Saturday, April 12, 2008

Turkey Day Comes Early

The RN's husband, Number 39 (a reference to his football days), was lucky enough to get a Utah turkey tag this year. This morning at 5:00am, we left the house to a location that he had scouted out before hand up Provo Canyon. It may be speaking out of school to disclose the location. When we pulled into the parking area, his worries were confirmed. Others had found the same spot. We talked to someone in the parking area that had a tag for three weeks later. He had spent a lot of time there and told us where the best spots were. Did I mention that when we got out of the truck, it was 19 degrees!
We started up the mountain and came to a large opening and were trying to pick a spot when a couple of guys up the hill from us started telling us to get out of sight. After a minute we moved across the opening and sat in some brush. We could hear some hunters below us setting decoys and calling with their turkey gobbler. After 20 minutes we could hear a hen and tom move through the brush about 30 yards away. I got a glimpse, but we never saw enough to take a shot. We finally got up and moved around for awhile. We came back to the clearing just in time to see the two rude hunters, that had heckled us, leave their spot. We moved in! After a few minutes we could hear a tom moving our way. Number 39 quickly set up a decoy and started using his superior calling techniques. Between his tom and hen callers we lured the majestic foul our way. When the bird finally came out into a clearing, I could see him fanning his beautiful feathers, but the man with the tag couldn't see through the brush. After a few minutes of painful waiting, the gobbler moved into an area where Number 39 had a 9 inch gap in the brush. Again, the turkey fanned his tail, thinking that there was some hen to impress. With his keen aiming skills Number 39 bagged the bird with one shot! By 9:00am on the opening morning we were back at the truck, bird in hand, doing our victory dance. All-in-all, it was a fun time.
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