BOWHUNT FOR THE RIO GRANDE
by Robert Hoague

The Last Afternoon - Part 1

DAY 8 - Something Very Cool

Lots of times when you talk to people about hunting you hear about the "big buck" or the "big gobbler" but I have to tell you that some of the absolutely neatest things I've seen while in the woods with my bow with the big buck or gobbler. When I got in my blind at 2:15 I had no idea that I was going to be a special afternoon, in several ways, both good and bad.

The sun was extremely bright today and it was in the high nineties with an occasional light wind. At 3:44 on my camera's time display I took a picture of a hen walking out of the woods.

The hen looked the area over and it surprised me by laying down on the ground. I took its picture at 3:48.

My first thought was that there was a gobbler that the hen could see that I couldn't, but would real soon. I continued taking pictures when the hen changed positions. Here are some of the photos.



The minutes ticked by and no gobbler showed up. The hen was laying right in the bright sun, it had to be a scalder out there.

At 4:22 the hen stood up and walked directly to a cedar tree 12 yards in front of me and got in the shade. (It had laid down for 32 minutes.)

The hen stood in the shade facing the direction the little bit of wind was coming from and opened up its wings to catch what it could. Its mouth was clearly gasping for air. 

It stood this way, breathing in gasps, until 4:59 -- that's 37 minutes. Then it dropped out of the breeze catching position and started walking.

And entered the nearby woods and walked to the north.

Ok, I think you will agree that was pretty neat, having a wild turkey that close and sharing an hour and fifteen minutes of its afternoon with us.

And there is more that happened this afternoon and I will have it up for tomorrow morning. Including, the answer to the question, "will a snake get in the blind with you?"

To This Hunt's Home Page