PRACTICE, SCOUT BEFORE CALLING TURKEYS : TRY GOBBLING LIKE THREE HENS TO FOOL TOMS INTO GUN RANGE.Byline: Steve Waters South Florida Sun-Sentinel The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, owned by the Tribune Company, is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and all of Broward County. Its main competitor in this area is the Miami Herald, out of neighboring Miami-Dade County to the south. You don't have to be a great turkey caller to hunt wild turkeys successfully. Just ask 1995 world champion caller Chris Kirby. ``People sometimes look at you and say, `He's a champion caller, he must be a great turkey hunter,' but I've hunted with some great callers who couldn't find their way through the woods,'' Kirby said. ``There will be situations where a good caller will call a turkey away from another caller. I've seen that and I've done that. But woodsmanship will kill more turkeys than great calling.'' While the spring turkey season is under way in Florida, California hunters are preparing for their turn at gobblers. The state season runs from March 29 to May 4. Wherever you plan to hunt, practicing calls and scouting scouting: see Boy Scouts; Girl Scouts. scouting Activities of various national and worldwide organizations for youth aimed at developing character, citizenship, and individual skills. Scouting began when Robert S. forests are critical to your success. Simply going out on opening day and calling might lure a gobbler gobbler male turkey. Called also tom. , but the chances are slim. Especially if you're not familiar with the woods you're hunting. The classic example is the hunter who has a bird gobbling on the roost. The hunter sets up 150 yards away and calls. The unseen bird moves within 75 yards of the hunter and comes no closer. Eventually, the bird stops gobbling. After a while, the hunter walks to where the bird last gobbled and discovers a wide creek. Had the hunter known the creek was there and chosen a different calling location, the gobbler might have come running. Kirby, who works for Quaker Boy, his family's game-call business in Orchard Park Orchard Park may refer to the following locations in: Erie County, New York:
``The biggest tip I can give to turkey hunters is persistence,'' he said. ``You can't get frustrated frus·trate tr.v. frus·trat·ed, frus·trat·ing, frus·trates 1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: by it. You've got to learn from it. You've got to think about what happened and why did it happen. You really have to pay attention to the whole picture.'' ``To become a better woodsman, you have to spend more time in the woods. I'll ask in a seminar, `What's the best time to start scouting for game?' The best answer is, `Tomorrow morning,' '' he said. ``Your best scouting opportunity is two weeks before the season. The turkeys are settled down, they're in their patterns and they're gobbling. But if you can spend time in the woods year-round, not necessarily calling them in but just taking walks, the better you'll be.'' Locating turkey signs, such as tracks, droppings and feathers feathers, outgrowths of the skin, constituting the plumage of birds. Feathers grow only along certain definite tracts (pterylae), which vary in different groups of birds. , is the first step to locating productive hunting areas. Consistency is important. As Kirby explained, a few tracks or feathers don't mean anything. Lots of tracks over a period of time probably means that birds are in the area. The next step is to study that area and figure out why it is attracting turkeys. Is the sun warming the area early in the morning? Is food abundant? Are there trees nearby that offer protection from strong winds? ``You don't want to be in there every day, because you are a predator predator an animal that derives its life support by predation. . But you want to scout it out,'' Kirby said. ``You have to read the terrain. ``If you're familiar with your territory, you get there opening day, you owl owl, common name for nocturnal birds of prey found on all continents. Owls superficially resemble short-necked hawks, except that their eyes are directed forward and are surrounded by disks of radiating feathers. hoot and a turkey gobbles, ask yourself where he's going and why is he going to go there. ``The biggest thing in the spring for a gobbler is food and hen concentration. Hens are going to go to the food, and the gobbler is going to follow the hens. So wherever you have hens, that's where he's going to go.'' Getting that gobbler to come within shotgun shotgun: see small arms. shotgun Smoothbore shoulder firearm designed to fire a number of pellets, or shot, that cover a large target area after they leave the muzzle. It is used mainly against small game such as birds. range - 40 yards or less - is where calling comes in. Practice is essential. ``Too many people pick their box call up or their slate call up or their mouth call up two weeks before the season and go into the woods,'' Kirby said. ``You don't have to practice every day like a competition caller, but it helps to pick up your call twice a month.'' Kirby said competition calling has made him a good listener. Although he said no two turkeys sound alike, listen closely and you'll discover that all turkeys have a similar cadence cadence, in music, the ending of a phrase or composition. In singing the voice may be raised or lowered, or the singer may execute elaborate variations within the key. . Reproducing that cadence is a key to calling in turkeys. Another key to successful calling is having confidence in your calls. Although a wide variety of turkey calls are manufactured, Kirby said most hunters can get by with just a couple. One of Kirby's favorites is the Easy Yelper yelp v. yelped, yelp·ing, yelps v.intr. To utter a short, sharp bark or cry: excited dogs yelping; yelped in pain when the bee stung. v.tr. , a simple box call that can be operated with one finger. He said it and a mouth call would be his preferences if he could have only two calls. SPRING TURKEY HUNTING REGULATIONS Season dates: March 29 to May 4. Shooting hours: Half an hour before sunrise Sunrise, city (1990 pop. 64,407), Broward co., SE Fla., a residential suburb 8 mi (13 km) W of Fort Lauderdale; inc. 1961 as Sunrise Golf Village. It is a major office and commercial center and the site of Sawgrass Mills, one of the largest malls in the United States. to 4 p.m. Limit: One bearded turkey per day; two per season. (A bearded turkey, male or female, is one with a beard visible through the breast feathers.) Requirements: Current state hunting license and upland game bird Upland game bird is an American term which refers to those non-water fowl game birds hunted with pointing breeds, flushing spaniels, and retrievers. Upland game include the following:
CAPTION(S): Photo, Box Photo: (color) If you plan to hunt turkey this spring, your success will depend on practicing calls and scouting forests. Sam Jimenez / Special to the Daily News Box: SPRING TURKEY HUNTING REGULATIONS (see text) |
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