Ray Sasser

Archive | E-mail

I'm an April fool for spring turkeys in a breeding rage, their hormones fueling a boisterous frenzy of trash-talking gobbles that reverberate through the hills and forests. Turkey calls represent the season's wild symphony, but some old pros are concerned that the upcoming turkey hunt may not be as harmonious as usual.

"It's been awfully dry in our area," said Mike Pritchard, who guides hunters near Santa Anna. "It's been my experience in a very dry spring that the hens won't breed because they know the odds of raising poults are slim and none. When the hens don't breed, the gobblers lose interest pretty soon."

The good news, according to Jason Hardin, Texas Parks and Wildlife turkey program leader, is an abundance of turkeys.

"We need a green-up for nesting success, but there are plenty of turkeys to hunt," Hardin said. "We had a good hatch two years ago and there are plenty of 2-year-old birds. They may not gobble as much as usual and they may not respond to hen calls like they ordinarily would, but we've got plenty of birds."

Roy Wilson, who guides turkey hunters on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River near Haskell, agrees with Hardin on the abundance of birds but disagrees with Pritchard when it comes to calling a gobbler.

"I think we'll have a good season because there are so many 2-year-old gobblers," said Wilson, whose operation averages 40 to 45 hunters per spring and harvests 60 to 75 gobblers. "When the hens don't cooperate with the gobblers, it can work in the hunter's favor."

Even when gobblers don't come running to a hen call, a good woodsman with knowledge of how turkeys move through the hunting area can still put himself into position to intercept a spring turkey.

"They're easier to call when you know where they're going and you get there ahead of them," Wilson said. "When you hunt the same ranch for a long time, you get a pretty good feeling for the best hunting spots."

North Zone (101 counties): April 4-May 17

North Zone special youth Season: March 28-29, May 23-24

South Zone (54 counties): March 21-May 3

South Zone special youth season: March 14-15, May 9-10

Eastern Turkeys, bag limit one (43 counties): April 1-30

All Texas turkey hunters 17 and older must pay a $7 upland game bird stamp fee. The stamp is part of the Texas Super Combo License. Eastern turkeys may be hunted with shotguns, lawful archery equipment and crossbows only (no rifles), and no baiting is permitted for eastern birds. If you kill an eastern turkey, you must take the bird to a TP&W check station within 24 hours. Spring turkeys must be tagged immediately with a valid tag from a Texas hunting license. There are four turkey tags on a license, but some counties have a restrictive limit. The limit on eastern turkeys is one gobbler per spring. One tag is designated for an eastern turkey or a Rio Grande, but all four tags may be used on Rio Grande turkeys. Only gobblers are legal game during the spring season.

Hunters often remove the breast meat from a harvested turkey and discard the carcass, but it's illegal to do so until the carcass has been transported to its final destination. According to Texas law, proof of sex must remain attached to the carcass. Proof of sex for a turkey means a leg, including the spur, attached to the carcass or a patch of skin with breast feathers and beard attached to the carcass. The hunter may also obtain a receipt from a taxidermist or a signed statement from the landowner or the landowner's agent that includes the name of the person who killed the turkey, the date the turkey was killed, the sex of the turkey and whether a beard was attached.

Two weekends of the spring Rio Grande turkey season are designated for youth hunters only (16 and younger). In North Texas, youth weekends are March 28-29 and May 23-24. In South Texas, the youth weekends are March 14-15 and May 9-10. Adults may accompany youth hunters during the special season but may not legally harvest a bird.

Spring turkey hunters should learn to imitate the yelps, clucks, purrs and cackles made by hen turkeys. The easiest calls for a beginner to use are box calls, push button calls and slate calls. The most difficult calls to master are diaphragm mouth calls and wingbone calls. It's best to learn through an instructor skilled at calling turkeys, but you can also learn to call by imitating the sounds on an instructional video or audio tape. Luckily, all turkeys do not sound alike. Listen carefully to the sounds made by real turkeys and try to imitate them. Novices should call sparingly.

Problem 1: A turkey responds to your call, but he hangs up and refuses to come any closer. Solution: Change locations. It's unnatural for a hen to remain in one spot. If it's possible to move closer to the gobbler without alerting him, make a move in his direction. If the gobbler is too close, back away from him. When you back away, the gobbler believes the hen is leaving and is more likely to pursue her. It's natural for a hen to approach a gobbler and the gobbler often stands on station, calling to attract any hens in the neighborhood.

Problem 2: There are turkeys in the area, but they're not gobbling. Solution: Find a comfortable spot, preferably near a water hole or food source, and sit quietly. Call sparingly every 15 minutes and be alert to gobblers that come silently to the call.

Problem 3: You set up near a roosting turkey at daylight but the bird flies down, ignores your calls and wanders away with real hens that were roosting nearby. Solution: Wait about an hour, then start walking, stopping every 200 yards or so to call with loud yelps. Gobblers are more likely to be attracted to your call after they've bred available hens. Nine a.m. to noon is a great time to call a turkey.

Beard: Specialized feathers sprouting from the chest of male turkeys (and a few females). Beards resemble coarse hair, similar to a horse's tail. Mature, 2-year-old gobblers usually have a beard measuring eight or nine inches.

Jake: Turkey gobbler born last spring or summer. Jakes tend to be more naïve and easier to call than mature birds. A jake usually has a stubby beard that's less than six inches long. When a jake struts, the middle feathers of his fan are slightly longer than the flanking feathers. A gobbler is fully mature at 2 years and all the feathers on his fan are about the same length.

Spurs: Spikes that grow on a turkey's legs just above its ankles. Like spurs on a rooster, turkey spurs are used for fighting and grow slowly throughout the turkey's life. Long spurs are highly prized by experienced hunters. Any spur longer than an inch is considered good, and spurs longer than 1½ inches are excellent.

Shock call or locator call: Any loud, preferably natural sound, like an owl hoot, crow call or coyote howl. A turkey will often gobble in response to those sounds, allowing the hunter to locate him. Turkeys will sometimes gobble to the sound of a passing car, a slamming car door, a bellowing cow or any other loud noise.

Henned Up: A gobbler accompanied by hens. Gobblers are extremely difficult to call away from real hens. The best tactic is to use soft hen calls in an effort to attract the hens. Where the hens go, the gobbler will follow.

Strut: Ritual display used to impress hens and discourage subordinate gobblers. A strutting gobbler puffs his feathers out and spreads his fan to make himself appear as big as possible.

Drumming: Deep, humming sound made by strutting gobblers. If you hear a turkey drumming, it means he's close, probably closer than 50 yards.

Put a turkey to bed: When a turkey flies up to his roost at dusk, he will often gobble to let nearby hens know where he's spending the night. You can use locator calls at dusk to elicit responses from a roosting gobbler. A hunter who puts a turkey to bed knows where to start the next morning. The hunter should be in position 30 minutes before daylight.

Turkey sign: A gobbler's tracks feature a middle toe that's longer than the other two. A hen's toes are about the same length. When gobblers strut, they drag their wings, leaving distinctive drag marks on favored strutting grounds.

■ Depending on terrain, turkeys are often closer than you think. If a turkey is facing away from you when he gobbles, he sounds farther away. If you hear a turkey gobble and the bird sounds fairly close, make a hen yelp in response. If the turkey gobbles back, you should be able to determine if he's getting closer. Hunters often try to get too close and meet the gobbler coming their way.

■ Though rattlesnakes and other poisonous reptiles are common in most turkey woods, insects like ticks, mosquitoes and chiggers are much more common and may spread diseases. Repellents with the active ingredient DEET do a good job. Treat clothing, including socks, boots and caps, with an insecticide with the active ingredient permethrin to discourage ticks. Don't worry about the chemical smell. Turkeys don't have a sense of smell.

■ Wear camouflage, including camo face mask or face paint and camo gloves. Choose a pattern that blends well in bright green spring foliage. Sit perfectly still when a turkey is looking in your direction. Turkeys have excellent eyesight and spot movement particularly well.

■ Pay attention to where you set up to call turkeys. Try to sit with your back to a tree. The tree helps break up your outline and provides a back rest if you are forced to sit still for a long time. Sit where you have good visibility in the direction you think the turkey will come. Position yourself where you can comfortably shoulder your shotgun for a shot in the logical direction. Turkey pros often use gardening shears to prune vegetation that blocks shooting lanes.

■ Do not try to shoulder your shotgun or otherwise move if you can see a turkey's head. If you can see the turkey's head, he can see you and he will notice any movement. Move when the bird has stepped behind a bush or when a strutting bird turns his back on you.

■ Use a shotgun with a full choke for maximum range but avoid shots much farther than 30 yards. Shoot the turkey in the head and neck. Body shots with a shotgun are less effective because of the turkey's heavy feathers.

■ Pattern your shotgun before the season to determine which shells work best. Several companies make turkey-sized paper targets that work well. Most turkey hunters use premium No. 6 shot, but experiment to determine which loads work best with your shotgun and choke. Patterning is also useful for seeing how your gun performs at measured distances. It also provides a chance to shoot at turkey-sized targets and learn how big they appear at various ranges.

■ Be careful if multiple turkeys are coming to your call. Even the relatively tight pattern of a full-choke shotgun will kill more than one turkey if their heads are pretty close together or if one bird is standing behind the other.

Public access is best for eastern turkeys because those birds are found in East Texas, and that's where most of the state's public land is located. According to Jason Hardin, three overlooked areas for eastern turkeys are Cooper Lake Wildlife Management Area, Pat Mayse WMA and Caddo National Grasslands. The best bets for hunting national forests are the southern Angelina National Forest and most of the Sabine National Forest, though they also receive a fair amount of hunting pressure. You must buy a $48 annual hunting permit to access the WMAs, and most of the hunts are draw hunts. Plan ahead for next year's turkey season. The best advice for an East Texas hunter is to scout long enough to locate a bird prior to the season. Otherwise, be willing to walk long distances, stopping and calling periodically. It's not uncommon to cover five or six miles on a morning hunt. If you are unfamiliar with the area, a compass and a topographic map will help you stay oriented. A handheld global positioning system works even better.

Best regions for Rio Grande turkeys: Edwards Plateau (Hill Country), Cross Timbers, South Texas Plains, Rolling Plains. Texas has more Rio Grande turkeys than any other state.