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September 28, 2009 by
Let the games begin. Gathering gear for a fall turkey hunt (and road trip) isn’t all that different than in spring, unless you hunt with a dog as I and many others do. I spent September chasing early Maine geese and scouting turkey flocks, often at the same time. My home base shotgun season for turkeys doesn’t arrive until Oct. 17 though, so I’m off to New York in early October. The season starts Thursday, Oct. 1 in the upstate area I'm hunting; I'll miss the opener but get in there not long after. Stay tuned here for a full report.
In the meantime, I’m packing for the trip. Here’s what I’ll need:
CALLS: A custom paddle box, waterproof box, single- and double-reed diaphragms (for kee-keeing), several slates (for hen and gobbler yelps), and a gobbler call.
GEAR: Turkey loads (3-in. #5s & 6s), two shotguns (this is a road trip fellas), several pairs of boots, many apparel changes including raingear. Other stuff: penlight, seat cushion, choke tubes, etc. License holding two fall turkey tags. Wallet-held hunting licenses for the three states I pass through. A copy of the NY State hunting regs. Knife. Facemask, gloves, extra hat, bug dope, and a soon to be disclosed lucky charm my 11-year-old daughter will give me before departure.
DOG STUFF: One of my roomy turkey vests for extra gear, including leads, collars, a portable blind, a zippered camouflaged bag to conceal my canine partner, head exposed (Virginian John Byrne’s and his wife Miss Sue's invention; adapted by turkey doggers and their better halfs around the country), first-aid kit (these dogs are athletes), an extra water bottle and collapsible dog dish. Dog bed for downtime. Dog crate when afield. Of course the dog herself (our moon-white renegade English setter Luna, just 1 and some change, full of hunting desire and a love of feathery game). Memories of my late great canine hunting partners Midge March Madness and her half-sister Jenny (both buried in the last several years; Jen on August 31 at 13+ years old) will inform the hunt too. Midge's first fall turkeys came to the post-flush calls all those years ago with her at the same age as Luna(tic). Our other setter Radar, 7, will be part of the fall fun too. It's a continuum . . .
MISC.: Batteries for my HD mini-camcorder, my alarm clock and my digital camera. A borrowed cell phone (wife's loaner), which won’t necessarily grab a signal where we’ll be hunting. DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteers for Maine, NH, VT and NY (always present in my truck and filled with annotated scrawling from turkey sightings written in cryptic code). Pens, a notebook, maybe a laptop (see "borrowed cell phone" for rural hunt challenges). Road trip CDs ranging from Willie Nelson to The Clash to Springsteen. (Eclectic? Heck yeah.) Cooler for soft drinks, snacks, various food items. You eat and drink the contents then ideally put your fall bird(s) in there at trip's end.
What vest essentials do you guys insist on when you hit the turkey woods?
[ Read Full Post ] September 21, 2009 by
The NHL’s New York Islanders play here. Billy Joel sings about it. And now Long Island, New York is also having its first modern turkey season.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) has announced dates for the first Long Island wild turkey hunting season, crediting over a decade of wild turkey reintroduction efforts. Just five days long, but hey it’s a start. The season is limited to the five-day fall hunting season in November (see dates below), providing the opportunity to put one on the Thanksgiving table (Nov. 26).
“The region is extremely excited to give Long Island hunters a local turkey hunting opportunity,” Peter A. Scully, Regional Director recently said. “Not only does this new season give more opportunities to local hunters, but it can also serve as a poignant example of how locally extirpated populations can be successfully reintroduced given enough effort and attention.” He goes on to say that: “This season exists due to the diligent work of our regional wildlife staff as well as the cooperative efforts of local hunters and volunteers who took the time to fill out and submit surveys of turkey sightings that allow our staff to assess population health and growth.” Here’s the skinny on the new turkey season:
1. Limited 5-day fall hunting season beginning on the third Saturday in November (11/21/09 - 11/25/09).
2. Season limit of one bird of either sex.
3. The use of either archery equipment or shotgun.
4. Shooting hours: sunrise to sunset.
5. All participants must carry a valid turkey permit and tag.
6. Other general hunting regulations are the same as for other small-game hunting on Long Island, and for fall turkey hunting elsewhere in New York State.
Visit the NYSDEC website at http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/32162.html for further details.
(No word as to whether Billy Joel will participate in the Long Island turkey hunt.)
[ Read Full Post ] September 14, 2009 by
Chances are pretty good that many of you reading this were outfoxed by a henned-up gobbler with a brain the size of a walnut last spring. The pain you felt was self-inflicted. No matter how hard you tried, no matter what tactics you applied, those dominant toms weren’t buying anything you threw at them.
Why should they? They were surrounded by warm and willing hens. Those same tied-up gobblers have done you a favor with fall turkey seasons coming up. Say what?
Chances are those hung-up toms bred one or more hens. Those hens nested, hatched broods, and raised those young birds this summer. Birds of the year grow fast. That single gobbler might be responsible for half a dozen, a dozen, or more wild turkeys in the woods and fields right now.
It’s time to do two things: return to the scene of the crime, where that gobbler gave you a tough time. It’s also important to go back to the area where you may have killed a turkey to see what has transpired in the past months. You may find a bunch of turkeys there.
I found two such Maine family flocks this past weekend, the first time I’ve seen either one of them. One numbered 10 birds while the other weighed in at nine turkeys. They were out in the open, within an hour after fly-down time, drying off from the rain showers we had on Saturday. The gobbler(s) that bred the brood hens last spring were nowhere to be seen of course.
As the fall turkey seasons approach, return to the areas where you successfully located gobblers, including places where you actually closed the deal. Chances are there are some flocks waiting for you.
After you’ve located them, add these things to your to-do list: Secure land ownership permission again. Spend some time in the area patterning these flocks. Try to determine the range of these groups. Some autumn flocks travel in 1000-acre habitats, hitting food sources as they spend their day grazing between fly-down and fly-up. Set up somewhere between their roost and food source(s) during your hunts. Cold call to birds on the move, or using terrain to hide your movements, flush the just-out-of-range flock to later call the gregarious birds back.
One final thing: You can finally stop cursing that tough spring gobbler’s memory and thank it for this fall bounty.
[ Read Full Post ] September 9, 2009 by
Here at the Strut Zone, we're always keen on sharing additional turkey hunting opportunities with you guys. Back on September 8, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) began accepting 2010 special-opportunity spring turkey hunt applications. The deadline for submissions is midnight (EDT) October 13.
Applications may be submitted at wildlifelicense.com, county tax collectors' offices or at any license agent. A random drawing decides who will receive the coveted permits. To apply, hunters can obtain application worksheets at MyFWC.com/Hunting/ under "Limited Entry Hunts."
According to sources, demand for these hunts is typically greater than the number of available permits, but hunters can increase their chances of being selected by submitting as many $5 nonrefundable applications as they like. Successful applicants pay a permit fee of $50 - $175, depending on the special-opportunity hunt area selected.
The FWC says these special-opportunity turkey hunts "take place on large tracts of land, with great habitat, healthy turkey populations and a limited number of hunters." As many of you guys know, the Osceola is a highly prized subspecies of wild turkey, found only in peninsular Florida, south of and including Dixie, Gilchrist, Alachua, Union, Bradford, Clay and Duval counties.
All hunts take place within the Osceola turkey's home range.
There is one downside. Participation rules limit out-of-state hunters to one permit per hunt. For more information on special-opportunity Osceola turkey hunts, visit MyFWC.com/Hunting.
[ Read Full Post ] September 4, 2009 by
Yesterday, while out scouting at daybreak, I heard a gobble in the nearby woods. Then another. That's right. Autumn turkeys gobble; even late-summer birds. On the roost and on the ground. I know, some of you have heard differently. Talk is cheap. Experience pays dividends. If they’re fall jakes, they sometimes gobble after making a kee-kee-run, tagging it right on the end of that call. I’ve scattered autumn longbeards too only to have each one gobble hard on their return to the flush site. I defy anyone to tell me that's not just as exciting as a spring hunt.
These vocalizations are obviously made as male turkeys try to locate each other. Despite what you might have heard from the guy who says they don’t gobble in fall, you need to get out there and hear it for yourself.
True enough, hearing that gobble isn’t as reliable as it is in spring. Spring gobblers call to draw hens to their roosted or ground-standing position. Fall gobblers likely do it to indicate their location too, but to male turkeys, since longbeard groups hang together then. Jake gangs sometimes form in late autumn and early winter as they contest family flock stability. Some territorial dominance is also likely at play when male turkeys gobble in fall.
As your calling goes, a little gobbling goes a long way. Use it sparingly when you have a group of fall longbeards roosted in earshot before they fly-down. Maybe run that gobble tube (see my photo of some Quaker Boy options, pictured here) once or twice when they’re on the ground in conjunction with fighting purrs. Buddy hunters can double up on vocalizations this way, but again, don’t overdo it. This calling strategy shouldn’t be a musical jam session but a perfectly choreographed and well-timed vocalization: brief in duration and hopefully effective.
Do you Strut Zoners ever use gobble calls to lure in fall turkeys? Spring? Hearing any gobbling in your local turkey woods these days?
[ Read Full Post ] September 2, 2009 by
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