WILD TURKEY OPENER WAS A WASH OUT
By Darold Givens

I knew this season for turkeys would be a slow start but I did not know that it would be washed out. Our turkey camp located
in the foothills West of Red Bluff was still intact. Our trailers were still standing but the water in Dibble Creek alongside our
trailers was a raging river, sending down lots of debris including large tree limbs. To get to our hunting area, we needed to
cross the creek, which was not going to happen.
Opening morning was constant down pour with raging wind. As the weather improved, my hunting partners went to another
area to look for birds. Wind is the worst enemy of turkey hunters. Turkeys seem to shut down and stay quiet in the wind.
Since no gobble can be heard, it takes a keen eye to spot them and just good luck to call one in. The second day didn’t
improve either. A lone gobbler was spotted but it was too far away and just walked off. It was time to cut our losses and call it
a weekend. Better weather was predicted for later on and we will just have to accept what Mother Nature gives us. It is still a
day in the field that is better than staying at home.















The one that got away! Poor Darold;-)























WOOD DUCKS AND CHUKARS
By Darold Givens

I had left for the duck club near Willows to get some work done on the Wood Duck Project a few days before the Wild
Turkey Season would begin. What I encountered was heavy rain and strong wind. The levee roads were too muddy to
perform any work. This was true on all the projects, including the Delevan Refuge and the Sacramento Refuge. This left time
for some upland game hunting at Thunder Hill Bird Club outside Willows. Roger had his dog ‘Shawna’, a pointer and Ken
had his dog ‘Buddy’ a pointing black lab to take action on some 32 Chukars that were planted in a 5 acre field. For a bonus,
there were also 7 pheasants planted. The birds just couldn’t get off the ground. Shawna put a nice point on them just in time
for Buddy to come by and give a momentary point but then Buddy would move in and if the bird was not fast enough, Buddy
would snatch it as it tried to lift off. We did not get many shots off as Buddy would get 4 out of 5 birds. We were able to get
31 of the 32 Chukars and 6 of the 7 pheasants. As the birds were already pre-paid, we were glad to get them cleaned and
packaged for some fine eating.