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Saturday, August 22, 2020

Hunter or No Hunter?

I used to love to hunt turkeys and part of the enjoyment was calling them in. I lived for a time in N. Florida and had along with 4 other people sole access to a large parcel of prime hunting property. I was sitting along a small stream one time and managed to call in a male turkey and he came out into sight not 6' from where I was sitting. He waded across the shallow creek and stepped into a shaft of sunlight. It was the most beautiful thing I had seen with the sun bringing out the bronze in his feathers. I was so mesmerized by the sheer beauty of the bird I sat motionless taken in by the beauty. When I came out of my stupor he was about 15 feet away, stepped behind a large oak tree and that is the last I saw him.  

I realized then that I was more of a bird watcher than bird hunter. 
 Another time I was hunting the same piece of property which bordered a river and I was sitting on a stump about 6' out in the river. As I sat there several wood ducks (top photo) came paddling down the river and started swimming around my feet and the stump. Again I was so mesmerized by the beauty of the birds that I just sat there for several minutes watching them swim around me. I didn't have a duck stamp on my license so I  was not allowed to do anything with them but as the photo shows they are a very beautiful bird. This all happened outside Tallahassee, FL and I have not been bird hunting since and have no intention to do so. 

What reminded me of the turkey was this morning just as the sun came up we had a gobbler making a racket in front of our house and I had flash backs to my last turkey hunt. 

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