Control burns can bring in turkeys
Dale Bounds likes to remember one chilly spring morning spent hunting wild turkeys in the Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana last year.
Bounds, the former president of the Texas State Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, arrived at his hunting area well before daylight on the March morning. He opened his truck door and smelled smoke.
"I didn't know it ahead of time, but it was pretty obvious the forest service had done a prescribed burn on the area recently," Bounds said. "Everything was charred, and there were still some logs smoldering. My partner and I thought about leaving and driving to a different area, but then we decided we would go ahead and give it try."
The two men had hiked a considerable distance down the gated forest road when they spotted what appeared be a flashlight flickering in the woods ahead.
"At first I thought it was another hunter, but as we moved closer I could tell it wasn't a flashlight," Bounds said. "It was a log that was still on fire."
As gobbling time approached, Bounds and his partner chose a good spot to set up. Bounds made a series of light tree yelps. He was surprised to draw a quick response from not one, but two Tom turkeys. He killed one of the birds an hour or so after daylight.
"We would have doubled up if my partner's shotgun hadn't misfired," Bounds said. "I really couldn't believe it. I had always heard that turkeys would move back into a fresh burn area pretty quick, but I never put much faith in it until I experienced it myself."
The U.S. Forest Service and Texas Forest Service rely heavily on prescribed burns on national forest lands. The controlled burns rid the forest floor of dense underbrush, pine straw and other fuels that can accumulate over time and contribute to the threat of wildfires.
Used correctly, fire promotes an open under story beneath the forest canopy and sparks growth of tender forbes and native plants animals need to thrive. The practice benefits many species of wildlife including wild turkeys, red cockaded woodpeckers, quail and whitetail deer.
Texas turkey hunters who plan to hunt on public lands in East Texas this spring will likely see fresh evidence of control burns in the Angelina, Sabine, Davy Crockett and Sam Houston national forests.
Since Oct. 1, crews have performed controlled burns on more than 100,000 acres of property within the National Forests and Grasslands of Texas, according to Gay Ippolito, public affairs officer for the U.S. Forest Service in Lufkin.
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