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BOWHUNT
IN NEBRASKA
Nebraska:
Hunt 3 -- They're Back
As the two gobblers walked
past our bind we realized there were hen sounds coming from the corn field
below us. When the hens saw our decoys they walked right up to them and
a hen pushed the Henny Penny hen decoy around. Two longbeards followed
the hens in full strut.
One was an Eastern, the
other a Merrium's. They both displayed and strutted their best for all
the hens. They were the gobblers we had just seen minutes ago.
The sound of the hens yelping
and clucking and the gobblers spitting and drumming brought a group of
jakes out of the trees and into the party ... as bystanders to the
two gobblers antics.
One of the hens laid down
near the two strutters. One of the jakes took a few steps from the group.
When a strutter turned toward it the jake walked back to the others.
Fred wanted to shoot the
Eastern longbeard because there are lots more Merrium's in the area and
Fred thought since he had a chance at the Eastern now he would take it
first ... if he could. He was still on the left side of the blind and his
shooting area was from the decoys to the right. Unfortunately, with
two of us with the blind we were cramped in terms of movement and Fred
couldn't just move over to my side of the blind to shoot. Here is Fred
waiting to see if he will get a chance to shoot.
I set the video camera on
the strutters and got my camera going. I wanted to get as many photos as
possible before the Eastern moved over to the decoys and Fred took his
shot. But all the turkeys stayed to the left and I took pictures for 44
minutes! Some truly remarkable pictures of wild turkey interactions.
I alternated between the
video camera and my still camera. That is, until the video battery went
dead. I told Fred the battery was out of charge. Then I concentrated on
digital pictures. A second hen laid down and the strutters spit, drummed
and danced for their attention.
Behind the two strutters
I noticed the jakes getting excited.
Two of them made their move
and strutted to the two hens.
When the Eastern longbeard
saw them he banged his wings on the ground and strutted over to them.
And backed them up until
they were even with the trees.
Then group of jakes formed
their own peanut gallery at the edge of the trees 15 yards from the strutters.
Before long some of them couldn't resist it and broke into strut and walked
to the hens.
No way this was going to
work for the two strutters. They cut the jakes off.
And the Eastern longbeard
charded the jakes. They backed off and gave him the floor.
At last a hen walked into
the shooting window to our right -- five yards behind the decoys (10 yards).
The two longbeards saw her and started after her. After 44 minutes Fred
just might get a shot. To Part 2... |
