THE OTHER TURKEY SEASON
A much older tradition than today’s popular spring season, pursuing turkeys in the fall woods has its own techniques, rewards. Author Larry Case calls turkeys while Callie the pointer snoozes on a fall afternoon in the blind.
B
o, the big brown pointer and setter cross, came streaking by me at Mach 2. I had been walking on fresh turkey scratching in the leaves for 15 minutes and I knew something was up. We were deep in a remote section of Forest Service land in southwest Virginia, and things were about to get lively. Just then, a few hundred yards above me, I heard Bo’s excited, highpitched, almost hysterical barking. Next came the heavy, thudding wingbeats of wild turkeys clawing at the air and trying to gain altitude to escape the fleet canine pursuing them. Wuff, wuff, wuff, came the sound of their wings, and now the equally excited alarm putts of the turkeys that had been rousted from a morning of feeding on white oak acorns. Looking skyward, I saw big, beautiful turkeys with set wings; one here, two farther out, none in
52
American Shooting Journal // September 2021
STORY AND PHOTOS BY LARRY CASE
shotgun range or I would have tried one. Bo was now working singles, turkeys that had run off on the ground away from the original flush. He was an old hand at this and would swing back through the flush site, pick up the scent trail of turkey still on the ground, and run it full blast till that bird was airborne, barking every time. I saw or heard at least 10 turkeys take flight from this flock and there was bound to be more. The young dog we had with us this day came streaking past me, running toward where Bo was barking. He was probably too late to the dance to get in on the action, but he would learn. Soon I heard the soft footsteps of my partner, and we would have a short briefing on the events of the flush and move on to phase two of the turkey dog operation. We would build a blind near the flush site and start calling, hoping to lure a
turkey into gun range. Bo came in, reluctantly, and I petted and praised him and told him he was the best there is. All was right with the world. AN ALMOST FORGOTTEN SEASON? Unfortunately, we now have a generation of turkey hunters who have little or no knowledge of fall hunting. Now to some, that is not a big deal. Most of us are wrapped up in other pursuits, mainly deerrelated. For those unfamiliar with it, fall turkey season has a much older tradition than the spring season. Back in the day, meaning before the 1960s for most states, the spring season did not exist. In much of the Southeast, turkeys were hunted in the fall. There were many more fall hunters than today. Some hunted fall turkeys exclusively, and some people hunted them in connection with small game like squirrels.
