Recollections of a Farm Woman for May 21st, 2008

The spring wild turkey hunting season is over, the big birds are safe from the two-legged hunters until fall.
Mother Nature tried her darndest to help them all she could. She made the weather on several occasions as miserable as she could. She ruined it in my neck of the woods for the youth season. I had three great nephews who were rearing to go, but she talked them out of it.
My house cat "Popcorn" was waiting on baited breath for the smell and taste of the wild turkey scraps. Two years ago, when the nephews’ father was here, he bagged his first turkey, he had it laying in the front yard, and was phoning friends and family. Popcorn was pacing back and forth in front of the door wanting out. I opened the door and it wasn’t long before I discovered what her anxiety was all about. She was stalking a big bird. We picked her up and took her over to where she could get a closer look, and then she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to tackle it or not. Popcorn wasn’t afraid of the scraps later on.
This farm has provided plenty of food for the birds since they were introduced in this area several years ago.
A friend was deer-hunting one fall near a field of soybeans. As he sat there waiting for a deer, it was near dusk, several turkeys strutted out from the underbrush and started down the row of beans. As he watched, they fanned out their wings and rattled out several of the soybeans and proceeded to have supper.
My turkey hunters have had several moments. I wish they could have been caught on video camera. My brother in law set out some decoys one fall and was making his calls, when up over the hill came a young tom turkey on the run. He thought there was a lay hen nearby. He took one look at the tom turkey decoy and made a hasty retreat. It seems he had tangled with one earlier in the day and he wanted no part of him.
This spring, my niece’s husband had his decoys out and was secluded in the brush nearby when a wily coyote appeared on the scene and and pounced on the decoy. It made a crackling noise when he hit it; it startled him so that he leaped in the air and made a hasty retreat. We shall see what adventures are in store for the hunters this fall.