Fresh from the whirlwind experience Armen and I had in Las Vegas, I could still feel the sting of my failure to post a decent score. My husband managed a passable mark in his division and ended winning $95.00. I was a bit annoyed and probably envious when he announced to the family that he would frame the check he won as a remembrance. I talked him out of using the original check as a momento and convinced him to make a good copy of the check to add to our collection of trophies. By unanimous family decision, I bought a week’s groceries with his winnings. Armen was more than happy to share his Vegas loot of course but I should have left him alone with what he felt doing with his laurels. Oh well, too late now for that!

I struggled to erase the feeling of being sorry for myself and concentrated on being happy for my better half’s achievement. The indelible experience left me wondering how in heaven’s name I could reach the impossible summit to be a champion?  I questioned my maximum potential to be if not the best, one of the best.  I have no answer to that. Nevertheless I remained undeterred to pursue my unrealistic goal. I secretly embarked on a simple strategy for the next Vegas Shoot… “PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

Although we enjoyed going to Queens Archery range, we decided to explore & consider other ranges as an alternative place to practice. The exposure to the different variety of archers would be beneficial. A free turkey seminar on turkey hunting was being conducted at Proline Archery Range located at 95-11 101st Ave., Ozone Park, Queens N.Y. 11416 so my partner and I decided to attend.

The seminar went smoothly as four (4) seasoned hunters covered the subject of Turkey hunting meticulously. The four hunters went through the subject like a fine toothcomb. They shared their experiences unselfishly. These men were not soliciting; they were just there for the love of this sport of hunting and make new hunter’s lives easier by sharing their knowledge.
 

Left to Right:  Armen, Susan, Pat Abate, Kurt Loeser, Bob Durante

Bob Durante spoke of safety when turkey Hunting. Hunters mistakenly assume most often turkey sounds as turkey gobble, so Bob emphasized the extreme caution of making sure that there are no hunters around when taking the shot. Bob advised that wearing red white and blue is a mortal sin during Turkey season because you can be confused for a Turkey. Bob gave us the entire do’s & don’t’s on safety. 

The second lecturer was Gerry Hertler (one of the owners of Proline Archery Club) and a seasoned hunter who also holds a Pope and Young record.  He talked of all aspects of handling shotguns. The third speaker was Pat Abate who showed us all the instruments for turkey calls. The last speaker was Kurt Loeser who used his mouth to do Turkey calls. I thought that was a talent and could not help but be amused with all the lip contortions just to make the calls.

After the seminar, Armen and I set our sights to go turkey hunting. We were so inspired to follow step by step, rule after rule, suggestions and theories on turkey hunting, that we devoted the following five-week ends hunting in the woods. We made all kinds of turkey calls, built blinds and planted turkey dummies all over the area where we were hiding. Each time however, we went home empty handed from our hunts. 

On one of those trips going home, I jokingly suggested to Armen that maybe we should buy a dressed turkey to shorten the long wait of the family to have a turkey dinner! The suggestion broke the sulky mood both of us were in. We ended up having a good laugh at ourselves and vowed to ease up the intensity & just enjoy the excursion to the woods! The children started teasing us about “the bird that got away”. Actually, the bird did not get away; we simply didn’t see any bird near enough for a shot. We realized that the sharpness of the eyes of a turkey is phenomenal. Finally, we decided to seek the help of our favorite guide, Rod from Pennsylvania.

The 300 acre land were we wanted to hunt was a preserve. The preserve had a variety of game captured from the wild and then set free to continue their wild lives within the fenced land. The fence made the difference between hunting in the vast wilderness and hunting in a contained area. The hunting season for turkey was over in New York.  Pennsylvania was an option my hunting buddy couldn’t pass up. Also, maybe it would be a learning experience for greenhorns like us.

We were discussing our plans early one morning as we walked toward the hunting area when two Russian boars evidently spooked by our presence bolted across our path 15 yards away and disappeared in the thickets. The boars didn’t catch our interest; our antennas were honed on turkeys. The turkeys in the area were elusive as ever because they knew they were being hunted.  Cautiously, I positioned myself in a tree stand, while Armen was 50 yards away from my right side in a 2’ deep foxhole with a 3ft high logs (blinds) running horizontally on all four sides (5’x5’). Armen needed to execute his shot kneeling down through the slots in between the logs. 

“I’ll circle wide to drive those birds toward you guys,” our guide said. Since each of us had voice activated radio, we knew exactly what was going on. 

“I’m 300 yards north of both of you”, whispered Rod. “ I hear you”, I nervously mumbled back.  After a while I heard intermittent signals from my earphone but could not make out what Rod was saying. 

“He must have wandered too far out of range,” I thought to myself. “Negative…Come again, over” I answered him. My earphone crackled and the only syllable I understood was “keys” and I kept hearing it in between crackles. I was positive he was referring to turkeys!  Simultaneously Armen and I nocked our bows.  Armen who was seeing distance from where I was, moved into position. 

“Six turkeys moving toward your area!” blared suddenly on my ears. Apparently the flock saw Rod and was moving away from him. Rod’s intention was to direct the flock toward the 50-yard gap between my stand and my husband’s blind.

I froze when I noticed movement some distance away about 30 degrees on my right. Two birds came into view followed by four others. I was undecided on how I was going to execute the shot once those birds got within the range. On a sitting position, I needed to twist my upper body to get a good line of shot.

The birds kept scratching the ground as they came closer to where Armen was hiding.   I picked a handsome turkey with a 7”’beard from the flock.  As I was waiting for the group to come closer to me, my husband’s arrow found its mark and pinned his turkey to the ground. The gang of turkeys scampered and by strange luck the turkey I had my eyes on appeared at shooting range. 

The nervousness left me and I wasted no time drawing my bow. My sharp tipped arrow made a clean cut below the backbone of the bird, which paralyzed him instantly. I went down the tree stand and saw the bird. He was an Albino turkey. His plume was white with a black stripe running across his breast and wings and had a 7” black beard. 

The sight that that was playing in my mind was a ceremonious dinner with the two toasted golden turkeys decorating the center family dinner table. The best part was culminating the long turkey hunt and looking forward to better hunting skills next year!