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Earlier this month Online Content Editor Alex Robinson tagged along with Kevin Addy and his snow goose crew.
It has electricity, a kitchen, even satellite TV. This Nebraska duck bunker will make your layout blind seem downright primitive.
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 | Spring Turkey GuideYour guide to turkey guns, loads and chokes for spring 2010 |
It can happen fast. You hear footsteps in the leaves. It might be that gobbling turkey you raised checking out your position silently, looking for the hen you pretended to be. Key on the sound of footsteps while also being safe — turkeys and hunters walking make similar noises at times.
Always identify your target. Listen for these other sounds to lock in on a gobbler that might have you in his sights rather than the other way around:
Clucking: It might just be a single cluck: pock. Still if you hear it, you’ll be ready for that turkey to appear. Or you can cluck back. And you can reposition if the gobbler clucked and moved off. [ Read Full Post ]
It ain’t over until the fat gobbler fries . . .
Spring turkey seasons continue until the end of the month in many northern locations. Maine’s, the latest option in the country, runs until noon on Saturday, June 2. Try these tactics to kill a gobbler up north this season.
Mid-Season Toms
Some nesting may have started; some gobblers may have been killed. Flock configurations are shifting. Some gobblers are still on the move, looking for company. Be there when they are. Scouting to see shifts in breeding ranges is important throughout the season. [ Read Full Post ]
My buddy Eddie recently sent me a text along the lines of: “Know anyone that wants a dog? She got into a porcupine again. I can’t afford to keep doing this.”
His rescued boxer, Delilah, had tangled with a porcupine once again. It’s not all that surprising. I’ve heard it said that once a dog encounters Mr. Quills, he’ll either do everything in his power to avoid him or he’ll try to kill him every time. [ Read Full Post ]
Sure a gobbler’s weight will get your attention and beard length is something we all check, but spurs seal the deal.
My buddy Mike Jordan of Atsko, the Sno-Seal people, killed the Oklahoma longbeard wearing the spurs in this photo. One measured 1 and 9/16 inches and the other taped in at 1 and 3/8s. I was hunting the other side of the Croton Creek Ranch property last month when I heard the shot. Good bird, eh?
The National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) keeps records on this sort of thing for those of us who care, and we do. For hunters who register their birds, it's a way to share trophy statistics about the gobblers we love to hunt. What are the longest registered spurs for each of the four prominent stateside subspecies? [ Read Full Post ]
A Southern gentleman once told me that God’s greatest gifts are beautiful women, smooth whiskey, and two-year-old turkeys. I agree, though I’m not sure he got the order right.
Long on beards and hormones and short on brains, the turkey world’s version of 16-year-old boys are responsible for most of our spring hunting success. In good years, two-year-old toms may make up 60 percent of the spring harvest. In tough years, knowing how to find and work the rare two-year-old can salvage your season. [ Read Full Post ]
Photo by Tom Martineau/The Raw Spirit
You sell those calls like a hot hen, but the gobblers aren’t buying. The boys would rather run with their fellow red heads. When male turkeys don’t want your sweet hen yelps, you need to rethink your hunting tactics. The first trick in your bag should be to sound like another gobbler, but there’s no single prescription that works the entire season. Instead, follow these cues. [ Read Full Post ]
Are spring gobblers less vocal with cloud cover? Do they gobble less the day after a rain?
If you’re turkey hunting the Northeast and elsewhere these days where the spring gobbler seasons are still underway, cloud cover, showers and rain have been hunting factors lately. The Missouri Department of Conservation study says yes to both, and listed results on their website which include:
—Turkeys are more likely to gobble on days with clear skies, according to the statewide Missouri study conducted in 2010. [ Read Full Post ]
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