Strutting Head On In the Field

by Dale Kauzlaric

Title

Strutting Head On In the Field

Artist

Dale Kauzlaric

Medium

Photograph - Fine Art Photography

Description

Strutting Head On In the Field by Dale Kauzlaric -- I was out chasing turkeys this spring. I went to a spot in rural Marathon County, Wisconsin. It was my opening day. I had to get up at 3:20 am, to get set up by hours. I loaded everything on my back and headed out from the truck. I got less than 100 yards from the truck and a bird flew off the roost above me. As I watched it fly off, I did not see a beard and hoped it was a hen. Even though it was dark, I stopped and looked up, but did not see any other birds on the roost. I continued on and my spot was about a forty away from the truck. The grass in the field was soaked with dew, but I had my knee boots on, no problem. It was clear with the moon out. I was set up with over 15 minutes until hours. I sat down to enjoy the spring woods waking up. The geese, cranes, swans, ducks and tweety birds were coming to life in the dawn daylight. Then there was a gobble behind me, then another with him. Then there was a gobble towards my truck. There was another bird and I must have walked by him. I called once and he gobbled to answer back. There were about a half dozen toms gobbling around me. The owls would hoot and they would gobble. They were gobbling to virtually every noise and to each other. The tom by my truck then went silent, he must have flown down. After 10 minutes, he gobbled again, right where my truck was. I thought, at least he didn't fly off in another direction. I called one more time and put the call away. All of a sudden, the fog set in and obscured everything. Weird how that happens some times. It goes from clear to foggy in minutes. I could hear him gobble, but could not see him, he was getting closer. Then I finally thought I could see movement to the southeast. I pulled up the camera and sure enough, there he was. He gobbled about 6 times in the field. He was coming my way. Then I heard a hen to the north or my left. She was yelping, then clucking. She came to the field and walked just outside my decoys. She was heading in his direction and I thought she would pull him away from me. That's how it works in the turkey world. The tom gobbles, the hens go find him, get bred and then go make a living the rest of the day. Hens get bred once a day, lay one egg in the nest a day until they have full clutch of eggs. Then they sit on the eggs and incubate. That way they all hatch at relatively the same time. But no, she walked straight away from me to the east and he did not follow her, surprise! He continued towards me in full strut, now at less than 100 yards. Then I heard another hen from the same direction. She made her way into the field, farther out from decoys and headed east also. He did not go with her either. He kept coming my way, never coming out of strut. I was taking photos of him, as he came closer. Here, he was strutting head on. He got within about 50 yards and that was it. He pirouetted there for a few minutes and then headed back in the same direction he came from. See you later! There is nothing like sitting in the woods in spring. There is so much more activity than in the fall. All of God's creatures happy winter is over with! -- dalekphotography.com

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June 8th, 2023

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