The Bearded Lady
No, I'm not talking about a circus sideshow, I'm talking about my recent turkey hunt. Here in Oregon only about 10% of the hen turkey population have beards and a bird with a visible beard is a legal harvest. I was lucky enough not only to see one, but to harvest one.
As always spring turkey season is always a big anticipation for us. It opens on April 15 (tax day!) and runs until the end of May. We've already been to the annual Sportsman's Show in Portland, got our small boat out on a local lake for a bit of kokanee fishing, and the clocks have been set forward, making for some nice long days. We got the Jeep and camper loaded up and headed for our local mountains.
We were a little anxious getting out to our camping spot, hoping no one would be there. Last year the forest was an absolute madhouse with all the people out. Our Governor had mandated a two week shut down and everyone was out hiking, biking, foraging, wheeling, horseback riding, you name it. People were everywhere! Every day we had someone walk out by our blind, scaring any birds we called in, including a trio of jakes. But patience and perseverance paid off and hubby got his bird early in the morning of our third day, (even though I missed mine).
This year, our opener started with a cold, clear Thursday morning at 25 degrees. Colder than last year, but not terribly unusual. After having a gun malfunction in the cold temps last year I was having some anxiety over it this year. We had pretty much cleaned and replaced all the springs and firing pin and it worked perfectly during duck season, but the temps never got below freezing. Well, not much more to do but just hope for the best.
Up and coffee on at 4 am. We were only about a 15 minute drive from our "lucky" spot and planned on being there and set up by 5am. Everything was going as planned, got our new pop up blind set up, decoys out, game cam for some pics, and now the wait for the sound every turkey hunter wants to hear early in the morning, the gobble of a boss tom.
Well, nothing, not a sound but the woodpeckers knocking on the trees. And surprisingly enough, no shots were fired and no vehicles driving around. We had the forest pretty much to ourselves. About 30 minutes after sunrise I saw movement to my left 75 yards out, a hen was making her way towards our decoys. I looked away for a moment, looked back and she was gone! Where did she go? Did she see us? Hear us?
About 15 minutes later she reappeared 5 feet from where she had disappeared. Well that was odd. We watched her behavior and figured out she was desperate to breed. She would walk up a bit, and sit for long periods of time. I have a royal palm turkey hen, and when she gets into breeding mood she sits and squats right behind me, often causing me to trip over her. We were hoping a tom or jake had followed her but no such luck. She wound up hanging with the decoys for 6 hours, until we were ready for our lunch break. And even then we had a hard time scaring her off, she never ran off like a wild bird, just walked back into the forest looking over her shoulder at her lost love.
So back to camp for some lunch and a short nap. Around 2 in the afternoon we decided to try a different area and see what we could find. On our way there we saw several turkeys hanging out by the road, and one looked to be a jake. We turned around and set up back in the forest several hundred yards away. I did some calling and again, not a peep in return.
We stayed there until 5pm, deciding on moving on to our original plan. Hubby steps out of the blind and 50 yards behind a hen walks out onto a cut. We watched her go her way and then all of a sudden another bird flew out of a tree 20 yards from where we were sitting. We couldn't believe it! That bird had to have treed up while we were sitting there.
Moving on to our plan B we hiked in to see if we could find any fresh sign. Sure enough, fresh droppings and some strutting marks. Ok, we're setting up here in the morning. We also decided to move camp, since the next day was Friday and we were expecting more hunters out. Camping out closer to our spot would allow us to hopefully get there before anyone else. So, got the camper packed back up and headed to spot B. Sure enough we're seeing turkeys all in that area, and a pair of road hunters saw them too. No shots were heard so I'm thinking they were all hens. Got camp set up and decided to wait things out and try again in the morning.
Once again up at 4 am. I didn't sleep well, had some acid influx hit me in the middle of the night and I was up all night. I almost (I mean barely almost) wanted to sleep in, but I dragged myself out of bed and had a couple of sips of coffee. Everything was set up at 5 am and we waited for the first light. And we didn't have long to wait for some action, I finally got a response to my calling. No gobbles, but some yelps out in the distance. Was that another hunter? We'll just have to wait and see. And it didn't take long for them to show up, two lovesick hens. And boy did they come running!
It was almost comical, seeing them run in from over a hundred yards out and then they both sat 10 feet from the decoys. Here we go again. So we sat back for the long haul, hoping some tom or jake looking for some action would see these two and hope to get lucky.
We're now just sitting there trying to solve all the issues of the world, including would you shoot a bearded hen. We didn't have to be terribly quiet and were able to stretch and move quite a bit, those two hens had only one thing on their mind. Would I shoot a bearded hen? Yes, but only if there are no toms around and the beard was pretty obvious, not like a jake. Little did I know my opportunity was only a dirt mound away.
It was almost 10:30 and we were beginning to think lunch time when we heard it, a couple of soft yelps over to our right. Sure enough hubby sees a bird standing on a mound of dirt 50 yards away. He grabs the binos and says "it's a tom!" and indicates the size of the beard with his fingers. Now we're talking! Got the guns ready and waited for him to come in. Now, at my angle I couldn't see this bird so I had to wait for about 10 minutes until it moved. When it did I took a look with the binos and identified it as a hen, and I didn't see any beard. Of course there was some grass right in front of her blocking that view. So once again that wait. Hubby insisted it was a tom, but I told him why would a tom make a yelp? Unless there's another hen somewhere. But this bird definitely was not a tom, no big telltale blue and red head. Finally she starts walking with a good purpose towards the decoys, and hubby is still convinced it's a tom, until it sits. I look at him and say, yup, hen. Ok, but he still insists he saw a beard.
It took another good 20 minutes before that bird decided to stand up again. Meanwhile the first two hens are still sitting in the decoys, one on either side of the jake. This new bird isn't walking toward the decoys, but towards our blind. And sure enough, there it is, an obviously visible beard hanging from her chest. I've got my gun up and just waiting for that perfect moment to take the shot. She's only about 15 yards away (would have been a great bow shot!) and I don't want her to go anymore to our left, as that would put my barrel over to where the other two hens are sitting. I take the shot and drop her. The other two hens exploded into the air making all kinds of yelps and putts, but even they didn't want to leave that jake until we stepped out of the blind. And that sealed the deal, the bearded lady, my first bearded hen turkey with a 7-inch beard. A trophy for sure and a memorable 2021 turkey season, the season of the lovesick hens.
Written by ReelCamo Girl ProStaff Erika Forsythe