As the sun was coming up on Saturday morning, April 3, I was tucked into a “hide” along a creek where last month I’d spotted turkeys roosting in the trees along the same creek. There had been nine birds but it was too far to make out their sexual proclivities, probably hens?

This morning, to whet the big birds competitive spirit I was using two decoys, a gobbler and a hen. Maybe this would draw out a suitor? No luck and by 9:30 AM the sun was up good and in my eyes so I called it quits.

Saturday afternoon I was in another hide, in a different creek bottom, behind a cedar tree, practically invisible. One hour into my hunt, around 6:30 PM, out walked two hens. They looked at my two decoys and couldn’t figure what was going on. Not being able to unlimber my camera, I froze, they fed along and walked right between the decoys and me. Holding my breath the two hens moseyed along to within fifteen feet. I didn’t move anything, even squinted my eyes, both birds looked right at me and just kept moseying! Probably if I had even blinked, both of them would have been long gone! Exciting, but no meat on the table.

Sunday, being Easter was a no hunting day, Layla and I had to attend a funeral on Monday morning and now, income taxes have reared their ugly head, so it’ll be hit and miss on the turkeys for the next two or three days.

But still, hope springs eternal.