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May 3, 2004 |
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Turkey Hunting
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Saturday, May 1st was another important 'opening day' here in the Catskills - the opening day of spring turkey season, much anticipated by small game hunters from near and far. The fact that our wooded Catskill Mountains are home to a very healthy population of wild turkeys is a testament to the quality of the habitat found here, and to the successful efforts of wildlife biologists and conservationists who fought to save wild turkeys; bringing them back from near extinction in the 1930's. Today turkeys are very common throughout the U.S., numbering over five million birds. There are few people in the Catskills who have not seen the noble form of a gobbler, hen, or tom strutting through the woods or across a meadow. There is such a large population of turkeys in southeastern New York in fact, that the game laws allow hunters here to take two turkeys during the fall season, while only one is allowed in other parts of the State. Hunters statewide can take two male turkeys in the spring season.
Anyone waking up at the crack of dawn during the past couple of weeks has undoubtedly heard a symphony of bird song filling the air. This beautiful chorus seems to peak just as the earliest morning light creeps across the landscape, well before sunrise. One of the sounds to be heard at this time is the unmistakable gobble of the male wild turkey, usually from his roost high in a tree. Such was the case on Saturday morning when Chris snuck out into the dark woods behind his house at 5:00a.m., dressed completely in camouflage and carrying his trusty shotgun. Despite making an attempt each year, he has never had the opportunity to actually take a shot at a wild turkey.
The idea in the spring is to use a turkey call to imitate the clucking sound of a hen, in an attempt to lure in a gobbler. Many people are experts at doing this, and consistently call in turkeys for their family, friends, and hunting clients each year. Some of these folks even win turkey calling competitions! Chris, on the other hand, clucks away without really knowing what he's supposed to sound like, and often seems to send the gobblers running the other way, if he can find one gobbling at all.
This year the gobbler was easy to find, as he was taking up residence in a tall tree just a few hundred feet from the house - his goofy gobble could be heard each morning outside the bedroom window. A fallen tree with lots of limbs and brush, about a 150 feet from the tree the turkey was in, made the perfect place to sit and hide and cluck. Gobble gobble; cluck cluck; gobble gobble; cluck cluck. And so it went, back and forth between Chris and the turkey for over twenty minutes. Love was in the air, or so Chris thought, until the turkey finally flew down out of his roost and started walking away in the opposite direction. No amount of sexy clucking could get that turkey to turn around and come back toward the hiding spot. The turkey still gobbled every few minutes, but was soon far away, across the road.
Conventional wisdom and official safety advice says that when you're hunting turkeys, always stay put and don't stalk a turkey because there could be other hunters that might mistake you for a turkey with all of your camo on. Chris knew there was no one else hunting in the area though, and he couldn't resist the urge to go after the turkey. For two hours he moved slowly, playing hide and seek; pursuing the gobbler who was still gobbling as he wandered around. After getting quite close at one point, the gobbler got wise to his presence and took off back across the road again and was gone.
On Monday morning Chris tried one more time, again clucking back and forth with the gobbler while it was still up in his roost, and once again the turkey flew down and took off the other way. Looks like Chris could use some turkey language lessons. Turkey season runs the whole month of May - maybe there's still time to rent a "how to" turkey-hunting video at the Belleayre Plaza...
- Aaron and Chris
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