This afternoon, I snuck out of the office for an hour-and-a-half to my favorite place for solitude - The Howard Mountain Hunting Lease. This afternoon was mild, with a brilliant blue sky - a perfect afternoon to vacate the confines of the office for some fresh air.
Scripture speaks of nature displaying the creativity of God. I certainly sense the majesty of God in the wooded areas of the hunting lease. Alone, with nature, while free of the noise of telephones and the pressure of schedules and deadlines. For an hour-and-a-half, it was a spiritual reprieve.
And, oh by the way, I did see 33 turkeys. One group of ten was all adult gobblers, two of which lingered in the road when I rounded a bend. Both had ground-dragging beards.
This year, the AGFC (Arkansas Game and Fish Commission) decided to move back the open of spring gobbler season to the second Monday in April as opposed to the traditional opening date of the first Monday in April. Why did the AGFC make this change? Because of the declining kill totals the last two spring's. These figures, coupled with field data, has led the AGFC to believe the turkey population is down and a spring season with one less week will go along way to rectifying the problem.
But is it a problem? Is the turkey population down?
I certainly am not privy to their data, but I do know this...Never in my seven springs of turkey hunting have I ever seen so many turkeys and so much evidence of turkeys as I have seen on our lease in the last two weeks.
I think the AGFC missed it, at least as far as the Howard Mountain Hunting Lease goes. That's not so bad! The bad thing is having to wait an extra week to get started in that wonderful rite of spring.
Thank you God, for a blessed afternoon in your creation. Thank you for ministering to my heart. Thank you for spring, for the promise of new life and for the hope that "springs" eternal!
