Predator Call

One of my really good friends, Travis Hall, Public Relations for BROWNING and I hunted turkeys this last weekend.  We called an average of three gobbling two year old birds within shotgun range every time we sat down!  We had a great time and killed four of the birds, allowing the others to walk off. I was somewhat concerned that we did not see a bird of any other age class than two years old, proving that we have had a number of hatch failures over the last several years.  The good news is that we have good moisture and adequate ground cover to assure a large hatch this spring. 

This is a great year to introduce a youngster or beginning hunter to spring turkey hunting.  See you outdoors.

In many Texas counties, there is an either sex fall season for the Rio Grande turkey.  Most of these counties are in South Texas, the Edwards Plateau and a few in the Panhandle.  In most of these counties, the bag limit is four birds.  They can be taken in the fall or the spring or a combination thereof.

If you are hunting in the fall season and decide to take a bird, please consider shooting the hens.  The reason that I request you make this choice is because the number of hens greatly outnumbers the gobblers.  Years of hunters shooting only gobblers that respond to their feeders along with the fact that only the males are legal in the spring has lead to this inbalance of the sexes.  A classic example of this inbalance is demonstrated within a couple of miles of where I am sitting.  Just east of Menard on the San Saba River is one of the largest fall/winter roosts that I have ever seen.  I would estimate that there are 1,500 to 2,500 birds on this roost.  The mature gobbler to hen ratio is twenty to thirty to one. 

Now, if you are not a turkey hunter, you probably don’t care about the ratio of gobblers to hens, but if you love to call turkeys in the spring, this imbalance of sexes will greatly affect your calling success.  Why would an old tom answer the yelps generated by your turkey calls when he has 10 hens standing in front of him?   So when turkeys show up at your feeder and you have an urge to take one or two home for Thanksgiving, take the Ole Henny Penny for this is the only time she is legal.   

The domesticated version of the turkey is definitely responsible for the misconceptions that people have about turkeys in the wild.  When people think ‘turkey,’ the image of a large, unthinking bird comes up. But what most people don’t realize is that this does not apply to wild turkeys.  Wild turkeys are actually highly intelligent birds that are known for the cautious behavior, and cunning. 
 
The wild turkey can fly up to 50 miles per hour, spending upwards to a quarter mile hovered over the ground. They are known for their ability to detect danger, and at the first sign that something is amiss, they will take off in flight.  Turkeys have many vocalizations: “gobbles,” “clucks,” “putts,” “purrs,” “yelps,” “cutts,” “whines,” “cackles,” and “kee-kees.”  The male, also called gobblers or toms, use a specific turkey call in the early spring to attract a mate.  Hunters of wild turkey in the spring use this call to lure hens to a specific spot.  This has to be done as stealthily as possible because when turkeys get wise, they get flying.