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John's Journal... Entry 87, Day 2

Stalking The Turkey Valley Flock

click to enlargeEDITOR'S NOTE: My good friend, Sherry Crumley, the wife of Jim Crumley, the creator of Trebark, a longtime, avid turkey hunter, a member of the board of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) as well as wildlife activist in their home state of Virginia, remembers her favorite turkey hunt this week with a wily tom.

I hunted with Bo Pitman, the lodge manager at White Oak Plantation in Tuskegee, Alabama, when we encountered the Sentinel, a gobbler that patrolled the outer edges of the turkey flock looking for danger. We decided to hunt Turkey Valley, as Bo called this section of the property. We walked and called, hoping to pinpoint a hot gobbler. Finally, we heard a turkey in an abandoned cattle pasture gobble on his own. Bo whispered, "Get down so the bird won't see us, Miss Sherry." After sitting still for about 10 minutes, Bo turned his head to the side and said, "Let's scoot forward."

click to enlargeAs I slid on my bottom, I heard a ripping sound. Looking at my left leg, I saw a large tear about mid-thigh in my camo pants. Luckily, the strand of barbed wire I hadn't seen didn't bite my hide. But I did have a large rip in my pants, which Bo seemed unconcerned about as he asked, "You okay, Miss Sherry?" When I acknowledged I was, he commanded, "Let's keep moving."

Realizing we couldn't scoot close enough to get a shot, Bo employed a flanking tactic. We pulled out of our position and circled the bird to move in close and attempt to see the gobbler move through the timber. To get to an observation point, Bo employed one of his favorite military strategies, the belly crawl. Using our elbows and the sides of our legs to propel our bodies forward, we slid our chests and stomachs over the dried cow manure in the now-unused pasture. I had no doubt in my mind that Pitman still would have used this tactic if the manure had been fresh.

click to enlargeOnce we could see the turkey, we realized a briar thicket lay between him and us. Peeping through the briars, we spotted a flock of turkeys, instead of the one gobbler we'd expected. Three longbearded gobblers, five jakes and four hens gathered in the clearing.

Bo could see the turkeys better than I could. When he reported back, I asked him about the turkeys' activity. He told me that the gobblers were strutting around, while the hens and jakes did what turkeys do.

We set up, and Bo began calling. Although the boss tom would gobble to Bo's calling and the jakes would try to gobble, the turkeys refused to come in close enough for the shot. As we watched the flock, we spotted the Sentinel patrolling the perimeter. Although not the boss gobbler, the Sentinel seemed to take charge of security for the flock. Then when the sun heated up in the field, the turkeys drifted away from us. They found refuge on the edge of the field in the shade.

"Miss Sherry, it's noon," Bo said. "Do you want to go back to the lodge and eat?"

click to enlargeI looked at him from beneath my mask. Without saying a word, I rolled my eyes to let him know I had no intention of going anywhere until we had made a play for these gobblers.

Bo spotted a ditch about 15 feet deep within gun range of the turkeys. We knew if we got down in the ditch, the turkeys wouldn't see us as we moved toward them. Back on our chests and stomachs again, we belly-crawled through the manure and into the ditch. The ditch had a maze of briars and vines inside it with a deep creek running through it. To stay out of the water, we silently fought our way through the briars. I had a hard time finding a dry place to put my feet. But I thought I'd won the war with the briars until I lost my footing and slid into the creek in water up to my knees. One long vine I grabbed saved me from total submersion in the water. The sharp edges of the creek leveled out as we marched about 50 yards. Then Bo told me, "You stay here, Miss Sherry, and I'll check on the turkeys."

After peeking over the lip of the ditch, Bo reported that the gobblers still stood ahead of us and that we needed to remain in the ditch for another 50 yards. When we got to the place in the ditch where Bo thought we could move to the turkeys, he eased up to look over the lip of the ditch once more.

For more information about White Oak Plantation, call (334) 727-9258, or, visit the website www.whiteoakplantation.com. To learn more about Trebark camo, go to www.trebark.com.

TOMORROW: MOVING IN FOR THE KILL

 

 

 

Check back each day this week for more about The War For The Sentinel ...

Day 1 -Sherry's Slim Chance
Day 2 -Stalking The Turkey Valley Flock
Day 3 -Moving In For the Kill
Day 4 -Hens to Her Left, Jakes to Her Right
Day 5 -Sherry Bags the Sentinel

John's Journal