Well here is a good one for you. Most hunters will not live this one out in the bush.
Back in the day as they say when life was good. I used to come home and at the spur of the moment take off to a state to turkey hunt. That is what spring is all about, isn’t it?
Getting back to the story I decided to venture out to Kansas. I had been there before with my buddy Al. This time I was going it alone just because I could. I headed out down around the Fort Scott area. We had found a 2000 acre area that was as sweet as can be. Did I mention that it was free? I got there late or should I say early morning on Saturday. I spent all day at the far end of the land, heard some gobbling but all was far away. There will be no need for a turkey fan mounting kit today.
The next morning I had decided to go to an 80-acre spot that Dan had had some good luck. I never did thank my friend Dan for such a quiet morning. There was nothing going on there that morning anyway.
So as always, not being able to sit still for too long I went back to the place I was the day before. Being midday I thought it would be best to go all the way back to the creek bottom that led to the roosting trees. I got about half of the way there and the turkeys were flying up like somebody letting them out of a cage or something. One after another were getting airborne and flying back into the big trees. As I was coming up over the rise I could see a Tom in full strut. So down on the knees for 100 yards, look up and he is still there. Crawling as low as I could get for a little way and coming to the top of the rise I made this brilliant move of putting the hen decoy out about arm’s length away from me. It was only seconds when it was BOBCAT in flight and he was incoming. Up went the gun only to have the barrel past his shoulder then his force knocking the gun out of my hands. He hit so hard that my right thumb still is not normal from the twisting of the gun. Then it was scramble time. Now that is up close and personal. My thought went from a mount to a dead tom kitty cat. I knew the season was not on but that blood could change a fella’s mind in a hurry. Then more blood came and I have to admit that I did go into a little dead cat mode. I did manage to get the bleeding to stop but I had enough blood on my mask to make me wonder what I was still doing out in the woods. I was lucky, could have been in the eye. I did finish out the day and then headed into town.
I walked into the emergency room and they were nice enough to tell me to come back in the morning because of the after-hour pricing. They assured me that I only needed to get some antibiotics. The claws on a bobcat are one of the worst for germs. One claw across the nose and one in the left nostril. I went into the clinic in the morning after I shot my Tom for my Kansas plaque. Just rack up another couple hundred dollars from the turkey hunting fund. All in a days hunt.
Happy and safe hunting,
Randy
RAW