After the long summer of waiting, it’s finally fall. Orange, red and yellow leaves shimmer in the autumn morning sunlight. Crisp air revitalizes us after months of steaming days; reason enough to be out in the painted woods. For some of us, the shifting seasons mean one thing: fall turkey...
If you hunt autumn longbeards, super jakes and young gobblers of the year, you know these truisms out of experience. If you don't listen up. They Regroup Half-Truth : We sometimes hear fall gobblers, especially older ones, won’t regroup after a scatter for hours, even days. Scattering fall turkeys is...
You’ve called a strutting spring gobbler into range, aimed at his fist-sized head and fired. Problem is, the bird flopped then got up like a boxer in the ring with some fight left in him, and is running, or worse: flying off. It’s your move, now or never. Most of...
The alarm chimes as the clock strikes five in the morning. Before the big hand reaches five past the hour, I am pulling the last knot tight on my snake boots and walking across the creaking wood floor at my parent’s house to the door. It has become tradition for...
At first, it seems like a perfect hunting scenario: you find several gobblers or more running together. Not a single hen is yelping in hearing distance. And you haven't seen one in days. But wait. It’s late in the spring turkey season. Your hen clucks and yelps now echo along...
Turkey taxidermy is expensive. And it doesn’t take many full-body turkey mounts to fill a room. Yet, so many gobblers are worth remembering beyond a beard lost in the garage. Here are five cool DIY turkey taxidermy projects that are easy to make . . . and even easier on...
It's one of the first things we study on a wild turkey gobbler when we give thanks and reflect on the many powerful feelings we have after killing one. Often, as that bird struts toward us, wheels and turns, we catch a first glimpse of leg spurs on the bird...
As the saying goes, "If you haven't missed a turkey, you aren't hunting enough." I did plenty of research to write this piece – all of it unintentional. Lessons learned from such experiences follow here . . . 1. Shooting Too Fast The flock suddenly appeared, materializing on the high...
I don’t want to scare you or discourage you, and I am certainly not trying to talk you out of going turkey hunting, but Lyme disease is serious business. The reported cases are increasing at an alarming rate, up from 4,000 in 1994 to over 30,000 a year in 48...
Yep, spring turkey season is almost done in some parts of the country. In places like New England and even Nebraska, it runs until the end of May. Maine closes at the end of shooting hours on June second this year. But maybe you’ve hit a wall. You've sold those...
Belly-crawling turkeys has never been so popular. Fanning. Stalking. Repositioning. Reaping. Ambushing. Whatever you want to call it, turkey hunters are getting down in the dirt and grass and slinking like snakes to draw closer to strutting gobblers. And killing birds. And missing turkeys. And changing the tradition in the...
Our group was enjoying a midday break in Osceola hunting camp when a couple locals rolled in and struck up a conversation with the camp owner, barely within earshot. I paid little attention until I heard a name, then spun around and asked, “Marvin? Marvin Hartley?” At the same time...
Jeremy McCarty refuses to call what we’re doing turkey hunting. According to him, we are “turkey reaping,” and, unlike turkey hunting, where concealment is key, when turkey reaping, you want the gobblers to see you -- or at least see the decoys you’re using to close the distance. I’ve turkey...
When it comes to hunting turkeys that have been pressured and educated, Nate Hosie, host of HeadHunters TV and a Realtree pro staffer, has one overriding strategy: Realism. Born and raised in the mountains of Pennsylvania, Hosie started hunting with his father and grandfather. That love of hunting led to...
They call 'em turkey calls for a reason. Ask any of my turkey buds, and they’ll say I call a lot. Aggressively even. Other times a dose of silence is my best vocalization. As with other forms of game calling, the right mix of yelping and staying quiet is the...
Legs shake. Hands tremble. Your mind races wild. And it’s not even because of the chick in psychology class. No, it’s that longbeard gobbling every breath, no more than 60 yards away and just out of sight. He’s ripping your nervous system to shreds – particularly because you know that...
Some springtime longbeards take their marching orders from the boss hen. At times, the only way to get him in range is to call her in. How do you sell yourself to the lady turkey in charge in order to pull that dawdling strutter into range? Read on. Payback Okay,...
