Bare Bones Hunting

by LOU MARULLO :: TF&G Hunting Editor

Oh Yeah, It’s Turkey Time

SUNRISE WAS GOING TO BE early—way too early—and I was tired. To be honest, I was exhausted.

Too many mornings out in the woods searching for any turkey sign. Feathers, droppings, scratchings, anything that would tell me turkeys are de nitely in the area. I found very li le, but I knew this area usually had nice toms on it.

It rained hard all night but turned to a cold drizzle by the time I needed to be in the Redneck blind. e saturated eld was nothing but mud. e steep climb to the blind was di cult at best. However, I knew that my chances were be er in this eld rather than in my warm, cozy bed. By the time I reached my destination, I must have had 20 extra pounds of mud on each boot.

I decided to hunt the same eld that I took Chester Moore to a few years earlier. On that hunt, we heard a few gobbles in the morning and I was able to call a nice tom into shotgun range. It was his rst Eastern bird, and when the 12-gauge Remington 1187 went boom, a beautiful tom turkey was down.

But this was a di erent day and certainly a di erent hunt. I sat in the blind and waited for sunrise. Finally, it was light enough to start my turkey hunting routine. Tree calling, no response. Fly down, no response. Yelps and cackles, still no response. I stared at my decoy set up and wondered if I was wasting my time. I was determined not to give up, so I yelped every 20 minutes to let any gobbler in the area know that I was there. To be honest, when it started raining, I found myself closing my eyes and almost fell asleep right there in the blind!

I had my eyes closed and kept waiting to hear a gobbler sound o . at never happened, but still I was not disappointed. ere he was!

He was about 100 yards from me when I rst saw him, and he was quickly coming to my decoys as quiet as a church mouse. I barely had time to put my facemask on and move into position for a shot. at was my turkey hunt last year, and I cannot tell you how excited I am about this year. I have already seen plenty of sign while I was deer hunting—more than usual.

My decoy set up was not unlike many others I have seen, except for one thing that I add. I have a couple of hen decoys, and I also have a full body plastic hen that I place on the ground with no stake.

I simply use a few small rocks on either side to keep it upright. en I place anything I can nd in the eld to li the back end of the decoy up a li le. is simulates a hen that is ready to mate. Sounds pre y cool so far, yeah? But wait! ere is one more thing I do.

I have a tom turkey decoy as well. is is one that you a ach the tail feathers to the body. With a nylon string that is also a ached, you can move the full fan up and down or just bring it up halfway like I have seen so many birds do.

All I have to do is pull on the string and “viola” instant movement! e tail fan that came with this decoy made it look like an adult tom. I thought it might be be er if I made it look like a young jake trying to mate that hen.

One of my hunting buddies had a few jake fans that he laid out so they stay open. He was gracious enough to give me one and when I told him that I used that fan instead of the adult one, he tried it himself. I have to say, it is a much more believable set-up and has fooled many tom turkeys to commit to those last few steps that bring them into range.

For those novice turkey hunters out there, let me explain. When an adult tom fans out his tail feathers, the feathers are all even in length. However, when a jake or young male turkey raises his tail feathers, the middle three or four feathers are always a li le longer than the rest.

Believe me, if an adult tom sees a jake trying to take his girl away from him, that bird will come into your decoys with a ght on his mind. If you can muster up the willpower to wait a while before you shoot, you very well may see a tom turkey claw at that youngster.

When the decoy falls over, he will peck at it to make sure he is the victor. I have seen it and it is worth seeing even if you don’t get a shot o .

As with deer hunting, the “hunt” is over when you have fooled the animal into your known accuracy range. Pulling the trigger is just a means to an end. en the work begins.

It’s the same with turkey hunting. Once you have fooled that bird to come in close to your decoy set-up, the hunt is over. Pulling the trigger is a whole new ballgame.

One other thing you might want to know. If it’s a nice sunny day, the male birds will nd a place where they can strut and wait for the hens to come to them. at might be in a eld, or it might be in a woodlot.

As a ma er of fact, the tom gobbles to let the hens know where he is and waits for them to nd him. If it’s raining out, those birds will always seek a eld; one where they can see predators from a distance because the rain will help hide any sounds in the woods.

Turkey hunting is one of my favorite times of the year. Remember, you are not hunting them, they are hunting you. Good luck and don’t forget to send in your turkey pictures.

Have fun and hunt safe.

Email Lou Marullo at ContactUs@fi shgame.com