Turkey hunting success this week seems to depend on the local disposition of turkeys.
On Wednesday, after an all-night rain, Mike Stanley of Highland killed an irrepressible 2-year-old gobbler in Sharp County. The bird gobbled fairly late, but when he finally tuned up, Stanley said the bird wove a veritable sound trail to Stanley's shotgun.
"It rained overnight, and I knew it would take a while for his tail feathers to dry out," Stanley said in a text message. Stanley named the gobbler "Brer Rabbit" because it roosted over a thicket.
"I called him across the the thicket yesterday [Monday] and should have had him, but I out-thought myself and positioned myself 30 yards awry," Stanley wrote. "He didn't gobble until 6:45 this morning, but he in gobbled in excess of 100 times coming in. Thank you, Lord, for 2-year old gobblers!"
Phillip Pickett, an accomplished North Arkansas turkey hunter, was on a prime turkey property in Fulton County on Tuesday, Stanley said. Fulton County is always is always one of the top three turkey harvest counties.
"For hours he didn't hear a thing," Stanley said. "He called in a hen and got her fired up, and he said eight different birds began to gobble. It's always notional with a gobbler on the why and when they'll cut loose."
Reports have been mixed from South Arkansas. Alan Thomas of Benton worked a Grant County gobbler Monday, but the bird eluded him.
A few miles away, Joe Volpe and Shawn Tobin of Little Rock experienced the extreme lows and highs of turkey hunting. Tobin passed on shooting at a tom that Volpe said was about 20 yards away because Tobin said a tree obstructed his view. Volpe said three toms, four jakes and six hens participated in that spectacle.
On Tuesday, a gobbler spooked and ran away before Volpe could close the deal.
"I'm sick," Volpe texted when it happened. "Had a bird come in hot. I don't know what I did, but he took off running away. I could throw up."
Shortly after, a second gobbler saved Volpe's morning. It weighed 17 pounds and sported 1-inch spurs and an 11-inch beard. It almost turned out as badly as the first bird.
"He was jumping up and down on my decoy, and he stood straight up for a second," Volpe said. "He dipped his head just as I shot, and I missed him. Then he stuck his neck up again, and I got him the second time. I was inconsolable after that first bird. I don't know what I would have done if that second one had gotten away."
I spent Monday and Tuesday hunting in Prairie County with my brother Brad Hendricks. It was his first serious attempt at turkey hunting, and we were optimistic. Every person that frequents the property, including Hendricks, has reported seeing turkeys in a specific location over many months. On Sunday, as Hendricks and I scouted the property, we encountered two gobblers near that location. Those turkeys perched in two trees, and we did not linger. They were gone when we reversed course, but their presence reinforced the reports.
Finding turkey sign like droppings, tracks and feathers is a vital element of turkey hunting, I explained. Serendipitously, I looked down and found a turkey breast feather.
"Like this right here," I said. "Here's a bunch more over here. That's not good. That suggests something bad happened here. Aw, heck. Look at this blood and gore. Yep. Looks like something got a turkey here. Probably a bobcat. What a shame. Bobcats are such scofflaws. They hunt out of season all the time, and they never buy a license. They get away with it."
This prompted about 15 minutes of inane banter.
A co-owner that spends more time on the property than anybody sent Hendricks a video of about 20 turkeys in a spot. During the same scouting foray, we passed a location that made me stop.
"This place has got it all," I said. "This whole property has great turkey habitat, but this right here is where we are going to get you a gobbler."
"That is precisely the spot where the video was shot," Hendricks said. "The way you lit up when you saw it made me believe in it."
We were on station there at dawn. My Avian-X hen decoys looked splendid. A stiff breeze turned them slowly and made them bob as if they were feeding. Four raccoons ran past during the morning. An opossum with a massive growth on its rump came a little too close, and we shooed it off. Two hawks perched in a tree near us. Songbirds flitted. Canada geese honked and flew past. Vultures soared on a thermal. Egrets and herons winged lazily overhead. Wood ducks squealed. The property is primarily waterfowl habitat and it still holds large numbers of mallards and other species. We saw and heard all of this, but we encountered no sign of a turkey.
We left that place at lunch and set up for the afternoon at the spot where everybody reports seeing turkeys. We found a superb spot, but again, we encountered no sign of turkeys. Two hunters on an adjacent property had similar reports.
On Tuesday, we spent the day at the intersection where we flushed the two gobblers on Sunday. It is at a four-way trail crossroads. The trails are carpeted in fresh green grass. A large stand of mature pines abuts a vast stand of mature hardwoods. A large crop field is nearby.
On Monday I called sparingly. On Tuesday I made a "joyful noise." I played three box calls, two slate calls, and several mouth calls. I also used two thumb yelpers to make a fighting purr.
"I've gotten away from aggressive calling in recent years, but I think I should go back to it," I said. "I've called up a lot more gobblers making more noise than I have making less noise."
Gobblers did not respond to a joyful noise Tuesday. We saw nor heard a sign of a turkey. When raindrops started falling at 2:30 p.m., we called it quits.
Turkey hunters have pondered our mystery for ages. Why do turkeys vanish from property where they were numerous and predictable mere weeks ago? Where do they go? With such fine habitat, their disappearance had to be because. of something we did. Maybe we made too much noise going to and from our areas. Maybe this. Maybe that. It is very tempting, especially for me, to get too deep in my head about it. It's a battle I wage every year.
There's no need to be anxious. There's still a lot of time left in this game to snatch a win.