Took the boat upriver on one of the reservoirs North of town, with a landowner friend. We were surveying some of last year's wildfire damage to his rangeland from the water level, vs his normal mode of transportation from horse/iron-horse. Native grasses and sage are actually sprouting decently on his ranch, but all of Central Wa is in dire need of moisture, or we'll lose the new growth soon with this early heat. He won't turn his cows out for 3 years on his property, so he's calving now at the ranch then will truck the remainder of the herd S. towards Pullman. Over 3 hours away from his ranch to summer pasture his herd...nobody ever said farming/ranching is easy!!!

We chased down calves morning/evening for tagging/nuttin', and when there was a break I suggested to go look for sheds. He was interested, so when I headed out I decided to grab my shotgun. Half a mile into walking along the base of some basalt cliffs along a spring wheat patch I hear a gobble. Then a couple more not too far ahead. Clusters of timber dot the basalt wall, and there are scab patches smattered in the green wheat as well. I didn't bring my call, so I just slowly still-hunt towards the gobbles, and then I hear a group of hens close by.

I was just slipping through a weeded swale when I heard the hens, so I scrambled to the eyebrow and burrowed in. Within a minute, 7 hens cross in front of me from another scab patch about 35 yards away and start milling along the edge of the wheat. The gobbling had picked up as multiple birds were getting louder, and up on the talus slope I could catch glimpses of turkeys moving through the trees. I just sat back and wished I had backup!

So, lots more gobbling, hen talking, fanning, strutting, gobbling, fighting, turkey-hood 101! Nothing got really close, and I didn't honestly know how many Tom's there were, as they were migrating back/forth over a small grade break playing grab with each other/hens. Finally, I figured I better just kill one before something spooks them and I get phucked. This had gone on for a solid 15 minutes, so finally Mr. Unlucky was off to the left by himself (but a dam long poke), his neck s-t-r-a-i-n-e-d straight up, so I blotted out his head and pulled the trigger.."boom-flop", 8.5" beard. Then the turkeys flew around more dazed than a freshman at their first kegger! Hens to the left of me, gobblers to the right! 10 gobblers in all, most coming back to check on their dead homey, and the hens went back to feeding! I just wanted to grab my bird and slide out of there, without blowing them out. So I waited a few minutes and they dispersed up into the talus slope. I grabbed my bird and slipped back to the ranch. Buddy was happy I got one, now he wants us to go get more, as they're not enthused that they're flourishing (they've only been around a couple of years and doing well). Planning on this weekend, depending on the forecasted precipitation.