by Crystal Cockman
May 18, 2018
I’ve only been turkey hunting a handful of times this spring, but it’s my absolute favorite time of year to be in the woods. The first time I went hunting was with a friend in Montgomery County, and we did not hear a bird. We did however have a red-headed woodpecker dance around in the trees above us nearly the whole time we were out there. It was a beautiful spring day, warm with a slight breeze.
This past week I had the opportunity to go turkey hunting with a friend in Moore County. We arrived before dawn and the whip-poor-wills were calling in the distance. We were hunting on a property that has longleaf pine savanna on a portion of it, the place where we entered the property, with a hardwood forest adjacent. We started walking down a pathway as the sun began to creep into the sky to our east, and then we stopped and listened. Two turkeys gobbled to our southwest but off the property. We were hoping for a turkey in the hardwoods, as it would be much easier to hide from him. My friend, who is an excellent turkey caller, blew on his wingbone call and we heard another bird to our northeast in the big woods. We headed his way.
We found a good tree to lean on and sat down in the woods and started calling to the bird. He gobbled in response every time but did not move. We decided to take a chance and get a little closer. When we sat down and called again, he answered, and we were relieved we had not spooked him. It sounded like he was still gobbling from his perch. Finally he sounded like he was in the savanna in front of us. Then I saw him – strutting around in a path where the grass was thin enough I could get a good look at him. This is not the first time I’ve seen a turkey when hunting, but it was the first time I got to watch one strut. He displayed his fan and put on a show. It was so exciting to watch.
We were hoping he would take the firebreak in front of us, but he was smarter and took a path more to the south of us. He stayed about 100 yards away – too far for a shot. It was so cool getting to watch him though. They are impressive birds both in size and display. It was an experience I won’t soon forget.
That bird moved on and we didn’t hear him respond to our calls anymore, so we had to give up on him. We walked around on the property a good amount and found another bird who answered us once but then would not call again. We spooked a hen who may have alerted him to our presence with her calls. We decided to walk the edge of the savannah back to the truck and we located two other gobblers by sight. We set up a decoy and called to them but they disappeared. That was the end of our hunt that day.
The next day we went back to the same place and headed more in the direction we had heard the two first birds the day before and set up a decoy, but we never heard any birds there. There was a bird calling far off the property to our north and west, so we walked through the savanna and found a clump of pine trees to set up in. We put up two decoys and waited. That bird called a few times and he sounded like he was getting closer, but then went silent. We walked around quite a bit more that day but we never heard any more birds.
Turkeys are a hard animal to hunt, and they have eluded me for another year, but there’s always next year. Whether you get to shoot a bird or not, it’s a great excuse to spend a nice spring morning out in the woods.