The Bad Bird Bible Chapter 4, Verse 2- Preston Pittman

"Once I hunted a group of gobblers that lived in a big bay swamp, about 1/8-mile wide and 2 miles long, in the DeSoto National Forest in South Mississippi on public land where everyone hunted," Preston Pittman, the creator of Preston Pittman Game Calls, a division of Highlanders Sports in Huntsville, Alabama, and winner of many turkey-calling championships, reported. "These turkeys roosted over water. This swamp only had a few dry spots where these turkeys could hit the ground without getting their feet wet. Each of these dry spots wasn't more than 10 or 12 feet long, which meant I couldn't get to these turkeys without sinking in mud up to my knees.

"These birds had been hunted hard all season and called to from every side of that swamp. But the turkeys also had learned that as long as they stayed in that swamp nobody would come in there after them. I could sit on the side of a hill and watch these gobblers fly from tree to tree in that swamp. Ever now and then I'd see one of these gobblers pitch down into the swamp. So I knew there had to be some dry ground in the swamp somewhere.

"Finally one morning I eased into the swamp, moved the water moccasins out of the way and found a small spot of dry ground, about 12 yards long and 6 yards wide but with no place to take a stand. Since I had on hip waders, I stood beside a tree in the water and began to call to the gobblers. I did a fly-down cackle and gave some soft yelps. Soon I saw a gobbler coming to me, hopping from tree to tree while looking for a hen on that dry spot of ground. Those gobblers had learned not to fly out of the trees until they actually spotted a hen. Because the gobbler came to me, jumping from tree to tree, I wouldn't shoot him out of the tree.

"However, the second day I went in to hunt that gobbler, I made another decision. This time when that longbeard came in to me, jumping from tree to tree, I did shoot him out of the tree.

"Am I ashamed of taking a gobbler out of a tree? Not at all. I called that gobbler to me, he came to me through the trees just like he would come to me on the ground, and that was the only way that turkey could be bagged. If we'd had decoys back then, I'd probably have used a decoy. I know I called that gobbler to me just as surely as if I'd called him on the ground. I had no misgivings at all about shooting him out of the tree. Remember, I didn't shoot him off the roost, I called him to me through the trees."

To learn more about hunting turkeys, go to Night Hawk's homepage and click on hunting books.

For more information on Preston Pittman Calls, call (800) 758-2346.

TOMORROW: THE BAD BIRD BIBLE CHAPTER 4, VERSE 3- PRESTON PITTMAN

Check back each day this week for more about The Bad Bird Bible ...

Day 1 -The Bad Bird Bible Chapter 4, Verse 1- Preston Pittman
Day 2 -The Bad Bird Bible Chapter 4, Verse 2- Preston Pittman
Day 3 -The Bad Bird Bible Chapter 4, Verse 3- Preston Pittman
Day 4 -The Bad Bird Bible Chapter 5, Verse 1- Will Primos
Day 5 -The Bad Bird Bible Chapter 6, Verse 1- Steve Stoltz

John's Journal