illabelle

In Sept of 2009 I did a dayhike from Newfound Gap to Charlie's Bunyan (8 miles round trip). As I passed Icewater Spring Shelter 3-miles in, I saw a large bird walking around in the clearing. I didn't try to get close, and I was in a hurry to finish my hike before it got dark, so I went on. On the way back, I stopped for a few minutes, got much closer and identified it as a peahen. Nope, not a wild turkey or a grouse, but a peahen, a domesticated animal who had no business in the middle of the Smokies. I returned with my daughter the next day and some gear and we attempted to lure her into a net. We weren't successful. Returned the following weekend with different gear, set up a 3-sided mesh fence with a net roof, and very patiently (in a light rain) fed her some grain I had brought. She was pretty hungry, and had apparently been surviving off of hiker handouts. It took quite a while, but I finally lured her inside the fence and under the net. I quickly threw something across the entrance to herd her further inside, then a couple guys from the shelter came over and helped me get her secured in a mesh sack I had brought to carry her in. Somebody held her while we packed up our gear, then the two of us carried her in the dark 3 miles back to the car. (If I include the initial trip, I walked 20 miles for that bird!)
Brought her home and put her in with my chickens for three weeks. Named her Indira, or Indy for short. When I was sure she understood where home was, I started letting her out to free-range with the chickens for a while each day. Didn't take long before she disappeared. Asked a few neighbors. Somebody said they saw her hanging out with the wild turkey flock that roams in our area. Somebody else mentioned neighbors with a peacock, so I went to see them. There she was!! She had a boyfriend! That summer they hatched a few chicks, and I still see her now and then.
Just to be clear, except for shelter mice and mosquitoes, I do not harass wild animals, and I would never even think about trapping a wild animal and taking it out of its natural habitat. She would have died without our intervention.