Carl said it best....

Recently, I made a trip over to Kooskia, Idaho with the intention of photographing wild turkeys. The expedition was not my first attempt to capture images of wild turkeys, I had ventured over to Cambridge (Idaho) 3 years ago with no success (did not even get to hear a gobbler). I was assured, however, that I would have better luck in Northern Idaho, and the birds were plentiful (this year, after a favorable 2009 spring).

Now, I am not a hunter (thus the camera), but I have accompanied many a friend on various hunts (throughout life). To other non-hunters, such an adventure might sound daunting--and somewhat counter to the mantra of a conservationist. Perhaps. (Stick with me, though.) But the first step, of hunting for the non-hunter, is to acquire reference materials that allow to you understand the nature of the beast...and some expert advice on how one should hunt. --and for such advice, there is ONE such sage hunter...perhaps the greatest borne out of the '80s.


So, armed with Carl's resounding wisdom, I set out to capture me some turkeys. I met my good-friend Vince (of ducking hunting fame, a previous post). ...and at 3:30 am, Vince and I set out on our first day of turkey hunting. ...See, you have to hike into the birds' roost before sunlight...get set-up when the birds cannot see you, and wait for the birds to come out of the roost...

(can you find "Waldo"?)
...where upon, one mimics the call of a hen in an attempt to lure a strutting Tom.

...and I came prepared with visions of all sorts of "Tom shots". (I had done my creative homework.) But, I'll be damned if the Agency didn't send a bunch of stubborn, skittish, and genuinely uncorporative models! (For the sake of maintaining professional decorum, I will not mention the agency's name, but I will never retain their services again... there is nothing more obstructive to accomplishing a shoot that requires getting up at 3:30am, taking a 45 min. ATV ride to the shoot, hiking 3-5 miles, morning and evening, than a group of models that will not cooperate with you--no matter how accommodating the photographer. Their Toms were so camera shy, they would only sit in the distance and gobble.)
...we went so far as to use a decoy to convey their intended role....

But, after 4 days of of obsequious pandering, a group of Jakes (juvenile males) and a hen did show themselves....they unfortunately, were new to taking direction...and retreated after a few test shots (I don't think they liked sound of the shutter release.)

All was not lost, however, I was able to mine a few key tricks for working with these difficult models...and, rest assured, I will implement these tricks on future adventures. TURKEYS!

stay tuned.