As part of the village-wide “Jane’s Walk” festival, we’re having a community potluck this Sunday, May 3rd from noon to 1:30pm at the Burritt’s Rapids Community Hall.
Call Paul/Joanne at (613) 859-9116 to register # of attendees and dish (savoury/sweet)
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John told me he’d be at the blind before 5:00am, so I wasn’t surprised to wake at five-thirty and not see his truck in the driveway.
He said he likes to be in place early for the magic of that moment before sunrise, for the sound of the turkeys waking up and rolling, one by one, out of the trees and onto the ground with a heavy swoosh and a muddled gobble. He’s been hunting turkeys since the late 80’s, yet he never gets over that sound. It’s primal, he says. It makes the hair on his neck stand on end.
Although there is a fall turkey hunt, he says the spring hunt is where it’s at. The Toms are hot to trot, the ladies are checking out the plumage and it’s hard to predict what will happen from one moment to the next. Between his scrawny, yet colourful, Jake decoy, a single fabric Hen, and his patient, persuasive turkey call, John works his mojo and is home in time for breakfast, bird in hand.
I watch for his return knowing there’ll be a window of opportunity to photograph his prize before he heads off on his quad to prepare the bird. This bird has a particular raison d’être; it is bound for the potluck table this Sunday afternoon at the Burritt’s Rapids Community Hall.
John’s so hip he doesn’t know how hip he is. “Local food” is today’s mantra in a market full of imports, and this is about as local as it gets. But growing or catching your own food is hardly new and all the fuss leaves some local farmers and hunters scratching their heads. When you grow up rural, hunting and farming is the norm, not a trend. It’s what supports many families and creates an enduring connection to, and respect for, the land.
A spring turkey tag costs $31.45 making it comparably priced to a store-bought pre-packaged turkey. But looking at it from a cost comparison, while interesting, misses the point. Hunting is about tradition, sport, skill development, the environment, friends and family and doing more than pushing your shopping cart around the supermarket.
It’s an adventure and that’s how life should be.
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The prolific return of the eastern wild turkey is a success story. The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH) offers some background:
Since the reintroduction of the eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) in the 1980’s, OFAH has remained a keystone partner in one of the most successful wildlife recovery stories in Ontario. Wild turkeys were extirpated (locally extinct) from Ontario for nearly a century due to habitat loss and unregulated market hunting. Thanks to hunters and other conservationists who pressed for their return, efforts to restore wild turkeys to most of their former range in Ontario have been extremely successful. As a result, an important part of Ontario’s biodiversity has been restored while still providing regulated hunting opportunities over the years. ((https://www.ofah.org/fishing-hunting/hunting/wild-turkey/))
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If you’re interested in hunting, trapping and the environment check out our Jane’s Walk “Disappearing Habitat: Killing the Goose That Laid the Golden Egg” with John McKenzie, Sunday at 9:00am, 720 River Rd. Burritt’s Rapids.