PODCAST: Encounter at Dead Skunk Hollow

Last Sunday, I was able to get out one last time and record material for a podcast before season starts. Actually, it was KY’s Yute Season, but my Yute was with her mother and was unavailable for hunting with her grandpa. It was a shame. I seldom see turkeys this active on the weekend before the start of Spring Gobbler Season.

I witnessed two things I have never seen before. First off, just before sunrise, I noticed my glasses were getting dirty. When I got them off, they were wet. After I put them back on, I realized I was seeing precipitation in the air. This was despite there being no clouds and no fog. I was watching the dew fall.

The second unique part of this trip was that I was on the point overlooking the saddle at Dead Skunk Hollow. I had seen four gobblers out in this field the afternoon before, pestering an equal number of hens. As it turned out, the birds split up, and went to separate roosts. I got to witness two hens flying down off the roost and call to locate the gobbler located on the other side. Part of the catechism of turkey hunting is that hens go to gobblers, not the other way around, and the trick to turkey hunting is to reverse this process. For the first time, I got to see this in action. The second hen tarried at the top of the hollow and kept calling plaintively before getting a response from the gobbler. This caused her to enter the treeline and march down the hollow to the gob.