My alarm sounded at 4:45 a.m., but I didn’t need it. I was already awake.
I seldom sleep much the eve of opening day of spring turkey season, but this was an exception. I slept sound- ly on the heels of a violent storm that wracked our por- tion of Hot Spring County, and also a good portion of Saline County. The storm attacked at sunset, snap- ping power poles on U.S. 67 and throwing tall pine trees across electrical lines, throw- ing them to the ground and leaving thousands without power. On Tuesday, long lines formed outside hard- ware stores to buy just-ar- rived generators that were not yet off the delivery truck.
It’s just one more insult in a year that would make the late Don Rickles proud, and a turkey hunt was an appro- priate salve.
Well, ordinarily it might be, but turkeys sleep in trees. As bad as Sunday night was for us, it was doubtless worse for big birds holding tena- ciously to limbs twisting like rodeo bulls in 70 mph winds. As one of my hunting bud- dies said, “Their worlds got rocked last night.”
My world came close to ending. As has been my cus- tom for a few years, I intend- ed to camp at the Old Belfast Hunting Club on Sunday to get a little deeper into the spirit of the hunt. It’s like a pregame psych exercise, but I’m not big in camping in stormy weather, especially in a tiny teardrop camper.
When I drove into our camp area, my blood ran cold. A giant pine tree had fallen across the exact spot where I park my camper. It would have landed dead square cen- ter.
The pines in the interiors of the thickets fared much better. I didn’t see one down going in or going out, so I hoped the turkeys didn’t have too bad a night. Nevertheless, the wind still howled at 5:30 a.m., and that bode badly for hunting conditions. It proba- bly meant that turkeys would leave their roosts late and they probably wouldn’t gob- ble early. If they did, it would be very hard to hear it.
The reports early were mixed. Rev. Mike Stanley of Highland, pastor of Friend- ship Baptist Church, sent a text message at noon.
“A cold, windy morning in the north country, my friend. Had gobbling on the roost, and then they zipped up pret- ty tight.”
On the other hand, Bro. Mike’s son Jonathan Stanley provoked a tom to gobble at 7:45 a.m. by yelping on box call. He killed the gobbler at 7:53 a.m. Stanley also said that several friends killed turkeys.
Ken Reeves of Harrison, chairman of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, killed a long-bearded gobbler at 7:10 a.m. The temperature was 32 degrees.
A good friend that hunts in Grant County missed a big gobbler at 20 yards. He used a hen decoy and a jake decoy. He said the wind spun the decoys so that they faced each other. He didn’t like the look but said he couldn’t do anything about it. A gobbler came in hot but stopped when he saw the decoys.
“That was the shot right there. I should have taken it,” said my friend, who is unnamed because he is still very sore about the affair.
The bird putted and re- treated a few steps with its head down. My friend took a hasty shot.
“I don’t really think he was going anywhere,” he said. “I don’t know if that jake decoy intimidated him or what, but I think he just backed off to size up the competition.”
Instead of trying to stop the bird and make it raise its head, he shot at it on the move.
“I’ve made that shot be- fore, but the bird had its neck stuck out,” my friend said. “I think I shot right over him. I know I did.”
Instead of fleeing, the gobbler looked bewildered, my friend said. Instead of re- grouping for a better shot, he fired a quick followup and the bird flew away.
“I’m totally freaked out about it right now,” he said.
I tried a change of venue. I have killed my past four Ar- kansas gobblers in the same area, but I have noticed over the years that turkeys prefer a hillside on the other side of a creek. I have called them over to my side of the hollow, but the hunts would have been a lot easier if I had been where they wanted to be. I set up in a spot on their preferred hill and liked the view.
However, recent changes in the area made me very un- easy. A large section of mature pines that turkeys liked was clearcut in the winter. That certainly had to change the way they use the area, and I hoped it didn’t drive them out. Ross Spurlock, a former Ar- kansas Game and Fish Com- mission wildlife officer for Pulaski County, said that tur- keys love to feed in clearcuts. Spurlock also killed a gobbler on Monday.
I stayed all day. I played two box calls, two slate calls and
four mouth calls, but I didn’t turn a gobble. Even though it was windy, long gaps in the gusts allowed my calls to res- onate nicely among the trees. At 4 p.m., I had the feeling that there were no turkeys about.
I hunted that same area until Friday, but even one as stubborn as I eventually real- izes that you can’t make wine stomping raisins. I’m starting from scratch. I will spend the weekend scouting a couple of new places until I find a way to crack this gobbler defense. I got whipped in the first half, but the second half is still up for grabs.
