March 2013 John 3:16 Vol. 4 No. 32

Follow us on FacebookHillcountry Outdoor Magazine/Dean Wells

158 East Road • Ecru, MS 38841hillcountry@ms.metrocast.net

Featuring:

Thoughts, Theories, Facts and RumorsThoughts And Theories FromSuccessful Turkey Hunters

Featuring:

Thoughts, Theories, Facts and RumorsThoughts And Theories FromSuccessful Turkey Hunters

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Thoughts, Theories, Facts and RumorsThoughts And Theories From SomeSuccessful Turkey Hunters:• When you think itʼs time to get up and move to another hunting spot,stay put for five more minutes. Patience is important.

• When setting up on turkeys before daylight, donʼt try to get too closeto a roost. If you flush them out of their tree, they may scatter, changetheir daily routines or move out of the area. Most early morning huntersstay well away from a roost.

• Lengthen the life of a diaphragm call by inserting the curved end of apaper clip between the reeds. This will keep them separated as theydry, and preserve the tone of the call as well as its longevity.

• Do not attempt to take a displaying gobbler. Since a sportsmanʼs goalis to put as many pellets as possible into the head and neck, a shotgunpattern is most efficient when the bird extends its neck, enlarging thetarget area. Once a gobbler comes within range, many hunters usesome type of vocalization such as a "putt" to bring it out of full strut.

Some hunters feel a bird is less likely to work downhill toward a call. Ifa gobbler is located on a hillside or partway up a ridge, these hunterslike to climb the slope to call from a position above the tom or at leaston the same level. If a tom "hangs up," or refuses to come closeenough for shot, persuasive techniques may vary according to its prox-imity. Try softer calling, calling in another direction, using different vocal-izations or stop calling all together. If the bird is distant or hiddenenough to permit limited movement, try switching calls or actually mov-ing back as if the hen is going away. Another effective method is tolightly rustle or rake leaves with your hand, imitating the sounds of aturkey scratching the ground. Never call or move when a bird is veryclose, since it will pinpoint the source of sound.

Wind changes the challengeof turkey hunting. Somehunters like to call louder,move slower and be morealert to birds approaching un-heard in the gusts, and un-seen in the moving foliage.Other hunters prefer to set upupwind of where they suspectbirds to be, and use the windto help carry their vocaliza-tions.• Turkeys have a poor senseof smell, so hunters are wellserved by applying insect re-pellent. A gobbler wonʼt smellyou, but he can easily seeyou if you move. If youʼre notbothered by mosquitoes or gnats, youʼre more apt to sit still longer.

• If you see another hunter in the woods, never move or make turkeysounds. Simply call out a name or the word "hello." Let the sound of ahuman voice safely alert the hunter that someone else is in the area.

• Know your hunting area and its safe zone of fire.

• If hunting with companions, know their locations.

The Top Ten Suggestions for a Safe Turkey HuntHunt preparation - Proper handling of firearms is essential for a safehunt. You can develop this important skill by attending a Mississippi HunterEducation course. All ages can learn something new at one of these pro-grams. For information about course dates, contact the state game wardenin your county.

Proper Clothing - Hunters should avoid wearing colors associated withwild turkeys such as red, black, white and blue. Wearing red, white andblue, which are colors of a turkey's head, or black, which is their bodycolor, may confuse other hunters.

Safety First - Following these five simple safety rules listed below willhelp assure a safe hunt

Hunter Awareness - Most hunters, when hearing a gobbler, try to get asclose as possible before calling. However, other hunters may be calling orworking the same bird. Don't compete with other hunters. If you're unsureabout another hunter's position, stop calling and reassess the situation.

Where to Call - When you are ready to start hunting or calling, sit at thebase of a tree which has a trunk wider than your body. This way you cansee an approaching hunter and you are protected from the rear. Use thisposition to call so you can see in all directions for turkeys or hunters.

Using a Decoy – Safety-conscious hunters are very careful when using adecoy. If you decide to use one, place it so you will be out of the line of fire.Put a tree between you and the decoy. If you are in the open, place thedecoy so it faces directly toward or away from you and can be seen by ap-proaching hunters from all directions. Always carry decoys in a bag orbackpack going to and from hunting sites.

Calling - Your turkey calls may sound like a real turkey to other hunters,so be alert. Don't use calls that imitate a gobbler. Experienced turkeyhunters believe it's dangerous and unnecessary. Other Hunters - Whenanother hunter approaches you, don't wave your hand as a signal. Thismovement could trigger a shot. Instead, shout to the other person sincethere isn't much chance a hunter will mistake your voice.

Identifying Your Target - The most critical moment of any turkey hunt iswhen you decide to pull the trigger. Be absolutely sure the bird you see is alegal turkey. In the 'gobbler only' season, this means you must see thebeard as a positive means of identifying the bird. Never shoot at noise,movement or color.

Leaving the Woods - Once you have bagged your turkey or have de-cided to quit hunting for the day, unload your firearm. Walking through thewoods wearing a blaze orange vest using the most visible route to your ve-hicle will also help protect you .

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Turkey calling is the most confusing and frustrating part of turkey hunt-ing for many hunters, even experienced ones. Turkeys make dozens ofcalls or sounds, but you don't need to know them all to be successful.

Master the cluck, yelp and purr, with a few variations and you're readyfor the woods.

Calling is the most overrated part of turkey hunting, although the partthat most hunters focus on. No secret calling sequence or calling deviceis guaranteed to "bring em' in" every time.

There are three SECRETS to turkey calling strategy:

Know how to effectively operate your calls.Make the right call at the right time.Call to a gobbler that is by himself....one that hopefully wants company.

Calling A Roosted Gobbler

I recommend a standard approach to calling a roosted gobbler. Let himknow you're a hen just waking up and looking for company. Play a littlehard to get to start off.

Begin with a few soft tree yelps, a cluck or two and purrs...just what heexpects to hear from a hen on roost.

If he answers with a gobble, wait 10 minutes before calling again. Re-peat the call if he's still in the tree after 10 minutes.

If he answers again, put the call down. You'll know that he's still in thetree by the sound of his gobble. It will sound strong, clear and all fromthe same location.

Don't call too much to him when he's in the tree. You want him to comedown. By calling too much, he generally prolongs his stay on roost,making him gobble more, which attracts hens or other hunters and letshim know precisely where you are. He expects you to come to him.

When you see or hear him fly down or if the nextgobble sounds muffled but in the same generaldirection, you should assume that he is on theground. Immediately make a fly-down cackle,followed with a short series of yelps or cutts.

If he gobbles at that, you have his attention.What you want to hear now is his gobbling get-ting closer and closer as he moves towards you.And sometimes it actually happens that way!

If you hear him spitting and drumming, he's al-most in gun range. Make a few soft clucks and purrs to let him knowyou are close too. That is what he expects to hear.

What If He Doesn't Walk Right In?

There is no secret call or tactic to drag him in, despite what the callmanufacturers tell you. Each situation is different. Each bird is uniqueand will respond to different calls in different ways.

Turkey calling is very much an art. It helps to have a lot of experience.But be patient if he doesn't prance right up to your location.

If he's getting closer, but not coming in very fast, make no move. Keepcalling patiently about every 5 minutes or so. Try to sound like an ex-cited hen with snappy, yelps, clucks and cutts with an occasionalcackle. Don't give up on a slow moving gobbler for at least an hour.

If he's getting closer, but not comingin very fast, make no move. Keepcalling patiently about every 5 min-utes or so. Try to sound like an ex-cited hen with snappy, yelps, clucksand cutts with an occasional cackle.Don't give up on a slow moving gob-bler for at least an hour.

Call only loud enough for him to hearyou. If you call too loudly, he willthink you should move towards him.Keep your calls low at thispoint...make him curious.

Call often enough to keep his attention. If he is gobbling several times aminute, and some will first thing in the morning before they join up withhens, it's a mistake to answer every gobble.

I like to answer him about one time per minute. But, if he's gobblingonly about once per minute, I'll answer every gobble early in the morn-ing.

And I suggest you wait to hear him gobble and then answer him. In thisway, you know exactly where he is and it will help you make the deci-sion on how to respond. It's fun to call and have him answer, but I pre-fer to know his location before I call, because he may have approachedand be in my lap and a loud call to him at that time may cause him tohang up.

How To Call If He Still Won't Come In?

As long as he is still gobbling I remain in my position unless I know I'mtoo far away or there is an obstacle between the bird and my location.Then I'll move quickly to a better set up before proceeding to call more.

Assuming you think you are located correctly, which is the real SE-CRET to calling, be patient with your calls. Be adaptable.

Try soft calls like purrs, whines, and clucks and yelps to try to fool thebird into thinking you have moved farther away.

If that doesn't work, try to sound like an obnoxious, excited hen withloud yelps, and cutts. I'll try to sound like more than one hen. Use amouth call and a friction call to imitate two birds talking to each other.Sometimes this drives gobblers crazy. I don't call when a bird can seeme, unless I'm trying to coax him in the last few yards. I'll use softclucks and purrs mostly.

There are many reasons why a gobbler won't come to your calls andmost of the time it's not your poor calling. The best callers in Americawill have no better luck calling gobblers than you will. It mostly dependson the situation.

For example, if he has hens with him, it's doubtful that you can draghim away. Or even if he's alone, he may hang up. I usually try a periodof the "silent treatment" on a gobbler that has been answering me andwon't come in.

And later really crank it up and call almost constantly for a minute or soto sound like a lost, excited bird to try to get him stimulated to gobbleand make him move in.

No matter what you do, many gobblers will simply slip away and you'llfeel defeated.

Don't be discouraged this happens to all of us. The same calls thatfailed today may work nicely tomorrow on a different bird or the samebird. (continued on pg. 8)

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Iʼm still not sure about this whole globalwarming thing, but I do know that thewinters where I live are not as cold andsnowy as they used to be. I can re-member the days when you could al-ways count on hunting in the snow onThanksgiving Day. Now thereʼs noguarantee that youʼll even have ameasurable amount of snow at anytime during the winter season. Thesame goes for February. The last cou-

ple of days have warmed up considerably and our good weather folksare predicting temperatures in the 70ʼs tomorrow. If itʼs even close, weʼllthink that spring has sprung.

Iʼve noticed over the years how the changes in weather have affectedthe hunting and fishing seasons. Years ago our wives could rest as-sured that Saturdays in February would find us at home doing somechore that we had put off for too long. But last Saturday the boats wereout in full force, headed to the lake like a tired horse headed for thebarn. The lines were once clearly defined as to when the fishing andhunting seasons opened and closed, but today the line is vague if notaltogether gone. Deer season at one time closed early in December inmy area. Now itʼs nearly the middle of January. It once opened in Octo-ber, now Kentucky opens the first day or two of September. All of thesechanges have made us hunting and fishing types have to discipline our-selves when it comes to the time spent in our favorite outdoor place.And for most men this self-discipline is difficult. The truth is we needstructure. We need parameters. We need rules and guidelines. Thismakes life so much easier, even though we bark against them fromtime to time. We donʼt want anyone telling us what to do……… but weneed them to. We need to know when too much is too much. We needto know when we are neglecting the things that we shouldnʼt be ne-glecting. Women seem to have a knack for knowing these things. Mendonʼt and thatʼs why we need the accountability that comes from a car-ing spouse who understands the deep desire we have to return to our“hunter” side and the greater desire we have to please the one we arewith. The Lord puts these loving people in our lives in order to help uswhen the lines of life get undistinguishable. Donʼt turn them away.Theyʼll give you a healthy balance so that youʼll be able to enjoy, notonly your hunting or fishing, but every other part of your life as well.

Gary Millergary@outdoortruths.org

OutdoorTruths

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Sloan Horton and Madison Carneswith a nice string of bass. On Jan. 19, it was too hot to go huntingso these girls picked up their poles and went fishing.

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Thoughts, Theories, Facts and Rumors (continued from pg. 5)

Strategy for Hung Up and Silent Gobblers

Try these three tactics for any silent gobbler or one that hangs up orwon't come to you after an hour of calling.

Give him the "silent treatment" for about 20 minutes. He's been hearingyou call every 5 to 10 minutes for an hour. Now shut up. He may get cu-rious and come over to investigate.

Be prepared for him to walk in silently, like a ghost.

If that doesn't work, try calling a lot, you've got nothing to lose.

Try to fire him up with excited cackles, cutting, and yelps. Give this ap-proach about 15 minutes. You're generally trying to simply stimulatehim into gobbling so you know where he is and to excite him into doingsomething.

If he answers, work him normally.

The last resort is to move. But don't move if he's getting closer, even if itis very slowly. Don't move if you can hear spitting and drumming, he'svery close, stay where you are. If you get him to gobble, even once,and he shuts up again, be on the alert for him to come to you silently.

You'll Eventually Decide To Move.

If you decide to move, make one more excited series of calls to try tostimulate him into gobbling so you know where he is. When moving, doit quickly, quietly and stay out of sight. Move into another, better posi-tion.

If he's been close...say 100 yards or so, move back 50 to 100 yardsand try calling again. Make him think you are leaving.

If he's far away, try to cut the distance in half. Keep using the same call-ing patterns you did before.

If the bird is on another ridge or has been moving away from you, staywith him as long as possible. Move in closer but stay out of sight. Tryingto get ahead of a gobbler to intercept him is often said to be the bestpolicy, but I find it difficult to predict where he's going. I prefer to bringup the rear, and stay with him because eventually he will stop and setup shop in a new Strut Zone and then I'll make my final adjustment ofposition.

There are times when you need to move quickly.

If you hear gobbling from the other side of an obstacle like a fence,ravine, or heavy brush and he seems to be pacing back and forth overa hundred yard distance or so, you can get up and move to the end ofhis pattern when he's on the other end, but this is easier said thandone.

If he's on a different ridge than you are, it's best to move to his ridge.Turkeys will come across obstacles, but most hunters don't have thepatience to wait that long. If he's clearly leaving, every gobble gettingfarther away, get up and move so you can stay with him.

And...finally, after at least an hour of calling from one spot, you maywant to move to another spot, especially if you heard gobbling from itearlier.

The best advice on calling strategy is to select the proper strut zoneand stay there for several hours. I strongly believe that hunting in nomore than two good spots each morning will produce more consistentresults than moving every hour or so.

A LOOK AT SOME CREATIVE,BUT UNFOUNDED, WILDTURKEY TALESBy Dr. James Earl KennamerVP ConservationNat. Wild Turkey Federation

We hunters have an almost uncanny ability to draw the wildest conclu-sions from the most obscure observations. The wild turkey rumor mill isa result of this skill, fed by the creative imaginations of a few huntersand armchair outdoors people. Let's take a look at some creative, butunfounded, wild turkey rumors I have heard over the years:

Rumor Turkeys are so dumb that they will look up when it rains and drown.

Fact This popular belief is simply not true. Even the domestic turkey doesnot look up at the rain and drown.

This rumor most likely started from farmers who had domestic turkeysthat died during a rainstorm. But instead of drowning, the birds wereprobably scared by the lightning, panicked and congregated en masseinto one corner of the pen, suffocating the unfortunate birds in the cen-ter.

This rumor also may have resulted from the observation that after acold spring rain, turkey poults sometimes disappear and are assumeddead. Poults can die from exposure, or hypothermia, after several con-secutive days of a cold spring rain. Biologists have seen this trendthroughout the U.S., especially in the northern portion of the wildturkey's range.

Rumor The wild turkey gobbler will follow the hen to the nest and destroy theeggs.

Fact There have been no verified accounts of a gobbler destroying a clutchof eggs.

Let's examine the logical flaw; the wild turkey gobbler spends threemonths during the spring strutting, gobbling and otherwise acting like afreak-show attraction on steroids. After all, the sole purpose for matingdisplays is for the gobbler to mate with a hen and pass his DNA to an-other generation of turkeys. Now, why would a gobbler go and destroythis investment?

Despite the rumor's lack of logic, some people believe we must have aspring gobbler season to remove the gobblers so the toms don't de-stroy the hens' eggs. This rumor is definitely false.

Contrary to some stories, there have been no verified accounts of agobbler destroying a hen's clutch of eggs.

Rumor If you sprinkle salt on a turkey's tail, you can catch her.

Fact Yes, if you can get that close to a hen, you probably can catch her. Asimilar rumor goes that if you sprinkle pepper on a hen's tail, she willlead you to her nest.

If you could get that close, a predator would have beat you to it and al-ready removed the bird from the population. I don't know how this oldrumor started years ago, but there is no truth in it.

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Rumor The department of natural resources is stocking coyotes and rat-tlesnakes to control deer and turkey populations.

Fact Several state wildlife agency biologists report they have been blamedfor stocking rattlesnakes and coyotes to reduce wild turkey and deerpopulations. What is even more outlandish is the stocking techniques.

Biologists have been accused of placingrattlesnakes in balloons, filling the balloonwith air to soften the fall and then droppingthe package out of an airplane. Anotherversion of this rumor claims that the bal-loons are filled with water, the snakeplaced in the balloon and then thrown outof an airplane.

There are two flaws in this logic. First, it would be much easier to re-lease the snakes from crates than from the air. Second, who is actuallygoing to put a poisonous snake into a balloon, much less put the bal-loon to their mouth and fill it with air. One agency biologist relayed thishumorous story:

"Two guys came into the office the other day and accused me of plac-ing rattlesnakes into balloons and throwing them out of an airplane; Isaid, 'Sure, and I'm looking for two guys to blow the hot air into them.Want a job?'"

Additionally, the DNR also is not stocking coyotes. One explanation forthe rumor is the recent expanding coyote populations, especially in theeastern U.S. Coyotes are adaptable and don't need any help from thestate wildlife departments.

Rumor The reason grouse and quail populations have decreased is becausethe turkeys are eating grouse and quail young.

Fact This may sound ridiculous, and it is, but we continue to receive callsand letters accusing turkeys of eating quail and grouse chicks andcausing the smaller fowls' population to drop.

It is true that quail and grouse populations in some regions have de-clined over the last two decades. At the same time, wild turkey popula-tions have dramatically increased.

Loss of quail habitat is the reason for their population decline, espe-cially in the Southeast. The same holds true with grouse, which requireyoung, early-successional forests. Currently, many of our forests areolder and offer limited grouse habitat. Wild turkeys, in contrast, use allhabitat types from early-successional forest to older, late-successionalforests. The poor quail and grouse populations are a function of habitat,not wild turkeys eating their chicks.

Rumor The turkeys are ruining the deer hunting.

Fact Apparently, some deer hunters are even blaming their poor deer hunt-ing success on turkeys. The story goes that turkeys are either, eating allthe acorns and causing the deer to starve, making so much noise in thewoods that the hunters can't hear the deer or spooking the deer with alltheir racket.

It just goes to show that turkey hunters aren't the only ones with a cre-ative imagination. In case you're wondering, this rumor is also not true.

This belief is not limited to just deer. One state biologist relayed the fol-lowing account:

"Four of us were fall turkey hunting and each harvested a bird. Whenwe arrived at the check station the attendant walked over to our truckand saw our turkeys in the back. He actually thanked us for killing thebirds and encouraged us 'to go backout and get some more becausethey're eating all the acorns and starv-ing the squirrels.'"

Do turkeys make a lot of noise whenthey are feeding in the woods? Sure,but that should not interfere with deerhunting. In addition, turkeys rarely stayin one location for a long period oftime.

Are the turkeys eating all the acornsand starving the deer? No. First, wildturkeys can't eat every acorn. Second,deer are browsers and use other foodsin addition to acorns. We also need tounderstand that we had whitetail deer and wild turkeys co-existing inthis country long before the European settlers landed on the east coast.

Rumors about wild turkeys grow, mature and eventually develop intonew ones. Many hunters who know their wild turkey biology can beginto believe rumors if they hear the same rumor enough times. Unfortu-nately, some of these false tales, such as the coyote and rattlesnakestockings, are often counterproductive to state agency programs andhinder our ability to work together to benefit the wild turkey resource.

Thoughts, Theories, Facts and Rumors (continued from pg. 8)

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Name of Hunter killed this buck in December on family land in Lowndes County.Name green scored him at around 175" gross.

Name of Person killed this nice buck on January 17th near Lafayette Springs, MS, afterhunting him for 4 weeks. Name had seen the deer a week earlier, but he was standingat 300 yds. and he didnʼt want to take a bad shot. He came back a week earlier and tookthe buck at 50 yds,, when it was almost dark.

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Jim Chapman harvested this nice buckDec.20. The deer scored 143 5/8.

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Madison Carnes killed this nice buck on Nov. 17, in PikeCounty, Illinois, after 27 hours of sitting. She had passedon several small bucks and seen several bigger than thisone, but the shots were to long. I didn't think it was going tohappen but 20 minutes before dark he came out. Madisonshot the buck at 70 yards with a muzzleloader.

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