Chasing Tom: Hunters still lured by challenge of bagging turkeys
As the price of gasoline continues to soar, more folks are tightening their spending belts and tuning their budgets just so they can afford to feed their SUVs and pick-up trucks enough to make it through a regular work week.
Micah Poteet is wondering what type of impact gas prices will have on spring turkey hunters this year. Poteet is a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wildlife biologist from Lufkin who saves most of his annual leave and comp time for the month of April, when turkey season is in full swing statewide.
We talked turkey via telephone last week, and while pondering the preseason outlook, our discussion quickly turned to $3.20 per gallon unleaded and $3.97 diesel. Poteet thinks there will be fewer hunters in the woods this year as the result of stiff gasoline prices.
Even many of the hardcore hunters who plan on getting out this season will be doing so "cold turkey," says Poteet. In turkey hunting lingo, going cold turkey means going hunting without doing any scouting ahead of time. The cost of those extra trips is just too much.
"Just getting to where you hunt is one thing, but you can also rack up a lot of miles driving around those forest roads looking and listening," Poteet said. "You can drive another 30 miles and spend another $8-10 on gasoline before you know it. There is a good chance gas prices are going to cut into the amount of time many turkey hunters will spend in the woods this spring, myself included."
Around 75,000 hunters are expected to hunt spring turkeys in Texas this year. Some will travel long distances from Rio Grande country to Central Texas, West Texas or South Texas. Others will go East to the Post Oak and Pineywoods regions to chase easterns.
Poteet is one of a close-knit group of southeast turkey hunters who live near the Angelina and Sabine national forests. Both are public hunting hotbeds located within a nucleus of East Texas counties that opened for eastern gobbler hunting back in the 1990s.
Public hunting opportunities also exist in the Davy Crockett and Sam Houston national forests, a host of TPWD wildlife management areas, government lands and the Caddo National Grasslands in Fannin County.
All total, 43 East Texas counties will be open for hunting during the upcoming eastern spring gobbler season, which gets under way April 1 and runs through April 30. One exception is the Caddo National Grasslands in Fannin County, which still has only a two-week season from April 5-18.
The season limit in all East Texas counties is one gobbler by shotgun, archery gear or crossbow only. Hunting with rifles or over bait is prohibited in East Texas. A public hunting lands permit ($48) is required to hunt on some public lands, whereas others can be accessed for free. Check the 2007-08 Texas Outdoor Annual for details.
Naturally, some counties produce better results for turkey hunters than others. More gobblers are killed in Red River County each season than in any other East Texas county. Neighboring Fannin, Lamar and Grayson counties also account for high success rates in comparison to other East Texas counties, according to TPWD harvest data.
"Just about all the counties along the Red River are producing good numbers of birds each year," said David Sierra, TPWD District 5 wildlife supervisor based in Tyler. "The turkey populations there are doing real well."
Eastern turkey populations are holding their own in other parts of the region as well, but some are better than others. Angelina, Jasper and Sabine counties are among the best, especially for premium public hunting opportunties.
The best hunting is typically found on national forest lands where control burns have been performed by the U.S. Forest Service and Texas Forest Service. The practice has been utilized on thousands of acres to help satisfy a federal mandate set forth years ago to manage federal lands for the endangered red cockaded woodpecker, a small bird that makes its home by pecking holes in large pine trees.
Fire is one of the most useful tools for accomplishing that goal, because it rids the forest floor of dense brush and creates the open understory the birds prefer. The "parklike" environment also benefits native plants and other wildlife species like white-tailed deer and wild turkeys, and it reduces potential brushfire fuels to help prevent wildfires from getting out of control.
Allure of the game
The true essence of spring gobbler hunting revolves around romance. The hunter plays the part of Juliet the hen. The idea is to entice Romeo the gobbler into shooting shotgun range -- 30 yards of less -- by making him think there is a lady in the brush looking for love.
Spring is the wild turkey's mating season. Gobblers can be swooned by imitating the clucks, purrs, yelps and other sounds hens make when they are looking to mate. At times, pulling off the masquerade can be so easy that it hardly seems like a challenge. On other occasions, however, fooling a boss Tom can be so difficult it can make an expert question his or her abilities.
I'm no expert when it comes to spring turkey hunting. I have thrown away a lot more turkey tags over the years than I have spent. But I have shared the woods with some good turkey hunters and picked up a trick or two.
Probably the best pieces of advice I can offer when it comes to hunting on public land is to get a good map of the area and do all the preseason scouting your gas budget will allow. Look for turkey tracks, droppings and strut marks, and keep an ear open for gobbling birds. Ideally, this will help you identify the general whereabouts of multiple gobblers before it is legal to tote a shotgun.
The more X's you can put on a map before the season begins, the more confident you will be once it starts. It also could provide a back-up plan in case another hunter beats you to a sweet spot or something weird happens in the woods that spoils your chances in a particular area.
Hunt turkeys long enough and you are sure to encounter some strange things. It seems to happen to me pretty often.
A few years back while hunting in the Angelina National Forest, I set up in what I knew was a promising area. The woods were quiet. The air was crisp, and it was barely light enough to see.
I made a few light tree yelps, hoping to entice a Tom to gobble on the roost. Seconds later, I noticed the grass on the forest floor to my side parting like the Red Sea.
Something was barreling my way, quick. And it wasn't a turkey. It was a skunk. The varmint came so close that I could have touched it had I stayed put long enough.
Back in 1998, I shot a gobbler while my hunting partner, John Burk, wrestled with a stray coon dog that had followed us around all morning. The dog had already spoiled two good setups, then tried to make it three when it showed up as we were working a pair of gobblers at less than 75 yards.
Somehow Burk managed to pin the Walker hound beneath his leg and hold it still, so the turkeys didn't spook when they finally appeared at the edge of some brush, less than 20 yards away. I got the turkey, and the dog had fun playing with Burk.
The moral to those stories? If something can go wrong in turkey hunting, it will.
Here are some other tips to help improve your chance of having a successful hunt this season:
• Wear full camouflage. A turkey has a brain the size of a pea, but its eyesight is incredibly good. Hunters should don full camo and stay still as possible. Choose a camo pattern that blends with the geographic area where you are hunting.
• Protect yourself from mosquitoes and other vectors by wearing a good insect repellant. The best repellants contain the chemical DEET.
• Any 12-, 16- or 20-gauge shotgun is sufficient for killing turkeys. It is best to equip the barrel with a full or super-full turkey choke. The tight choke restricts the shot pattern, so more pellets are likely to find the kill zone. Shotguns that will accept 3-inch magnum shotshells are advised.
• Aim at the base of the neck.
• Never attempt to body shoot or take a shot a flying turkey, even at close range.
• Use quality shotshells with plenty of knock-down power. No. 6 high velocity turkey loads are ideal.
• If you are successful on public land, it is mandatory to take the turkey to an official TPWD check station within 24 hours of the harvest. Fill out all the necessary paperwork. Failure to do so could result in a brisk fine.
• Never try to shoulder a shotgun if you can see a turkey's head. If you can see the turkey's head, it can see you. Wait until the bird's vision is blocked by a bush or tree before raising the shotgun. You can move on a strutting bird, so long as its back is turned and its head is blocked by its fan.
• Cut down on travel costs by hunting with a partner. With multiple hunters splitting the cost of gasoline, the price of going hunting won't be nearly as expensive.
• Matt Williams' e-mail address is mattwilliams@netdot.com.
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