He knew he shouldn't be there but couldn't help himself. It took a lot of doing, but he had finally convinced his wife that he would make it back in time for the Easter service. It was the third morning in a row he had been chasing this stubborn gobbler, yesterday he had him in gun range but a coyote with horrible timing had saved his life.
The cool, pre-dawn air against his skin brought forth a feeling one can only get on an April morning. He hiked up the old logging road as the eastern sky was just starting to show a hint of gray. His watch showed 5:12. "Two hours," he thought to himself. Church started at 8:00 and he was on a large piece of national forest land about 30 minutes away. He couldn't be late or his wife would never let him hear the end of it. "Easter only comes once a year!" She reminded him late two nights ago. "Yeah, well, so does turkey season," he thought. He knew it was a tough sell so he had spent all yesterday afternoon taking care of the chores around the house in hopes she would notice. Luckily, it appeared she did. He knew that he had to be in the woods this morning, this turkey was driving him crazy but he felt like he had a solid plan for his demise.
The previous two mornings, the gobbler had flown down and went to an old abandoned apple orchard, so this is where he headed. He made it to the ridge overlooking the orchard and a barred owl hooted. He stopped to listen but only silence followed, "I hope that's not a sign," he said quietly.
The man made it to a big white oak on the edge of the orchard just as the crows were waking up. He still hadn't heard a gobble but felt like this was where he needed to be. The opening was about 75 yards across, so he could shoot across half of it comfortably. He cut off a few saplings to make a small blind and sat down with his back against the tree. 5:57, his watched glowed. He was hoping all of his trouble spent convincing the wife would at least earn him a gobble.
Finally, a few minutes later, he heard what he had come for. His opponent greeted the new day 175 yards from him on the toe of the opposite ridge. The man's heart fluttered and he thought "I sure hope he makes this quick," but deep down he knew he didn't. He knew that he wanted a hard fought battle that lasted as long as possible. The turkey gobbled again and the man gave a few soft clucks on his mouth call.
With the next gobble, the man gave some tree yelps and five minutes later he did a fly down cackle along with flapping a turkey wing to imitate a hen heading towards the ground. This really got the gobbler's attention and he showed his interest with a quick double gobble. Silence passed for a few minutes and then he gobbled again. The man cut him off with some hard cutts and then told himself to be quiet for awhile. Five minutes later, the turkey gave up his location with a gobble from about 50 yards past the orchard. The man quickly looked at his watch. 6:34.
The next 30 minutes crawled by without a sound from either participant. The man wanted to check his watch again but was afraid that the gobbler was slipping in. A few seconds later, the drumming behind his left shoulder confirmed his suspicion.
He could tell the gobbler was close, but he was caught in an awkward position and scared to move. He knew that time was running short and what kind of trouble he would be in if he was even one minute late, so he had to try something. He spun his head painstakingly slow to his left. When he had rotated his neck to its maximum extent, he saw what he was looking for 35 yards away.
The gobbler was beautiful. The sun was shining through a small hole in the canopy and it lit up every color on him. The man was almost frozen in awe of the green and copper iridescence on his feathers and the brilliant colors of his head, but he was able to snap himself out of the trance. He slowly spun around to get his gun on the turkey and watched as the gobblers head shot up out of strut. The gobbler tucked his wings back and gave the dreaded acknowledgement of something being wrong. "Putt!"
The man knew it was now or never so he spun and lined his sights up on the gobblers head. He pulled the trigger and felt good about the shot, but the gobbler taking flight quickly replaced those feelings with bad ones. Suddenly, a 2-inch sapling at 10 yards toppled over due to a whole load of pellets passing through it.
If he was a cussing man, a few obscenities would've left his lips at this time. He couldn't believe he didn't see that tree in the heat of the moment! He quickly remembered how short he was on time and checked his watch. 7:18! An obscenity may have left his lips when he thought about his 15 minute walk, but he was in too big of a hurry to notice.
He made his way back to his truck as quickly as possible and flew to the little country church. He pulled in the driveway at 8:01, he knew the lecture he would get from his wife, but hopefully she would wait until after the service. He got out of his truck and removed his camouflage to reveal his Sunday best. As he began to walk towards the church, he was greeted to the sound of the choir singing "The Old Rugged Cross". "At least they didn't wait on me," he thought.
He walked in the door just as the choir finished up and was met with silence and several knowing grins, but one face really stood out, the scowl on his wife's face in the front row let him know exactly how she felt about the situation. Everyone was silent until he passed by Earl Thompson. Earl had just started turkey hunting this season and had killed a big gobbler last week on his cousin's one thousand acre private farm, this transformed Earl from a newbie to an expert (in his own mind) at a very rapid pace.
"Well, did you get him, preacher?" Earl asked.
The man replied with the first thing that came to his mind. "He is risen," was all he said as he walked to the podium to begin the service.
