As much as I enjoy deer hunting, nothing is more pleasurable for me to do in the fall than to pursue turkeys. So when opening day began yesterday, I was on a Botetourt County mountain. I heard birds on the roost and began an arduous climb to them. Periodically they called back, but the terrain was so steep and the woods so dry, I had to take my time reaching the flock.
When I finally did make visual contact, I saw that there were four of them and they were 75 yards above me near the crest. From the sounds/tones of their voices, they were old hens without their offpspring - more evidence, as shown from biologists' reports, that the hatch has been failure.
I called to the birds as they looped around the side of the mountaintop. One paused briefly stared down below, then continued with the quartet. I knew then that I was doomed to catch up with them and several more hours passed as I tried to relocate the flock - to no avail.
I then went to another farm that has always had birds in the past, but this year it does not. I will try again at a different farm this morning.
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