The Strut

Turkey season is in full swing in Tennessee as of April 3 and, let me tell you the hunters were lined up at the starting gate as if they were to run the Preakness.



There’s an old adage that goes something like this. All birds that are harvested are earned, but some birds that are earned are not harvested.

Any turkey hunter understands this. There have been plenty of turkeys that were headed for the smoker or deep fryer that, at the last minute, decided not to come in range, runoff, fly off, walk away, got spooked by a coyote, etc. The bird was earned, but it wasn't harvested.

But I think the thought needs, well, rethinking. There are a few turkeys that are harvested, but whether or not they are earned is debatable.
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Recently highlighted in the Knoxville News Sentinel, Nine-year-old Jeffrey Ryan Chesney had earned a turkey April 3, but probably not the one he slung over his shoulder about 8:15. He was hunting with his dad, Jeff, and their friend Eddie Williams and had worked a couple of different birds right off the roost. I know because I was hunting in a field not too far away.

While the Chesneys watched two gobblers walk away in a bit of green pasture, I was doing the same thing down a ridge and across a much bigger green pasture. They had birds close, but not anywhere near close enough.

About 8 that morning, after the gobbling had stopped, they decided to pick up and go try another farm. I could see them on the ridge, was in the process of moving myself, and went over to talk.

There was the normal turkey hunter chatter about what they saw and heard, what I saw and heard, and Jeffrey's tale of a bird he had missed a week earlier during the youth hunt. They were going somewhere else and I was going to run the ridges.
As I started to walk away one of them said "Look in your decoys." A jake had come from somewhere and was looking at the redheaded jake that was staked out beside a hen. Then he started walking … straight toward us.

The bird has to cover at least 250 yards to come in range and there are four people standing there without face masks, talking, smoking, chewing and generally not being in turkey-hunting mode. Nobody calls, there are no decoys on the short finger ridge and absolutely no reason for the jake to walk right to us.

But he does. At about 30 yards Jeffrey lowers the boom on him with his 20-gauge and the three adults look at each other like "I can't believe that just happened."

Jakes, like yearling bucks, aren't the brightest critters in the woods, but this one was dumb even by their standards.

No matter, Jeffrey Ryan Chesney went home with his first turkey and I doubt he would have been any happier with a 4-year-old longbeard.
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New to Turkey hunting myself, there are many things that can be learned. Patience is the key above all. I’ve found hunting is 99% waiting, 1% action. Luckily turkeys cannot smell or they could pos more difficulty than the toughest buck. Mix your cards with discipline and you’ll be sittin’ pretty.

Like a friend of mine who went to scout a spot he and I are going to later this week at “Royal Blue” WMA. After checking out different areas to hunt, he sat down and called in 3 birds. Unfortunately they weren’t within range, some out were out of sight. Giving it one last try before heading back to Knoxville 3 monsters came strutting down a trail & the rest is dinner. Results below…



Some new gear for the year.



Found at: Ol' Tom