Of Toughness and Turkeys

On a recent youth hunt in Wisconsin with my son Isaac, I was yet again reminded of the overall toughness of the wild turkey.  His bird came to the call as one of a group of five, looking and acting no different than the others.  Well after the shot, high-fives, and congratulations, came the revelation that its breast-bone was completely split in two.  Though a head shot, the chest area of the tom looked like it had been through a meat grinder.  The breast-bone itself was rough and ground down, and there were many colors, clotting, and other signs of infection.  Whether by a car or other accident, this bird was surely on its last leg, though it didn’t act as if it had a scratch.  Not that I needed a reminder of their tenacity, but I’m always amazed at the will of nature and resiliency I see in these critters. 

My first encounter with a wounded gobbler was only a few years into my introduction to turkey hunting.  I was nestled under some flowering cherry trees along a small field edge that butted up against an oak ridge the birds loved to roost on.  All-night thunderstorms gave way to a sunny morning, and the birds above and behind me were eager to greet the day.  First a few hens pitched over my head and down into the field below me about 100 yards away, and then 3 toms eventually touched down, coasting into the field after completing a “J”-shaped flight to properly survey their landing zone.  From the moment those toms hit the ground, there was no doubt who was boss.

The lead tom stayed tight to an old scratchy-throated hen that wouldn’t stay quiet.  The two subordinate birds were not allowed to strut, and each time they pushed the group, the boss gobbler turned around and grabbed them by the neck skin.  His punishment was visible at that distance, and sure looked painful!  Eventually the loudmouth hen had to saunter over to teach the sharp jenny I was trying so hard to be, a good lesson.  Big tom followed, and went down at 25 yards.

His spurs were over 1 ½”es, and his beard was the longest I’ve taken at 11 ¾”, but his body was destroyed and a gaunt 19lbs.  His tail feathers were shredded from someone who obviously shot him in the rear end while in full strut, and the back half of the bird was literally green with infection.  How this tom had the vigor to repeatedly fight off two different suitors to protect his right to breed, all while being mortally wounded was my first lesson in how stout a turkey can be.

Though there are many more gun hunters in the woods, I’ve seen as many or more turkeys suffer the effects of a poorly placed arrow.  While I’ve never seen an arrow sticking out of an alive, wild bird, I’ve been witness to a broadhead recovered from the breastbone of a turkey harvested long after the initial wound.  I’ve also encountered a dying turkey with an arrow wound from nearly a month prior.  I’ve even had to grab a shotgun to take down a bird I personally put an arrow up from its hip through the chest area.  Countless other times I’ve been witness to birds that were completely pin-wheeled, shot through the center to never be recovered.

Turkeys can take a lot of heat.  Gun or bow, it’s amazing what they can survive, and even thrive through.  That said, my aim in writing this is to implore everyone to take very seriously the responsibility that comes in purchasing a tag.  I’m a big proponent of increased opportunity in terms of season length, weapon choice, and overall flexibility, but I often wonder if this increased convenience allows us to be a bit too lazy or unprepared? 

For gun hunters, the ability to walk up and buy a tag should a free weekend and plentiful turkeys present themselves, might mean that you don’t make the time to pattern your gun to check for performance past 30 yards.  For archery hunters, perhaps increased opportunity to hunt multiple zones or time periods draws former gun-hunters and those less proficient with a bow towards that archery opportunity?  These are a few real scenarios that I’ve seen take place just this year, but I stop short of trying to characterize this as common or the norm among turkey hunters, no matter their weapon of choice.

Still, in looking back at all the tough-turkey experiences I’ve had over the years, I can’t help but highlight the importance of practicing with your weapon of choice.  For a gun hunter, leftover pheasant load and a full choke doesn’t always work past 25 yards, and for an archery hunter, deer accuracy plain doesn’t cut it.  Not to mention, turkeys move their body constantly, which at times can be overcome by the speed of lead shot, but certainly cannot at distance by an arrow.  Just as important is the shot choice itself, as turkeys deserve the best you can give them.

Usually it’s the middle of winter when the wind is howling and the temperature dips that I think about the coming spring’s tom clutching to a tree limb for dear life.  They endure, and can live through a whole lot more than you might think.  Nature can be tough on them, which is why they demand your respect and “A”-game when you hit the woods this spring.    

Turkey Blinds – When to Stay, and When to Go

It happens at least twice every hunt if you’re after turkeys with the aid of a blind.  Whether it’s a piece of painted burlap across a log, or the latest pop-up blind with all the bells and whistles, you have to get there and eventually have to go.  Leaving is of course the tricky part.  Leave too soon, and you bust the birds that were taking their sweet time in heading your direction.  Head out too late and you’re that much further behind the group you’re trying to contact.  Here are a few experiences that have shaped my decision making process when it comes to abandoning the blind for greener strut zones.

Even the best mornings eventually see a lull, and if you haven’t yet seen the birds that have been gobbling around you all morning, the temptation during that time can be too much to take.  That can be at 9AM, or sometimes it can be as early has a half-hour after sunrise.  No matter when it happens, keep your watch handy and do your best to put things in perspective.  The thing to remember is that this quiet-time is often when birds are doing exactly what you want them to. 

One such morning I was hunting solo with the blind set up in an open alfalfa field when I left too soon.  A bird up the hill that was previously cutting-off everything I had to say started to eventually lose interest, gobbling only occasionally and then not at all.  It was 6:30AM, but he was my only lead of the day so far and I didn’t want to lose him.  Suspecting a hen had shown up and started to lead him away, I looked both ways before leaving the blind and exited the rear.  As I came around the blind to start towards the woodline and up the hill I caught some red about 200 yards above me on the ridge.  I froze, slowly backed a few steps around the back of the blind and climbed into safety.  Somehow he didn’t spot me, probably because I stayed pretty close to the blind, and eventually he was in the field with me.  I took that tom with a great deal of luck knowing that had I left minutes or maybe seconds earlier, I would’ve been caught out in the open alfalfa field without anywhere to retreat.    

When setup on a strut zone or a well-traveled path to food, often the only game is to wait.  Heading out with kids or other inexperienced hunters is yet another reason you may be anchored to the blind.  Even if you’re not required to stay, there are plenty of situations where you should.  The primary one being when you have birds that have recently gobbled (last 30 minutes or so) in multiple directions.  In this scenario there’s just too many pairs of eyes to beat, all of them looking for that sultry hen that just minutes ago was spouting off from your very location. 

Too often we forget about the group that sounded off like mad a mere 10 or 20 minutes ago with the hopes of pursuing birds in another direction.  “Hunt like you’re being hunted,” I reminded the camera-man just before stepping out of the blind on a MN hunt a few years ago.  No sooner did we get our gear gathered and ready to move on the birds banging away, did we hear alarm putts directly behind us.  A bit more patience on our part would’ve seen a nice pair of toms that decided to come in the last 100 yards quietly.

We’ve covered some reasons and instances on when to stay put, but when and why to go?  The first case is something that happens more often than many like to admit in birds that react poorly to your blind, decoys, and general setup.  The vast majority of turkeys are not blind-shy, to the point where you might argue that it doesn’t really exist.  I have however encountered situations when you start by removing decoys, and eventually become accepting of the fact that the blind itself is causing birds to skirt your position or flat be alarmed.  This is usually in high pressure areas, and almost always when something is out of place.  This can be a blind bag hanging out away from the blind or even leafy or other loose material flapping in the wind.  Sometimes it’s faded material from them sitting in the sun too long.  Whatever the reason, listen to the birds and what they’re telling you.  Ditch the blind and set out on foot.

Another reason to head out is when all of the gobbling group(s) move off in the same direction with purpose, as if every bird in the woods gameplanned it that way the night before.  Birds on a mission require chase, especially if they leave slowly, beckoning you to come join the party.  Birds that gobble out in an opening or strut zone then leave are extremely vulnerable if you can get to the exact spot they hammered away in waiting.  By showing up quickly and firing right back at them, you’re a lonesome hen that’s doing her part to find a tom.  I venture to say that this tactic alone has been responsible for nearly half of the birds I’ve been a part of taking.  It plain works.

If you’re still in the blind by mid-morning and you’re hunting into mid-season, this is about the time that hens will leave their morning groups to nest.  This marks another key point of vulnerability for gobblers.  If you’ve got a bird within earshot that starts up on his own mid-day and continues to gobble, get there fast.  If you can get within 100 yards without him detecting you and be the first hen to the party, the tom will usually play ball. 

Blind hunting can be deadly, but also debilitating.  Know when to stick it out and also when to shed it as the truest fact in the turkey woods and fields is that you can’t kill turkeys where turkeys are not.

What's a "Shooter?"

What’s A Shooter?

A few weeks ago while waiting for a vendor at the Outdoor News Deer and Turkey Classic, I couldn’t help but overhear a discussion amongst a few fellow hunters when some familiar deer jargon began to pop-up.  They spoke of some turkeys being “3 ½ year olds,” birds that were “mature” gobblers, and then the term “shooter” came up.  I did my best to bite my tongue, though I must admit, I do cringe a bit when the deer drama related to pass/shoot encroaches on the turkey world. 

Several times in the past few years I’ve had friends and acquaintances pass up adult toms, in the hopes that a bigger one would come along.  Sometimes they were rewarded for their patience, and other times, not so much.  Far be it from me to tell anyone who observes the legal boundaries of turkey hunting what they should or should not be shooting, but in the words of Mossy Oak Legend Ronnie “Cuz” Strickland, “Who the hell passes up a longbeard?”

This sentiment comes perhaps not as much from opinion as experience, with a few observations tacked on for evidence.  The first being that field-judging of turkeys is difficult at best, and impossible for most.  Beard length, weight, and spur length - being the most desirable characteristics of a bird from a trophy perspective – are also some of the most difficult metrics to estimate on-the-foot.  Typical male spring turkey viewing happens when birds are in strut, when toms appear larger than in any other position.  With breast pushed out, the beard is visible yet framed against a similar colored background, making its length difficult to assess.  As they drag their wing tips, they frequently cover their spurs from almost all viewing angles.  If you could see them, and I’ve tried many times, you’d need a spotting scope to gauge size at all but the closest distances.  That would be only if they’re holding still which they rarely are.  Of course we also know how difficult it is to sneak peeks at birds that are within shotgun range.  Furthermore, even if out of strut and walking, their back toe is often mistaken for a long spur.  When it comes to weight and overall size, you often need a measuring stick tom from which to judge against.  Even then, it’s hard to know the low-end size of the bird with whom you’re comparing and contrasting, such that the “big” tom of the group may only be 20 pounds.

Another bit of turkey truth is that there’s no such thing as QTM (Quality Turkey Management).  Biological pressures such as breeding and nesting dynamics, along with a different spot in the food chain prevents the carry-forward and holding of larger individuals.  While somewhat similar in that toms breed multiple hens just the way a buck would breed several does, hens will re-nest multiple times if necessary to ensure a hatch of any quality.  This is because mortality rates between deer and turkeys, especially at young ages are completely different for a varying list of reasons.  While it’s true that male birds can be beaten-back in terms of hunting pressure, there’s no evidence, biologically or otherwise to suggest that passing on a young male will ensure or promote a flock with larger, beard-dragging, long-spurred gobblers.  In fact, noted Turkey Biologist Lovett E. Williams suggests that in the fall, killing a jake instead of a hen is least harmful to the flock given the 50% mortality often observed for jakes over winter from year 1 to year 2.

More than a decade ago I was hunting our farm with my cousin for a group of toms I’d been seeing regularly.  This group of 7 longbeards was a rowdy bunch, always chasing each other and quite literally, always on the move.  It wasn’t until later in the season when the scrawny looking group came in all at once and we both were able to slap a tag on some turkey legs.  My cousin’s bird while weighing in at only 17lbs, was the first triple-beard I’ve ever seen, and he had some great hooks.  Run thin from the breeding season activities and competitive pecking-order games, these were among some of the smallest gobblers I’d ever seen harvested, but we had no clue, even though we took them inside of 20 yards.  More importantly, had we known their weight and chosen to “pass,” we’d have missed out on a truly great experience and a unique bird to boot.

All of which is part of the fun of turkey hunting.  There’s no such thing as “antler shaming,” “ground-shrinkage,” or “shooter’s remorse.”  To me, any longbeard is a trophy, and though I personally choose to pass on jakes in the spring-time, some of the best hunts I’ve ever been on, with the strongest gobbling and most incredible action have been for jakes we’ve harvested and enjoyed all the same.

Get out this spring and do your best to not worry as much about what’s a “shooter,” and focus on having fun while harvesting any legal bird that makes you happy.        

The Case For and Against Turkey Decoys

It’s rare to find a turkey camp these days that doesn’t have at least a few decoys stashed away somewhere.  In fact, many of the questions I get on turkeys every year are all about them.  Annually, I’m presented with a full spread of decoy inquiries regarding the whats, whens, wheres, hows, and whys of their use.  Most people are surprised when I say that I rarely use decoys unless I’m bowhunting.  Still, there are quite a few reasons and scenarios to drag them along, provided you use them appropriately.   

I’ll never forget the first time I hunted over a strutting tom decoy.  I was setup in the bottom of and open, shallow draw that toms love coming to.  It was to be the perfect bow-setup, as I could shoot nearly all directions here, and anything in the “bowl” was within range.  I couldn’t hunt until mid-morning, which was fine, as I grew up here, and knew that toms would be loafing within earshot on some nice oak flats all around me. 

The response after my first string of yelps nearly scared me.  A triple gobble, then another one 100 yards closer less than a minute later.  Could it be the same bird?  If it was, the thing must’ve heard the call and came right at me.  Seconds later I saw him at about 50 yards heading down into the bottoms with me, only to recoil like he’d been gutshot before ever making it to the bottom.  That bird’s demeanor went from fiery white and closing, to deathly afraid and side-stepping, as it circled my entire position no closer than 50 steps, curiously gobbling the entire way.  After a full 360 degree surveying of my position, he walked straight back to where he came from, gobbling the entire way.

It was an odd encounter, but certainly not the first time I’ve spooked birds with decoys.  Early in my turkey hunting career, several birds of all sexes spooked on open-field setups with full sun and an old, beat up hen that looked more like a foam finger from a sports event than a turkey.  Eventually, I made my way to some higher quality hens that did a far better job of tricking the eyes of an old tom, especially when I hid them a bit and didn’t plop them out in a plowed field.  Today I rarely use them when gun hunting, unless sitting over a strut zone or hunting bigger groups of birds early out west. 

However, with a bow in-hand, I think of them as almost a requirement, as they can be crucial for keeping the attention of a tom while you’re doing your best to draw on him and release an arrow.  Breeding hen with jake and tom combinations continue to be my favorites when hunting with a stick and string, but this is more true during later season when alfalfa, clover, or shin-level grass can hide some of the stakes and other gadgetry.  That said, at least where I hunt, decoy effectiveness wanes throughout the season.  I’ll either put the dekes at a 7-yard chip-shot away from the blind, or put them behind it such that any tom approaching only gets bits and pieces of the decoys with the blind in the way.  Hiding your decoys, no matter which weapon you have in your hand, has proven effective in enticing birds in for a closer look.  

For the average turkey hunter that wields a shotgun though, often decoys can be a hindrance more than a help.  Not only is your mobility affected by a bag of dekes in that they are simply more to carry, they’re often loud and cumbersome.  Worse yet, they can help a tom pinpoint your location and then have him use it against you.  While turkeys are not known to be curious, the goal of any turkey hunting session should be to arouse interest via calling, then hide out in a pre-determined setup while the tom hunts YOU.  Whether you call too loud or long at the wrong time, or you drop a decoy too far out in the open, the effect it has on many toms is to hang them up.  By their ears or eyes they know exactly where you are as they get close enough to show off, but stay too far away for a shot.

Instead, I have more confidence in the form, flexibility, and options my calling provides me over a decoy in many situations.  A decoy is somewhat of a binary play, in that it’s out there or it’s not, and once it is you’re certainly not going to strip it from the field with a tom out there.  That said, when you’re calling from a concealed position and stay motionless, that tom is still hunting you.  You can vary everything from cadence, volume, and frequency, to the direction you throw the call while keeping him guessing the whole time.  On several occasions I’ve been able to steer a tom around obstacles that may have hung him up, make a gobbler think I was leaving just by turning my head and muting the call, or attract a different tom coming from another direction simply by using my hand to “throw” the sound from a mouth-call. 

I think the key, no matter where you fall on the spectrum, is to use them when they make sense and use them well.  Whether you love them, hate them, or fall somewhere in between, don’t rely on decoys alone to be a cure-all for turkey woes.  Instead, dig deep into your bag of turkey tactics as you utilize them to compliment your approach rather than be the highlight of it.   

The Anatomy of a Miss

Missing flat hurts.  Re-living it in your mind again and again, you vow never to tell your upland or waterfowl-hunting friends about how you missed a stationary target that was standing on the ground, while you were concealed and the bird was un-alerted to your presence.  That pain likely pales in comparison to what the turkey might’ve felt in the form of some stray pellets.  I’ve seen the effect of what poorly placed shots can do, and more than we’d like to think the turkey eventually dies from the encounter.  Though we understand it’s our goal to always make a clean and careful killing shot, there are a number of obstacles in our way.

Personally, I’ve shot at and missed 5 gobblers in the course of 21 seasons.  With dozens of turkey hunts per year or more, I’ve been witness to many more misses while hunting with beginners and true experts alike.  Experience isn’t always the best teacher, as last season in Oklahoma, I missed two birds in two days before finally tagging out on a stubborn Rio Grande that was a bit too loud-mouthed for his own good.  Before last year, I hadn’t missed in a decade, but the last time I did, the pain also came in pairs while missing twice before 8AM that fateful Minnesota morning.

Of all the misses and close calls I’ve encountered, the common thread is that most of these are the result of bad decisions often made well before the safety ever comes off.  Fortunately, that means they’re also preventable.  Here’s a “greatest-hits” so-to-speak, of the most common causes for a miss, along with a few ideas on how to remedy to problem:

·         Too Far – More birds are peppered, maimed, and mortally wounded due to long shots than any other mistake from what I’ve seen.  That means it’s time for all of us to brush up on range estimation.  Rangefinders were a spendy contraption when I started hunting, but they flat out improve our ability to make a clean shot.  Have one handy and use it, but more importantly, when in doubt, wait it out.  

·         Poor Shot – Coming in at a close second is taking a hail-mary type shot to begin with.  Miss number one last year was a running bird at 40 yards, and miss number two was walking at the end of my effective range.  I’ve made these shots before, but ultimately knew better than to take them in the first place.

·         No Patterning – Speaking of effective range, if you don’t know how many pellets are in your pattern at various ranges, how sure can you be that a bird will drop at any range?  Shoot through as many chokes/loads as is reasonable to you to find a combination that puts more than 100 pellets in that 10” diameter circle at 40 yards.  Once you get to 100, strive to find a combination that will do 200 or better. 

·         Shooting Technique – Contorting around a tree, shooting from your belly, or flat dealing with the burn as you sit motionless as a statue can certainly contribute to a miss.  That said, hunters that use a ventilated rib and bead combination miss more than those that use other sights simply because they don’t keep their head down.  Unfortunately, I’ve had the over-the-shoulder view from so many of these hunter’s misses over the years, that I get to witness it first-hand.  Given that view, I also get to see quite a few flinches, which is understandable given how hard some of these loads can kick.  Prevent that effect by avoiding the long and bruising patterning sessions just before you’re ready to hunt.   

·         Equipment – Speaking of sights, I’ve seen a good number of malfunctions over the years.  From cracked and broken fiber optics, to front posts being completely ripped off the ventilated rib while dragging the gun through brush, sights can be vulnerable on a turkey gun.  Belly crawling through sand and even dry and dusty prairie grass can make semi-autos fail to cycle for follow up shots.  Keep your eyes peeled for these malfunctions before they ever have a chance to happen.

·         Too Close for Comfort – While I’ve only witnessed one miss because the bird was too close, it’s obvious why.  We patterned a buddy’s gun after the shot to find his load punched a baseball sized hole through paper at the 10 yard distance he missed from.  With how much a turkey’s head moves and how quickly he had to take the shot, it wasn’t a surprise.

·         Confidence – You’re trying to hit a sweet-spot here.  Practice builds confidence, and missing destroys it.  Four of my own misses came in pairs because I had a hard time recovering from the first one mentally.  Conversely, over-confidence leads to ill-preparedness and bad-decisions.

·         Faulty Expectations – This is a growing concern for the more experienced hunters.  The more you hunt, and the more success you encounter, the more likely you are to put it in “auto-pilot” during the last few seconds leading up to a shot.  Past experience can hamstring you here, as your mental programming over the last few dozen birds has falsely associated the act of leveling, aiming, and shooting with a dead bird.  In the back of your mind, somehow just making the gun go “boom” gives you the result you want.  Pause, then go through your pre-shot progression again before just making the gun sound off. 

·         Lucky Bird – Every once in a great while, I’ve seen a miss that defies logic.  You do everything right, line up the sights, go through the checklist in your mind and squeeze off a round, only to watch the bird rapidly disappear into a speck on the horizon.  Somehow, someway, that bird found a hole in your pattern.  More often however, our mistakes are obvious and correctable.

While we can’t always be perfect, we owe it to those turkeys to strive to be.  Every brutally cold wintry day, all I need to do is think about that spring’s tom up in some tree holding on for dear life while it contemplates how it’ll get through the next day.  That provides me with the motivation to practice with a purpose, such that every time I touch the trigger, the tom meets his end far more quickly than any other malady that Mother Nature would prescribe.