Today, I went out without a dog.
Most wild animals here still have a very strong aversion to wolves, and because coyotes are the main large predator in this, large canids make them wary.
So if you go out without a dog, there is a chance you might see something that would otherwise be too nervous to allow you to get near.
I headed down a little logging road/ATV trail when all of a sudden a little brown bird raced across the road about 30 feet in front of me.
It was too small to be a grouse, and I instantly recognized it as a wild turkey poult.
The poult jumped up on a log on the other side of the road and sat there for about a minute. For whatever reason, I couldn’t get it in my camera’s lens.
And it then jumped off and headed for the aspen grove just beyond the road.
I figured that there had to be more poults where that one came from, so I walked over to the side of the road where it started.
The tall grass rustled with little turkey poults shooting in all directions. I caught not a single one on camera.
But it wasn’t 15 seconds before I heard a turkey cluck, and all of a sudden this turkey hen rushed me.
She came within 3 feet of me and feigned a wounded wing.
She was trying to distract me from her poults, which had taken refuge in the tall grass.
She ran around me making wide circles, then tight ones, then wide ones, then tighter ones.
Here’s the video:
It wasn’t long before I realized that I couldn’t photograph the poults, so I decided to humor the hen and follow her away from her young.
She soon flew into the trees, clucking the whole time.
If Miley had been with me, she would have just flushed the turkey, and I wouldn’t have had this encounter.
Dogs can enhance one’s experiences in nature, but sometimes, it’s better just to leave them at home.
You might see something like this.
