Hens to Her Left, Jakes to Her Right

EDITOR'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 Bo Pitman, the lodge manager at White Oak Plantation in Tuskegee, Alabama, as he helps her go after a wily tom.

The hens continued toward us until they came within 5 yards of the tree. If I'd turned the tree loose and moved quickly, I believe I even might have caught one. The hens preened their feathers and stood around in the shade. While I watched the hens to my left, the five jakes walked within 10 yards of me on my right. I had hens to my left and jakes to my right. I almost could touch both small flocks of birds. These turkeys had me penned-down with three gobblers strutting in front of me a little to my right, 10 yards from the tree I held onto for dear life. My knees ached. I realized any move I made to reach my gun or to relieve the pressure on my knees would hurt my chances of getting a shot.

From behind me, I heard Bo softly whisper, "Ain't this a heck of a predicament. We have turkeys all around us, and we need to shoot one of those three gobblers to the right. But we can't move, or else we'll spook all the birds." Since I had no idea what to do next, I asked, "What should we do, Bo?"

"We'll just sit here and see what happens," he whispered back to me. Although the turkeys stood close to us, our whispering didn't seem to bother them at all. Finally, the three big gobblers moved 10 yards directly in front of me. My gun was only 3 feet from me on the ground below me, between my knees and pointed straight at the gobblers. But I knew I had no way of reaching for my gun without spooking the birds.

As I studied the longbeards, I watched the Sentinel marching a circle around the other two gobblers. Always alert and ever attentive, he constantly looked for danger, checking the position of the jakes and watching the hens. This bird apparently knew the security of the flock rested on his diligence as a patrolman. I knew sooner or later that either Bo or I would spook one of the turkeys.

For 15 or 20 minutes, the birds had us pinned down. The sound of the gobbler's drumming almost deafened us. "When the Sentinel turns his head away from us, pick up your gun, move it to your shoulder as slowly as possible, and shoot one of those longbeards," Bo explained quietly. "Take whichever bird gives you the best shot."

Finally the Sentinel spotted us. He didn't seem to recognize what we were. But I believe he could tell no tree in the forest had such a large base and such a small width 3 feet up from the base. The Sentinel began to putt. I heard Bo say, "You've got to take the shot now or never, Miss Sherry."

The strutting gobbler moved off to our right. The majority of the flock held to our left. The jakes finally had drifted to the same side of the tree as the hens. Bo told me later he had hoped when I reached for my gun that the turkeys on the left would see me, begin to putt and continue to move away from us to my left. Then when the gobblers on the right saw the other turkeys moving away, Bo hoped the longbeards would walk toward the hens and jakes, directly in front of me, offering a shot.

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: SHERRY BAGS THE SENTINEL