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   Saturday afternoon, I decided to set up my turkey blind just in case I wanted to go hunting in the morning. I have learned that a person does not want to set things up in the dark on the morning of the hunt. A person flailing around trying to pop up a turkey blind when you cannot see what you are doing will spook anything in the area.

   Saturday morning, I had gone out but had no success at calling a gobbler in. Trying to remain motionless for extended periods of time while sitting on a wet log next to rose bushes is just not comfortable. The bird I was working on was walking back and forth on a side-by-side trail about a hundred yards away. He would not walk through the wet brush to come to me, and I can’t say as I blame him. I did not want to get all wet to go to him and even if I had, he would have seen me moving before I could get into range. When I gave up on him and went back to the house, my wife told me about the hen and gobbler that came across the pasture just past the lawn. We had seen them on several occasions, so I decided to go after him.

   The pasture is about forty acres and currently is home to a bunch of grass calves. I set up my blind next to the fence so I could see the open grass field when turkeys came out of the timber on either side. I knew if I put the blind in the pasture, the group of curious calves would find it before morning, and it is hard to say what they would have done with it.

   I woke up at about 4:30 Sunday morning. It was clear and calm, so I decided it would be a good day to go hunting. It was still dark when I settled into the chair in my blind with a cup of coffee and a few snacks to keep me alive for the next few hours. It was not long before turkeys started gobbling. They were still on their roosts, but I was paying special attention to two. One was in the timber off to my right. Another sounded like he was in a cottonwood tree next to the creek on my left. I called once just to let them know to head my direction when they flew down. My call was answered immediately by both gobblers. That was a good sign. They were at least interested. While waiting for fly down, I watched a male cardinal as it hopped around eating in the grass. A buck deer wandered past the blind showing the swollen growth on his head where is antlers will soon pop through.

   I heard the turkeys fly down from their roosts just before dawn. It sounded like the one on my left came down on the right side of the creek. I started calling him and he again answered me. Having forty acres to graze, I knew the calves could wander my way but the chances were slim. The gobbler seemed to be slowly working my way when all the calves came to see what I was doing. Being curious, they formed a semi-circle and stared at the blind on the opposite side of the fence. They were not hurting anything, but I knew a gobbler would not fight his way through the crowd to get to me. I finally managed to discretely spook them without scaring the turkey. He kept answering my call after the calves left, which rather surprised me.

   The gobbler was slowly making his way to the edge of the timber. He was determined to find me. I was getting ready as he was strutting and gobbling steadily moving closer. I had my eyes peeled toward the area he would pop out into the open when I caught movement off to my right. I looked back in time to see a bob cat going at full speed across the open pasture directly toward my turkey. I did not hear any sounds from that direction so I do not think the bob cat got him but his attack precluded me from getting him also.

   A person can only deal with so many distractions before they decide there is always another day. Sometimes it is just not meant to be.

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