As you know, I primarily hunt public lands here in MS. As the season goes on, the birds become extreme sensitive to human presence and a hunter has to adjust his approach accordingly. Then there was this yesterday.
I had been trying to work birds in the same area as I had last weekend, but to no success. I biked back out to the vehicle around noon, loaded up and headed to town for a bite. I am on a side road approaching one of the major gravel roads in this WMA. As I pull up to the stop sign, I spot a DSD Mating Hen decoy that must have blown out of the back of someones truck laying on the side of the road. As I get right up to it, she raises her head. I stop right next to her and look out of the window down at her. The very live hen gets up, hurriedly walks in the bushes, cuts across the road right behind me and heads off.
I can only guess that she had found a nice warm spot in the gravel on the shoulder of this intersection, laid down to do some sunbathing and fell completely asleep. Like REM slumbering sleep. Turkeys.
FC