Beech Tree News Network

One morning last week, Garey stepped onto the back sidewalk to feed our outside cat, Blackjack, and after he put the food into the cat bowl, he stood up and hooted like an owl.  That afternoon, he opened his truck door, then slammed it shut…twice.  He didn’t put anything into or take anything out of the truck, he just opened the door then slammed it shut.  It’s turkey season, and hunting causes people to do weird stuff.

The reasoning behind the owl hoot and the slamming of truck door is the “shock gobble.”  The owl, as well as the hunter in the pickup, are mortal enemies to the wild turkey.  If the turkey hears either, it will gobble in surprise.  

During this season, Garey falls into line with all the other turkey hunters and their behavior.  I have learned not to nod off if I am riding in a car with Garey during this season for two reasons.  Garey is always looking for turkeys in every and all fields from our house to our destination.  If you come upon us in a ditch between Morgantown and Bowling Green, it’s probably because Garey was scouting for turkeys and took his eyes off the road.  The second reason I don’t sleep while he’s driving during turkey season is because, out of the blue, he will decide to practice his call.  It is at these times that I understand the concept of the “shock gobble.”

I want to go on record as saying, I love wild turkey, just about anyway you fix it, so far be it for me to complain about the methods used to bag one.  It’s just that I’ve noticed we’ve come a long way from the loin cloth with bow and arrow method of hunting to where we are today.  I understand that turkeys have incredible eyesight, so it is necessary to blend in with your surroundings while hunting them.  According to mossyoak.com, “…wild turkeys can see three times sharper than a hunter with 20/20 vision and nearly eight times farther.  Turkeys can put together details and movement through that incredible sharpness, often at unbelievable distances.  The speed at which they can translate those features into possible danger can be traced back to ages of adaptation as a prey species.  Curiosity is not a trait of the wild turkey, and when you couple that with the ability to see so well, you have a game animal that is always on the verge of panic.”

When a hunter is deciding on items of camouflage, there are many from which to choose.  You’ve got your outerwear—coveralls, jackets, gloves, hats and boots; your shelter—tents and shooting houses; transportation—4-wheelers and side-by-sides; and even camouflage for your gun—tape or stockings.  I don’t know how they even find themselves when it’s time to come home.  We are planning a trip to Europe in the near future, and I guarantee that I will pack fewer items for a ten-day stay than a turkey hunter will pack for a quick trip to the top of a wooded hillside.

Technology figures big in all kinds of hunting, and lots of hunters use trail cams before the season to do the scouting for them.  I’m surprised that I haven’t seen drones flying around pastures, unless hunters are afraid of herding the turkeys into their neighbors’ fields.  I think it’s time for low-tech ideas.  You know how rabbit hunters and coon hunters use dogs, I think turkey hunters should consider training cats, albeit the words “training” and “cats” is a bit of an oxymoron when spoken together.  Still, cats are excellent bird hunters.  You would have to use the Main Coon or the Bengal or the Bombay, all big enough to take down a wild turkey.  Of course, you’d need to be dressed in armor in order to wrest the bird from the cat’s grip.  On second thought, maybe they should just stick to the tried-and-true method of lots of camouflage.  Except, they need to take a flare gun along, just in case they can’t find themselves when it’s time to come home.