In last week’s column, I made spring turkey hunting sound like a simple sport, and given the hunter has plenty of time and patience, it usually is. But what if the season’s three weekends are all the time you can spare, and the turkeys refuse to cooperate?
For most veteran turkey hunters — very much including yours truly — listening to several toms trying to outdo one another’s tree gobbles is a thrill second only to listening to one of those turkeys making the woods ring with double gobbles as he hurries toward the come-hither calls of an exceptionally coy hen. Sadly, silent sunrises aren’t all that unusual even where hunting pressure is nonexistent. Worse yet, toms that tree gobble lustfully and then shut up the second their feet hit the ground are fast becoming the norm.
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