ARKANSAS SPORTSMAN: Beautiful birds ease mind during sizzling summer

— Conditions seem to have been just right for a good, old-time Southern turkey revival.

Last week, a friend from Pope County called to tell me four big gobblers were strutting in his yard. Previously, mid-June was the latest I’d seen turkeys strutting and gobbling. He had even better news. He saw a turkey hen with nine poults in tow. Another friend from the same general area saw a hen with four poults.

I also heard from another friend from south Arkansas, Willie the barbecue man. He calls about every three months to bust my chops about something or another. After he vents, we have a long chat about a great many things, including the Wisconsin Moccasin Co., which he says makes the best hunting footwear in the world. For the prices they charge, they’d better.

He also said turkeys are thriving down in his part of the state. Rev. Mike Stanley, pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Highland, said it’s been a good year for turkeys in the Ozarks, as well.

That’s all very random, very local and very anecdotal information, but it seems to indicate that turkeys have had a great year in spots. I suspect it’s widespread. A warm, dry spring made for great nesting and brood-rearing conditions. The fields and forests have been flush with grasshoppers and other bugs that poults love to eat, so perhaps this is the year that ends our long turkey decline. As Mike Widner, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s turkey biologist says, a couple of good hatches can get you well pretty fast.

It gets even better. Last week, I spent a very hot afternoon at the Benton Gun Club testing some rifle reloads. I was the only person there, so it was very quiet between shots except for one sound that so blended withthe atmosphere that I almost missed it. It was the distinctive call of the bobwhite quail. One call jerked my ear, but then I noticed another, and another. They were scattered all over the hardscrabble hillsides in and around the range, and their song made a good day just a little brighter.

I left about 45 minutes before sunset. As I topped the hill near the gate, I saw a bobwhite rooster in a weedy patch between the road and the shooting stations at the 300-yard range. The rooster stood erect, his white cheek patches glowing in the evening sun, and he looked as big as a grouse. I saw movement around him in the grass and spied several hens and a large clutch of young quail darting around in the weeds.

The rooster was alarmed at my presence, but he couldn’t decide whether to eat, run or fly. He skittered a few faltering steps, craned his head to peer at me, and then got distracted at the seedy bounty at his feet. If he’d known how happy I was to see him and his family, he would have been comforted to know that I wouldn’t harm him for the world.

This seems to confirm what I have long believed, that the reclaimed areas around the bauxite pits in Saline County are ideal quail habitat. The thin, sandy soils don’t grow much besides weeds, grass and brush. There’s plenty of nesting habitat, brood-rearing habitat and food.

Young turkeys running all over the state, several hummingbirds visit the flowersoutside my kitchen window all day every day, and now this, the most welcome sight of all, a big covey of quail, composed mostly of youngsters.

Minutes later, my favorite hunting and fishing buddy called and gushed about the coming dove season. I can count on this call about this time every year, right about the time both of us have about had our fill of summer. We spent a few minutes trying to coordinate a September dove hunt, which was merely an icebreaker for him to gush about his real passion, duck hunting.

Suddenly, the day didn’t seem so oppressive. The end of summer is in sight. Autumn will be here before we know it.

Sports, Pages 38 on 07/25/2010

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