Photo by Ralph

The last day of turkey season dawned cool, with a high overcast. The gobbler I'd been closest to all year was one that had come up behind me mid-season. I had heard him, but never saw him. Prospects for my season did not look good. Because of a previous commitment, I only had until noon to score a bird.

Early that morning, I spent more than an hour flirting with a gobbler across the property line, to no avail. I knew there was a clearing over there. He sounded like he was moving up and down in that opening, gobbling hard -- but expecting the lovesick hen he thought he was hearing to come to him.

Around 9 a.m., when everything fell silent, I walked quietly up a road through the woods to the other end of the property. While I was walking, the sound of wings made me look up, just in time to see a gobbler sail over from somewhere behind me to the next property.

I quickly set up under a tree and called a few times, but never heard or saw him again.

As the morning waned, I moved back down the road and sat down at the edge of a small clearing about halfway between the two property lines. I called off and on a few times, but didn't hear so much as a rustle in the leaves to indicate that there were any birds around.

About a quarter to 12, I gave one last half-hearted call. Five minutes later, getting no answer, I got up and walked the short distance back out to the woods road. As I stood looking down it, some tiny noise behind me made me turn my head.

A magnificent gobbler was just clearing the tops of the trees. He settled onto the ground about 10 yards in front of where I had been sitting three minutes before.

Looking around for the "hen" he had heard, the gobbler turned. We looked each other in the eye. We both hesitated a split second. Then I swung around and tried to get my shotgun up and trained on the bird.

At the same instant, he gave a little hop and was back in the air, disappearing over the trees just as I got the gun to my shoulder.

That day, I learned a valuable lesson: Just because you can't hear a turkey, that doesn't mean he isn't there.

SUNSHINE STATE
TURKEY HUNTING
The state turkey biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) is Larry Perrin. Although there is no annual assessment of turkey stocks done in Florida, he feels that prospects for the 2007 spring season are good.