I was over in Boca Raton Friday through Monday, came back yesterday. I always take the route to the north of Big Lake O', up through Indiantown the town of Okeechobee, then take SR70 to Arcadia, then SR72 to Sarasota.
I usually enjoy the trip, because there's so much wide open land, everything from oaks and pines, huge pastures, healthy orange groves, tree and sod farms, etc. I've made the trip there and back at least 20 times in the last 2 years, and I almost always see wildlife or notice something new.
On SR 72 where the Myakka River crosses, they are doing some bridge construction and there's one lane traffic. Friday the water level was really low, and on a big sandbar on the south side lay a big ol' bull gator, at least 10' long, maybe bigger. Now seeing a gator is not new to me, but seeing a 10' plus gator at 11am, 20 yards from construction crews, fully sunning on a sandbar is rare.
On the return trip, I stopped at the Gander Mountain store in Palm Beach. Had never been in one before, and man, if I hit the lottery I know a place I'll be spending some time! Their selection of firearms and accessories is outstanding, and looked like their prices were reasonable. Lots of accessories, too. I liked that they had scopes mounted on various types of dummy rifles so you could get an idea how it would look and feel on your type of weapon. And I could have spent thousands in their fishing areas.
Anyway, I was broke as usual so didn't buy anything, just did some wishing then headed back home.
About noon I was 5 or 6 miles east of Arcadia and I was cruising along about 65mph when up ahead in the pasture on the left (south side) I see 3 black birds, about 100 yards from the road. At first I thought "buzzards", but then they all looked up as I passed and it was turkeys! Just to make sure, I pulled uover and turned around, then pulled off the road close to the fence, and sure enough, there's 3 good size turkeys looking at me! As soon as I stopped they started trotting away, but I saw the red wattle and beard on one, and the other two were about his same size, so I'm thinking it was 3 gobblers. They would run about 20 yards, and one would look back, and if i moved, they would run again. What's funny is they were just to the west of Turkey Hammock Road!
This was the first time I'd seen turkeys out in a field at noon in Florida. Just wish I'd had a camera with enough zoom to get a clear picture.
Then, about an hour later, I'm approaching Sarasota and passing the new Veteran's National Cemetary on SR72, when I see three good size deer grazing on the grass just to the west of the cemetary, not 30 yards off the road. There were guys with lawn mowers and weed-eaters not 20 yards from the deer, but it didn't seem to bother them.
Now if I can just see some of these animals during hunting season!
I saw a turkey an hour ago standing in the middle of a cow pasture, doing nothing but standing there enjoying the rain.
Dont know if it was raining where you were, but a lot of animals will go to open areas during a storm to improve their odds against predators. They LOSE their sense of hearing and smell during rain, so they will get to open areas to rely on sight
Nope, it was bright and sunny at the time, right at noon. Of course, storms had been going through the area and I'm sure the ground was soaked, so maybe there were plenty of bugs and worms on the surface to keep them out feeding. Plus, they ain't stupid. They know season is over and the pressure is off! But I could have picked off three turkeys with my .22 rifle if it was legal!
