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October 27, 2009 by
Trick or treat? Saturday October 31 marks the start of Pennsylvania's 2009 fall turkey season. I hunted its rolling north-central ridges and hardwood hollows as a teen, and as a road-tripping adult from my New England home base. Good memories.
So what's in store for this season? The Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) is expecting hunters to encounter a sizeable wild turkey population when they head afield on Halloween's opening day. According to sources, this autumn's abundant acorn crop may make finding flocks more difficult than last year, as widespread food souces tend to disperse turkeys. Most acorns are of the red oak group, as white oaks tend to be scarce in some areas of the state.
Mary Jo Casalena, PGC wild turkey biologist reported to the Strut Zone that: "The [overall] turkey population in the spring prior to nesting was above average, at about 345,000 birds, rebounding during the past three years from its low in 2006 of 291,000, so there remains an above-average population of turkeys in Penn's Woods. The state's wild turkey population is above the 10-year-average thanks to good reproduction the past two springs ['07 & '08] and generally conservative fall season lengths, which prevents the overharvest of hens."
She did note that fall turkey hunters will likely encounter smaller flocks of young turkeys caused by the recent cool, wet spring that decreased nesting success. This translates to a lower than average population of birds of the year.
"Overall, I anticipate turkey hunters to enjoy success rates only slightly lower than last year, when 16 percent of fall turkey hunters harvested turkeys, a great improvement from the 12 percent success rate over the previous three years. Hunter success has been as high as 21 percent (2001, a year with excellent recruitment), and as low as 4 percent (1979). The final 2008 fall take was 24,288, similar to the previous several years," said Casalena.
Season lengths vary in the state's Wildlife Management Units for fall turkey hunting: WMUs 1A, 1B and 2A (shotgun and bow and arrow only) - Oct. 31-Nov. 14; WMU 2B (shotgun and bow and arrow only) - Oct. 31-Nov. 21; WMUs 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 4A and 4B - Oct. 31-Nov. 14; WMUs 2G, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4C, 4D and 4E - Oct. 31-Nov. 21; WMUs 5A and 5B - closed to fall hunting; and WMUs 5C and 5D (shotgun and bow and arrow only) - Oct. 31-Nov. 4. (NOTE: On page 52 of the 2009-10 Hunting Digest, the fall turkey season dates for WMU 2F are incorrect. The correct dates are listed above: Oct. 31-Nov. 14.)
The preliminary spring 2009 PA turkey kill, calculated from hunter report cards, was about 41,400; similar to last year. Additionally, during the recent spring season, hunters took 1,880 gobblers using the second tag, or "special turkey licenses." Even though spring numbers are down from the record 49,200 in 2001, Keystone State sportsmen have consistently maintained spring numbers above 30,000 bearded turkeys since 1995, exceeding most other states in the nation.
[ Read Full Post ]October 24, 2009 by
We hunters are a results oriented bunch. "Did ya kill?" Back where I come from the expression “Get your turkey?” was (and still is) a common query from men in my native north-central Pennsylvania hometown where fall turkey hunting reigned king until the new modern tradition took over. It’s still big back there. Less so here in moose/deer/bear Maine where I make my home base.
Our Maine fall shotgun turkey season is short: just six days. It ended on Friday, October 23. Confession time: I was still carrying my tag. You’d think somebody in the family died by the way some of my buddies have reacted. “Oh man, I’m sorry to hear that buddy.” Add a moment of respectful silence here. The thing is, I’m cool with it. Really. I hunted hard five of the six days (Wednesday I caught up here at the home office), had action on all of them. My promising new work-in-progress turkey dog Luna (age 1) is so full of hard-hunting pleasure and desire you forget that part of the deal is to kill a bird. Not that we didn’t try to do that! A hunting buddy was also involved two of the days, and he went down swinging too. Ouch.
We laughed about it on the drive home. Listen. A skunking knows know personal history; no so-called "expert" status (which I doubt really exists). Both of us travel the country to turkey hunt. Marc has actually called in the Nationals several times. Yes, we’ve taken multiple Grand Slams, all that. Veterans. But this particular Maine fall turkey season we went out “still carryin’” our $20 fall permits. I could tell you about the Opening Day Maine '09 spring gobbler I killed on one of the same farms we hunted, but I digress. Still, I’d say we got our money’s worth of the intangible stuff:
I had a merlin (pigeon hawk) fly in and light on a tree limb above my wooded setup as I turkey called. It then flew down and hovered face to face, inches away, with my camouflaged form. Twice. Is that cool or what?
I had numerous pleasurable conversations with farmer(s) and landowners prior to and following hunts. On the last day we learned from one gentleman that: “a big flock of turkeys is on the other side of the road right now”—pause for effect; a smile creeping on the edge of his mouth; a twinkle in his eye—“but they won’t let you get at ‘em over there!” Low-key New England Yankee humor. I love it!
I talked to one three-note yelping gobbler that wouldn’t come. I scouted 16 birds in the rain and wet snow on the no-hunt Sunday that roosted on the other side of posters that night. The next day, two shots over there, right after fly-down time. I worked a family flock, and scolding brood hen ("Get over here you young turkey you!"), and pulled them to within 80 yards in the woods until they drifted off. On the last day, we were 45 yards from a small group of birds (4), that spooked on our approach. We found trails in the wet pasture grass where they'd been feeding, and fresh droppings nearby. With all the acorns, they hadn’t been in the fields until then. Until then. Yep, I’m eating my Maine fall turkey tag. I’m okay with that. You can save the condolences though. I'm still in the game.
“Why haven’t you been here in the morning when I wake up?” my 11-year-old daughter has asked me more than once of late, a sad tone to her voice as we often share breakfast. Some daddy time for sure is due, then I’m back at the fall turkey flocks (New York State), which—as you all of you Strut Zoners know—are EASY.
[ Read Full Post ]October 19, 2009 by
Fall turkeys are easy. Yeah, right. For the Maine shotgun opener, we stayed local. It was my dog Luna’s first in-season hunt.
Some 20 turkeys had flooded this rainy field days before the weekend start-up, shaking off like black Labs after a retrieve. Game time broke frosty though, near freezing; sunny, breezy and cold. Geese wheeled in the sky, but we were after different game. Turkeys? They’d vanished somewhere in acorn-strewn woods. At 8:30 my buddy Marc and I broke for breakfast coffee and to hatch Plan B.
Plan B: a bigger nearby farm. After a run to my house, we now had Luna along, my renegade English setter, age 1. She’d rather scatter birds than point them—good for this game. I’d found two flocks here: one with 4 turkeys; one with 9. The farmer offered his blessing, and we were off.
Turkey dogs must run big, but check back. Find turkeys then scatter them. Barking helps note the flush location. Once set up at the break site, you hide the dog, and attempt to call the birds back.
But first you have to find them. All bird dogs, especially pups, are a work in progress. As a handler, I lean toward quiet. I don’t like to give many verbal commands to avoid alerting game. This takes time; years. The silent approach is earned. With my setter Radar (7+) it’s all hand signals, stealth and the rare whistle. Like a sports parent from the sidelines, with Luna on her first hunt, I got way too chatty.
Turkey scratchings? Everywhere. Luna was gone for stretches of time, but no barking. Her tendency to yip-yap at yard squirrels and doves hinted at possibilities. “I noticed you kept looking at your watch,” my buddy Marc said. Yep. The last thing I wanted to do was lose her on her first fall turkey hunt. My verbal commands likely scared the turkeys deeper into the woods: “Luna come,” followed by whistling, way more than I usually do. Was I eager to speed the day to "finished" dog, and impress my longtime bud who’d hunted with my best turkey dog ever, my Midge, now gone? Maybe.
We hunted hard. By the end we were both carrying tags. Arriving home, my wife said: “You’ll never believe this!” One of her Facebook friends had just posted a short video of turkeys in his backyard 22 minutes before. Her FB friend, let’s call him B., didn’t hunt, but he had a fix on turkeys: out his window. “My” turkeys. He and his wife live on the other side of the woods we’d just hunted.
“Nine turkeys?” I asked, almost knowing the answer. I watch the vid with her. Sure enough, there they were on the popular social networking site. My 9 birds. My buddy Marc’s joking jab: “They were just about as far away as scared turkeys would run if a guy in the woods yelled at his dog all morning!”
Busted!
[ Read Full Post ]October 16, 2009 by
You get 25 points just for taking the time to read this post when you could be out setting trail cams for whitetails.
You know there’s a difference between a hen yelp and a gobbler yelp. Add 5 points. You regard opportunities for all the other upland birds as secondary when compared to running your canine hunting partner on fall flocks where legal. Add 10 bonus points. Five more if you own more than one dog and hunt multiple fall turkey states.
Take 1 point for each extra 1,000 road miles you put on your truck in autumn looking for turkeys, which is only rivaled by the month(s) you hunt spring gobblers.
You happily take a fall bird of the year, preferably a pink-faced jake, and declare it equal to a springtime longbeard. Add 5 points. You bow hunt but only for wild turkeys during extended archery-only opportunities. Add 5 points.
You started out cutting your teeth first on fall turkeys decades ago before the modern tradition shifted to the spring. Zero points but we've got your back.
You have never hunted fall turkeys. Subtract 10 points. Subtract 5 points if it's not legal in your state (maybe consider a road trip?). You think fall turkey hunting should be outlawed. Subtract 20 and read a little more on the subject.
You know that fighting purrs will sometimes bring male turkeys in for a look, expecting a gobbler fight. Add 5 points.You had your taxidermist mount a bearded adult hen your son or daughter tagged one frosty fall morning their first turkey season. Add 15 points.
You once passed on filling your tag on opening day fall birds in range just to savor the moment and make it last, only to eat it that last day of turkey season when time ran out; a season you consider a success for all the action you had. Add 15 points.
Take another 3 points if when you fill your last deer tag you start to look around for neighboring states where a fall (or winter) turkey season is still open. Take 5 points if you routinely argue with “beards in the spring, antlers in the fall” buddies who don’t believe male birds gobble (or sometimes strut) in autumn.
Add 10 points if you turned down a college pal’s bachelor party in Vegas because it conflicted with the opening weekend of autumn turkey season.
Scoring:
75+ points: You're a fall turkey hunting superhero.
50+ points: You're welcome to share my turkey camp anytime.
0-49 points: You're still a brother (or sister!) since you hunt, but . . .
[ Read Full Post ] October 10, 2009 by
Ohio’s fall turkey season opened Saturday, October 10, Columbus Day weekend. According to one source though, the turkey hatch is down for the state.
“Summer brood observations suggest a below average wild turkey hatch this year,” reports Mike Reynolds, state biologist. “In addition, acorn crops were highly variable across Ohio this fall. In areas with poor acorn production, hunters may have more success locating turkeys around agricultural fields rather than hardwood ridges.”
Last fall Ohio turkey hunters killed 2,139 birds. The current population stands at around 200,000 turkeys. Defiance and Williams counties are now open to fall turkey hunting for the first time in modern management history. Check out: www.ohiodnr.com
Over in West Virginia, it's much the same deal. Paul Johansen, Assistant Chief of DNR Game Management says that, “The poor and spotty mast conditions reported this fall will tend to concentrate birds, and wildlife biologists expect many flocks to be out feeding in open fields and along field borders.” As a result, turkeys will be easier to find, and more accessible. This could increase kill numbers.
Last fall, WV hunters took 1,206 birds. An increased number of brood sightings reported this summer hints at a higher harvest too, especially when poor, spotty mast conditions are factored in. The WV fall turkey season begins Oct. 24. Specific season dates can be found at: www.wvdnr.gov/
New Hampshire's five-day fall shotgun turkey hunting season runs Monday, Oct. 12 through Friday, October 16 in eight select Wildlife Management Units in the Connecticut River Valley and southwest portions of the state. The lengthy NH fall archery turkey season is offered from September 15 - December 15 statewide (except WMU A in northern NH). Check out: www.wildnh.com/
Here in northern New England (Maine, NH & Vermont), and over in New York state, turkeys I (and other sources) have been watching are now transitioning from bugging late summer fields to the early fall woods where mast production is good throughout much of the region. Fresh scratchings in early October indicate flocks are hitting this autumn buffet pretty hard.
As the result of widespread food availability in parts of the Northeast, finding birds might prove challenging. Weather events can tip your hand. Flocks tend to move to fields during windy and showery weather events, and can sometimes be located this way.
[ Read Full Post ]October 5, 2009 by
Rain. Wind. Gloom of day. Still carrying my two NY turkey tags. It's open until Nov. 20 in the area where we hunt 'em and we'll be back there soon. Other states will follow in a bit. Stay tuned. On downtime, I caught up with nationally competitive turkey caller, call designer, and hardcore Ohio hunter Josh Grossenbacher of Zink Calls to check his pulse on hunting fall longbeards and the best mouth call for kee-keeing.
SH: You've roosted a fall longbeard flock, and know their preferred food source. How does Josh Grossenbacher hunt 'em? Set up near the roost? Set up on the travel path? Set up on the food source?
JG: In a situation like this, the first thing I would put into perspective would be how much time I have to work on this flock of longbeards. If I only have a few hours to hunt before work, my approach would be get as close as possible in the pre-dawn darkness to these roosted gobblers while staying far enough away without being detected. Knowing where they are feeding I would setup an ambush between roost and feeding sights, trying to make it a quick successful hunt catching them right after they hit the ground on their way to feed making it a quick hunt. The disadvantage to this approach is the possibility of bumping these longbeards and ruining their
predictable pattern for possible future hunts. With time to hunt this flock all day I would pack a lunch and snacks and find a nice cozy spot where I can sit with good cover and wait. If these longbeards are as predictable as they have been I will have no problem waiting all day for them. I will call very little, maybe 3-4 times per hour, with just clucks and gobbler yelps. The disadvantage to this type of setup is time. Most turkey hunters lack patience (myself included); long sits are hard to handle. I really like to cover ground and hunt aggressive, but in a situation like this the long wait will usually pay off if the birds have not been disturbed and are still on the same pattern.
SH: What reeds do you prefer in a diaphragm for kee-keeing? Single? Double? Others? Why?
JG: In a kee-kee call I prefer a double reed with the top reed being heavier latex and the bottom reed being lighter. With the lighter reed on bottom it makes it easier to control your whistles while the heavier reed on top makes it easy to get deep raspy yelps. Zink Calls does have a kee-kee style call coming out this year. It is a double reeded ghost-cut style call named the Lost Lady. These calls can be ordered at our shop by calling 1-(877)-LEG-BAND or check us out at: www.zinkcalls.com/
[ Read Full Post ]
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