Outdoor Life - Turkey & Waterfowl RSS

The Right Binoculars for Turkey Hunting

Alex Robinson — Tue, 21 May 2013 08:53:27 -0400

Along with my mouth calls, a sweet David Halloran slate-over-glass pot call, and a lightweight run-and-gun turkey vest, my most essential turkey tool includes a bright, compact binocular.

If that surprises you—if you figured I’d cite a shotgun or a special choke constriction or a decoy—then you probably aren’t killing as many gobblers as you should. That’s because you’re not seeing them.

The basis for using optics in any hunting situation is that you can’t kill what you can’t see, and acute vision is especially important in the spring turkey woods, where you need the ability to scan distant field edges as well as close-quarters woodlots and leafy brush.

As a Western hunter, I rely on big 10x42 binoculars for spotting elk, antelope, and mule deer. But my reliance on optics doesn’t diminish in spring turkey season. The only thing that diminishes is the size of my bino.

I rely on an optic that provides a view way out of proportion to its size. The compact, double-hinge 10x25 shirt pocket binocular — I’m using a Bushnell Legend Ultra HD this season — weighs less than half a pound and easily slips into a vest pocket. But its bright glass allows me to classify turkeys when they’re too far for my eyes to see, and more than once this year it has informed me of the approach of a gobbler that I couldn’t see through the tight underbrush.

I’m also a big fan of slightly larger binoculars, especially the 8x32 configurations. What’s important is that your turkey bino is light and compact enough to go anywhere, but dependable enough to endure getting soaked by spring rains, knocked on rocks and tree trunks, and bright enough to resolve details in the half-light of morning, when turkeys are either making or breaking your hunt.

But here’s the biggest reason to carry binoculars when you turkey hunt—they will keep you from making a fool of yourself (read my turkey stalking post here).

Dog First Aid: Kits, Meds, and Wound Treatment

Alex Robinson — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:28:16 -0400

I recently attended the Washington State Search and Rescue Conference in Ellensburg, Wash., and sat in on several canine classes – everything from double-blind testing that can stand up to cross-examination in court to the meteorology of scent.

Perhaps my favorite seminar was a canine first-aid class tailored to search and rescue folks, who, like hunters, usually find themselves in the backcountry and unable to easily get to a local vet when something happens, and who are also constrained by the amount of stuff they can carry.

The class was taught by Dr. Michael Fuller, a 30-plus-year veterinarian at the Ellensburg Animal Hospital. He covered a lot of material in the hour-and-a-half session, everything from must-have items in a first aid kit to broken bones. Here are just a few highlights:

First Aid Kits
Fuller recommends starting with a commercial first aid kit, and was impressed by the breadth of those available on market [URL: http://www.gundogsupply.com/firstaid.html], and adding a few items to it. You should carry bulky bandages for wrapping injuries, Benedryl, Neosporin “P” (or another triple antibiotic, the “P” being an included pain reliever), mineral oil, elastikon (or other sticky, stretchy wrap), and super glue.

Emergency Electrolyte Solution
For a dog that has started to become dehydrated, giving it an electrolyte solution can help. For a severely dehydrated dog, it’ll be tough to get it back to full fluid levels without an IV but giving it some liquid is better than nothing.

An emergency electrolyte solution recommended by Fuller is:

1 liter of water
½ teaspoon of salt
3 tablespoons sugar

Don’t let your dog gulp down all of the solution. Give him 25 percent and then wait and observe his response, giving more as needed.

Wound Cleaning
Surprising to most of the attendants, Fuller said not to use hydrogen peroxide, or even tap water, to clean a fresh wound. Of course, you do what you have to do when you’re miles into the backcountry, but peroxide, in particular, is too harsh on freshly exposed and tender flesh and will kill the top layers, impeding the healing process.

Instead, Fuller recommended using saline solution to clean the area. In an emergency, you can make your own saline by mixing one level tablespoon of salt with one gallon of distilled water (or boiled/filtered). Irrigate the wound with a syringe and 20-gauge needle.

Also: Fuller says 95 percent of wounds don’t need sutures, but if, however, you’re certain that stitches/staples will be required, be sure not to apply any type of triple antibiotic; just clean and cover it.

Pain Meds and Benedryl
Perhaps the best medication you can pack along on a hunt is Benedryl. It’s great for allergic reactions, stings, and even snakebites. Give 1mg/per pound.

While you can give aspirin for pain management (325 mg/per 65 pounds) Fuller recommends speaking with your vet about obtaining a prescription for Tramadol.

Tramadol is a pain med that is cheap, effective, and has nearly no side effects except that the dog gets sleepy. You can give a few, monitor the dog and give a few more if necessary. When a dog is hurt, you’ll not only want to help with pain but with keeping the dog calm – the side effect of drowsiness will serve as a benefit.

Why We Lose Hunting Access

Alex Robinson — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:29:51 -0400

In just the last four years, Cory Peterson’s outfitting business has doubled in size to nearly 60,000 acres of deer- and turkey-rich ground in Nebraska’s Sand Hills. But Peterson, who also farms corn and raises beef cattle in the area, didn’t pursue many of his leases. Instead, neighbors came to him, offering to lease their land for annual payments that range between $1 and $3 per acre.

The main reason Peterson’s Hidden Valley Outfitting has grown? His neighbors find it increasingly difficult to allow free public hunting.

“Most traditional farmers understand the idea that hunting is something that should be free,” says Peterson. “But these guys have had gates left open by hunters, cattle shot by hunters, and water tanks shot by hunters. After a while, they just run out of patience.”

In Peterson, they find a neighbor who is familiar with their property, knows how to behave around their livestock, and has the ability to compensate them for the use of their land. Plus, he sometimes hires their sons as guides.

“We don’t pay a ton of money, but it’s enough to help cover farmers’ property taxes, and they don’t have to put up with the headaches that come with letting everybody hunt,” says Peterson. “It’s not that these guys want to lease. It’s just easier than the alternative.”

Why We Lose Access
Ask two landowners why they lease their land to outfitters or paying hunters, and you’ll get a dozen answers. This is an admittedly subjective list, but it covers many of the reasons that sportsmen lose access. Some are legitimate concerns, others are excuses that landowners give to explain why the public is no longer welcome on their property.

1. Legal Beagles
Many landowners believe they have legal responsibility if a hunter is injured on their property. The details differ from state to state, but generally a landowner is not liable if the hunter was a non-paying invitee, and the injury didn’t result from negligence.

2. Fear of Fire
Landowners are rightly terrified of wildfires, which can destroy crops, buildings, timber, and rangeland. Hunters can reduce the chance of starting a fire by parking vehicles on bare, unvegetated areas. And by not smoking. Period.

3. Gate Gripes
The most common complaint of farmers is that hunters leave their gates open, or close gates that should be left open. Hunters need to understand the common law of farm country: Leave gates the way you found them.

4. Off-Road Rage
In much of the West, if a hunter shows up at a ranch house with an ATV in tow, permission to hunt becomes iffy. Ranchers want hunters to stick to roads, and walking hunters generally get preference over motorized hunters.

5. Wake-Up Calls
Too often, hunters don’t make arrangements to hunt private land until the last minute. Landowners who post their property often cite as one reason those 5 a.m. calls from strangers seeking permission. Secure permission weeks before you hunt, and never assume that because you got permission last year, you have it this year.

6. Thankless Hunters
You don’t have to give a farmer a wad of cash or a bottle of whiskey to say thanks for letting you hunt, but you should make some gesture. A card, a holiday ham, or an offer to help with fencing or farmwork goes a long way toward softening resistance to a follow-up hunting trip.

Video: Man Catches Quail with Bare Hand

Alex Robinson — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:54:26 -0400

Here's one way to avoid chomping down on shot pellets in your quail.

There's not much info about this Youtube clip except that it promotes NFL quarterback Colt McCoy's new book The Real Win. The quail catcher appears to be coauthor Matt Carter.

Here's a tag line from the book: "Inside every guy is a burning desire to set goals and achieve them, to get ahead and finish strong—most of all, to win. So why do so many guys invest years striving for success only to discover that what they thought was winning actually turns out to be losing in all the ways that count?"

Maybe reading this book will teach you how to do sweet stuff like how to wear a hat backwards and how to catch quail with your bare hands. But then again, the last time McCoy was a starter was in 2011 and he went 4-12 with the Cleveland Browns. So, maybe he's not the best guy to take advice from when it comes to winning.

Turkey Hunting: Tips For High-Country Gobblers

Alex Robinson — Mon, 13 May 2013 10:16:28 -0400

When he ran into my set-up, the gobbler’s chest seemed unnaturally huge. I assumed it was because he was so puffed up, ready to kick the grits out of the Cally Morris tom decoy posing in full strut.

But, later, when I checked my GPS and confirmed the elevation—10,400 feet above sea level—it occurred to me that the tom’s breast was so large because his lungs were freakishly big, an adaptation to living in that thin alpine air.

The New Mexico Merriam’s is easily the highest-altitude gobbler I’ve ever killed, and hunting him reminded me that high-country turkeys are different than their lowland brethren. Here’s what to keep in mind as you hunt gobblers above 5,000 feet.

STAY ON THE SUNNY SIDE
In the mountains, you’ll often be hunting canyons that funnel birds from lower to higher elevations. When you call, set up on the side of the canyon that catches the sun. In the mornings, that’s typically the northern slopes of the canyons.

CALL WITH THE WINDS
These mountain canyons are almost always windy. In the mornings, you can anticipate up-slope winds, and in the afternoons, the winds typically blow down canyons. Keep the prevailing winds in mind as you sound locator calls. Birds will hear you much better when you call with the wind. And remember the echo effect of your calls. If you call against the face of a steep canyon, you can literally bounce your call up side drainages and expand the reach of your searching calls.

USE OPTICS
The wide-open country of the West make good optics a turkey hunter’s best tool. On my New Mexico hunt, I was able to find birds by glassing more reliably than I found them with locator calls.

PULL ‘EM UPHILL
In sloped country, birds often want to approach a set-up from below. This is a rule with plenty of exceptions, but more often than not, I’ve had better luck getting uphill of a gobbler and pulling him into a call than trying to suck him in downhill.

USE SHOOTING STICKS
I’ve been a fan of shooting sticks for a long time, ever since I took my first youngster hunting and watched his shotgun barrel wave like a flag. Sticks are especially valuable in steep country, where you can’t always rest your shotgun on a knee. Set up sticks so that your barrel faces your decoy spread, and you’ll be settled and ready when a gobbler comes in.

WEATHER’S THE WILD CARD
Lastly, hunt aggressively. If you have a responsive bird that won’t break for your call, go after him. The weather can turn so quickly in the mountains, turning a sunshiny day into a snowy, blowy afternoon, that you need to strike whenever you can, rather than playing cautious.

Photos from My Hunt...
Merriam’s country. Here’s where northern New Mexico’s wild turkeys live, in elk habitat. This basin ranges in elevation from 8,000 to over 11,000 feet above sea level.

We drove through several herds of elk to get to the sunny side of the basin, where we expected to find turkeys. At one point, I told my hunting partners, “I’ll eat my hat if there are turkeys this high.”

But my buddy Jimmy Wright parked on a logging road and struck his box call just as the sun was hitting the high slopes. A gobbler responded. I looked at my hat, but there was no time for dining. We had to get set up, just below the road.

This is the remains of our decoy spread after we called in the gobbler, along with a hen and a jake. The tom beat the stuffing out of Cally Morris’s strutting gobbler decoy, breaking its neck with a wingbone chop, and then spurring the tar out of it. The gobbler then turned his attention to the jake, which was trying to mount Cally’s hen decoy. The tom beat up the jake, then got on top of the hen decoy and was trying to breed it when I hit an alarm putt. I wanted the gobbler to stretch out his neck and give me a good shot. Instead, the gobbler gobbled, while he was in full breeding mode. So I killed him, figuring he was at least going out on top.

Camp Photo Instagram Contest Winner Announced

Alex Robinson — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:24:37 -0400

We recently asked readers to post photos of their hunting or fishing camp on Instagram with the hash tag #olcampcontest. We sorted through dozens of great entries and chose the photo above, submitted by @andybidz, as the winner. It's got it all: rustic charm, hunting buddies, and a big ol' gobbler. For submitting the winning photo, @andybidz will receive a Husqvarna 440e chainsaw.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the contest. Don't forget to follow us at @outdoor_life, and remember to check our Instagram feed regularly for future contests.

Photo by @andybidz on Instagram.

World Shed Dog Champions Crowned in Minnesota

Alex Robinson — Tue, 07 May 2013 09:46:30 -0400

The popularity of shed hunting has grown greatly over the last several years, and many trainers are developing programs to teach dogs to search out and find antlers. Three years ago, Tom Dokken started developing products to use in training, and then a hunt-test-like program to inject some fun and competition into the scene.

This year, on April 13 and 14, the third NASHDA World Shed Championship took place in Northfield, Minn. The North American Shed Hunting Dog Association runs qualifying events just like a retriever or pointing dog hunt test, with pass/fail standards. “The whole idea is for events to be fun, for people to run their dogs and create good camaraderie,” said Dokken. “Most people are more than happy to share training tips and offer encouragement. In qualifying events, you’re not competing against anyone; you just have to find six antlers in 15 minutes.”

The world championships, which hosted 37 competitors, is scored so a champion can be declared. “The reason we did that is that we wanted to remove any subjective implications, judges making decisions based on style, looks or any possibility of political happenings,” said Dokken. “It’s pretty straightforward: a competitor gets 50 points for finding a shed and 50 points for delivering it to hand. They have a 15-minute time limit and any time remaining after all the finds is added to your score.”

This year saw more than 100 dogs and handlers compete in qualifying events throughout the Midwest, with 37 making it to the championship. The championships took place on a Saturday and Sunday, with the 37 teams competing on Saturday and 20 making the callback for Sunday.

Remi, a Labrador retriever owned by Matt and Megan Harten of Minneapolis, and handled by trainer Josh Miller, won the Open Class (pictured above). The Amateur Class was won by DeeDee, a black Lab owned and handled by Parker Uhlman of Thornton, N.H. A yellow Lab named Kale, owned and handled by Aaron Palbrach of Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., won the Junior Class.

While the Labs dominated the final standings, Dokken said it’s far from a Labrador-only event. They see everything from German wirehair pointers to Labradoodles competing. And that is one great thing about a shed hunting; any breed can be trained to do it.

Currently the divisions are Open, Amateur, and Junior, but there are plans to break out a Senior level this year that ups the competition from the Junior level. At some point in the future, a Master division will take it up even one more notch.

If you’re interested in training a dog to find sheds, check out Dokken’s site for more tips, as well as everythingsheddog.com, for books and videos, a blog and products to help in training. In addition to doing something fun and different with your dog, finding sheds can also help you scout by letting you know what animals are using your property.

The Turkey Stalk: Bagging the Wariest of Game

Alex Robinson — Tue, 07 May 2013 09:07:39 -0400

I don’t know if animals have souls, but I do think they have extra-sensory receptors that alert them to the presence of invisible danger.

That’s why I take special satisfaction for sneaking into killing range of a wild animal. Not only have I fooled their acute senses of smell, sight, and hearing, but I’ve also evaded their highly evolved prey-animal sense that a predator is in the neighborhood.

Fear of trigging that “spidey sense” is why I never look directly at the animal I’m stalking. I’m convinced that critters, just like humans, have an innate awareness of and discomfort with someone staring at them. Just like us, they get alert and edgy under uninvited scrutiny. So when I’m stalking an animal, I’ll study it from a distance, but as I close in for the kill I avoid looking at it, or making even fleeting eye contact.

That may explain when, a couple of years ago, I stalked my most surprising quarry.

From the distance of a half-mile, I had spotted a turkey, a gobbler that would strut in full display, his black feathers blowing in the stiff wind. Then he’d lower his fan and feed, assuming the familiar triangular form of a turkey at ease. He never moved from the barbed wire fence where I first spotted him, and he didn’t respond to my calls. But as I studied the terrain, I figured out an approach that would hide me until I closed within shotgun range.

I stopped studying the tom and started my stalk: slow, quiet, patient. Every time I glanced, the gobbler was still there at the fence line, alternately fanning and not fanning. Finally, I was close enough for a shot, but I stayed out of sight and made one last attempt at calling. No response. So I rose up on one knee and shouldered my shotgun, and as I did the wind gusted and he snapped into full strut.

That’s precisely when I realized that I should probably make eye contact with my quarry a little more frequently. For I had been stalking a large, black, windblown garbage bag stuck in the barbed-wire fence.

Why Some Turkey Hunting Regulations Should Change

Alex Robinson — Mon, 06 May 2013 14:52:10 -0400

After being ignored and insulted by henned-up gobblers for two straight days, my fortunes were bound to change—but I was running out of time. It was 11:30 and we had to quit hunting at noon. I guess that’s why I love spring turkey hunting, though. The agony of defeat can turn into the thrill of victory at the yelp of a box call.

Indeed, I yelped and cutt on my boat paddle as turkey time frittered away. Two birds jumped on it and the pair were within shotgun range in 5 minutes. The strutter brought up the rear and I dumped him at 40 yards. His sub-dominant running buddy, sensing a drastic change in the pecking order, stepped back at the shotgun report before gobbling in the face of his fallen foe. He gobbled again at the flopping in the leaves and once more when I yelped at him while standing up in plain sight.

As odd as that tom’s behavior seemed, it’s actually a fairly common occurrence. What struck me, though, was how easy it would have been to fill both my spring tags—if regulations allowed. I no sooner got back to camp when hunting buddy, Ralph Stuart, texted me to say that he had just filled both his spring gobbler tags on his first setup that morning. It left me wondering why some states restrict hunters to one turkey per day until the season limit is reached. On its face, there doesn’t seem to be any biological basis for this regulation and it seems a bit antiquated.

“I can only assume it was originally enacted simply to limit a guy’s success and give the birds a chance to wise up and avoid getting shot again, or that by only letting him kill one on a particular day, someone else might be able to get another one,” explained former NWTF and Outdoor Life editor Doug Howlett. “It sort of the same way biologists worried that hunting in afternoon would kick hens off the next and hurt nesting success. It’s just flawed thinking. I agree, if my season limit is two and two birds come in together and I want my season to be over in that instant, boom, I should be allowed to make that decision.”

I’m all for sound biological reasoning with regard to setting fish and game regulations, but when science dispels long-held beliefs then it’s time to update and upgrade the laws. Personally, I find all-day turkey hunts exhausting, but that’s just me. I’d also prefer not to take two birds in one sitting, either. Again, that’s my personal preference. What do you guys think?

Turkey Hunting: 4 Ways to Get Skunked

Alex Robinson — Fri, 03 May 2013 12:35:22 -0400

I spent last week calling in vain to north Texas Rio Grande toms. Rios are supposed to be dumb, Texas is supposed to be full of turkeys and the hunt (a media event deal with guides and a cushy lodge) was supposed to be a two-bird slam dunk. Wrong.

Longbeards were tough to come by and the ones we could locate rarely responded to calls. By ambushing fly-down areas and strut zones, all of us got lucky and were still able to kill a turkey (though another hunter and I took birds with scrawny beards) but it wasn't easy. Waiting for hours to hear even a distant gobble did give me some time to think about all the road blocks in turkey hunting. Usually it's not one factor that keeps you from getting your bird, but a series of unfortunate events. Here's what hamstrung us in Texas. Tell us about your biggest turkey hunting headaches in the comments section below.

1) Bad Hatch
There's not much you can do about this one. A bad hatch two and/or three years ago is going to put fewer longbeards in the roost. Texas is in the middle of an epic three-year drought and even though the ranch we were hunting had a good hatch last year, it had a weak hatch the year before. That meant a lot of jakes and few toms.

2) Weird Weather
Two days before we arrived the mercury dropped from 90 degrees to 30 degrees. As you can probably guess, the gobbling and breeding activity just about flatlined. The temperature eventually warmed up, but the wind kicked up making it hard to hear gobbling (the scant gabbling that there was) and also made it harder for gobblers to hear us.

3) Coyotes
There's nothing worse than having your setup get blown by coyotes. On the second evening of the hunt (it's legal to hunt all day for turkeys in Texas) I waited in ambush for a gobbler returning to the roost. The guides had seen this bird return to the same tree every night for weeks. All I had to do was wait quietly and not spook him. And then … the coyotes came. The gobbler never showed up.

4) Non-Responsive Toms
The best caller in the world can't make a turkey come in if it doesn't want to. Multiple times we caught a solo gobbler in the distance during the middle of the morning. We would get a little closer and call only for him to walk off nonchalantly every time. When the longbeards act like this, your best bet is to try and ambush them at travel corridors near roost sites and strut zones - and hope to get really lucky.

Hunting Dog Training: How to Cure Displacement Behavior

Alex Robinson — Wed, 01 May 2013 09:34:10 -0400

A dog that suddenly stops carrying out a command could be confused. Or he could be subtly undermining your authority. Here’s how to tell the difference

A rowdy canine, like an obnoxious child, rarely displays its resistance to your authority suddenly. Instead, it’s usually a slow degradation of standards, brought on by the failure of the owner to pay attention to subtle cues and hold his dog accountable.

Yawning, scratching, shaking, sniffing, licking, or rolling over are just a few of the displacement behaviors your dog might use to delay performing a command. It’s likely he will have at least two or three favorites.

Displacement behavior is simply conduct that doesn’t fit within a scenario or a script, like when a dog that begins to carry out a command suddenly stops and shakes his head, pausing on his own terms for a moment. When this is successful, the dog learns that he doesn’t have to immediately follow your commands at all times, and he will use that precedent to slowly usurp your control.

Teaching vs. Training
When dogs learn new tasks, they experience anxiety just like you do. When competing drives are at odds, a dog’s mind is conflicted, and he’ll often try to control the situation by stopping all action with seemingly out-of-nowhere behavior. The momentary break in carrying out the exercise is a device the dog uses to reduce anxiety and confusion.

When you’re teaching, it’s not training time. No corrections should take place; adding more pressure to the mind of a conflicted dog will only erode his confidence and ability to learn. Instead, give your dog time to work through the task, use positive reinforcement, and above all, set him up for success.

Uphold Standards
When a dog thoroughly understands a given command (most trainers like to see better than 80 percent proficiency) but still exhibits displacement behaviors, he’s trying to get out of the work or to carry it out on his terms.

This is when the dog needs to understand that it’s not acceptable to dally or to become inattentive. A gruff vocal correction, a hand clap, or a nick with the e-collar are examples of corrections to get his attention and hold him accountable. Immediately repeat the command, and your dog will likely carry it out to the best of his ability, without pausing, licking, or otherwise subtly defying you.

Turkey Hunting: When Calling Doesn't Work

Alex Robinson — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:10:15 -0400

There’s not a turkey hunter among us who isn’t stirred by a ground-shaking gobble from a close-range longbeard. In fact, the most exciting part of a turkey hunt is fooling a bird into range with a call. But sometimes calling just doesn’t work. Hens will often hear yelping from a rival bird and walk their tom in the opposite direction. Cold fronts can shut down gobbling overnight. High winds can drown out even your loudest locator calls.   Here are some situations when you want to keep the call in your vest pocket and hunt your gobbler in silence.

Friction Call Fail
Don’t call if the turkey is in sight, and you only have friction calls with you. Even the slightest movement will spook the bird. Sit still and let the longbeard’s curiosity lead him into shotgun range.

Go Where the Strutter Goes
You may not want to call if you know exactly where a hunter-pressured strutter prefers to go. Set up on his strut zone and wait him out. If you do try to call him in and fail, you could lose the bird for the season.

No Decoy in Sight
Don’t call if the gobbler can see your seated position and there’s no turkey (or decoy) standing nearby. When that bird hears a yelp it expects to see a turkey on the other end of it.

Other Turkeys Ahead
Don’t call if the flock of turkeys (and gobbler trailing like a train caboose) is obviously coming, and it simply isn’t necessary. To use a waterfowl analogy here, if the ducks are cupped and committed to your spread, shut up and let it happen.

Stuck in the Middle
If you get lucky and happen to set up between a live vocal hen and an approaching gobbling tom, forget the calls and get into shooting position. A live hen is going to outcall you 99 times out of 100.

Pass Interception
Take a page from the deer hunting tactics book and anticipate the next move of patterned turkeys. Map out their intentions and get between them and their probable destination. Sometimes you can read their body language to determine what they’ll do next.

Limb Bird Looking Down
Don’t call if the longbeard you want to tag is roosted on a tree limb just over your setup and can see you … because he can see you.

Hunt Funnels
You may just want to hunt that funnel, bottleneck or pinch-point. Hunt this terrain the same way with or without a blind. Let the landscape do the work for you.

Keep the Gobbler Quiet
You may not want to call to discourage a spring tom on public land from gobbling excessively within earshot of other turkey hunters. At times though, your silence might just make some toms gobble more. Other times, they may stop gobbling and come quietly to your position . . .

Roost Sites
When calling fails, get super tight on the roost in the morning—and in the afternoon if legal. Be there at fly-down or fly-up time. It’s where the dominant gobbler you’re hunting ends the day, spends the night and begins the morning.

Photo by: NWTF

Turkey Virus Alert in New York and Maine

Alex Robinson — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:15:35 -0400

Officials in both New York and Maine have issued alerts asking spring turkey hunters to help them identify birds that may be suffering from Lymphoproliferative Disease Virus (LPDV). The virus, which causes Elephant Man-like lesions on a turkey’s head and legs, has already been found in the Maine population while biologists in New York are seeking further information to determine whether the disease has impacted their flock.

According the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife: “It (LPDV) is thought to spread between turkeys by direct skin contact or through mosquito bites. Some turkeys can fend off minor infections and survive while others can develop extreme lesions that inhibit their sight and ability to eat, which ultimately leads to death.

“The disease poses no risk to human health. However, like all infections, caution is advised while handling a bird with LPDV. There is a potential for secondary bacterial infections if birds are handled improperly. Thoroughly cooking the meat to an internal temperature of a minimum of 165°F is also advised.

“Although wild turkeys cannot pass this virus on to humans, if you shoot a bird and you do not want to eat it, do not register it and please contact a Wildlife Biologist at one of the regional offices or call the Department of Public Safety in Augusta at (800) 452-4664 to be connected with a game warden. After examining the bird, the department staff member will determine your eligibility to harvest another turkey.

“Little is known about the origin of LPDV in the United States. LPDV was first detected in domestic turkeys in Europe. Since that time, we have confirmed several cases throughout the state. Currently, known cases occur virtually wherever wild turkeys are present.

New York biologists, who are attempting to determine reasons behind wild turkey population decreases in the state, ask that samples from suspect birds be provided to the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Wildlife Health Unit. For instructions on how to provide a sample contact: fwwildlf@gw.dec.state.ny.us. The New York DEC advises against eating any wild animals that appear sick.

Dumb Turkey Stories

Alex Robinson — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:49:52 -0400

Luke Tonlino of Otis, Massachusetts was admittedly a bit peeved. Upon hearing some odd banging sounds coming from outside his home last week, Tonlino decided to investigate. That’s when he spotted the source of the commotion—an adult gobbler. Apparently enamored with his own reflection in the bumper of Tonlino’s truck, the bird strutted back and forth occasionally pecking at the high-polished chrome.

“I went inside for the camera and watched him for 5 minutes,” Tonlino said. “He saw me and didn’t care—until I ran him off. I was afraid he would ruin the bumper.”

You hear these types of stories every spring and it still never ceases to amaze how a bird that is often so very hard to hunt can act so absolutely silly. What’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever seen a turkey do?

Bowhunting Turkeys: Where to Aim for a Clean Kill?

Alex Robinson — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:12:44 -0400

Until a few weeks ago, I’d never tried to kill a turkey with an arrow. While bows are permitted during the spring turkey season in my home state of New York, there is no dedicated archery season, so I’ve always just hunted them with a shotgun. When you fire one and a half ounces of number-five lead shot through a tightly constricted turkey choke at a bird’s head/neck area at close range, there is little chance of wounding it. The result will more than likely be either a miss or a very dead turkey.

And then I was invited to try and kill a couple turkeys with a crossbow in Nebraska the last week of March during that state’s archery turkey season. Needless to say, I was intrigued. After all, I do understand the appeal of the challenge of trying to kill a bird with an arrow, and if a state like Nebraska is going to provide an opportunity to hunt turkeys in March (another thing I’d never done) then why not take them up on it? (By the way, if New York tried to implement a three-week bow-only turkey season prior to the firearms season, I’m fairly certain there would be riots.)

After a week in camp where eight of us—all experienced turkey hunters, mind you—filled fewer than half of our 16 tags, I have to say I’m a bit soured on the whole idea. And it wasn’t for a lack of birds. Our outfitter, Doug Stults, had us on enormous flocks of Merriam’s and Rios—I hunted groups of as many 300 birds. When they flew off the roost to feed in large pastures, they resembled herds of miniature buffalo. During the hunt I shared a ground blind with Tad Brown, who designs calls and decoys for M.A.D. and Flambeau, and he said that in 40 years of hunting turkeys he’d never seen anything like it.

Thanks to Tad’s expert calling and decoying strategies, no fewer than a dozen mature gobblers came within shooting range over the course of three days, some as close as 10 feet from our blind. However, the two that I ended up putting my tags on did not die anywhere near the blind. Other hunters told stories back at camp about hitting birds solidly with arrows, watching them flop around violently before seeming to expire…only to then watch them get up and run or fly away as the hunter climbed out of the blind to claim his trophy.

I’m convinced these creatures simply weren’t built to be killed effectively with an arrow. Do thousands of turkeys meet their maker every year as a result of a broadhead through the boiler room? Absolutely. But in my opinion there is too much margin for error. A turkey’s vital organ area is incredibly small and well hidden behind dense layers of feathers. Also, what’s the best place to aim? I heard varying opinions on shot placement while in Nebraska. One school of thought said that the arrow should be aimed just above the hips. Another said to aim for the wing joint.

For now, I’m going to continue to center the bead at the end of my shotgun’s barrel at the base of turkeys’ necks, but I’d love the hear from the archers out there. What’s your strategy on shot placement? Do you attempt headshots with broadheads? If so, what’s your distance limit? Do you find archery equipment to be just as lethal as a shotgun? Have at it in the comments.

Turkey Hunting: What the Biologists Can Teach You

Alex Robinson — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:56:28 -0400

A new generation of wild-turkey researchers is seeking to answer questions about turkey population declines, habitat preferences, and geographic distribution. Their findings will influence turkey management for decades to come. But hunters can learn from them right now about where and how to hunt our most evasive gobblers.

Turkey biologists aren’t quite calling it a crisis, but significant population declines in some regions of the country have them wondering why, after decades of growth, turkey numbers are flat or nose-diving. What they are finding is that, in some areas, the trend is predictable: After filling all available habitat, turkey populations have reached a sustainable plateau.

But in other regions, population slumps have been sudden and unexpected. A new generation of researchers is being tasked with discovering reasons for these declines, and their work is changing the nature of biological inquiry, moving away from the study of individual behavior and life-history projects and toward the investigation of population dynamics.

“We are at an interesting time in the evolution of turkey research,” says Mark Hatfield, a staff biologist with the National Wild Turkey Federation. “We’ve had a lot of studies looking at things like gobbling peaks and food preferences, and at how turkeys use various habitat components. Now we’re moving to bigger-picture projects, looking at how populations work over wider landscapes.”

Lone Star Gobblers
In Texas, biologist Bret Collier is looking at how Rio Grande turkeys react to disruptions, in the form of roads, ranching, energy development, and even hunters. Turkeys affixed with GPS transmitters are illustrating—though their daily patterns, which are uploaded as hour-by-hour waypoints—that even brief encounters with humans will cause them to change their movements for several days following the incident. Hunters can use this information to reinforce the idea that they need to sneak in and out of their hunting area, and should take great pains to not disrupt roost sites.

Timber Management
Across the heart of the East and Southeast, turkey numbers are slumping in areas with seemingly classic timbered habitat. But new research is suggesting that not every woodland is the same to a wild turkey. Instead, as forest management has transitioned to larger but fewer timber-cutting projects, many public forests have matured, leaving little nesting cover and edge habitat for wild turkeys. “This research reminds us that the heyday of turkey restoration coincided with active timber management,” says Hatfield. “We are interested in seeing if smaller, more focused managed burns and cuts can re-create those emergent-forest conditions that turkeys thrive in.” And hunters can take a page from the early conclusions: In order to find the most robust turkey populations, hunt the edges of recently logged woodlots.

Rethinking the Hatch
One of the happy products of abundant wild turkey populations has been liberal hunting opportunity, measured in long seasons and multiple-bird bags. But as turkey populations dip, biologists are considering shorter, later seasons.

“Originally, seasons were set according to peak incubation,” says NWTF’s Mark Hatfield. “The idea is to open seasons when at least 50 percent of hens are nesting, which ensures that most breeding has taken place and gobblers can be considered surplus.”

The NWTF is funding research that looks at whether early seasons disrupt nesting hens and leave unhatched eggs vulnerable to predators.

“We always want to increase opportunity,” says Hatfield. “But we have to do it sustainably.”

We Stand with Boston: A Search For Normalcy In The Turkey Woods

Alex Robinson — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:07:12 -0400

For many, Monday’s horrific reports from the streets of Boston spurred recollections of September 11. I was on the streets of Manhattan that morning, the first plane roaring directly overhead as I walked to the office. The ensuing mayhem was as much disorienting as it was frightening. I watched along with several co-workers as the second plane hit, and the towers fell, and people died. We knew that nothing would ever be the same. And, for hours, we were trapped like proverbial rats in NYC with no way out.

It wasn’t until mid-afternoon that we got word that city officials had lifted the Manhattan lockdown. I managed to squeeze onboard the first train out. Inexplicable though it was on that day, I just had to get on that first train out … and I just had to get to the woods. Somehow my gut was telling me that if I did, things would be okay again. And so I did.

I guess that’s why I smiled a bit last night when a text came in from my friend, Massachusetts State Trooper Sergeant George Hamilton. Hamilton, normally stationed in western Mass., was in Boston yesterday on special assignment for Marathon Day. He, of course, could not have known that he would become an eyewitness and first responder to tragedy.

“It was chaos, but settling down now,” he said last night. “Scheduled to come back tomorrow—and then going into the woods. I need to hear some gobbling.”

Yes you do, George. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Boston.

Crazy Video Series: Turkey Hunter Befriends Wild Hen

Alex Robinson — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:27:50 -0400

I'm not saying that these videos are legit, only that they exist. The rest is for you to decide.

The clips were shot by Bruce Evans and uploaded to YouTube on April 15th. They document his day of hunting with his new friend. Evans and his sweetheart, set up on a gobbler, take a walk in the woods, ride in a golf cart, and hang with the family. The first video (above) shows Evans sitting at a tree with the hen dawdling over his right shoulder. Fast forward a bit and you'll see the hen give Evans a peck (dare I say a kiss?) on the arm.

In this clip the hen follows Evans down a the trail. Who knows what sort of black calling magic Evans used to seduce her. As Evans notes in the video, if he's ever able to locate a tom, he won't need to put out a decoy.

This is the most ridiculous clip out of the series. The turkey perched on Evans' shotgun must be some sort of symbolism, I just can't figure out what it means.

It seems that the turkey is scared of golf carts, but at least they head off in the same direction.

Ah yes, the turkey comes home to meet the family.

Sadly, a neighbor's dog scared away the hen without even giving Evans a chance to say goodbye. Is that a touch of heartache I see and Evans' eyes, a twinge of loneliness in his voice?

What do you think Strut Zoners? Is this footage for real? Will Evans and his hen pal ever be reunited? Comment below!

Turkey Hunting: How to Get Closer to Spring Gobblers

Alex Robinson — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:32:55 -0400

The old-school drill goes: “Set up 100 to 200 yards from a roosted gobbler, then work that bird.” But sometimes it pays to get full-choke tight to the birds. Here’s how.

1. X Marks the Spot
When scouting, don’t simply make a bird gobble and then head to the next spot. Spend time with a gobbler and the flock this bird struts with. Watch and listen to what they do and where they’re heading as you scout to find out precisely where they roost. Quietly make your pre-dawn setup in that exact spot.

2. Sit With Birds
Slip in ultra-early to a known roost—an hour before flydown, if necessary—and don’t move. If you call at all, do it with a hands-free mouth call. For added realism, stake a decoy or two near your position and in range. As the birds fly down and regroup, a gobbler may move in.

3. Make It 50
Cut the old-school minimum distance in half. Set up so there’s a chance that the birds will land in your lap when they fly down. This works best with unpressured, patterned gobblers in groups; in rainy, windy conditions; and when you can use topography to your advantage.

4. How To Hoot
When it comes to locating roosted birds, not all owl hoots are created equal. It’s always best to start with a great horned owl hoot. If a tom gobbles at a soft great horned owl imitation, you’ll know that he’s close. If you get no response, switch to the louder barred owl hoot.

5. Bust ’Em Up
Yep, just like you would do in the fall. Turkeys are turkeys. They want to be together, and you can kill a gobbler by moving him in another direction if you first know his roosting limb. For the intentional scatter, it’s best to make your move once birds have flown to roost in the evening. This gives the birds all night to settle down. Watch where the gobbler flies. Get between him and his hens before daybreak, and go a bit easier on the calling.

6. Sleep With the Birds
Have you located turkeys in wilderness country? Pitch a tent within earshot of their roost. If your morning setup is miles from the nearest road, you’ll have these gobblers to yourself.

7. Fake a Flock
Surround your setup with multiple decoys. Use tree calls, flydown cackles, clucking, lost calling, and straight yelping to pull in a group of turkeys you’ve roosted. Curiosity kills turkeys too. A boss hen might investigate and pull a gobbler in with her. A subordinate longbeard might break from the roosted group and slip in.

8. Send a Friend Request
You’ve set up in one place. The turkeys fly down and drift the other way. The next morning you set up where they had gone. The birds fly down and go to where you were the day before. Frustrating, eh? Solution: Put a buddy in one location and claim the other spot. Two can play this game. Double-teaming fills tags too.

9. Get High
Spring gobblers often prefer to enter fields at the highest point of an open pasture, often following hens to strut zones. Make your morning setup along the roost and a high-point strut zone, inside concealing edge cover and with shooting lanes.

10. Muffle Your Locator
Most locator calls, like crowing or howling, are loud to elicit shock gobbles from distant birds. But if you’re looking to get tighter to a roost, it’s best to leave the more raucous calls—crow, hawk, and pileated woodpecker—in your vest. Save them for striking birds during the day.

11. Use a Mouth Call
Hands-free mouth diaphragm calls are the best choice for tight setups, where turkeys might see the hand movement required for friction calls. Use hand-operated calls only if unseen roosted birds can hear your clucks and yelps but not see you moving.

12. Shut Up
When sharing hunts with buddies, there’s a tendency to talk too much. Two words: Shut up. Slip silently into your extreme setup position in the dark. If you must talk, whisper. But if that’s not working, hunt alone. Talk all you want back at camp. Also be sure to turn off your cell phone. Even vibrate mode is too loud on dead-calm mornings.

13. Float It
Prospecting for turkeys in flooded country? Throw a canoe or kayak on your truck and navigate swollen waters to birds. Use locator calls to contact gobblers over watery roosts. Then pick your dry land setup. Sometimes you’ll hunt unpressured turkeys that no one else has gotten close to due to access issues.

14. Use Satellites
Take your GPS with you when you roost birds. Get as close as you dare without spooking the tom. Try to pick out the exact location for your setup the next morning and mark it as a waypoint. Slink in long before first light. Remember that first light comes earlier near fields than in timber.

15. Face a Flush
If you have unintentionally separated a gobbler from the flock, use this to your advantage. Get between the tom and his girlfriends, let the woods calm down a bit, and begin with some soft slate calling. Don’t step up the volume until he gobbles.

Turkey Hunting: 8 Lessons Learned the Hard Way

Alex Robinson — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:47:50 -0400

Experience in the turkey woods will teach you plenty of things. Chief among them: turkeys don’t read rule books. After years of chasing longbeards, I’ve learned some lessons the hard way and overruled some ‘rules of thumb.’ But it doesn’t take a lifetime of turkey hunting to hunt like a veteran. Start here, by putting these 8 turkey hunting misconceptions to rest.

1. Spooked Turkeys Return
Bump a turkey and your day’s hunt is done, some say. Don’t you believe it.

On a recent hunt in Missouri, a hunting buddy and I watched a strutter and his hen do their thing far across a wide field. We made plans to reposition and crash their party. Problem is we bumped the lovebirds.

“What now?” my partner hissed. “Let’s go sit tight exactly where they were,” I said. We called softly and waited.

“Strutter to our left,” I whispered, easing the shotgun toward the longbeard. Boom. Down. Nice bird.

2. Turkeys Cross Fences
We’ve all seen those pictures of gobblers puzzling over hog-wire obstructions, stone walls and barbed wire—stopped on the other side. Turkeys won’t ever cross fences, some say.

Although some turkeys seem obstinate about crossing fences, usually when you are trying to call them to your side, others have no such qualms. Over the years I’ve seen many gobblers come to the calls, stop at a fence, fly up and sail over to my side.

3. Many Calling Tactics Work
“Call softly every 15 minutes and wait that bird out.”

That’s what veteran Pennsylvania turkey hunters at roadside diners told impressionable youngsters like me back in the 1970s when I first turkey hunted. Well yeah, that works, sometimes.

Now, all these years later, I initiate contact with turkeys on a bird-by-bird deal. Some need that old-school soft sell. Others require that you hammer them with everything in your vest—early and often. Hear them out and feel them out. They will typically tell you what they like and don’t like.

4. Weather Doesn’t Always Matter
It’s too hot, it’s too cold, it’s too wet or it’s too dry. Excuses are many, but few truly impact turkey behavior. The birds need to be out in it regardless. You need to be out in it as well. If it’s raining, camp out on a field edge. If it’s too cold, tuck a few handwarmers in your pocket. Weather rarely impacts gobblers for any extended period of time.

5. Post-Miss Redemption
Miss a shot? That gobbler won’t come back to the same spot, some say. At least that’s what they told me. Sure, the feeling you have in that moment is sort of like dropping an end-zone pass. Maybe it’s you who wants to leave this location. Shake it off.

Turkeys deal with loud noises all the time, with predator attacks and suspicious stuff. Chill out and regroup. Let the woods settle down for a while and try using some soft calls once they do. You may even be able to call that bird back.

6. Camouflage Is Required
Don’t get me wrong, I love my camouflage. The truth: You can wear almost anything in the woods, so long as you don’t move.

Sure, camouflage allows you to become a tree. It builds confidence. Wiggle like an NFL cheerleader while wearing it though and that gobbler still might run away.

It’s the one constant rule in the turkey woods: Sit still, period. Movement alerts turkeys, and even spells potential danger.

7. The Un-Callable Gobbler
I’ve heard this one many times in turkey camp regarding a hung-up bird that won’t come: “That must have been an old gobbler you were working—we’ve been hunting him the last 4 or 5 years.”

All due respect, but my guess is that you’ve been chasing more than one turkey during that time in your preferred habitat. It may even have been a hard-to-sell jake. Older doesn’t always mean more difficult.

8. Mistakes Are Made
That turkey can only make one big error and it’s over. You can make plenty and will. Keep at it. Never stop until the season closes. The highs and lows of turkey hunting are many. Don’t beat yourself up too much. Enjoy it.

Photo: National Wild Turkey Federation

Turkey Hunting: 10 Tips for Tough Toms

Alex Robinson — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:24:13 -0400

In lightly hunted territory, when toms are gobbling hard and hens are scarce, turkey hunting can be--dare we say it?--easy. In these areas birds respond to calls, strut regally and march boldly into range.

But then there's the other 95 percent of turkey outings. Birds hang up just out of range, walk the other way, get henned up--you know the drill. To overcome these real-world experiences, we've rounded up the following 10 tricks. Use them at your discretion.

1. Surround a Gobbler

"Set up there," Jim Clay whispered as he pointed to a knoll next to an open field in the dim gray light of predawn. "I'll go down in the hollow in case he heads to the creek."

Jim Clay, founder of Perfection Turkey Calls, has fooled countless toms over the years, but sometimes a crafty old bird like the one we were after that day requires double-teaming. I don't mean double-teaming in the usual sense of having one hunter in front to shoot and one in back to call. This two-person strategy entails setting up apart to cover the most likely routes the bird will take when it leaves the roost. Clay had tried to kill this 3-year-old gobbler several times over two seasons, but every time he set up near the field, the bird headed toward the creek, and when he waited near the creek, the bird headed for the field. This tom was too sly for just one hunter...which is where I came in.

Hunkering back against a big white oak near the field, I tree-called at first light and the tom gobbled back. Though Clay's champion-caliber calling sounded sweeter down by the creek, this morning the tom decided he'd stay on top. Less than 30 minutes after first light I shot the largest Eastern bird I had ever taken. He had a 12-inch beard and 1 1/2-inch spurs.

2. Flush Them

Scattering the flock is a tactic commonly associated with fall hunting, but at times it can be worthwhile to flush birds in the spring, too. If you've encountered a group of gobblers and hens but can't lure them in, moving in and breaking up the birds can pay off. As you would in the fall, make this a quick and decisive move. Walk swiftly or run with an unloaded gun, yelling loudly to scatter them.

Just as in autumn, if the flock has been split up, they'll try to get back together. With artful calling you just might be able to entice one of the big gobblers back in.

3. Lay an Ambush

We all like to call in birds. It's the essence of the sport. But when you're dealing with a wary old tom, sometimes you have to get sneaky. Try patterning call-shy birds by glassing them from a distance, listening to their calls or studying the sign they leave.

One good place to try this is in a field. When you see birds in fields they're often with hens and are difficult to attract. They know where they're going and aren't likely to change their route to come to your calls. The solution is clear: Don't try to change their pattern; just read it and get ahead of them. Place a decoy or two on the edge of the field if you can do it without being seen.

A friend and I discovered this trick late one morning after walking our legs off and calling fruitlessly to henned-up toms. We were just about to quit when we saw a flock of four gobblers and two hens in a field. We called. They ignored us. But as we watched, we saw that the group was feeding steadily down the length of the field. We circled around fast and set up at the end of the field. Within 15 minutes, two toms were on the ground.

4. Use Non-Vocal Sounds

Sometimes heavily pressured birds or old, smart toms may be wary of regular turkey calling. This is the time for non-vocal turkey sounds--either by themselves or mixed with quiet calling. Reach down with your hand and scrape the leaves back like a hen would. You can also flap either real or artificial turkey wings. Will Primos, founder of Primos Hunting Calls, showed me this tactic on a hunt in Mississippi. Primos carries two turkey wings with him and flaps them as he clucks and cutts loudly to imitate hens coming out of a tree.

Keep your shotgun ready when you try this. At times this excites gobblers so much that they fly down and land within easy shooting range. The wings can also be used to beat the ground as part of a fight simulation. Try this with aggressive purrs on push-pin box calls.

5. Circle a Stubborn Bird

Anyone who has hunted turkeys more than a few times has had a gobbler come in partway, but hang up just out of range. Try this trick to kill birds that do this: Slip away from the bird, then take a long circular route around him and set up where he came from. Since the bird has already been there, he'll feel safer coming to your calls in that direction.

6. Sleep In

After opening day some turkeys have felt so much pressure at dawn they're reluctant to come to calls early. Yet a few hours later, when most hunters have given up, they relax a bit.

There's a biological reason why hunting late works. Hens will hook up with gobblers to breed early, but often leave to feed or sit on a nest. Toms are still fired up but find few willing mates later in the morning.

7. Face the Light

The natural tendency when hunting is to move through the woods with the sun at your back. It's easier to see that way. But if you want to make a tom more eager, sometimes you have to flip this arrangement around. Avoid sitting where a bird has to look directly into the sun as he approaches. Give him the advantage and he just might come running in.

8. Try for Seconds

Once most hunters kill a gobbler they assume they've taken the bird that was claiming the area and head for another spot. Don't be too hasty. If the terrain and cover was attractive to that tom, chances are another one will move in and claim the spot as soon as the more aggressive bird is gone. In fact, the other gobbler was probably in the area all along but remained silent.

9. Create a Hen Symphony

Rob Keck was perplexed. That seldom happens to the executive vice-president of the National Wild Turkey Federation where turkeys are concerned, but he couldn't quite understand why we weren't able to provoke a single gobble on a prime property in South Carolina one particular spring morning.

To avoid being outfoxed, he turned to one of his tricks for difficult situations: He set up in a hot area where he'd seen birds recently and made a veritable symphony of turkey talk. Using three calls at once, Keck made my ears ring as I sat next to him against a thick oak. Half an hour later, though, all that calling was more than an old boss tom could resist. He came skulking into range with his beard swaying beautifully in the morning sunlight.

10. Just Cluck

This ploy lies at the opposite end of the spectrum from the aggressive, multiple-call approach. Some birds just aren't very vocal and don't like hens that are. Then there are gobblers that have been shot at or called in and spooked. Both are candidates for a pared-down calling approach that uses the simple cluck and nothing else. Glass, slate, box and mouth calls all make fine imitations of this basic call. See what seems to work, then repeat it. Much of turkey hunting is simply figuring out what the toms want.

Would You Shoot a Bearded Hen?

Alex Robinson — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:54:31 -0400

I saw her again last weekend and I’m not gonna lie—I really want to call her in, shoot her and take her to the taxidermist. Or at least I think that I do. She’s a triple-bearded hen that I’ve now seen three springs running and a totally legal turkey (of course) to take come opening day of turkey season in a couple of weeks.

I’m truly not a “trophy hunter” by any means nor can I really afford the taxidermy bill, but I’d surely get her mounted. She’s just an awesome-looking bird. I’ve intentionally hunted her two fall seasons in a row without seeing her, but feel as if, given the opportunity this spring, I’d try to take her.

Now, I understand that there are a bunch of guys out there who might think it sacrilegious to take a hen in the spring, but my thought is that if I can close the deal within the first couple days of the season—before she begins nesting and laying—I will.

So, what are your thoughts? Convince me either way.

Turkey Hunting: 3 Tactics for Roosting Gobblers

Alex Robinson — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 18:02:20 -0400

In many ways, spring gobbler hunting circa 1984 bears little resemblance to turkey hunting today. Back then, decoys were not part of the picture, turkey vests had yet to become fashionable and no one in his right mind would have considered using a gobble tube to call up a tom—that is, if the gobble tube had even been invented. It was a time when making a gobbler sound off on the roost in the evening could be as simple as slamming the car door.

In fact, when Outdoor Life Field Editor Charlie Elliot wrote about exactly that in an article back then, hunters around the country copied the grandfather of modern-day turkey hunting. Car doors slammed along back roads from the heart of Dixie to New York’s Catskills—and birds gobbled in response. Nowadays, spring toms are a lot more reluctant to gobble out their evening roost locations.

So what do you have to do to roost a bird in the evening for the next morning’s hunt? Here are a few ideas for locating longbeards....

1) Aggressive Roosting
The goal: Locating a bird to hunt the next morning, along with multiple backup gobblers in case the duel at dawn doesn’t work out.

The plan: Check as many prospective hunting areas as possible during that magical last half-hour of daylight. Because I need to cover about 30 miles on my roosting route, I almost always ride backroads by vehicle, stopping every quarter-mile or so to call. I have no doubt that I miss some shutmouth longbeards along the way, but I’m confident that I’ll manage to strike a bird or two.

The calls: Owl hooting was once the primary call used for roosting turkeys, but today all manner of calls, from pileated woodpeckers to coyote howlers to gobble tubes, are used in an effort to make birds gobble. Although I’ve tried them all at one time or another, my favorite roosting call is an oversize boat paddle box call. I’ll start with an eight-yelp series and listen for a bit. If I get no response, I’ll cutt hard and then fade into a series of yelps. It’s been my experience that birds will respond quickly. If not, I move on to the next roost site.

Hunt prep: There are four essential pieces of information to be gained: Where the turkey is; where he’s going; how you can sneak to within 75 yards of him the next morning; and his temperature, which provides a sense of his vulnerability. If the bird sounds off instantly, he’s hot and more likely to come in quickly.

2) Cut Him Off At the Pass
The goal: Getting to where a gobbler is going before he gets there—a simple chore where fields are involved, a bit more difficult in hill country.

The plan: On some evenings, especially when rain, wind or worse hampers your ability to hear birds on the roost, it’s necessary to use what you learned while scouting. That’s why on several spring scouting trips, I leave the calls at home and simply listen for birds at first and last light in the hope of learning their daily travel patterns.

On most mornings, you will hear gobblers fly down and make their way to a strut zone or other spot where they can be seen by potential mates. Often, toms will gobble regularly en route.

Try to follow the gobbling from a distance without spooking the bird. Plot the bird’s course with a GPS and, later, mark the gobbler’s exact path on a topo map or aerial photo. Get back to the roost site in the evening to check the bird. In a day or two of listening, you’ll have a fairly good idea of what that gobbler is doing on a regular basis.

The calls: Again, leave the turkey calls at home when heading out on a patterning scouting trip. If anything, slip a crow call in your pocket to elicit shock gobbles from your bird if the mid-morning woods grow silent. Use it sparingly.

Hunt prep: It’s been said that good woodsmanship will kill more turkeys than good calling any day of the week. That’s debatable. But when spring birds are afflicted with lockbeak on the roost—either on the evening before your hunt or the morning of your hunt—use your knowledge of gobbler patterns to fill your tag. Rely on your maps and GPS coordinates in an effort to get out ahead of the bird. Set up in his strut zone and just wait him out.

3) Risky Business
The goal: Separating an adult gobbler from his hens.
The plan: If your tom’s not gobbling because he’s henned up, you’ve got two choices—wait until he’s done servicing his hens, or bust them up fall-turkey–style (check your state’s regulations first). This strategy is risky no matter where you try it. In Rio Grande country, this move can ruin a roost site for the entire season, and can get you banished by the landowner. But when time is winding down, this dicey option might be your best chance.

The calls: You won’t need much to bust up birds; calling up a spooked gobbler is another matter. Go with the soft stuff—push-buttons, slates—and stake out a couple of decoys. Your gobbler might not do much gobbling on his way in, or he might tear it up. Give him what he wants to hear.

Hunt prep: Your best bet is to wait near his roost site in late afternoon. Once you’ve heard him fly up, simply walk through the roosting area to scatter the birds. If he flies off, head that way the next morning. Don’t press him too hard and don’t risk flushing him again. Set out a hen decoy or two and listen. Start out with soft clucks. If he doesn’t gobble, sit tight and call sparingly.

Turkey Hunting: Open-Field Gobbler Tactics

Alex Robinson — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:28:14 -0400

Field birds are hands down the most frustrating of all turkeys to hunt. You can see them. You can hear them. You just can’t seem to yank them into range no matter what you pull out of your bag of tricks. Don’t give up hope just yet.

At flydown, a full-fan strutter came mincing along the high rise in the middle of the greened-up pasture. He paraded there, out of shotgun range, waiting for the hen we imitated to walk toward him. I called, and the longbeard tormented us, gobbling hard and strutting just out of range. And then another full-fan gobbler joined from the east. I expected them to fight. Instead, they doubled the frustration.

Right then we heard a hen in the woods. I mimicked the boss hen. She hustled in, challenging my calling—dragging a longbeard along. We closed that deal, but it’s almost never that simple. In fact, field gobblers can be the toughest of all birds to hunt. Try these options this spring.

1. Ground Blinds

Hub-style blinds are light and compact enough to carry and easy to set up and take down. Many can accommodate multiple hunters. Some have shoot-through mesh windows, and many include zippered exterior windows you can adjust inside and outside.

In short, they’re suited for run-and-gun hunters chasing open-field gobblers in areas with minimal cover—especially near strut zones.

In farm country, try scouting fields just after flydown to pattern longbeards. Several days before the season opens, set up your blind at midday in a field where gobblers are strutting, in order to allow birds to become comfortable with it. Be in it on the opener.

2. Belly-Crawling vs. Repositioning

Moving on turkeys (aka stalking, slipping, sneaking) isn’t legal everywhere, and it’s not always safe. But if it’s legal and you’re careful, belly-crawling to advance on a tough bird might work. When it’s not feasible, repositioning on especially tough turkeys to get within their comfort zone is a better approach.

Once you’ve nailed the location of a tough-to-kill field gobbler, use your knowledge of the area’s topography to sneak nearly into gun or bow range of the bird. Calling strategically to get a field strutter to move steps closer to your position might work. If it doesn’t, try shutting up and then try moving directly away while calling.

3. Decoy and Tail Fan Tactics

The key to using a tail fan or decoy to move on field gobblers involves safety first, and then reading turkey body language.

First, don’t even think of trying this tactic unless you’re on private land. Next, take your time. If you don’t, the bird(s) will surely notice and you might not get a second chance. Move when the strutting turkey is facing away. Make sure your tail fan or decoy looks the part as you draw closer. You’ve got to put your face in the dirt to bring that gobbler home in your vest. You can cluck and yelp on your way to the gobbler if you want, but don’t call if you don’t want him to look your way.

4. Pinch Points and Entrance Trails

If you’ve patterned a turkey from the roost to an open field, you can set up at the bird’s destination with a blind or, better yet, position yourself at a transitional pinch point (where terrain narrows along the gobbler’s intended path) or entrance trail (the exact location where this bird enters the field).

First, locate the gobbler’s roost before first light and listen for the turkey in the morning or watch it fly down. Look for fresh sign in the form of tracks and droppings. It’s as much a matter of isolating the phases of flydown and the walk to the strut zone as anything else. It may take several days until you figure out his route completely.

Hunting Dogs: Puppy Introduction and Crate Training Tips

Alex Robinson — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 10:13:37 -0400

Like many other companies (such as Eddie Bauer and Ducks Unlimited), D.T. Systems is bringing along a mascot puppy that they will follow through the training process from puppyhood to adult working dog. The e-collar company’s pup is aptly named D.T. and is being trained in monthly segments by Dan Ihrke.

If you remember, Ihrke was part of the two-day dog-training seminar I attended about three years ago, along with George Hickox, and for which we did a giveaway for here on Gun Dogs blog.

The monthly video series that details a puppy’s training is nothing new, but each trainer and each puppy bring new information, ways of doing things, ideas or even just a different slant on the same topic.

The newest video from D.T. Systems covers bringing a new puppy into your home and establishing a bond with it, as well as the initial steps of crate training.

Ihrke reveals several good tips here, especially:

•    Positive/negative: Rewarding good behaviors and extinguishing unwanted behaviors by not rewarding them and removing a deterrent to the puppy when he acquiesces.
•    Introductions: Making every new introduction as positive as possible.
•    Using the crate: Putting your pup in the crate when you leave the house, or even when you just don’t have the ability to keep an eye on him for a few minutes.
•    Collars and leashes: Get one on your new pup as soon as possible and get him accustomed to it ASAP.
•    Crate release: Don’t let your pup come barreling out of the crate; he gets to leave on your command, and Ihrke does an excellent job of showing you how to accomplish this quickly and easily.
•    Canine habits: Ihrke hits the nail on the head when he says that dogs are even more habitual than people, and that you can avoid missteps in housebreaking a new puppy by not even letting them have the chance to make a mistake (this concept is also fundamental to all future training – set the dog up for success so as to reduce the use of corrections).

Take a look at the video and consider subscribing to D.T. System’s channel for future updates on D.T.’s progress.