Spring has sprung. My tomatoes are in the ground and growing. My honey-do list is expanding much like chewing coconut: the more you chew it, the bigger it gets.
Spring turkey season gives us the last opportunity to make an excuse to go hunting. Last month we talked about how to prepare kids for their first turkey hunt. This month we are going to talk about the six deadly sins of turkey hunting.
Since you have heard some of my opinions about turkey hunting, I decided to solicit another opinion.
I called Duke Walton, a local chief for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. His job is to coach the area’s hunter education instructors. He also gives turkey hunting seminars. I asked him to share with me some of the mistakes he sees people make during spring turkey season. I just called them the “six deadly sins” of turkey hunting because it sounded cool.
1. Perhaps most important, Duke began, is to
spend time before the season practicing with your calls and patterning your shotguns. Regardless of what kind of call you use, (and there are some really easy ones) a little practice before you go hunting always helps. I would suggest not doing it in the house if you want to keep the last “kitchen pass” of the hunting season.
Time spent at the range patterning your shotgun is invaluable. Duke emphasized that different guns and chokes pattern different brands and kinds of ammo differently. I could not agree more.
2. Learn to judge distance. If you do not have some mystical power to judge distances, use a range finder. Know your ethical maximum distance and stay within it. For most hunters this maximum ethical distance is within 30 yards, Duke stressed. The only way anyone can determine their maximum ethical distance is to go to the range and pattern their shotgun with the ammo they are going to use when hunting. This needs to be done by shooting at a turkey silhouette target at different distances from 20 to 40 yards.
A turkey silhouette target not only gives the outline of the head and neck at actual size but also shows the neck vertebra and skull. A minimum of 8 to 10 pellet strikes in the neck vertebra or skull must occur every time you shoot for your gun and load to be reliable at that distance.
Side Note:
You are shooting your shotgun like a rifle. You are aiming, not pointing. This is perhaps the only time Vicki or I would recommend a fiber-optic sight for a shotgun. The one we would recommend is made by Uni-Dot. This fiber optic sight is unique in that the sight is at the end of a six-inch black plastic tube. The only way you can see the glowing fluorescent sight is for your eye to be exactly aligned with the tube. This ensures exact eye alignment when aiming at the target. It is easily installed and easy to take off so you can go to the clays range and practice your wing shooting after turkey season is over.3.
Shoot at the neck, not the whole bird.
Duke had a unique way of talking about this. He called it “up periscope.” He went on to explain that when a turkey is strutting, its neck is held low in its breast. In many ways this makes for a more difficult target to hit because you can’t see it as well.
Also, when a turkey is strutting, he is typically moving, which makes for a more difficult shot. Be patient. When he stops strutting, his head will go straight up in the air, exposing his full neck (“up periscope”) and that is when to take the shot.
You have the largest, most visible target and it is still. Where do you aim? Not at the head, and definitely not at the whole bird. I know it sounds crazy, but heart-pounding adrenaline can cause even the most experienced among us to forget the most basic of things.
Why not at the head you ask? If you aim at the head, half of your pattern will be placed over the head and half of the pattern will be placed under the head. If the shot is placed in the middle of the neck, two things happen. First, the maximum amount of your pattern will be placed over the entire kill zone. Because you are now using your entire pattern (not just the bottom half) you have a greater amount of pointing error. If you happen to pull the shot in any direction, chances of a clean harvest are still good.
Where exactly should you aim? On the neck where the feathers stop.
4. Learn to identify the differences between a gobbler and a hen. The Waltonism for this is “red, white, and blue.” When a gobbler is just walking through the woods, his head is more white than anything. When he gets excited, it turns red or sometimes blue. Although blue sometimes means he thinks something is wrong. A gobbler’s body is more black than anything, whereas, a hen’s body is more brown.
5. Don’t call too much. Duke emphasized that people like to hear themselves call. Less is better.
6. Be patient! Trust yourself and your setup. If a gobbler answers your attempts to talk turkey, chances are good he already knows where you are. You are, after all, in his backyard. He must stop walking to gobble. You will rarely fool a tom turkey with loud excessive calling.
Place your decoy at a known distance. This helps in knowing whether the bird is within range. Duke suggested placing a hen decoy at 20 yards and a jake decoy at 15 yards. An incoming tom will typically head straight for the jake to challenge his presence at the scene, placing him well within your maximum ethical distance.
Have a good time in the turkey woods. Be safe and ethical. Pass it on!
