Intestinal flu

[mark hay]

First let me say I hope none of you get what I HAVE . Yesterday I felt rough in the AM , and great all the rest of the day. Didn't hunt yesterday at all . This morning I get up from one heck of a lousy night and forced myself to hit the woods .
 First stop : No turkeys , not audible or responsive . Only two deer , one of which was a big bodied feller with antlers .
 Second stop : 150 yards from the truck I heard a jake make one of those squawks they do when some other turkey is threatening them . I heard it 3 times but was unable to get the exact location . But , I went toward where I thought the sound had come from . Maybe they saw me . Maybe I misjudged the distance or area . NO GAME .
 Third stop : I ventured into a stand of timber I haven't been in for a few years . I slipped in and sat down on a nice log , right on top . Good brush density too. I can see downhill from 8 o'clock to 3 o'clock . 
 Well , by now it's warming up nicely and that along with a lousy night of rest and the ailment too, my eyelids kept tryin' to fall down .
 I'm sitting perfectly still , except when hittin' a call about every fifteen minutes or so . Looking straight ahead when my eyes are open ,,,listening all the while.  Shortly after my third series of calls I hear what sounds like a turkey walking . I didn't move anything but my eyelids . Hey , that's quite an improvement from what I would have done a while back . I listened intently as the slow methodical steps got closer . I judged it to be inside 20 yards at about 2 o'clock . Then the slow steps turned into the unmistakable sound of a jumping squirrel . I slowly turned my head and sure enough he gets up on the log ,,,,,with me . Jump,jump,jump he comes toward me . Now it is about 7-8 feet and starts looking me over . Have you ever seen the movie , ''TRUE GRIT'' , with John Wayne ? Recall how he would cock his head sideways and bug out his one good eye ? That's the same look I was getting from this ONE EYED grey squirrel . He'd turn his bad eye away and cock his head a little and look me over . His bad eye had made some miraculous healing I would say . It looked like the lid was just pulled down and that was it . He looked perfectly normal other than that . And I can attest to the fact that being with only one eye it doesnot slow them down .When I made my whole body jump and shuffled my feet , he was 20 feet away bythe time I stopped moving .
 Hey , if I'm gonna feel bad , I might as well be somewhere I enjoy .

[Duke0002]

Yep, a couple of days with the "green-apple-quick-steps" kept me from the woods last week.  Glad that's over with!  

Couple of years ago a one-eye raccoon nearly walked over me on the log where I was sitting.