Although I had some fun in last week’s column, poking fun at spring gobbler hunters, this Saturday actually marks the opening day of our month-long spring turkey hunting season. There probably will be many hunters out that morning (hunting is only allowed until noon), but unlike deer season, it’s not all that critical to success to be afield opening day, as the hunters’ chances are excellent throughout the entire May season.
In fact, gobbler hunters’ chances may be even worse on opening day since a higher density of hunters calling and wandering the woods increases the chance they may spook gobblers that might otherwise respond to another hunter’s calling attempts. In the heavier hunted areas it’s not all that rare to have several hunters trying to work the same gobbler they’ve heard sounding off. That can be frustrating and even dangerous if any start trying to move in closer to the location they hear calling or gobbling coming from. The DEC slogan of “Talk, don’t stalk” is based on that paramount safety rule.
Because tom turkeys are often quite vocal during the spring mating season, trying to entice receptive hens to their location, some hunters fall into the trap that every gobbler they hear is fair game to move in on and call to. If they get close enough to hear what sounds like a hen, it’s time to back off, since it may be a real hen or another hunter calling. Either way, moving closer and calling are very apt to have negative effects. If it’s another hunter calling, all you’ll accomplish is confusing both the hunter and the gobbler. If it’s a real hen, she’ll make a beeline to the gobbler and leave you wondering why the tom suddenly quit gobbling.
Although much is made of the quality of the hunter’s ability to call, most can actually make hen calls that sound sufficiently realistic to fool a gobbler. In fact, many actually sound better than a real live hen. But since the natural mating sequence has the hen traveling to the gobbler, the hunter is trying to reverse the natural sequence by having the gobbler come to the hen (the calling hunter). While this sometimes may work with lone gobblers not accompanied by hens, more often than not a gobbler with hens will be very reluctant to close the distance to the hen calls he hears. He may gobble occasionally, trying to entice that other hen he hears to join him and his harem, but he’ll be reluctant to leave the accompanying hens to search for another.
The receptive hens that accompany a gobbler will eventually leave him, one by one, to travel to their nests and add another egg to their clutch. Once the gobbler finds himself alone, he will begin trying to find other hens, or he may remember the one he heard earlier and go looking for her. This might take an hour or several, but it will be the period when he’s most vulnerable to being called and harvested. The patient hunter who stays put near where he heard the gobbler now has an excellent chance of bagging that tom.
Since the time span and periods that individual turkey hens nest and incubate eggs is spread out over several weeks—to insure against too many being destroyed by predators or foul weather—there will always be days when some of them in the gobbler’s area may not be available, so then the gobbler will go to a favorite strutting area in mid to late morning to sound off , trying to attract any available hens within hearing distance. Hunters who are able to scout and locate these strutting areas provide themselves with the proverbial ace-in-the-hole location to set up when gobbling activity really slows down. Creatures of habit, the toms will often return there in their quest to attract hens.
While many of the hunting videos and TV outdoor shows depict hunts where the toms gobble non-stop and readily come to the caller’s location while doing so, these are actually best-case scenarios (and probably are done where the toms have been lightly hunted, if at all). More common, especially later in the season, is the case where toms that have been called to repeatedly and heavily hunted will sneak in silently. Oh, they may gobble while they’re still some distance away, but once they start moving closer they’ll keep their mouths shut. This tactic has probably kept more gobblers from ending up in the oven than any other. If the hunter doesn’t first spot the tom sneaking in, any movement on his part will send the gobbler hot-footing away.
Of all the qualities and skills a good gobbler hunter can attain, the two most advantageous are patience and steady nerves. Strange impulses may overtake a hunter when he’s watching a big gobbler gradually working into shotgun range. If he or she’s properly dressed in camo, this is when remaining rock-still is critical. Turkeys have excellent vision and will spot any movement instantly. The hunter must anticipate shouldering the shotgun only when the gobbler can’t see the movement. The biggest mistake is to panic and bring the gun up when the bird can see the movement. I’ve been forced to wait until a tom was actually too close, but as long as he couldn’t detect me, I’d wait until he moved farther away but still within range and went behind a tree before shouldering my gun.
Remember -- patience, steady nerves, and talk, don’t stalk.

Friends of the NRA Banquet in Norwich
Supporters of the Second Amendment should mark their calendars for May 21, when the Trailblazers FNRA Banquet will be held in Norwich. More details forthcoming, so stay tuned.

May Fest At Rogers Center
Saturday, from noon until 4:00 PM, Rogers Center will host its Annual May Fest, offering a variety of displays, programs, refreshments, and a free shrub and tree giveaway. Open to the public.