and more recently I have had an encounter like nothing before with a wild turkey.
I was pacing off a shelterbelt when I saw a turkey at the end of another belt. I stopped, clucked a little to see if it would spook, and it puffed up and strutted on the spot. I started walking closer, trying to see how close I could get. I got to within 8 yards of this bird before he made a move. Instead of running away like expected, he came towards me. I backed off as I had just discovered their was a hen with him, and that maybe explained his un-natural aggression. I took some pics and videos and went back to my business.
The next day, we returned to this property to finish our plots for this location. We were however, stopped by the landowners wife.
"Hey when you guys pulled in this morning, I heard him gobble, so I figured I would warn you, there is a rather aggressive turkey on our property."
"Funny you should say that, I encountered him yesterday afternoon."
"Well, he attacked me the other day when I was on a walk, I had to have my husband come pick me up in the truck because he wouldn't let me get passed him." "The day before yesterday, I tried to scare him off with an airhorn, and that just pissed him off more and he tried to attack my face. I figured I would just warn you guys that he is back there."
"We appreciate the warning, hopefully there won't be too many troubles."
Upon arriving at our plot we discovered Mr. Dickhead in field next our plot about 200 yards out. Once he caught sight of us, he bee-lined right for our field corner. While my two interns were measuring trees I was not-so-subtly informed that he was right next to us. I figured, why not get some more videos today....idiot.....
I again got to about 10 yards from this bird, but today instead of standing his ground, he came at me the second I turned around. By the time I got to the trees, he was right on my tail, and to make matters worse, I dropped my stylis pen in the field, pretty much where he was standing. We could not continue our work until I got that pen back but he was not about to let me in the field. I did the only logical thing I could think of: I used an intern as bait. I sent Sarah to the edge of the woods on the point of the belt to egg him on, away from me. The bird would give me about 30 seconds of searching before he would come storming back, thus back in the timber I would go. Finally, he gave me enough distance that I was able to locate the pen, but when I looked up all I could hear was an intern bellowing through the trees. Oops....
The turkey had chased her into the next field a full 150 yards away. When she returned she was out of breath and thankfully laughing. We were finally able to get the belt measured but he kept coming back. Because we were being "loud" in the timber, it irritated the bird enough that the next time he came to the edge of the woods, I tried to shoo him away, but he came in with me instead.
Now the interns were freaked and I had had enough. A couple large sticks heaved over his head educated him that I would finish him if given the chance. Upon finishing the belt I still needed to pace the belt for length and the bird was nowhere in sight. I booked it so we could get the hell out of there. When I turned around at the end of the belt, there were two interns backing away from our only escape route, waving branches around.... We planned our escape which included the interns waving sticks and talking loudly to spook the turkey back into another belt so we could get passed. Once passed, the interns proceeded to stop and cheer while the turkey was making his return to the field with me being the nearest next target.
If that were my property or someone I even knew, I would be eating turkey for dinner tonight.
Stay Tuned
No comments:
Post a Comment