Work the Bird, Don't Let the Bird Work You

The bird hunts you as much as you hunt it!

The title is a well-traveled phrase created by turkey legend David Hale of Knight and Hale Game Calls, which highlights so succinctly a common calling blunder in the turkey woods.  It’s a study in human nature, and mother-nature, all wrapped up in an often-repeated scenario that happens every spring.  Turkey hunter calls and gets a response from a gobbler.  With glee, turkey hunter pours on the calling, delighted with the response and more often, enthralled in the sound of his or her own yelps, clucks, and purrs.  The bird approaches, but more cautiously, as incessant yelping becomes both louder and prouder, thus pinpointing the location of said turkey hunter.  The gobbler, now quiet, finds the most open and visible spot to strut and display just out of range.  This lasts for only so long, and eventually the tom retreats to whatever it was he was doing before. 

To better understand the interaction, think in terms of turkey radar.  The tom is up on some ridge (a.k.a – his backyard) minding his own business, when a hen sounds off.  Immediately he responds with excitement, thinking the entire time, “Now where is she at – sounds like the corner of the field edge where I eat clover about 200 yards from here?”  While I doubt that toms understand yardage the way we do, I know from watching them approach so many times that they have a pre-determined spot in mind. 

This location could be the actual spot you’re calling from, or an area that they’re used to hearing from and intercepting hens, but one thing is for certain, the more you call, the more they KNOW where you’re at.  An old gobbler’s radar works like a series of rapidly closing concentric circles, with him tightening the noose each time he hears from you.  After your first series, he’s got you pinned down to a 50 yard area.  By the time your box call is smoking your you’ve got a blood blister on your striker hand, that bird knows you down to the tree.  That’s a blow-by-blow account on how the bird “works you.”

Now that we’ve identified the problem, here’s a heavy dose of solutions.  The first being to call more patiently, and more to attract him, rather than to scratch the natural itch we all have to plainly do anything it takes to hear him gobble one more time.  So often we call to elicit a gobble, rather than to punch a tag.  We grow nervous after not hearing from him in 5 minutes, so we “check-call” hoping to get an update on his progress as he makes his way nearby.  This check calling is effective and often required, especially if you’re in a bad setup, covering a large expanse, or otherwise exposed.  The trick is to do it quietly, rarely, and variably.

Speaking of varying your calls, this most often means steering the direction of your calling.  This can be tough with a box call, easier with a slate, and easiest of all with a mouth call.  With a diaphragm, you can throw the sound, and many times I’ve steered a tom around obstacles or more towards my position effectively by throwing my calls the direction I’d like him to come.  Don’t think you can get a tom to zig zag his way through the woods on command?  I didn’t see it captured in video form until Denny Gulvas did it on his DVD – “Challenging Pressured Gobblers,” where Denny demonstrates the technique quite well.  You can even turn around, pointing your calls the other direction, mimicking a hen that’s tired of the waiting game and is leaving town, ready or not.  This trick works best in a blind where you have free range of motion without being seen, and is a phenomenal way of breaking loose a hung-up tom.

Another trick is to call more quietly, or switch to non-verbals like leaf scratching.  While scratching can be easily pinpointed, a bird often needs to be within range to hear it well.  Just like it’s easy to find your buddy when he’s honking the horn on the truck, turkeys can more easily pinpoint your location when the sounds you’re making are loud.  Quiet down and match the tone and noise of the woods you’re hunting to more effectively get those birds to close.

In my mind, the best way to work a bird then is to keep him guessing, never letting him know your exact location.  Of course there’s always outliers.  I’ve spoken at length and hunted with guides and championship callers that never shut up.  They blow a call constantly and it only improves their success.  That said, they can sound like a flock of turkeys, yelping more convincingly than the real thing and projecting the symphony across a wide-range of vocalizations.  They do so with mouth calls and throw the sound around the woods.  If you can work a call to their level of proficiency, the more power to you.  For most of the rest of us however, fewer, well-placed calls that pique a tom’s curiosity into having them close the distance, leaves you more likely this spring to work the bird, rather than having him work you.

Targeting Mille Lacs Spawning Smallmouth – Should it be Legal?

The cat is officially out of the bag. Mille Lacs Lake, a vast and varied fishery of more than 130,000 acres in central Minnesota, is arguably the best trophy smallmouth water in the world. For years it has been in every top-10 smallie list that outdoors writers can scribe, and has been the focus of countless TV, video, photo, and fishing media events. While lake-hype may be alive and well with countless “hot” destinations both coming and going, the fervor surrounding especially the quality of this lake’s fish is very real.

Take into account the bags of fish pulled day-in and day-out for the Bassmaster Elite’s final event of the 2016 season. Despite a cold-front mid-tourney and some rougher water to contend with, Mille Lacs gave up more big smallies than any other event in Bassmaster tournament history. Consumate Pro, 7-time angler of the year, and smallie-genius Kevin Van Dam said it best when he wrote, “I’ve never seen so many big, old smallmouth in one lake.”

FISHING THE SPAWN – HISTORY LESSON

To Brad Hawthorne, long-time guide and Mille Lacs Lake resident, it’s ascent to greatness is not by accident. “We’ve enjoyed a 100% closed bass-season (no catch and release) until nearly the end of May for decades,” says Hawthorne, who describes the annual smallmouth spawn in Mille Lacs being nothing short of “epic.”  “I’ve encountered certain sections of the lake where beds are stacked for nearly a mile of shoreline.”  Hawthorne’s upcoming YouTube video series titled “Smallmouth Chronicles” focuses on the lake and its brown bass, detailing ways to catch fish during the entire season without initially targeting them on their beds. Hawthorne states, “There’s always a bite for big bass here that doesn’t include visually pitching to individual bedded smallmouth.”

As Hawthorne notes, in 2015, a statewide catch and release bass season was created during the traditional early May gamefish opener. Historically in Minnesota, the bass season was closed until the end of May with prevailing thought being that these fish needed a respite from angling pressure during a time where especially smallmouth are quite vulnerable to being caught. Given that both largemouth and smallmouth are nest dwelling species that adapt well and thrive in a variety of lakes and rivers, the decision was made to increase opportunity due to the burgeoning popularity of bass fishing in northern waters.

IS MILLE LACS DIFFERENT?

The focus then becomes the statewide regulation and its effect on a single fishery like Mille Lacs. Regarding bass spawning vulnerabilities, MN DNR fisheries consultant Al Stevens mentions that, “On an individual fish, there’s an impact, but on the population level, we can’t see any impact.”  Research nationwide seems to support the idea that on a gamma scale, overall regional populations of bass are unharmed by catch and release angling during the spawn.

While this may hold true regarding the vast majority of bass lakes in the state, is Mille Lacs an outlier that requires more protection based solely on the fact that it may be the single-most popular water in the state?  Enough fishing pressure could mean that targeting smallies on beds would potentially hurt the spawn, thus the fishery in the future. How much harm is debatable, certainly, but commonsense would dictate that it certainly doesn’t help?     

CATCH AND KEEP

There may be bigger fish to fry…err…release, indicates Jim DaRosa, Mille Lacs smallmouth guide and founder of the Mille Lacs Smallmouth Alliance, who supports catch and release regulations both spring and fall given proper handling of the fish. “Our group is focused on angler education, and ‘freeing the fighter’ as a slogan for greater catch and release awareness.”  Of greater concern to the Smallmouth Alliance are regulations that allow for the catch and kill of smallmouth bass. Before 2013, Mille Lacs was a “one-over” lake, meaning anglers could keep only one Smallmouth Bass, and it had to be 21”es or greater to do it. However, starting in that year, anglers could keep up to 6 smallmouth under 17”es, with only one over 20”es. Since then, regulations have been modified to allow only 3 fish under 17”es with only one over 21”es, but DaRosa considers this catch-and-keep regulation to be the Alliance’s #1 priority. “Fish on Mille Lacs can spawn well into June, leaving them vulnerable after the May 27th catch release season lapses, and we believe strongly that these fish under 17”es are the building block for tomorrow’s true trophies.”  While not opposed to selective harvest of smallmouth, the Mille Lacs Smallmouth Alliance is concerned that decisions are being made based on socio-political pressures, not good science.

FOCUS ON THE FUTURE

Long-time guide and Mille Lacs lake guru Tony Roach voices the same conservation concerns regarding the catch and keep of smallmouth, but also prefers not to fish for them when shallow and visibly guarding nests. “Most of my bites are active presentations for post-spawn fish, so I don’t drop a jig on a bed when I don’t have to,” state’s Roach. Similar to Hawthorne, Tony prefers fishing many of the other smallmouth patterns that involve either pre-spawn fish or bronzebacks that have worked past the short post-spawn funk immediately after moving from their beds.

For now, the legality of fishing for smallmouth on their beds in Mille Lacs, or any Minnesota lake is not in question. Bass season on Mille Lacs and statewide opens May 13th for this year, with a combined possession limit of 3, and all bass 17-21”es being immediately released, whether caught from a bed or not.

What is in question are the implications that targeting spawners may have for the best trophy smallmouth water the nation has seen. While the science may be clear when speaking of broad areas regionally or otherwise, it’s difficult to predict what a dramatic amount of increased pressure may do to the health of the lake’s smallmouth population. In the wake of national media attention and increased popularity from greater distances, no one truly knows how targeting these shallow bass at the peak of both their size and vulnerability may affect successive generations of Mille Lacs Lake Smallmouth.

There exists a sliding scale of opportunity versus resource concerns that lies at the heart of this issue, and while not all stakeholders may agree on targeting spawning fish on beds, nearly all agree that catch and release fishing for smallmouth bass regardless of season, is a cause worth supporting. All three guides interviewed for this article are catch-and-release only, all year, for Smallmouth Bass, which is a point worth noting whether you support targeting them during the spawn or not.    

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.