HUNTING HIGH-PRESSURED PUBLIC-LAND GOBBLERS
A Warning to the Silent Gobbler Turkey Hunter
 EDITOR'S
NOTE: Have you ever scouted for turkeys before the season
on public lands and heard plenty of toms talking to
the timber, but then when you've returned to those same
woods two weeks after turkey season opens, you don't
hear a sound? This week we'll look at the best ways
to hunt high-pressured, public-land gobblers, especially
the ones that become silent.
 Although
avid turkey hunter and wildlife biologist Mitchell Marks
from Alabama has shared some insights with us this week
on how to take hush-mouthed, thick-cover, late-season
gobblers, he does warn that, "You have to hunt
silent birds carefully. I once knew a fellow who hunted
a silent gobbler all season long and didn't find out
until after the season was over that someone else had
bagged that gobbler during the first week of the season.
That fellow  wasn't
just hunting an invisible gobbler; he was hunting the
ghost of a gobbler that didn't exist."
How many times have you ...
* wondered what has happened to all those gobbling turkeys
you've heard before turkey season?
* surprised a gobbler and spooked him and then he's
vanished into a thicket?
These same questions have prompted Mitchell Marks to
start hunting in thickets and to look for the silent
gobblers
that
stop talking when hunting season starts. Marks has
developed a strategy for finding and taking thick-cover
gobblers. If you hunt highly-pressured birds on public
lands in thick cover, remember to call a little, wait
a lot, and don't expect to get off a quick shot once
you hear a turkey gobble. However, you'll have the opportunity
to bag older birds with longer beards and spurs. But
remember, only the toughest and most-patient turkey
hunters have success with this type of hunting. You
can belong to that select group.
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