Gobbling up the view: Turkey flies through man's window

By HEIDI DESCH / Hungry Horse News

Perry Padget got an unexpected house guest Friday morning when a turkey flew through the window of his home just outside Columbia Falls.

Padget, who lives on the North Fork Road, had been cleaning up with a broom in his hand when he saw a black blur go by.

"I thought it was a bear," he said Monday. But he quickly realized it was actually a tom turkey that had flown through a window, hit the wall across from it and then ended up on the floor.

He said the turkey seemed unfazed.

Padget began hitting the turkey with the broom trying to get it to leave the house.

"I went after it real quick," he said. "I didn't want to live with a turkey."

The turkey got up and tried to fly out another window directly across from the one it entered through. Eventually it was able to get up and fly back out the way it came in.

"I was spooked," he said. "Someone said 'I should have grabbed a gun.' How in the heck was I going to grab a gun? I should have grabbed a camera."

After the turkey exited, Padget hurried outside to see if he could find the turkey.

"I was looking for him, but he disappeared in a hurry," said Padget.

He said the only thing that kept him from fleeing the house was the broom in his hand. The broom broke sometime during the event.

Afterward, Padget surveyed the damage.

He said a turkey-shaped hole was left in the glass of the four-foot square window.

"You could see where its head came through. Where its body came through and the shape of its wings," he said.

A lamp was also broken and items were knocked off a shelf, but by Monday there was little to show that the event even happened.

Padget expected to have the window replaced on Tuesday and he's hoping the turkeys stay out.

He said it's not uncommon to get 20 to 30 in his yard, but this is the first time in 34 years he's lived in the house that one has tried to come for a visit.