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While camping this past week I had several encounters with turkeys while hiking and driving the roads. I noted they were hanging around the oak trees in the area. After observing some while hiking, I laid down and draped some netting over myself. After a half hour a large flock with at least a dozen offspring in the flock milled about me for at least 20 min. before moving off. My view was limited because I laid down in a prone position, I should have laid up against a tree. The encounter was fantastic.

There's something very strange about a large flock of turkeys. I've seen hundreds of them on the move through dead leaves in oak forest. First I heard rustling, then I saw leaves kicking up all around, and only then did my eyes make out the birds. They were like a buffalo stampede of little dinosaurs.

big_load wrote:They were like a buffalo stampede of little dinosaurs.

that's a very interesting way to put it, now I'm hoping to run into that situation

Was this up on the rim? I've seen more turkeys than I could count up there. One time, while following a gully in my jeep, I ended up herding about 40 of them along the bottom of the wash. They were squawking and running about. I felt a little bad about it at the time, but there was no way to turn around. The sides were taller than the jeep and too steep to drive up, and it was much to narrow to turn around...

Nighthiker, I always enjoy your tales of wildlife encounter... you definitely have animal magnetism.