Too late to track turkeys
May 7th, 2006 by Administrator
My first wild turkey sighting was little more than a curiosity. I was crossing a plank bridge, trying to keep an old Farmall tractor between the bridge rails when a hen darted across the road in front of me. She was there and gone before I got a good look.
Thirty years later, it’s no big deal to see wild turkeys. I’ve had a bunch of them running through my back yard every morning for the past month. If I had glimpsed the long view when I saw that first hen and invested some money in the turkey hunting industry, I’d be in tall cotton now. Turkey hunting is a multi-million dollar business.
If you outfitted yourself with what one outdoor magazine calls “the best new gobbler gear” of 2006, you would spend almost $1,000 on clothes, boots, decoys, targets, ear protection and knives. You still would not have a shotgun, ammunition, any new calls, a turkey permit, a hunting license, an ATV to get you quietly in and out of the hunting area, or enough peanut oil to deep-fry your bird. You can buy a lot of Butterballs for what it costs to bring home one wild turkey.
Turkey hunting gets progressively harder later in the season. Early-season toms haven’t been hunted for a year. They may be more forgiving if you hit a clinker with your slate call. Even with that in mind, the May turkey season remains one of my favorites. The grass is green, and the afternoon sun shines on the deck at the cabin. Several tom turkeys already have been cooked, but I’m unburdened with high expectations.
I’m about a mile and a half from a serious turkey hunter. Still, hoping to stumble into success, I read what the experts say about hunting late-season birds. Like conflicting theories of world economics, I don’t know which expert to agree with. One says watch where birds enter and leave the fields in the morning and stalk late-season birds. Don’t call them at all. Another nationally known hunter says stick with the calling, call aggressively to lure toms away from the real hens. He says sit tight and keep calling until you pull the trigger. Still another expert says the best tactic is a combination of calling and stalking. He says call until the bird hangs up, then try to outflank him and sneak up on him from behind. Turkey hunters have strong opinions when it comes to tactics that work for them.
Not me. All I have is questions.
Will the 2006 gobbler even consider responding to my 10-year-old Ray Eye autographed box call? Will he walk away laughing and tell all his friends that I’m wearing camo from the mid-’90 s? Is there any new equipment that will make me a better turkey hunter? Probably not until I shift my priorities and stop going out with a mushroom sack stuffed in my hip pocket.
George Little is an outdoors writer living in Springfield. Send letters to The State Journal-Register, P.O. Box 219, Springfield, IL 62705-0219 or e-mail ccmglobal@aol. com.