Syracuse.com - Ten things I learned about turkey hunting without seeing a turkey

[HuntingNY-News]

"A turkey's brain is only the size of a walnut, but they're some of the smartest birds out there," Walling said.

 

Cortland—Turkey hunting is an art to be perfected. Even after 36 years of practice, turkeys can still surprise you, said veteran turkey hunter Paul Walling.

Walling, who lives in Groton, took me out Saturday, along with with a couple of novice teenager hunters, during the special, statewide Youth Turkey Hunt weekend. We were out for nearly four hours and there wasn't a turkey feather to be seen. However, here's 10 things I learned:

1. Be prepared for a rough morning. Dress appropriately.

Turkey hunting involves getting out in all sorts of weather and staking a spot in a forest or the edge of a field before dawn, when the turkeys are roosting in tall trees. After getting some gobblers to respond to preliminary female turkey calls, Walling picked a spot under a tree to sit and wait.

He then used a variety of female turkey calls to lure the male turkeys to him. Because it's mating season, the toms, or male turkeys, are on the prowl for hens and will run right into the trap. A turkey needs to come at least 40-50 yards away before you take a shot. To be successful, aim for its head. The bird's feathers are often are too thick to penetrate with the spray of shot from the shotgun shells used by hunters, Walling said.

2. Think turkeys are pea brains? Think again.

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"A turkey's brain is only the size of a walnut, but they're some of the smartest birds out there," Walling said.

Nearly complete silence and full camouflage are essential, because "a turkeys' eyesight is 10 times as good as ours, and their hearing's eight times as good as ours," Walling said. If they sense anything wrong while you're calling, they'll spook. Sometimes, they'll be running right at you, and then stop, turn around and march away, he said. "It's impossible to know exactly what they're going to do next," he said.

3. Turkey hunting is a sport for adrenaline junkies.

"There's an adrenaline rush when that turkey comes running at you," Walling said. "That, combined with the smartness of the animal and the strategy of the sport is why I get up at three in the morning to come out here."

4. Turkeys never do the same thing twice.

"I don't like this at all," Walling whispered to us after calling the male turkeys for an hour without a response.We had heard gobbles coming from the trees when we first got there, but the toms must have had hens with them already or were scared off by something in the forest, Walling said.

"Last season, when March days got up to 80 degrees, the turkeys mated early and the season was horrible—I didn't actually take anything that season," Walling said. "But some seasons, I'll call in 10 to 12 turkeys, sometimes two within 20 minutes. You just never know."

5. It's a great hunting debut for kids.

Walling acted as guide for Keller Pai, 14, of Groton, and Donivan Underwood, 13, of Cortland, on this youth turkey hunt, which was specifically for hunters ages 12-15,who had to accompanied by licensed, adult mentors. Underwood's father, Jim Underwood, also came along.

"Once you’ve been on a successful turkey hunt, you’re hooked," Jim Underwood said. "I've been hunting for 22 years, and I'm hoping to get Donivan into it by taking him out here with Paul."

Donivan Underwood had been on two turkey hunts before—"I missed both times," he said. "But I had a lot of fun still. Your heart's pounding when the turkey's running straight into your gun."

6. It takes skill.

"It's helpful to be a good caller and a woodsman to have success at this sport," Walling said. While out, he used a mouth call and a box call, both of which he uses regularly.

"I used to take pocketfuls of calls out here, and I'd only use a few of them," Walling said. "Now I wish I had some of those other ones with me. However, just because you have a bad day out doesn't mean that you should question your calling skills."

Walling said his father was a superb woodsman. He said he could "read the land", meaning that he could tell where the turkey's gobble was coming from and the approach path a turkey would take, so that he was always in the right position for a good shot.

7. There's nothing like wild turkey meat.

"There’s not a whole lot of meat on wild turkeys, but when we got them, you’ll have a hard time taking that meat from me," Walling said. Wild turkey meat is a lot more tender than store bought, Thanksgiving turkey meat, he said, even though it may take some time to prepare it.

8. If you have a shotgun and pass a safety course, you're good to go.

Turkey hunting requires very little extra equipment or hunting credentials to get started, Walling said. When you have your hunting license, you can very easily get two turkey tags for the season. In the fall season, which runs from October to November, you can take both males and females, he said. But in the spring, which lasts until the end of May, it's only males (birded birds). Kids can hunt during the regular season as well as the youth hunt weekend, Walling said.

8. Safety can't be emphasized enough.

Like every form of hunting, safety always, always comes first. Among the cardinal rules of turkey hunting is to know exactly what you're shooting at, and what's beyond your target if you miss. The turkey hunter is well concealed, dressed head to toe in camo, often has realistic decoys in front of him or her and is making convincing turkey calls -- factors that can sometimes prompt another novice hunter to recklessly fire a shot.

"There’s always idiots out there who don’t use their heads," Walling said. "You always have to be on the lookout for that, whatever you're hunting."

10. It can form lasting friendships.

"People think that hunting is you come out here, sit under a tree and wait, and then shoot something and leave. But it’s a lot more than that," Walling said. He hunted with his father for 14 years, and now with his partner,Mike Joyner for more than that. "This sport brings you together," he said.

Walling said he hopes to instill his passion for turkey hunting in his young proteges. "You wonder why we get up at three in the morning to do this?," he said. "Because it’s something I love to do, and I love teaching these kids to do it as much as I enjoy doing it myself."

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog