Spring Turkey Season is almost here and I can’t wait! Any reader who needs their excess turkey population thinned out, please contact me at the email below and I’ll be glad to oblige!
During these five weeks each spring I enjoy some wonderful times listening, praying, reading, writing, and worshipping. But even if I don’t connect, just being in the springtime woods is reward enough as fresh green growth bursts forth from every plant. In addition, a thousand birds are filling the air with their beautiful symphony. An added bonus comes from wildflowers and morels pushing up through the leaf litter.
Hearing and seeing turkeys are icing on my cake and the privilege to engage one with calls is the ultimate rush. Spring turkey hunting is different than most other hunts and requires special tactics. A hunter first locates a tom before daylight by his gobbles on the roost and makes a silent beeline to within 100 yards of that location. He finds a large tree to sit against and begins to answer gobbles with soft hen calls.
Ideally, the gobbler flies off the roost toward the hunter who then must hold the gun ever ready while scanning the woods for a darting white head. Even more challenging is to sit perfectly still while continuing to call and entice the old boy to within 30 yards.
Gobblers are famous for hanging up just out of range or for suddenly appearing to the rear of the hunter who then has no chance. Turkeys have some of the best eyes in the animal kingdom and can detect any color, shape, or minute movement that’s out of place. Whenever they do, the jig is up and the wise old bird becomes wiser still.
Turkey hunters must practice calling in order to imitate a hen as closely as possible. Just as all humans have different voices, birds do as well so variations are allowed, but there is a fairly narrow range of acceptability. This sometimes requires a variety of methods including mouth, box, slate, whistle, and even wingbone calls. Skill and practice are essential.
One temptation turkey hunters must avoid is to fall in love with their own calling. It’s possible to practice so much that one prefers one’s own sounds to those of real hens. In fact, it’s even possible to win turkey calling competitions while still not pleasing the toughest judge of all, the wary old tom.
This danger also exists in our worship. We can easily fall in love with our own songs, rituals, and routines that please us while failing to consider whether it’s what God wants. Our worship should be God-centered and God-focused regardless of how it makes us feel or how wonderful others think it is. We can even win “competitions” by attracting more people than other churches, but ultimately, if it’s not what God wants, like the old gobbler, it doesn’t matter one iota.
This should make us ask what kind of worship God wants. In John 4:24, Jesus tells us, “The kind of worshippers the Father desires are those who worship Him in spirit and in truth.” That leaves much latitude for various music styles and worship orders, but it must always be sincere and real. It has to come from our hearts and be directed towards God’s. Just going through the motions doesn’t cut it.
Just as hunters often learn from real hens, we would do well to listen and observe worshipers in heaven. In the Bible we catch glimpses of those and we see that it’s all directed toward the Father and the Son empowered by the Holy Spirit. This should inform, inspire, and shape our own worship not only on Sundays, but every moment of our lives.
I’m looking forward to worshipping in the woods chasing turkeys this spring and I pray that my calls please the toms. Even more, I pray that my prayers, songs, attitudes, thoughts, and words please the turkeys’ Maker as I worship Him daily. Desiring to please Jesus, George
