Brent Rogers
Even before we read his entertaining turkey hunting stories, the Tenth Legion owes a debt of gratitude to Dr. Bobby Dale. The poet laureate of turkey hunting, Tom Kelly, found himself incapacitated by some nefarious bug at the National Wild Turkey Federation’s 2007 Convention, and credits Dale with bailing him and fellow author Jim Casada out.
Casada recalls, “It’s probably a bit of a stretch to say the Z-Pack saved Tom’s life, although it assuredly reduced his misery. Incidentally, I had the same crud and the same good disciple of Hippocrates wrote a prescription for me as well.”
Bobby Dale is a career emergency medical physician, who, on his days off, spends many days afield hunting and fishing, and writing stories of those special memories. He regularly contributes to an outdoors emergency medicine column in Delta Wildlife magazine, and still available. “Doc” writes FUN books, finding and sharing humor in his dalliances with spring gobblers. The quote he shares from his hunting buddy Philip Strong, to open the book, sets the stage well, “A turkey has X-ray vision, supersonic hearing, and a four-barrel carburetor in his rear end!”
The enjoyment of Dale’s book comes from exploring and getting to know the people in the sphere of his turkey hunting world. Though turkey hunting is, at its best, a solitary sport, we shine when gathering in twos and threes and tens, as that is where we get to re-live our greatest moments…and most egregious missteps. That “brotherhood,” which by all means is not gender-exclusive as you will find in this book, is what Dale translates so well in “Turkey Roost Tales.” His gracious hosts and friends, those landowners and hunters like Woodrow Dixon, Jerry Cantrell, and the aforementioned Strong, are people you will meet…and never forget! With a sparkle in their eye and a practiced tongue, they in turn praise and pummel Dale’s turkey hunting feats and follies. “The Snake and the Gobbler” is a chapter that delivers suspense, and the abundance of photos sprinkled throughout the book help reinforce the stories. (Wait ‘til you see “the white jake!”)
If my endorsement is not sufficient, heed the recommendations of Will Primos, Tom Kelly, and Jim Casada, who provide staunch affirmations of this book’s rightful place in the pantheon of fine wild turkey literature.
Classic Turkey Literature: Memories of Spring
Primos says, “At the end of the day, hunters get together with their buddies and share the day’s successes and failures. Some of these stories are embellished… It’s quite fitting that Doc named this book, ‘Turkey Roost Tales.’”
Kelly offers, “Sit back, freshen your drink, and prepare to walk along with him a little ways. I tell you before you start that you are going to enjoy it.” Casada opines, “I found the book an excursion in pure reading delight.”
So you don’t have to take just my word for it; I stand in the shadow of greater turkey men, and share their zeal for this book! The affable Dale has given us a book that reads equally well, whether beside winter’s hearth, or as balm during the periodic dry days of turkey hunting.
“Turkey Roost Tales” and Dale’s more recent book, “Bearded Rednecks, Showin’ Their Tails and Struttin’ Their Stuff,” are available at https://dgbooksales.com/.
