Words From The Past

[Nicodemus]

"First and foremost, I feel compelled to say that I am unalterably opposed to shooting old gobblers in the gobbling or mating season. It is neither good sport nor good conservation. Shooting turkeys at such season is definitely not turkey hunting but is nothing more nor less than turkey butchery, and those who engage in it have no right to call themselves turkey hunters.

Any tyro can call and kill a lovelorn old gobbler in the gobbling season, but I will wager that 95 percent of these gobbler shooters could not call and kill the same gobbler in the fall and winter seasons if their lives depended on it. On the other hand, calling and killing such a gobbler in the fall and winter seasons poses no problem for a real turkey hunter. His ability to call and kill an old gobbler in these two seasons is the acid test of a man`s ability as a turkey hunter.

I said further that shooting old gobblers in the mating season is not good conservation. This is based on the fact that wild turkey gobblers do not breed until they are two years old. So this practice of shooting the sires in the spring may well result in a shortage of young birds that year."


Henry Edwards Davis
1879-1966

 

[Mr Bya Lungshot]

I’ve never killex a turkey. Ever.

 

[six]

I learned a long time ago that a lot of those crazy old coots I was around as a kid, seem a lot smarter the older I get.

 

[herb mcclure]

As Nicodemus knows, the art of killing an old boss gobbler in the Fall, requires a different technique than Spring hen calling. to accomplish the calling of a boss gobbler. No, I have not true-fully called a boss gobbler into shotgun range in the Fall. But, using other technique I have filmed many old gobblers over the years well in gun range.
My old mentor, Leon Johenning related also how difficult it was to call adult gobblers in the Fall.
Since I don't kill gobblers anymore, I agree with Nic. (Old age may have a lot to do with this thinking).

 

[Mr Bya Lungshot]

As Nicodemus knows, the art of killing an old boss gobbler in the Fall, requires a different technique than Spring hen calling. to accomplish the calling of a boss gobbler. No, I have not true-fully called a boss gobbler into shotgun range in the Fall. But, using other technique I have filmed many old gobblers over the years well in gun range.
My old mentor, Leon Johenning related also how difficult it was to call adult gobblers in the Fall.
Since I don't kill gobblers anymore, I agree with Nic. (Old age may have a lot to do with this thinking).

Can you expand on what your talkin about “fall gobbler”
Being different skills?
Fall turkeys interests me if we had that season.

 

[bfriendly]

I’m one to appreciate words of wisdom, old ways and no doubt I love the outdoors. I am also very outspoken and don’t mind sharing my opinions.........sometimes to a fault. When we speak, we can offer facts, but generally we speak our opinions. I would say I love the outdoors, hunting and fishing as much as any man or woman who has ever posted on this forum or spoken about an outdoors subject any other place. I won’t dispute Mr Davis’ facts on breeding, but I greatly dispute his opinion that I am not a turkey hunter. I AM A TURKEY HUNTER AS MUCH AS ANY OF YOU!
Hunting is a sport, and like all sports there are different skill levels. To keep it simple, there two basic statuses.......amateur and professional. I am an amateur and I gladly accept it, but I too am a turkey hunter. Henry Edwards Davis just called me a tyro. He also said that what I’m doing is butchery. I have words for him that would get me banned so I’ll not post them.
I personally have seen a decline at Pinelog and it is significant......I’ve bragged about how I always see birds on public land. I still do, but it is significantly less and I don’t think the tree cutting did it as much as killing in the early seasons and predators. My whole point for this long post is that sometimes, even the wisest of folks say things that are demeaning and unappreciated. I’m no tyro nor am I a butcher. I am a rank amateur turkey hunter, still trying to kill my first bird. The wise old mans words matter to me and I respect his knowledge and skill level. Let him call himself a Professional Turkey Hunter, rather than a Real turkey hunter. For I am as much a Real Turkey Hunter as he ever was.

 

[herb mcclure]

Can you expand on what your talkin about “fall gobbler”
Being different skills?
Fall turkeys interests me if we had that season.

First, Spring and Fall turkey hunting are two different hunting techniques, being required to be successful. The question from Mr. Bya Lungshot was asking to expand my talking about Fall Gobblers. (I should state, I have only hunted one Fall turkey hunt, which was at the Piedmont National Refuge, back in the 1960's).
The Fall gobblers that I am referring too are the old or adult gobblers. They, tend to form an all adult gobbler group only, after the breeding time is over, and they also tend to stay to themselves, there by not having anything to do with other turkeys, until the next breeding or gobbling season. Being unsocial to other turkeys causes them to be difficult to call. According to Johenning, when and if you can successfully scatter apart a flock of old gobblers, your best call is a single cluck, now and then.
Other young gobblers still with other young of the year can be called with lost calling under the right condition.

 

[ol bob]

Mr Davis had no problem shooting them out of a tree with a rifle, or shooting them over bait. so I say he did'en have much room to talk. Buy the way they hunted them almost to extension.

 

[Nicodemus]

I`d go with Daddy when he hunted fall turkeys. Part of my job was to help scatter the flock when he found one. Young birds were not too hard to call back, but with old gobblers, it was a completely different story. They might not get back together till the next day, if you scattered them anytime in the afternoon. You didn`t want to call to them much at all.

That was some of the most fun hunting I`ve ever done.

 

[Mr Bya Lungshot]

First, Spring and Fall turkey hunting are two different hunting techniques, being required to be successful. The question from Mr. Bya Lungshot was asking to expand my talking about Fall Gobblers. (I should state, I have only hunted one Fall turkey hunt, which was at the Piedmont National Refuge, back in the 1960's).
The Fall gobblers that I am referring too are the old or adult gobblers. They, tend to form an all adult gobbler group only, after the breeding time is over, and they also tend to stay to themselves, there by not having anything to do with other turkeys, until the next breeding or gobbling season. Being unsocial to other turkeys causes them to be difficult to call. According to Johenning, when and if you can successfully scatter apart a flock of old gobblers, your best call is a single cluck, now and then.
Other young gobblers still with other young of the year can be called with lost calling under the right condition.

So that explains the 12 toms walking a line under my deerstand two years ago. Think I shot a small eight point basket at dark that evening.

 

[Nicodemus]

Mr Davis had no problem shooting them out of a tree with a rifle, or shooting them over bait. so I say he did'en have much room to talk. Buy the way they hunted them almost to extension.

It`s ironic that the areas that he hunted was the same areas that turkeys were trapped and shipped to other states to replenish their wild turkey stocks. Archibald Rutledge allowed the game commissions to trap his plantation to do the same.

 

[Danuwoa]

I’ve been hunting turkeys since I was eight years old. I’m forty three now. I’ve killed a lot of turkeys and made a lot of mistakes and screwed up with turkeys I could have killed. So I know I’m not an expert. And the last thing my daddy ever said to me about turkey hunting was, “When you kill the last one of those things you’re ever going to kill you’ll still be learning.” So it doesn’t embarrass me to ask this question, especially since I’ve never been fall turkey hunting. Why do you scatter the flock and then call them back? Why wouldn’t you just shoot one to start with instead of scattering them first? That sounds like me being a smart aleck but it’s not. I’ve always wondered this.

 

[Nicodemus]

I’ve been hunting turkeys since I was eight years old. I’m forty three now. I’ve killed a lot of turkeys and made a lot of mistakes and screwed up with turkeys I could have killed. So I know I’m not an expert. And the last thing my daddy ever said to me about turkey hunting was, “When you kill the last one of those things you’re ever going to kill you’ll still be learning.” So it doesn’t embarrass me to ask this question, especially since I’ve never been fall turkey hunting. Why do you scatter the flock and then call them back? Why wouldn’t you just shoot one to start with instead of scattering them first? That sounds like me being a smart aleck but it’s not. I’ve always wondered this.

Just about always, when you scatter them, they will be too far for a shot. When you get them scattered, they`ll take off in all directions. When they settle down, the younger birds will start calling and trying to get back together. They can be quite vocal. Old gobblers won`t hardly say anything and will usually take their own sweet time getting back together.

 

[sea trout]

I went to visit a friend in Central Texas last week. And we did some turkey hunting.
Spring turkey huntin where he's at is no where near as big of a deal as it is here. Most huntin stores don't even have the stuff to hunt turkey.
I was curious as to why and talking to him and some central Texas ranchers, many say they just shoot them in the fall season, so they don't really care about the spring season.
It was interesting.

 

[Thunder Head]

Things change,
When he was a young man. It was acceptable to ride game down with a horse.


In some places that still have a fall season. They use a dog to scatter the flock. I saw one guy. He used a small fiest type dog too scatter. Then he would put the dog in a sack up to his head and lay him next to him. Then try and call them back. Looked fun to me.

 

[across the river]

Things change,
When he was a young man. It was acceptable to ride game down with a horse.


In some places that still have a fall season. They use a dog to scatter the flock. I saw one guy. He used a small fiest type dog too scatter. Then he would put the dog in a sack up to his head and lay him next to him. Then try and call them back. Looked fun to me.

Georgia did away with the fall season before I was old enough to participate. South Carolina did away with it in the nineties, but I got to hunt them in the fall over there. You could shoot a hen or gobbler in the fall back then.

 

[antharper]

I love any type of hunting , especially turkeys . And I’m sure I’d participate if we had a fall season. Just not sure I’d like it better than spring time . It’s all about the gobble for me . I consider it a success if I can just make him gobble

 

[saltysenior]

I knew a couple of older ranch owners in south Fl.who frowned on spring hunting.....they were both Quail shooters and good land stewards.....no sport at all in the spring they claimed....Tom Gaskin himself told me the same, but not to the public because of his business...

 

[turkeykirk]

Have always loved Fall turkey hunting. Just something about the woods that time of year I really enjoy. Here’s a picture of a young gobbler and whole lot younger me in 70’s up in New York.

 

[buckpasser]

I’ll have to admit, there was a time when it wasn’t too challenging. The place I manage is still that way. Any dummy can kill one there.