The difference between turkey parm and Big Pharm is about five hours.
Just ask Bart Rogers, who one day last week bagged a 14-pound turkey on the Eastern Shore in the morning and his doctorate in pharmacology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, in the afternoon.
Spring turkey season ended noon Monday and the final tally won't be known until later this week. It likely won't be a great year by historical measurements, but don't try telling that to Rogers.
An avid hunter who lives in the shadow of Camden Yards, Rogers travels almost every weekend from September through January to his stomping grounds on the Eastern Shore to hunt deer, waterfowl and turkey — whatever is in season.
"No one from my family hunts," says Rogers, 30. "I was drawn to it … I'm almost obsessed with it all."
Obsessed, but patient. He hunted turkeys for 10 years before he shot his first bird. With the season running out last week, Rogers knew he had just a few days left to get No. 2. And if the day just happened to be May 20, graduation day, well, "I had so much to wrap up. It was the one opening I had," he explains.
He got up at 4 a.m. and met his friend, taxidermist Jason Kephart, for a trip to a farm near Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. On most hunts, Rogers opts for public land, "for the challenge."
The two had hunted the same land earlier in the season and had seen only one bird.
This time, however, was different.
"It was a magical morning. Turkeys were all around us," Rogers recalls.
All of the sudden, two young males — jakes — were walking directly toward the hunters.
Rogers whispered to Kephart, who was packing a lighter shotgun, that he should take the closest one while Rogers would zero in on the trailing bird.
Rogers thought Kephart said he was ready to shoot and fired at the second bird. But Kephart wasn't ready. His bird took off at the sound of the shot.
"I felt awful," says Rogers.
Ever a sportsman, Kephart snapped a picture and just before 11 a.m., Rogers fairly flew to his parents' home to call in his kill to the state, clean the bird, shower and get ready for the dash with his family across the Bay Bridge to his graduation ceremony in Baltimore.
"I was sweating a little bit, praying we wouldn't hit bridge traffic," he says.
At the doctoral ceremony, his adviser got a laugh from the 80 or so graduates and their families by telling the story.
Rogers laughs, too. "It was pretty amazing," he says.
The hunter, whose studies in the field of pharmacogenics may lead some day to the individualized treatment of medical conditions based on genetic markers, also employs patience when inquisitive colleagues ask him about hunting. He's even taken a few out in the field to show them the ropes.
Being in the outdoors has been a great way to unwind after work and school, he says.
And in addition to being a good story, the bird — with a mozzarella and tomato salad on the side — made a delicious Italian dinner last Sunday night.
As for Kephart, he got the turkey that made a turkey of him, just hours before the end of the season.
"That's a relief," says Rogers. "It's a monkey off my back."