4/10/2007

Spring Turkey Season Just Days Ahead - Preseason Scouting Can Increase Hunter Success
by Lowell Washburn

Blood stirring and primitive, the distinctive staccato gobble of the eastern wild turkey is a sound like no other. For Iowa's 50,000-plus spring turkey hunting enthusiasts, the resonate predawn rattling is a summons that cannot be denied.

This year's four part, split hunting season is just around the corner. It's a good thing too. Most hunters have been pacing the floor for weeks now, wondering just what to expect from their upcoming days afield.

I'm plenty anxious myself. But regardless of what kind of success this spring's hunting may bring, I have to admit that I've already had a pretty good season. During the past several days I've been spending my free time exploring familiar timbers, testing calls, and matching wits with preseason gobblers. As always, the boisterous crack-of-dawn turkey shows have been nothing short of spectacular.

As always, I've had the preseason woodlands all to myself. It's really too bad that so many spring turkey enthusiasts are missing out on so much fun. I blame it on the pros.

For years now, turkey hunting professionals have been preaching that preseason calling is strictly taboo. Conducting such activities, they claim, will automatically result in educated birds, call shy toms, and dramatically reduced success when hunting seasons open for real. Often repeated and widely accepted, this time worn theory has been around since Iowa turkey seasons first began more than 30 years ago.

At the surface, the theory does sound logical. But in reality, the philosophy is pure bunk.

The idea that a gobbler who hears your call, comes looking, and then doesn't find a real hen will not respond to the same sound another day is just plain ridiculous. Wild turkeys are highly social, highly vocal, and extremely mobile. In the real woods, games of hide and seek play out on a near continual basis. When such scenarios do occur and toms don't actually see every hen they hear, those birds do not automatically become hermits. Think about it.

In reality, hunters have plenty of incentives for getting into the timber well in advance of legal hunting seasons. First of all, the early April mornings are crisp and invigorating. Better yet, predawn gobbling is as good as it gets. As daylight arrives and birds hit the ground, they rarely fail to provide dramatic displays that include in-your-face gobbling, nonstop strutting, and if you're extremely fortunate, a good old fashioned Gobbler Smack Down.

Spring rituals can get rough. Those who have enjoyed a ring side seat know that few wildlife dramas are more breath taking than when two or more, needle-spurred heavyweights vie for dominance.

Preseason forays also have a practical side. They give spring turkey enthusiasts unparalleled opportunities to look and listen as wild turkeys communicate and interact within a completely natural and undisturbed setting. If you really want to know what your calling is supposed to sound like, nothing tops the instruction of live hens. It's an education that can't be matched by magazines, tapes, or TV videos.

Preseason, on-the-ground scouting serves to acquaint hunters with the individual birds they'll be hunting later this spring. It also allows hunters to become familiar with every detail of the woodlands they'll be tromping. That sort of knowledge can only increase, not decrease, your probability of success.