then the moment was gone. I looked for beards to separate the toms from jakes but it was useless. I whispered to my wife “don’t shoot the hen” in case she had not noticed her. My timing was impeccable as a tom separated, but it was enough to give her pause and once again the moment was gone.
It felt like time was standing still and it seemed like they were going to bolt, but a tom would jump on the decoy and the orgy would start again. It was and amazingly raw, primal moment, of a group of males so desperate to breed that it appeared they had let down their guard. It was a display I doubt I will ever see again.
Finally, I told my wife to shoot when she could. I had a tom separated to the left and it looked like she had one to the right. She fired, I fired. My tom darted up the hill, I jumped up to get a shot, he ran, I shot again and missed as he was running away and gone. The forest was instantly quiet, and R.J. said “What the @#$ was that”, it was clear Renee missed too. We stood in disbelief as to not only what we just witnessed, but that we both missed from 15 yards.
Looking back on it all it was such a crazy experience all around. A frenzy of birds and balancing the ethics of the shot, there were multiple moments where one shot would have killed two or three or even five of the birds, our limit was one each. I’m not sure if it was serendipity or not but just a few hours prior to this event as I was lying in bed starting to read Beyond Fair Chase, by Jim Posewitz and had to go back and reread this passage in the opening. While not perfectly parallel, it rings true that both my wife and I recognized there were many wrong shots that could have been taken, and we waited for the few right ones.
Even still this morning I am somewhere in-between laughing, shaking my head, pick my jaw up off the floor and wanting to cry. Just last weekend, my wife dropped a bird at 40 yards and all week we appreciated that bird and the meals from it. Here what seemed like a “gimmie”, if there ever was such a thing in hunting, was far from it. I am reminded of the great adventures we get to experience, the primal displays of nature, the wonder of grand landscapes and the stories we get to tell. This experience, while there are moments I would love to forget, won’t ever be forgotten and hopefully soon we will be back out looking for more memories while stalking prey.
They answered nearly every call, and soon we could tell that there were two groups, one with at least two birds. Since we were around a corner on the hillside though it was tough to tell if they were coming in or not, their calls neither got louder or quieter. After about 10 minutes of back and forth, R.J. let out a gobble and we could tell they were getting closer. Another minute or two and we knew that they would round the bend any second.
Sure enough a tom appeared in full strut, then standing tail to tail, five toms wide, in full strut, came the posse. It was one of the coolest displays I have seen. The three of us were awestruck for a moment because this was nothing like we had expected, six toms and a hen. They wasted no time coming over to the decoys, caution was thrown to the wind and it was literally a gang rape on the decoys. Here they were at 10-15 yards, one tom on then one would knock him off and another would get on. They clustered around the decoys all in strut, then hen mixed in. Heads bobbing back and forth, there was barely any way to make a shot, let alone two.
Sitting side by side, our barrels tracked toms moving this way and that, one would isolate for a brief moment, but the others would stay bunched, then the moment was gone. I looked for beards to separate the toms from jakes but it was useless. I whispered to my wife “don’t shoot the hen” in case she had not noticed her. My timing was impeccable as a tom separated, but it was enough to give her pause and once again the moment was gone.
It felt like time was standing still and it seemed like they were going to bolt, but a tom would jump on the decoy and the orgy would start again. It was and amazingly raw, primal moment, of a group of males so desperate to breed that it appeared they had let down their guard. It was a display I doubt I will ever see again.
Finally, I told my wife to shoot when she could. I had a tom separated to the left and it looked like she had one to the right. She fired, I fired. My tom darted up the hill, I jumped up to get a shot, he ran, I shot again and missed as he was running away and gone. The forest was instantly quiet, and R.J. said “What the @#$ was that”, it was clear Renee missed too. We stood in disbelief as to not only what we just witnessed, but that we both missed from 15 yards.
Looking back on it all it was such a crazy experience all around. A frenzy of birds and balancing the ethics of the shot, there were multiple moments where one shot would have killed two or three or even five of the birds, our limit was one each. I’m not sure if it was serendipity or not but just a few hours prior to this event as I was lying in bed starting to read Beyond Fair Chase, by Jim Posewitz and had to go back and reread this passage in the opening. While not perfectly parallel, it rings true that both my wife and I recognized there were many wrong shots that could have been taken, and we waited for the few right ones.
Even still this morning I am somewhere in-between laughing, shaking my head, pick my jaw up off the floor and wanting to cry. Just last weekend, my wife dropped a bird at 40 yards and all week we appreciated that bird and the meals from it. Here what seemed like a “gimmie”, if there ever was such a thing in hunting, was far from it. I am reminded of the great adventures we get to experience, the primal displays of nature, the wonder of grand landscapes and the stories we get to tell. This experience, while there are moments I would love to forget, won’t ever be forgotten and hopefully soon we will be back out looking for more memories while stalking prey.
great story jryoung! You will get 'em next time.
