Turkey in downtown Raleigh?

This is not the same turkey, just a funny picture, though I cannot decide if it is real or not. This was taken from an article in the Boston Globe about Turkeys showing up in Massachusetts a few years back.

Today at Raleigh Country Club(my place of employment) there was a wild turkey spotted running across the golf course. I did not see it my self but one of the employees got a photo of it on his cell phone. It looked like a hen, but it honestly could have been a gobbler, it was not a great photo. RCC is located off of New Bern Ave about half a mile past the belt line just shy of downtown Raleigh. I was really surprised to hear of this at first. However when I began thinking about it, I suppose it isn't really all that strange. The Raleigh Green way basically comes through the golf courses back yard. That green way goes for miles and miles and provides a good amount of cushion for wildlife in an otherwise urban area. Also if you consider the amount of woods you see around a lot of the belt line and HWY 264, it really isn't that far fetched to have a turkey stroll through like it did. Apparently a nice gobbler crossed the golf course last year about this time too. Why the turkey came through today, who knows, maybe it was shot at on Youth Day last Saturday, or maybe scouting pressure pushed it out. Maybe it was looking for love(in all the wrong places,lookin for love in...) Sorry,I couldn't resist. Generally where there is one, another is not too far off, we will see. The peculiar thing about all of this is the direction he was headed. The turkey came from the New Bern Ave side of the golf course and was headed to Poole Rd via the neighboring church yard. There is nothing but houses and busy roads for several hundred yards until the woods parallel to interstate 440. This would be quite a feat if the bird managed to survive Poole Rd and all of the houses, dogs and people along the way. Hope he made it.
This gets me fired up, but unfortunately I will not be able to hunt opening day. Hopefully one afternoon next week or the following Saturday I will make it into the woods. If you make it into the woods before I do let me know how it goes. Leave a comment or shoot me an email. Until then, thanks for stopping by.

-Andrew