“It’s hard, it’s hard, it’s hard, but it’s fair” – Quote from a tough old Army captain
(Author’s note: Many turkey hunters like to talk about how hard or tough turkey hunting is – especially the turkey hunting in their own area. I am most likely guilty of this, but as far as the most difficult area to kill a turkey, I have no doubt. The Appalachian Mountains are without a doubt the hardest, orneriest, most difficult place to bring about the demise of an eastern wild turkey. Period. Read on, pilgrim.)
“I don’t care if he gobbles a hundred times,” my buddy said, “I’m not going back down there.”
Standing on the nearly vertical slope, clutching a sapling and trying to get my breath, I was not about to argue. Having just spent all morning in a deep gorge chasing a ghost-like gobbler, now we were paying the price and making the long climb back up the hill to where we had started. An inviting gobble beckoned to us from the depths. My buddy gave me a “don’t even think about it” look, and we continued our climb.
Many turkey hunters in the Appalachian Mountains will tell you this is the most difficult place in the country to kill a turkey. This includes West Virginia, Pennsylvania, eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, northern Georgia and western Virginia. The turkeys in this part of the world have been hunted since the days of Simon Kenton, and they are nobody’s fool. One wrong move at the wrong time, and these birds are gone – see ya later.