Don't call me a turkey.......turkey!

Today I was coming from a job site in Campbellsville when I decided to cut adross from highway 68 to Gravel Switch and Bradsfordsville, and bypass Danville and Boyle County. These roads are always quite scenic and not crowded with any traffic but farmers and lost travellers. Most of the road runs along side little streams and creeks and wildlife is always abundant. Today seemed to be hawk day as there were countless of these badboys sitting along the trees and utility poles waiting for the next meal, but never seeming to be in a hurry. AS Steve Earl said in his song you don't have to hurry when you're at the top of the food chain. It seems there has been a steady increase in red tail hawk numbers since they have become federally protected. I've noticed several on the side of the road eating roadkill like their trashy cousins the vultures. It seems numbers increasing coorelates to lazy hawks, much like game playing American youth. I often see shiny black crows eating dead animals on the black top as well. I wonder if the birds have warning labels about cholesterol and recommended daily allowances?Do you think Mr. Hawk worries about the fat grams in that big old fat possum? I think he's more worried about that old F-150 bearing down on him with the redneck sophomores from Hustonville trying to run over his regal ass. As I was almost in Bradsforville I came upon this flock of wild turkeys foraging next to the road. There were about 20 of these odd creatures in this flock ,eating everything in their path, much like the locusts of Biblical days. Now this has become a billion dollar business as hunters have forsaken traditional game like the deer to pursue turkeys. My nephew only hunts them with a bow. One would think a bird with a brain the size of a small nut would be easy to snare, but not so ! These wily creatures are so difficult to shoot that hunters buy several thousand dollars worth of gear to camoflage themselves for the kill. I stopped to snap a picture and the birds that were content to graze while My car was moving suddenly took flight across the front of my car.Now these awkward looking birds took flight rapidly and quite efficiently, and flew quite a distance to land atop the tree covered knob to the right of my car, and promptly disappeared. Old Ben Franklin wanted to make the wild turkey our national bird, but got out-voted for the Bald Eagle by cooler heads in the early beginnings of our nation. Turkeys don't have teeth and swallow acorns whole. This rough food is pulverized in their gizzards by ingested rocks and minerals.All in all the turkey is a gross and remarkable creature. I can only testify that the legs taste mighty good at Disney World.The creatures certainly bested me today, but they didn't have chili for supper like I did. FRom the looks of me maybe I should be eating acorns and nuts.