king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Hunting Illustrated April/May 2008 - Index

74
(Above) Sheila with her husband Jeff and her
turkey that sports a 10-inch beard. (Below) Sheila
and her father Brad admiring the Northern Utah
gobbler she shot on a beautiful opening morning.
HUNTING ILLUSTRATED.com
the season to hunt. Opening day might have been my only
chance. They reassured me that it was all about the fun of
the hunt, not just shooting a turkey.
We parked the truck and started walking in the
dark with our fl ashlight down ravines, over rocks, and
around fences. It seemed a bit crazy, but I was getting
excited as my heart started to beat faster. After climbing
up a big side hill, we descended into a huge valley on the
other side. In the cool crisp air I could see Dad’s breath as
he explained and pointed to the large cluster of trees where
he watched the turkeys fl y up to roost the night before. I
was amazed at how quiet we had to be. I wondered if
the turkeys really had the kind of intelligence and sight
that my Dad and Jeff tried to convince me of. We spotted
which bush we thought would be the best location for
our set-up and then started crawling through the frozen
ground and bushes, being as quiet as possible. All three of
us positioned ourselves under the bush.
The dim light of the early dawn was starting to
faintly show the beautiful green-tinted mountainside,
we didn’t have much more time. It wasn’t long before
we heard, “Gobble, gobble, gobble.” One gobble after
another, some from behind us, then more to the side. I
knew one thing for sure, there were a lot of turkeys roosted
in the huge maple trees near us. As Dad and Jeff became
very excited with all the turkey calls, I enjoyed the view
of the valley below us. The patterns of farm fi elds, roads,