Gary Greene’s Memories from an Old Hunter………..#32
Last week, I was driving east at a good pace on Walworth County’s Highway J, when suddenly a large hen turkey came out of nowhere and landed in front of my Ford 150. I had oncoming traffic on my left and I didn’t want to risk driving right into the ditch with many mature trees growing nearby, so hitting the turkey was my only alternative. She took out my plastic grill, my horn, and my heating and cooling units. As my son Nate describes it, at 55 mph, it was like running into a bowling ball.
The damage a hen turkey can make at 55 mph.
I took my truck to a Mukwonago body shop for a quick appraisal and my Butterball collision totaled $1200. The owner described another turkey collision that he had previously fixed. That time, the turkey flew through the front windshield right past the driver and went out the back window. I didn’t feel so lucky until I heard that story, as that bird very easily could have killed that driver.
As I thought back over my years of hunting and driving, I have been very fortunate with my Walworth County wildlife and truck collisions. Twice, at dusk, I have come over a hill, only to have about ten doe standing in the road at all angles and facing in numerous directions. On both occasions, I could do nothing but drive forward and hope that the herd dispersed without me hitting one or more doe. In both cases, it was not worth swerving because I had no idea which direction any of the doe were fleeing. The deer and I were extremely lucky to not run into each other.
On my way to an early morning duck hunt, I pulled out of my driveway and immediately, at a quick pace, I had two doe run in front of my truck. I was breaking, but still moving forward, as I saw a large racked buck come sprinting toward my truck from the left and about to run into the driver’s door. Just as I was bracing myself for impact, the buck jumps completely over my truck, unnerved by my presence as a minor obstacle as he was in pursuit of those two does.
Another time, I was driving east on Territorial Road at the marked 55 mph speed limit. This section of road had mature trees near both sides of the drive. I was just looking forward and not really observing nature, as a Bald Eagle swoops out of a tree from my right and starts flying in the same direction that I am headed. Even though I had started to slowly break, the bird’s speed was considerably less than mine. The Eagle’s rear end was pressed against the middle of my front window and both wings were spread out as if it were flying, but I’m pushing that eagle along as the wings extended past the sides of my truck. It seemed like a long time, but I am sure it was just a few seconds until the Eagle regrouped and flew off to the right side of my truck and appeared to be unhurt. Not many people can say they have looked up the rear end of a Bald Eagle, but I did.
The very next day, I got up early to enjoy a sunrise on Lake Lorraine. I was paddling my kayak, which I call: “The worst boat on any lake.” Like the day before, I was just enjoying the journey, when a Largemouth Bass jumped up onto the deck top of my kayak. The fish was there for a solid five seconds before it flopped back into the water. The bass was of decent size, I estimated it as a twenty incher.
I stopped paddling and smiled to myself, thinking I must have become some type of wildlife whisperer, since within a twelve hour time period, I had looked up the rear end of a Bald Eagle and was eye to eye with an out of the water Largemouth Bass. My string of such happenings came to end, as I found out that I have no super powers until……..Just a few miles north of Palmyra, I was driving south at dusk from a guided pheasant hunt that I had just completed and I glanced east at a plowed field. In the middle of that field, about 75 yards from the road was a slow moving, large albino Whitetail buck. The sky was too dark, and the buck was too far for me to get a decent picture from my old flip phone, but to me, it really was like a religious experience. I pulled over to the side of the road and watched him for about five minutes and my body tingled with excitement. It was a very special moment, and I thank that buck for allowing me to share that time with him.