Evening Scout

ronin · 03-14-2005, 06:02 PM

I was out on a new ranch the other day scouting roost trees. I came upon a flock of about 25 birds with 15 being Jakes and 4 good sized Toms. The rest were youngs hens.

I settled into the nook of a live oak to watch them go to roost. My plan was to watch their evening pattern which always helps me predict morning behavior. I also needed to discover which roost tree was their favorite.

I kind of had it figured out as there was this 'ol snaggletooth bull pine with long horizontal branches and very little needle growth. Sure enough, the flock made for that particular tree but they decided to go through me to get there. Once next to my tree, they settled in to scratch and chase each other...about 15' from my hiding spot.

As I waited motionless, I herd a new flock on the way to meet the old. This group numbered about 15 with 4 monster Toms, beards a draggin' The first group launched a quad of 4 jakes to intercept the new flock and the 4 monster Toms rose to the challenge. It looked at first to be the makings of a UFC rumble but the jakes backed down as soon as the two sets met. It actually appearred that they knew each other. The Hens in the second flock were also larger, probably 2-3 year old birds.

The birds intermingled for about an hour all right next to me. The problem was I had been motionless for an hour wearing shorts and a t-shirt and no bug spray. Needless to say, I was a mosquito feed bag for the evening and the next day I woke to find myself looking like I had Chicken Pox. Turkey Pox may be a better term.

It was worth the torture and hopefully papa Tom will grace this forum on opening day.