It’s been slow on the turkey forum, soi i thought I would dig up an experience I had from about 6 or 7 years ago. Still feels like yesterday when I think about it.
There is nothing like the visual “coming to life” on a crisp clear Spring morning.
You set down that last cup of steaming java, and head out to the damp cold air. A shiver runs down your spine as you begin to load up for your hike. The fanny pack with shells and an assortment of turkey calls, the backpack of decoys, and the old 10 gage. Your anticipation of Spring Turkey hunting has finally come to that moment.
Racing the clock, you rush to the furthest end of that 80-acre field. You have planned for months everything. Not one detail has gone by without serious thought. Your arrangement of decoys, your hunting blind, and naturally…..what your are about to see.
Just as planned, everything is set with time to spare. In the dim moon lit field, life begins to continue. Only minutes after settling in, you here the leaves rustling behind you. Questions fill your mind as you try to identify what it is. You feel your heart begin to pound as the faint glimpse of daylight begins to illuminate the field. In the distance you can see the dark silhouette of a deer trotting across the field. Yet, to your left, another is standing with its head down grazing.
What a perfect morning you think as that first crow squawks and that first GGGGOOOOOOOOOBBBBBLLLLEEEEEE fills the air. Now you here a “blahhh, bbbbllahhh” and wonder what the heck? What on earth could sound like that? Then only but 50 yards out in front of you, the faint sounds are muttered again. A Doe!
Sure enough, the one detail you never thought of was that doe screwing up your hunt. Possessed by MsCat? You would think so. The echoes of Gobblers begin to fill the valleys of Richland County. There you sit, with this crazed doe screaming out the oddest cries you have ever heard.
Then as you watch in amazement, this goofy animal is standing up, lying down, and dancing. Suddenly, the light bulb bursts as if powered by atomic energy. This doe is giving birth! Right there before your eyes, the cycle of life is passed on. There you now sit, proud as a new father.
Your doe is standing licking clean the newborn child. The sunrays stretch though the cracks between the leaves and shine upon this new miracle. Such an awesome sight. A newborn fawn that doesn’t stand much taller than a cat. Feeling proud that you have witnessed something few have ever seen.
The minutes pass by as you intensely watch. The other doe grazing in the distance has made her way to within yards of your blind. She occasionally stops to watch guard. Your heart begins to elevate in rate as you see the twin fawns nursing from their mother. “Wow” you think…as you try to remember another time you have witnessed anything that compares. Nothing comes to mind.
A gray head bobbing through the grass catches your attention. A hen has sneaked by you and began to dust itself in the freshly disked cornrow. It frequently clucks the rehearsed calls of a lone hen. Back on track by 6:00am;”Perfect” you think.
As you cautiously scan the field, a coyote commands your attention. Trotting like a pronghorn, it makes its way straight across the field and into a ravine. As quick as it was there; it is gone. Again you feel awe struck by the abundance of nature.
A second hen makes her presence known with a subtle single cluck. As you position yourself to see out your blind, she passes with feet of you. You feel a level of disappointment to see that dull gray head bobbing up and down out of the tall grass. If only it could have been that Tom. “Get ready” you think to yourself as you now have two live hens walking amongst your decoys. With everything that’s going on, it can only get better.
From behind you, you hear a “Yip”. Not mistaking this, flashbacks to last fall’s trapping season rush through your mind. Coyote! You scan the brush line to see it. Nothing around; but you knew it was right behind you. You keep looking all around behind you.
A second, then a third yelp fills the air. Immediately, you turn and look out into the field. There before you stands an adult doe on her hind legs. Her front legs are tucked up against her torso like a great boxer. With each swipe of her hoof, you see a coyote jumping back away. Surrounded by three coyotes, you watch the prime time event of the Wrestling Federation. As she jumps and kicks at one coyote, another makes a charge. Again and again they all take turns charging and darting away from her. After raising your shotgun, you sink back on the ground knowing they are just out of range.
In what must have felt like an eternity of fighting for survival, you can see the exhaustion setting in. This poor doe is standing with her legs spread partially apart. Her breathing spewed from her nostrils like the steam of escaping from a pressure cooker. The tide has definitely turned.
One coyote leaps directly at her head. The second darts in at her far side. Just like a perfectly directed movie, the third grasps her new fawn by the throat. The horrific sounds of nature fills the air. The sound of success of the coyotes as they run back into the brush. The goat like bleat of an exhausted doe. Finally, the squeal of death from a newborn fawn. For a moment, nothing…not even the chirping of the birds. As a last reminder, you distinctly hear the thrashing in the leaves. Your imagination fills in the story as you can visualize the coyotes ripping the flesh apart from the fawn. Moments later, the crumpling leaves fade back to silence.
You stretch your head out looking for one last glimpse of these elusive hunters. As quick as the silence had set in; you suddenly hear the chirping of a songbird. Then a woodpecker echoes through the valley as it hammers away on a nearby tree. One by one, all the sounds we take for granted become clearer than you have ever heard them before.
All the while, two hens continued to peck away at the newly planted corn seed planted just the day before. The hours pass, the hens come and go, and that long bearded turkey never makes his way out in front of you. But on this day, a memory is gained that will be talked about for a lifetime. The circle of life, as we call it, is as natural as nature is renewable.
The only disappointing aspect of this was my daughters were not with me to witness this. I have explained the cycle of life many times in my own words. But on this second day of turkey season, I was reminded of the roller coaster of life. For a time, I understood the bunny huggers. That little fawn was incredibly cute. Watching the twin fawns nurse from their mother reminded me of my own children. The violent kill made by the coyotes reminded me how cruel nature is. It also taught me how respectful I am when I kill an animal. For a purpose, and as humanely as possible.
