May 20, 2017 5 min read

Hope you bagged your turkey already because the weeds are getting too tall and really cut down visibility. It’s really hard to see beyond 10 yards in most places.

Remember last week when mentioned that I was looking at one of those openings created by the gas pipelines and realized that all I could see of a big tom was his head? Imagine how tall that grass is by this week. The rainy spring we are experiencing has created a lush understory in most woodlands.

If one still insists on going forth to seek this keen-eyed bird despite the difficulties, then good luck, be careful and keep something solid at your back. Strange things really do happen during the spring turkey season.

I have often been asked why, and even ask myself why, do accidents happen during turkey season. A human hardly resembles a tom turkey and even the movement of a human and a bird are different. I can only come up with one logical reason. It is the one hunt where the person is trying to convince the game that he is also of not only the same kind but a beautiful maiden that needs company. Sort of like asking a friend to wear antlers during deer season.

I have witnessed the danger of turkey hunting firsthand on a hillside near Scenery Hill. I was in a familiar blind trying my best to imitate a sexy hen turkey and was getting an answer from a lonely bachelor pretty far away. Everything was fine until I heard a crunch and found myself looking down the barrel of a 12 gauge shotgun. No, it wasn’t a young hunter but a man in his 50s who was turkey hunting for the first time. Yeah, I know you can only shoot males in the spring but he thought I was a tom turkey when he heard me yelping. Oh well, at least he didn’t pull the trigger.

Even when the woods are more open there are a few precautions that the hunter should take. If using a decoy, and decoys are great, set it in such a position that if someone shoots the decoy they won’t hit you. It is toward the rear that creates the most concern while hopefully waiting unseen. The answer to that is a large tree at ones back or some other solid protection behind you. I must add that, yes, they do shoot decoys. To the extreme, I knew a fellow, who fell asleep while watching and waiting, woke up suddenly and shot his own decoy.

When doing safety classes and self-protection classes instructing novices in the use of a handgun, I would invariably tell them that the most important thing was to be aware of what is going on around you. This also is true when hunting turkeys. Never assume you are the only hunter on the property – stay aware.

Of course, other hunters are not the only hazard to hunting tom turkeys. It was a rainy morning and Eileen had to be at work by 8 in the morning. I was off for some reason and was a bit disgruntled for I had wanted to go out for a spring gobbler. After taking her to work, I realized I had a few hours yet to hunt. Many days I had seen birds near home, so why not give it a try?

Dressed in camo, I grabbed my shotgun and a few slate calls and went out into a slight drizzle. At that period in my life, I had taken but one turkey in McKean County. I finally reached the area I wanted to hunt and sat down in a clump of Hawthorne trees. I dug out the first call and it was wet. The second had a few dry spots, so I brought the striker across them. The call gave out its yelp and immediately not 20 yards in front of me came a gobble. I hit it again but no sound emerged from the now wet call. That was all right for a head and neck appeared just in front of me and I shot. I stood proudly over my victim which turned out to be a jake or young bird but he was my gobbler nonetheless.

Next, I emptied the shotgun and laid it on the ground. I guess I was mistakenly being careful. Then I reached down at the apparently defunct bird and picked it up by the neck. I was proudly admiring the various colors in the birds plumage when I was shocked to see him wink at me and then proceed to beat the you know what out of me. Still, I wasn’t going to let go. After all, my shotgun was on the ground empty. The noble brave bird and I fought for a few minutes and despite a torn shirt and bloody arms, I won.

I learned one thing that day – the danger in turkey hunting doesn’t just come from other hunters. The darned bird might just beat the *@#*!! out of you, too.

George Block writes a weekly outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter.