Doesn't matter how long you've hunted turks they'll still be giving us an education when alls said and done!!
Sometimes the turkey outsmarts the hunter
Just when you think you know it all, some ol' gobbler will school you...
By John Phillipps....... Most turkey pursuers consider hunting the wild turkey a continuing-education program.
Just about the time you think you know all you can about hunting turkeys, some ol' gobbler will remind you that you don't understand as much as you thought you did.
I recently hunted with Larry Norton, a two-time winner of the World Turkey Calling Championship and a turkey hunter his entire life.
Our combined turkey-hunting knowledge spanned 75 years. If anyone should have known how to take a turkey, the two of us should.
However, I soon learned that these turkeys hadn't read the books I'd written on hunting them or seen Norton's awards for his championship calling.
The toms we hunted together recently didn't appreciate our hunting expertise. Our hunt reminded me once more of why turkey hunters must constantly re-educate themselves.
Norton and I worked a bird at daylight.
Totally seduced by Norton's calling, the tom gobbled every time Norton spoke turkey to him.
But the bird stood about 50 yards away from us — behind a hill — and couldn't understand why the hen didn't come to him, which nature intended.
Finally some other hens got with him, and he left Norton and me sitting empty-handed.
Then around 10 a.m., we sat down to blind call because we couldn't see or hear a turkey. Next Norton dozed off, and I heard a turkey gobble in the distance.
Using a box call, I answered the turkey and woke Norton up. To encourage the tom to talk, Norton used his mouth diaphragm call and sang a love song to the turkey.
Although the turkey in the distance didn't answer, a bird about 150 yards away sounded off like thunder on a stormy night.
Norton and I immediately moved 50 yards closer to the gobbling turkey.
As we'd guessed, the tom started coming toward us, gobbling. We heard him fading off and hens yelping.
Because we assumed the turkey had gone off with the hens, we stood up and flushed the gobbler I'd heard in the distance and spoken to with the box call and his hens.
"Often when you're calling a vocal tom, another turkey will come in behind you, just like what happened this morning," Norton said. "That second turkey was most likely a subordinate gobbler that was trying to sneak in and mate with a hen without getting beaten by the dominant gobbler.
"If you call and a distant turkey answers, expect the distant gobbler to come to you. Don't leave your calling position too quickly."
The next time you go after a bad bird, do so with the full understanding that the gobblers most likely will re-educate you — just like they did Norton and me on our hunt.
