Turkey Hunting

          I was recently talking to a friend of mine when the topic of spring break arose and I was asked if I had anything planned for it.  I responded saying that every year during spring break since I was in 7^th grade, my Dad and I take a trip to Arkansas where we embark on a weeklong turkey hunt with my Uncle.   At that point I was ready for her to say “oh……I see”, the infamous phrase of surprise and instant loss of interest/appeal.   However, to my surprise that wasn’t what happened at all, she started to ask me all these questions about the sport, and what goes along with it.  So, I figured for the next week or so I will elaborate on what happens when you turkey hunt.

          The first thing that arises in the minds of people who have not grown accustomed to or grown up around the sport of hunting is not the actual sport its self but the tool used to do it, guns.  As this was the case with my friend, she asked if I had ever run into another hunter in the field and almost shot them or been shot at.  I have not (however my brother has had shotgun bbs come down on him while we were pheasant hunting about a year ago), though her question was still a valid question because unlike many other hunts, when going turkey hunting it is not required that you wear blaze orange.  Turkeys have excellent, color vision so when you hunt them you have to be covered in camouflage from head to toe, and no matter how hard it is not to you absolutely cannot move.  On more than just a couple of occasions have I had a bird only about fifteen or twenty yards away from me when I moved a foot or went to pull my weapon up and I had the bird jump up and fly away, yes turkeys can fly, and they can fly very well for something that weighs about twenty five pounds.  TO BE CONTINUED