Happy Turkey Day
MY FATHER, John Evans, hunted turkeys, a pursuit that consumed him for much of his life. This wasn’t just a hobby; it was more like religious fervor that would peak when the season opened every spring. Like many hunters of Meleagris gallopavo, he talked about these birds as if they had supernatural powers. I remember him saying with great seriousness, “Sid, a turkey can see you blink your eyes at a hundred yards.” As we sat together in the woods before daylight, he would whisper, “They can hear about six times better than a human, so don’t fidget.” He used to talk about how Benjamin Franklin had lobbied for the wild turkey to be our national bird instead of the bald eagle (which I discovered was not entirely true). He…
