4/12/07

The good – and bad – news about turkey season
By Terry Madewell

Terry Madewell Photo

An early mo rning hunt – and some quick gun action – netted Drew Reeser this grand gobbler.

Turkey hunters are experiencing both ends of the good news-bad news spectrum this season based on many reports received this season. One, the SCDNR biologists are right on target with their forecast of not a lot of one- and two-year-old gobblers in the woods this spring. Because of the great reproduction year in 2004 and decent reproduction in 2003, we do have a lot of older birds. So there’s ample gobbling in the woods for hunters to hear, but the older, veteran birds are bit more difficult to call in.

Plus, the mature two-year-olds are the ones that are typically more eager to work and having fewer of them around does require the increased need for patience and softer calling techniques to be consistently successful.

But on the plus side, with older birds dominating the population right now, there’s a much better chance of harvesting a trophy bird. That’s certainly proving true. I’ve seen several long-spurred gobblers harvested so far this season. One old bird had a 12-inch beard and 1-3/8 inch spurs. In addition, the gobbler weighed 20 pounds. That’s a trophy gobbler anywhere.

Drew Reeser and I were hunting and he killed a double-bearded gobbler that had a 10-inch main “rope” beard and a second beard that stretched six inches. Plus the gobbler had 1-1/8 inch spurs, another trophy bird for sure.

Our hunt was a prime example of how an old bird will sometimes still provide a “flash” hunt. We sat patiently in an area where I knew at least a couple gobblers were supposed to be roosted. However, by 7:30 that morning we had not heard a gobble. The previous morning (opening day) we heard a gobbler crank it up at 6:30 in the morning. Granted that seemed a bit early, but most of the gobbling has started around 6:45 to 6:50 most mornings that I’ve been out listening.

So by 7:30, after hearing no gobbles, Drew and I were ready to “troll.” By that I mean we start slipping through the woods, slowly and quietly, and making occasional calls. As the morning gets lighter and life in the forest awakens, we get louder and more aggressive with the calling.

Just before we got up to walk, I thought I heard a gobble far to my right. I whispered to Drew to see if he’d heard the bird; he shook his head no.

But, we decided to work in the direction first, just in case I had heard something. We went about 200 yards and I ran series of yelps and “GilllllOOOOBLE” came a quick reply. We had been smart enough to step off the old road into the woods. Drew slipped quickly to a spot about 30 yards in front of me. I sat by a big longleaf close to where I had called. I cranked up again with both the mouth and slate and the gobbler hammered again, much closer this time. Another series of calls and he gobbled again, almost on top of Drew. He heard the bird go into strut, and then he heard the gobbler walking on a course that would bring it into vision at 30 yards.

The gobbler walked into the open, Drew pulled the trigger and “click” was the only sound. Up to this point, the bird never knew Drew was in the woods. It was focused on the source of the hen sound, some 30 yards behind Drew. But it stopped and looked at him when the shell didn’t go off.

All credit to Drew for saving this hunt. The pump gun would not shuck the bad shell out without him hitting the release button on the bottom of the loading mechanism. He did that, shucked a new shell in the chamber and shot the gobbler on the move. The old bird was one short step away from safety when Drew got him. Of course, all this happened in a heartbeat.

Just as I saw the gobbler, I heard the click of a misfired shell, heard some metal commotion and then the shot. A flood of relief washed over me when a saw the gobbler crumple in a heap. It was a most exciting hunt and a great gobbler.

This seems to be the year to get a “bird for the book” so to speak. While we covered this a couple years ago, it’s worth repeating. Following are the basics of how to score a turkey for record book comparison. You can get full details from the National Wild Turkey Federation in Edgefield, S.C.

According to the NWTF, the purpose of the program is to provide hunters throughout the world with a permanent record keeping system that will preserve information on all legally harvested wild turkeys taken in the spirit of fair chase.

Records are kept for our Eastern subspecies we have here, as well as the Florida (Osceola) Rio Grande and Merriam’s subspecies.

The features of the turkey that comprise the scoring components include the weight of the turkey, the beard length and the spur length. These are considered in a specific manner to determine a total score for wild turkeys. The specific formula for overall score is: weight (lbs. and oz.) plus 10 times the spur length (right plus left spurs) plus two times the beard length.

The beard must be measured, to the nearest one-sixteenth inch, from the center point of the protrusion from the skin to the end of the longest bristle. Spurs must be measured, to the nearest one-sixteenth of an inch, along the outside center, from the point at which the spur protrudes from the scaled leg skin to the tip of the spur. Ounces and fractions of inches need to be converted to decimals.

And it’s really that simple. For example, a gobbler weighing 19.5 pounds with a 10-1/4 inch beard with one-inch spurs (the same length on both sides) would score as follows:

The weight would equal 19.5 points. The beard length would be multiplied by two for a total of 20.5 points. The spur length would be one inch plus one inch to include both spurs, times ten, for a total of 20 points. The total score for the gobblers harvested would be 60 points. With this information you can rate your turkey against others you harvest and to others in the NWTF book.

Persons submitting records for official listing must be members of the NWTF. Hunters may join when the record is submitted. For detailed rules from the NWTF or for an official application form, contact the National Wild Turkey Federation, P.O. Box 530, Edgefield, S.C. 29824.

Go turkey hunting and get a big gobbler to score!