Finally, yesterday afternoon I got to open this year’s spring turkey season, albeit 9 days late! Gathering up all my stuff, I drove down to a secluded spot on my ranch that’s about 400 yards from a flowing creek.  Funny thing around here, that the drier it gets, we’re in a protracted drought right now, creeks and springs start flowing, go figure.  Anyway, this spot has been a turkey producer in the past, so my hopes were up for success!

Snuggling down into my hide, pulling on my face cover, looping the camera around my neck, slipping number 5’s into the 12 gauge, auto, unlimbering my turkey call, I had forgotten something, my camo gloves.  Making do, this forced me to snuggle deeper into the hide and, somewhat, blocked my view.

Before starting to call, I snapped this “shot” of the decoy.

My first round of clucks drew nothing, but my second was rewarded by the appearance of, of all things, a rooster, a Dominique standard rooster, growing up we called them “dominickers” and they ruled the chicken yard.  Wondering about where he came from and his interest in the decoy, this guy hung around for 30, or more, minutes, crowing all the time.

Here’s a “shot” of his crowing.

In this “shot” he’s trying to strut, precluded by his short wings.

He put on a show for the decoy,he could’ve picked a smaller date, but no way was I shooting him!  Remembering back to my days in Atlanta, the thoughts of the twin “redneck” brothers, Darrel and Dewayne, popped into my head and the story they told us about shooting a rooster in “[A 16 Penny Nail]”.  Some story!

Anyway, no turkeys today, but I didn’t have any new 16 penny nails either!