Olympics close with bang while young poults emerge
By Tom Wiest | (wiest.tom@gmail.com)
August is an important month for wild turkey brood sightings. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency uses this count of hens with their poults as a good indication of how many young ones survived their treacherous first month; also this is an early indication of the population size for next year’s spring hunt.
Wild turkey hens begin to build ground nests in April and May, laying one egg per day for a clutch of 12 eggs usually. Incubation takes 28 days. If the eggs are lost to predators or the nest disturbed, the hen often will re-nest once or twice if necessary.
By August, several hens may join their broods together and it is not uncommon to see poults ranging from quail-size to half-grown in one brood. Hens that have lost their young will join a brood flock and act as a foster mother. Solitary hens without young are also included in the brood count. An average of seven or eight poults per hen is considered favorable.
• At the Summer Olympics in London, USA Shooting has already contributed four medals — three gold and one bronze — to Team USA’s total medal count. Two shooters have gained notoriety with some national records.
Despite wind, rain and lightning during the finals of Women’s Skeet, Kim Rhode broke an Olympic record by shooting 99 out of 100 targets to win the gold. Not only that but she became the first U.S. athlete to win five medals in five consecutive Olympic games.
Rhode first qualified for the U.S. shooting team in 1996 at age 17.
Sgt. Vincent Hancock of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit won the gold medal in Men’s Skeet, repeating his 2008 Olympic gold performance and becoming the first man ever to do so.
Hancock obliterated 148 out of a possible 150 targets, including a perfect 25 in the final round, another new Olympic record. In the final rounds Hancock had to endure the same wind, rain and lightning.
The third Olympic gold medal so far this year for USA Shooting was earned by Jamie Gray in the demanding Women’s 50-Meter Rifle.
Gray, 28, of Phenix City, Ala., established Olympic records in the qualification (scoring 592) and final (691.9) portions of the event. On the next-to-last shot of the final round, Gray recorded her worst score (8.9) of the day, but she closed with her best shot (10.8) of the finale to seal the victory with a flourish.
Gray opened the final event by shooting a 198 (out of 200) in prone. After shooting a 198 in standing, she realized she was on track to secure the gold. Her skill and concentration endured through the kneeling stage as she finished with a 196.
Tom Wiest welcomes news, questions and comments from readers. Contact him at (wiest.tom@gmail.com)
