As I am now employed full time, my walks with rod and reel, gun or camera, have diminished greatly. But I still walk. Every day...

Now I travel by train to work. This affords me a few luxuries that the streetcar, bicycle or car cannot. I read a lot more, and the "Quite Zone" encourages self contemplation. Best of all though, it's a great view!

As the train approaches Rouge Hill the view of the lake always takes my breath away! Sometimes the waterfowl are bobbing in the frigid waters of Lake Ontario. It always amazes me that these little, warm-blooded creatures of flight can function, fly and paddle, when even the thought of the water's temperature chills my bones!

Early in the morning, or late in the afternoon, my view from the train will often reward me with a deer or two traversing an open, snow covered field. The doe is swollen with the rewards of last autumn's rut and the buck is without his majestic headgear having recently shed his antlers. But they walk, and sometimes charge, from one thicket to another, or from a frozen swamp to a stand of hardwoods, in search of browse. 

When my train travel is an hour after first light I have the pleasure of seeing the turkeys in the fields and by the edges of the woods. They're still flocked up, Toms, hens and jakes. They're scratching for mast; last year's fallen acorns, soybeans and ears of corn that were missed in the harvest. Soon their foraging and scratching will turn to the emerging exoskeletons. They love centipedes and insect grubs!  

As the weather warms and the days become longer, the turkeys' interests will turn to more pressing matters. Procreation of the species. Their little brains are not wired to think globally or of their importance in the environment; few human brains are even wired that way! The Toms will only be concerned with gathering a harem and fulfilling their urges! This is when the turkey is at its best, its most dramatic; displaying, calling, and exhibiting its most interesting characteristics. This is when I do not want to be traveling by train, viewing them from a car moving at 100km an hour. This is when I want to be in the woods, hearing them, seeing them. Maybe even calling them in for a better view.

The last week of April can't come soon enough!