Ihave been trying to put this off, (I’m not sure why) but it’s turkey time once again.
Spring gobbler season is going on in several states already and will be soon in many others. Here in my neck of the woods we have until the third week of April while neighboring Virginia has a youth season on April 5th and 6th, with the regular season starting a week later.
O yes, it’s here, some of you are turkey hunting now or you will be soon.
Why did I make that remark back there about trying to put the whole thing off? Again, I’m not sure but it could have something to do with the ghastly hour we have to arise from warm beds to go hear a turkey gobble.
As I have talked about before, getting up before the chickens have even thought about it is just uncivilized. If it weren’t for the invention of strong coffee the whole thing would be impossible (for me at least).
As the season is often a month or more long, this length of time with little sleep often transforms the avid turkey hunter into something like a wolverine with a bad toothache. O well, I’m sure we will discuss this further as the season progresses.
While the actual hunting season is not in for many of us right now, it might as well be. How so? It is because the hunting time is so close, this means all the getting ready and preparation we have to do is right on top of us staring us in the face.
Getting all the gear ready, buying new gear we really don’t need, (you can never have enough camo shirts) shooting and patterning your shotgun, and buying more turkey calls and practicing with them is all very important.
I am currently in the middle of writing an article for a hunting magazine on turkey calls. Do you have any idea how many companies out there are making turkey calls now?
Stuart Ruelling, who owns Midwest Turkey Call Supply, (www.midwestturkeycall.com) probably the largest supply house for turkey calls and other gear, told me today that they carry no less than 240 different kinds of diaphragm mouth calls for turkeys. Add to this the huge volume of box calls, pot type calls which are slate, glass, and aluminum based, scratch boxes, yelpers, tube calls, and probably three other kinds of calls I have forgotten about. Trying to talk about all that and offer advice on what calls might suit the new hunter best is frankly exhausting.
Notice I said the new hunter. After a turkey hunter gets a few years under his belt they evolve into a cantankerous, opinionated animal with no time for anyone that disagrees with them on anything about turkeys. (this may be related to that lack of sleep thing)
Once the turkey hunter reaches this stage there is no turning back, he will loudly proclaim the calls he uses are the best, period. So if you write about various turkey calls available on the market and don’t mention the kind and brand he uses, your article is just so much fertilizer.
I doesn’t seem so long ago that turkey calls were in a much different realm. A turkey call might have been something that was rare, passed down in a family or to trusted friends. They were usually old box calls or a homemade yelper made from turkey wing bones.
They all had stories that went them and this made it all the better.
If you carried Dad or Grandad’s box call it was as if they were going to the woods with you. They were sitting there once more telling you when to call, when to be silent, and no, don’t move yet, just be patient and sit still.
Yes, it is turkey time and for most of us it will be going on to at least the middle of May. That is a long time for too little sleep and too much coffee and Little Debbie Cakes, but somebody has to do it.
Maybe I will try one of those energy drinks this year.
Larry Case www.gunsandcornbread.com
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