HIGH-COUNTRY CHESS MATCH WITH A MASTER

from California Sportsman - March 2023

GO PUBLIC FOR SPRING GOBBLERS

Let me tell you the story of my last spring gobbler, a hunt in which I used many of the tips shared in this issue.

While walking my dog in early March through a patch of dense pine woods at about 4,000 feet in elevation, I heard a gobble. It was a very unlikely spot. It was higher in elevation than I typically find spring turkeys. There were some oak trees, but few meadows, openings or grassy areas.

A week later, once again while walking Lucy, I saw the gobbler. He was big, black and had a thick rope-like beard hanging from his chest.

I was pumped – I had a legal bird located in an area with zero hunting pressure – but Mother Nature tossed me a curve. A few days before the season opener the temperature dropped and several inches of snow fell on my hunting area.

I’d hunted with a dusting of snow before, but never in deep snow. The snow and the 20-plus-degree temperature drop shook my confidence and I worried my big gobbler might have moved down to a lower elevation where there was less snow. Yet the spring season is long and I had plenty of time to hunt, so I stuck with my opening-day plan.

I slipped into the woods a good hour before dawn broke and hiked to the area where I’d seen the bird. I backed up to a big pine and waited in silence. Finally, darkness gave way to faint milky light and I heard the first peeps from songbirds tucked in the fir trees around me.

More time passed. In my younger days I would have sounded off with some sort of shock call, but I opted to wait. Maybe 10 minutes later the gobbler fired off to the east of me in a hollow below my position.

Instantly, I was on the move, deliberately closing the distance between myself and the bird. He didn’t gobble continuously like a jake, but he gobbled often enough for me to roughly pinpoint his position.

When I felt I was 75 yards from the bird and still above him, I paused to set up. The woods were thick, but there were a couple runways I figured had been created by logging activity. Fifteen yards in front of me there was a 4-foot-high hump. I slid the decoy out of my vest and placed it atop the hump. A clump of small fir trees would block it from view on one side, but from the other side I figured it could be seen from 40 yards away.

I spread a garbage bag on the snow to keep my backside dry and settled in against a tree with the decoy off my left shoulder and the 870 Express pump resting across my thighs pointed toward the decoy.

I was comfortable, camouflaged and completely hidden; it was time to call. I slid a friction call out of my vest. I already had a diaphragm call in my mouth. I made two light purrs and a single sleepy yelp on the friction call.

The gobbler fired off instantly. I went silent. He upped the ante and gobbled a couple more times. I waited for a few minutes and made three yelps a little louder. He responded with a double gobble. I had him. He was convinced I was a roosted hen, and he knew almost exactly where I was. I made no more sounds for a long while.

Before turkeys fly to the ground, they start making more sounds and get quite agitated. When the gobbler started gobbling more frequently and yelping, I knew he was preparing to fly down. I did some yelping on the friction call and threw in some yelps with the diaphragm. I increased the tempo of the calling for about a minute and then beat my palm on my thigh several times in quick succession. I was mimicking the sound of two hens flying off the roost.

The gobbler was going nuts and then he went quiet. He was out of the tree. Now the waiting commenced. I eased the gun up on my knee ready to shoot.

For a painfully long time nothing happened and then I heard a barely audible swishing sound. What the heck was that? Swish, swish, stop ... Swish ...

I realized it was the gobbler walking on the snow. More time passed. More swishing, but louder now. Suddenly there was a rustling sound right behind me and I heard the peculiar hum of a gobbler drumming. The turkey had puffed into a full strut directly behind me next to the tree I was leaning against.

A gobble exploded the silence. My heart was in my throat. I sat statue-still, as I had no other option. He was looking for the hens but couldn’t find them, and apparently he hadn’t seen the decoy.

A beat later I heard him fold his tail back down and he slowly walked away. When I could no longer hear his footsteps, I made two very light yelps with the mouth call, and he gobbled instantly. He was on his way back.

The first thing I saw was his head bobbing around; then he came into view. He was big, beautiful and hyperalert. He saw the decoy now but acted confused. The gobbler was out in front of me off my right shoulder. He was within easy range, but at an awkward angle. I’d have to move significantly to shift the shotgun muzzle in his direction.

The bird walked forward with caution. When he was 20 feet from the decoy he went to half strut, stared at the decoy for a beat and then slowly came to full strut. I could tell from his body language there was something about the decoy he didn’t like.

I feared he was going to fold back up and split. The angle was better, but to get on him I would have to move and he would see me when I did. I hoped he would fold back up and hesitate for an instant, but that would be the best-case scenario. I had to be ready to shoot fast.

I dropped my knee, brought the gun up and moved the muzzle right. The gobbler was about 15 yards out. He pulled in his feathers and lunged forward while beating his wings. Muscle memory took over. I had tunnel vision now and time was moving slowly. I took an extra nanosecond for a sure shot. The bird had just cleared the snow.

He was 2 feet in the air, accelerating and climbing. The front sight flashed past his head and the gun roared. The big bird flipped and hit the snow with a heavy thump. I could see his feet clawing at the air; the gobbler was dead before he hit the snow.

I’d done everything right and my reward was a 21-pound public-land gobbler with a 10¾-inch beard! CK me. One took up a position about a yard off my right elbow. When the gobbler spotted the decoy, he came in on the run. He stopped statue-still to challenge the “new” tom 20 yards from the muzzle of my Remington. That was his last mistake!

Time Of Day

The first hour of daylight and the period between noon and 3 p.m. have been the best times for me. Here’s why: If you can find a bird on the roost and move in tight, you can often harvest the bird within an hour of him hitting the ground.

Once the post-dawn window closes, gobblers typically move to hens. Most mature birds are in the company of hens from just after flydown until late morning. A hennedup gobbler will sound off to your calls with enthusiasm, but calling a gobbler away from hens is nearly impossible. The hens don’t want to lose their mate, so when they hear your calls, they will generally lead the tom away.

The hens go to nest to tend eggs or to lay a new egg late in the morning. A gobbler you find henned up and unhuntable at 9 will often be alone and willing to respond to calls at noon or later.

You can often get an afternoon gobbler to fire off a shock call, but don’t be surprised if he won’t answer the hen noises. That’s OK, as he will still come in, but many times he’ll slip in silently. In this situation I like to deploy a decoy and make a couple light yelps and purrs every five to 10 minutes.

To kill silent afternoon toms, you must remain vigilant and sit very still. I’ve set up within 100 yards of toms in the afternoon and it’s still taken them a full hour to come within range, so this is why I say patience matters.

Scouting

Scouting for roosted birds in the evening is a very effective tactic. General scouting can be effective, but you don’t want to scout before the first week of March. As winter gives way to spring, winter turkey flocks break up and the turkeys disperse.

Typically, the areas where I kill turkeys in late March and April were devoid of birds in January and February. This isn’t really a scouting tip, per se, but this is a good place to mention it. The hardest thing to deal with in the spring woods is other hunters. They call too much, spook the birds and make them develop lockjaw.

I strongly encourage you to seek out areas where hunting pressure is light. Hunters, especially beginners, want to hunt those classic rolling meadow areas at lower elevations. You’ll do better exploring higherelevation areas with steep canyons and dense vegetation. Yes, these areas hold fewer birds than lower regions, but you’ll have less competition and that is often the key to success.

Close The Deal

There are all sorts of fancy turkey guns on the market, and I know guys who buy a new gun every year of two. Buying a new gun is fun, but I think it’s important to really know your gun. I’ve been using the same old Remington pump for 20 years.

I’ve experimented with different chokes and loads, and I’ve got it dialed in. It sports fiber optic sights for precise shooting at close targets. Remember to practice those close shots. You’ll want a tight choke to reach out with, but if you get a close opportunity, your pattern may only be a few inches in diameter. I missed a big tom once at 10 yards!

The best range for killing birds is from about 15 to 30 yards. I killed them out to 50 in my younger days, but now 40 or 45 yards is my max. Truthfully, if you can’t get within 40 yards of a gobbler in spring, you need to improve your woodsmanship and your setups.

My pet load for many years was a 3-inch shell throwing a payload of copper-plated No. 6 shot. When the lead ban came into play, I switched to tungsten shot. I’ve found the tungsten to be dramatically better than lead.

Killing turkeys is all about hitting them multiple times in the head and neck. The more pellets you can launch, the easier it is to put pellets on target. The heavier-than-lead tungsten has allowed me to drop down to No. 7 shot. I shoot shells with a 2-ounce shot payload. There are significantly more pellets in 2 ounces of No. 7 shot as compared to

One More Thought

My final piece of advice is to always employ head-to-toe camo and sit still. Spring turkey hunting is a closerange sport and most of the time the gobbler knows exactly where you are. One bob of the head or twitch of your hand can blow the deal, so learn to sit still like a statue! CS

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