By Chris Erwin
The spring flowers are painting the hill sides in Eastern Kentucky, and if you listen closely you just might hear a spring gobbler calling for a mate.
Dan Feltner, branch manager of Appalachian Auto Recovery on 20th street in Ashland, is no newbie to hitting the woods during the spring gobbler season and this year was no exception.
Feltner’s farm located near Paintsville, Ky. is his primary hunting location. As the first weekend of turkey season began he was out at the crack of dawn walking to his turkey blind, hunting with his 12-gauge shotgun. Feltner settled into his blind hoping to hear that spooky sound of a male bird calling for a mate.
As many of you know, the waiting can seem like hours as minutes pass by, every sound in the woods seems to be magnified as you sit there trying not to move. Using your eyes to investigate every crunch of the leaves, every movement in the still of the morning waiting and hopping all your work pays off.
Dan had placed decoys along an old logging road that hasn’t seen action in a long time; however, it provided an open area where he hopped to get a shot. Of course, that all depended on his belief that birds were using the area.
As he sat there the woods seem to come alive as he heard the first gobble followed by sounds of something moving towards him. The bird gobbled again as it got closer to him.
Feltner made a couple of low clucks on his reed call, his eyes scanning looking for the movement of the bird coming his way. The bird called again and just about the time the bird was planning to cluck again Feltner heard something coming from the other direction…
Then he saw it — a hen bird moving toward the male bird! He saw them come together on the other end of the logging road too far away for him to get a shot. They moved away from him but then returned. They seemed to be working up and down the road just far enough away that he still couldn’t get a shot.
As they moved down the road again, he made the decision to crawl into a better position so if they returned he might get a shot. He moved slowly on all fours. After moving about 100 yards he pulled up and got in positioned if they returned.
He didn’t have to wait long as he saw the male bird strutting, scratching and circling the hen. The adrenaline pumping through him, the elements seemed to disappear as his total focus trained on the birds. He started to move toward them raising his gun…waiting…and waiting, then the birds moved closer.
He felt the stock come to rest against his cheek and his eyes looked down the barrel of the gun. His finger pushed the safety off. The click of the safety sounds loud to him, but the birds are engaged with each other and hear nothing.
Another 10 feet and they are out in the open. The time is frozen as he watches them move his way. They move into range. Feltner waits for them to get enough separation so he can make a clean shot on the gobbler.
Just when he thinks, he is going to cramp up from the wait he gets his chance. He squeezes the trigger, his adrenaline is so high he hardly hears the gun go off.
Dan leapt to his feet and ran over to claim his prize as the hen runs over the hill and takes flight.
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