I am in the middle of what I am calling "Turkey Quest '08." Or, at least, I hope I am in the middle and not at the beginning. I would like to think I am nearing the end, but considering the way those big birds can make themselves disappear, it's almost impossible to tell just where I am in my quest.

In reality, I have only hunted turkeys three days so far this spring. To some devout turkey hunters, that's nothing. Some hunters will hunt for days and days and days during the six-week season.

In some years I have filled my tag in a day or two of hunting, and in other years, like last year, I never did get a spring gobbler. But that is hunting. More precisely, that is turkey hunting.

The first two days of the season found my son Kyle, hunting buddy Rob Robillard and me in the woods near Fruitland, off of Lake Roosevelt in Stevens County, in the northeastern part of our state. If you don't know, Stevens County is turkey central. There is a huge population of turkeys in this area and it is where you want to hunt for a really good chance at a fat Merriam's gobbler.

We scouted for a day ahead of the season opener, and then hunted and called, and called and hunted for the next two days without success.

More correctly, we didn't bring a turkey home. We had success in hearing turkeys gobbling. We had success in getting turkeys to answer our calls. We even had some success in getting a couple of big toms almost in gun range, but no one was ever able to squeeze the trigger.

That is turkey hunting.

Then, this past weekend I joined probably one of the area's very best turkey hunters for a day in the woods. Dan McKimmy and his son Josh invited me down to the Klickitat River to try to entice a big tom into shotgun range.

Dan has been hunting turkeys for about as long as turkeys have been legal to hunt in Washington, and every time I hunt with him I learn something new. Both he and Josh are excellent callers, and because they have spent so much time in the woods in and around turkeys, they have pretty good success.

I, however, seem to be the unlucky charm for the McKimmys. I have hunted with them two or three times over the past couple of years and we have yet to score. They will bag a turkey the day before I hunt with them, or they'll get one right after I leave, but so far I have been a bit of a jinx on them.

On Saturday we hunted hard in the breaks of the Klickitat River and got close, but not close enough.

As we hiked a ridge above the river Josh got a gobbler to answer his box call and we figured we were in business. We set up next to a small clearing and, with Dan and Josh playing the part of two lovesick hens, they got the tom to answer and start our way.

Over and over Dan and Josh clucked and yelped and purred. And each time the big bird answered with a gobble. They would call and he would answer, and each time he would be a little bit closer.

Then, just like that, the bird was gone. Josh said he heard some real live hens call right before the gobbler shut up for good. The old boy had been with the hens the whole time, and once they decided the game was over, they called the tom back to them and they were gone.

Right at the end of the day the McKimmys got another bird to answer, but the bird was evidently already on the roost.

"If we were able to be right back here first thing in the morning, we'd get that bird," Dan said matter-of-factly.

Too bad we were all committed to other activities the next day -- none of which included turkey hunting.

Oh well, "Turkey Quest '08" continues. There's plenty of time left, and according to Dan, because of the late winter the best turkey hunting of the year may very well be in the next week or so.

I hope so, because I will be out there, trying to fulfill my quest.

* Rob Phillips is a freelance outdoor writer and partner in the advertising firm of Smith, Phillips & DiPietro. He can be reached at rwphillips@
spdadvertising.com.