OH! I’m so in…

I go to bed somewhat early last night … at least that was my intent.  I am borrowing a book from a friend called The Last Jihad by Joel Rosenberg.  Have you ever heard of it?  Can you say Thriller?  And I don’t mean Micheal Jackson!  This author started writing this book in January 2001 and in it talked about terrorists using a jetliner to fly it into buildings in either Washington or New York.  He spoke about the war in Iraq.  All before it happened.  Pretty crazy.  He has written several books since then that I am looking forward to reading.  My intent was to go to bed by 10, but reading kept me up till 11 or so.  I was really excited about this morning…

My father in law was picking me up at my house at 5:30ish this morning and we were gonna go Turkey Hunting!  How about that?  And that we did.  It was really great!  I have never been Turkey Hunting.  I have been deer hunting a few times … with a rifle.  I have only killed one deer in my life.  And I have been dove hunting tons of times and love that!  But MAN!  Turkey Hunting is where it is AT!  We walked to the ‘blind’ which is a camoflauge tent.  Well, we walked to where it was supposed to be.  We got there and the tent was gone!  My FIL said a few ‘choice words’ and then said that someone had stolen his $200 tent.  I chuckled to myself.  I told him maybe someone had set it up elsewhere and that we should look for it.  It was funny because my ‘head lamp’ was really powerful and his was not.  And so his light lit up about 8 feet in front of him so he was straining to see anything.  My head lamp lit up about 25 feet in front of us.  Before you know, he is directing me where to shine my light.  He had given up on his.  I felt like a man.  We began looking around and come to find out, the wind had gotten ahold of it and it had blown it a short distance away.  So we retrieved the tent, moved it to a new spot and began to wait.  Paul (my F-I-L) begins to tell me all there is to know about Turkey Hunting.  He is an expert on this.  He really is!  It was SO fun.  I chuckled to myself because there we were, two grown men sitting Indian Style (yes, I just called it INDIAN style!  Did you know that teachers are not allowed to use that term any longer because it is not Politically Correct?  Hilarious!) at 6:15 in the morning getting ready to ‘call’ the birds in.  Paul begins digging through his camoflauge ‘Fanny Pack’ that is around his waist.  This guy is serious!  He has got all of the bells and whistles and he is ready to GO.  He has a rifle.  I have a shotgun.  We are gonna kill’em … kill’em dead.  I was so excited to just see a turkey in the wild.  Paul told me all about the ‘Toms’ and the ‘Hens’ and how they were gonna act, where they currently were and how far away they were.  He kept looking at his watch and would tell me when they were gonna come down out of the trees (did you know that turkeys can fly?), off of their roost and come and to our decoys that we had so eloquently set up.  This was Exciting!  We were actually hunting these birds.  We were gonna be ’talking’ to them very soon he said.    

Paul reaches into his camoflauged ‘Fanny Pack’ again and pulls out this wooden box with a handle on it.  It sure looked interesting.  He begins to move the top around and it is making this hideous sound.  He tells me that he is calling in the ‘Toms’ (the males).  This box thing is making the sound of a hen.  On the top of this wooden box read the words, ‘Lynche’s Fool Proof Turkey Call.’  We ain’t no fools… He was working the box and all of a sudden, we begin to hear Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!  No, FOR REAL!  And LOUD!  AND CLOSE!  It was really incredible.  I was so proud of my father in law.  It is such an art.  Such a talent.  It was wonderful.  I’m holding my shotgun at this point ready to ’smoke’ a turkey when he walks out.  The sky is turning lighter by now.  The Toms are still gobbling.  They are still in the roost Paul says.  It won’t be long now.  Along with Lynche’s Fool Proof Turkey Call, Paul is ‘working’ a black gobbler call, a battery operated turkey & hen caller and he has some little instrument in his mouth he called a diaphram.  You might be a Redneck if … This was the time of my life.  We truly were ‘talking’ to these birds.  They would gobble and Paul would gobble back with his hand held black gobbler thingy that he waved back and forth to make the gobble sound.  They would ‘talk’ and we would ‘talk’ back.  Back and forth.  Back and forth.  He would hit my leg in excitement everytime he could tell they were getting closer.  They are only 40 yards away now.  They were 180 yards away at first.  One Big Tom was 400 yards away he said.  Is he pulling my leg or is he serious?  Paul is good.  Real Good!  After a short bit passes, low and behold, 3 Toms come strutting out from the trees.  Paul is still gobbling and they are gobbling back.  Fascinating!  The Toms look really funny when they gobble.  I was looking through the ‘field glasses’ (I call them binoculars!) to see how bigs their beards were.  The size of one’s beard dictates how old one is.  These birds were ‘Jakes,’ not but 2 years old, maybe.  Their beards were in between 1 – 2 inches.  I had seen one in Paul’s truck one time that was about 10 – 12 inches long.  That is the one I want!  Bring out the Big Tom … MUY!  Grande!  Paul told me I could shoot the 2 inch bearded Tom, but I chose not to in hopes that Muy would walk out and I could then ‘touch’ him with my shotgun (that’s a nice way of saying kill). 

There were also 3 hens to our right eating some feed on the ground.  The Toms did not stay around too terribly long.  It was so fun just to watch them and how they acted.  Their feathers would flare up at the back (is this called the tail?) when they got excited.  Their heads would bob up and down.  And boy where they gobbling!  We just watched them until they left.  After they went on their way, we packed up and began to walk to the truck.  It was a great time.  We saw the same flock of birds when we were driving out in the truck.  Pretty.  Fascinating. 

Turkeys have very good sight.  Better than an eagles, Paul says.  At Ellison High School (they are the Screamin’ Eagles), there is written on the wall in the ‘Commons Area’ this fact … ‘at a quarter of a mile away, an eagle can see you better than you can see your own feet!’  Daaaaaaaang.  Now THAT is good eye sight!  Turkeys can see really well.  That is why they get in trees, to keep an eye out for predators.  But they can’t smell very good nor hear, I think. 

I am looking forward to next week because we are gonna go several times and jruss (that’s me!) is gonna kill’em his first Turkey!  A bearded one.  A LONG bearded one!  Longer than Paul’s!  At least that’s my hope and prayer.  Wink.  Wink. 

And I will get some pictures.  I may end up moving this blog to another location so that I can figure out how to post pictures on here.  I will let you know if I choose to do that.  I won’t leave you behind.  I promise.

So there it is … the Adventures of Paul and Johnny!  What a great morning! 

I feel so blessed to be able to hunt and fish and be in God’s Creation when I want.  I am thankful to those who invite me into their lives and teach me about the Arts of Hunting and Fishing.  What a Joy.  True Joy…