Squirrel and rabbit season has come and gone, and I didn't even have a chance to take a shot at anything. The weather was bad in late February (the end of the open season), I had no interest in hunting during snowstorms in sub-freezing weather. I'm a lightweight, I know. When the weather warmed up a bit, I saw on my calendar that I had a few more days in raccoon and opossum season, but I'm not particularly interested in hunting those animals, and that season closed yesterday.
Of course, now that the season is closed for everything (I think) I'm seeing game all over the place. A squirrel ran right in front of my car as I left the driveway today. I'm going to keep an eye out for squirrels this spring, to see if I can figure out which part of the property has the most of them. Because come June, I'll be able to hunt them again.
But the squirrel sighting is not what has me excited about hunting again, June is a long time from now, and I have a lot to focus on between now and then. No, what got me excited was seeing over a dozen wild turkeys, just strolling the entire back half of the property along the fence line.
There are only 32 days until open season on turkeys. Now, I saw the birds at twilight, from about 6:45pm until dusk. Noting their location in the evening is useful, but not as useful as knowing their morning habits. I think the early part of spring turkey season only allows hunting from dawn to noon. So I need to know where to find these beasts in the morning. I also think you can only take bearded turkeys in the spring, but I counted at least three in the flock, so I'm in business. I have 32 days to read up on all the limits and regulations. And to study the behavior of the wild turkeys in this flock. This has me excited. I will attempt to hunt them with my .22 rifle instead of a shotgun. If it is not fun, I may consider getting a shotgun. I will try some target practice with a turkey cutout to see if I can do it with the rifle.
