A Day Afield
Because of other commitments, and last year just
because I forgot to send in my application on time, I set out this morning for
my first spring turkey hunt in six years.
A few notes from the field:
I hunted the Navarino Wildlife Area, a place I haven’t
hunted since my first spring turkey hunt fifteen years ago. Wisconsin owes a lot for its resurgent wild
turkey population to this area. It was
here that the Wisconsin DNR trapped live ruffed grouse and then traded them
with the State of Missouri for live wild turkeys that were then released in
Shawano and Waupaca counties. Nowadays
the wild turkey had repopulated itself across Wisconsin; fairly healthy
populations now exist in even the far northern counties, which because of the
longer, harsher winters is not ideal habitat.
Here at Navarino the amount of turkey sign, mostly in the form of tracks
along the fire lanes and trails is certainly much higher than when I hunted
here in 2007. It is an ecological
success story. Of course, higher
populations don’t guarantee success, as I discovered - again.
The day started in the predawn darkness. As I donned my turkey vest – packed full of
turkey calls, owl calls and crow calls, shotgun shells, range finder and a
couple of decoys, and as quietly as possible shut my truck door a great-horned
owl sounded off directly overhead. He
was content to let me pass without further complaint.
I felt a palpable interior difference this
morning. I have hiked these trails a
number of times this spring, but today I was a hunter. I understand that I am part of nature, not
just an observer but an active participant even on simple walks. But knowing that I am here to hunt sharpens
that awareness. It’s something
non-hunters likely don’t understand and it’s something that is difficult to
explain. It needs to be
acknowledged.
I settled in on a low ridge I had scouted last week
and waited for dawn. It didn’t take too
long as the sky had cleared overnight but the stars quickly evaporated into the
growing blueness in the east. It felt
more like November deer hunt as the wind was cold and persistent. Some hot coffee would have felt and tasted
good, but, my thermos was filled with cool water.
I used my box call to make a few soft hen yelps - the
kind that they make while still on the roost.
There was no audible response. I
put the call down as I learned years ago not to over-call. I didn’t hear any gobbling. This was a disappointment, as the nearby
gobbling of a tom turkey gets the heart racing.
Twenty minutes later, when I could see fairly well, I sent out some
louder yelps. Again, there was no
audible response. But about five minutes
later a hen turkey showed up looking for some company. After a few minutes she slipped back into the
woods – no doubt as disappointed as I was that she was a she.
By far the most consistent action was the songbirds
that constantly flitted past. A
ruby-crowned kinglet landed on my left shoulder, but he didn’t stay any longer
there than on the nearby white pine where he bounced from branch to
branch. Several types of warblers passed
by, but they refused to come near enough or sit still long enough for me to be
sure what kind they were.
I did see two tom turkeys at a distance when I decided
to move farther back into the woods.
Actually, we saw each other at about the same time, because as soon as I
realized what they were and stopped still, first one and then the other exited
quickly. Oh well, not so easy come, very
easy go.
Tomorrow’s possibilities are endless!
His Peace,
Deacon Dan
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