Another Exciting Story from "The Truth About Turkey Hunting"

EDITOR'S NOTE: Longtime, avid turkey hunter, Ronnie "Cuz" Strickland of West Point, Mississippi, vice president of Mossy Oak's TV and video production, talks this week about his new turkey-hunting book, "The Truth About Turkey Hunting."

Question: Tell us about another exciting turkey hunt you talk about in your book, "The Truth About Turkey Hunting."
Answer: One of the chapters in the book is titled "Yelp Marks." That's a term I came up with. A yelp mark is anything you see in the woods that indicates another hunter has been there. The first time I heard a hunter use this term, I had a friend who wanted his brother-in-law to kill a turkey. I'd found a bird on a private little farm that I had permission to hunt. This turkey would gobble in daylight and gobble in the afternoon. I planned to save him for opening day so my friend Bubba could take his brother-in-law. Then on opening day, Bubba's brother-in-law couldn't go.

I'd check on that turkey from time to time. And sure enough, he was gobbling, and no one was messing with him. Since I felt like we could get him later, I left him alone. Finally, three weeks into the season, Bubba's brother-in-law was able to go. I told Bubba we'd walk up that hill, and then when I got up to this little logging road, I'd hoot and the turkey would gobble right over the ridge. After all, I had done this 20 times in the last 30 days. So I went up there, and I had nothing.

I thought, "Well, maybe that tom's not awake yet or may be he moved a little." So I went in closer and started calling. I couldn't raise a turkey. I went out to the ridge where that tom had been roosting since two weeks before the season. While I was standing there, I heard Bubba say, "Yelp mark." I looked down and saw that someone had cleaned out a place by a tree, and there was a shotgun hull sitting there.

I got to thinking and decided that there are degrees of yelp marks. You have to know what you're looking for to identify a yelp mark. I go into detail in the book about what kind of yelp marks are bad and what kinds aren't so bad. If you're on your turkey-hunting land and see ATV tire tracks, that's not a really bad yelp mark because that guy probably isn't hunting the birds real hard. But if you see half a footprint just by a creek and no footprints anywhere else, that may be a really bad yelp mark because that guy probably knows what he's doing. He's going into the water to sneak up on turkeys and to keep from making a sound. You can take it up another degree; if you see a spent hull, that's a really bad yelp mark as is a spot with a bunch of feathers where a turkey got shot.

Identifying yelp marks has become a hobby of mine. One of my favorite ones is to go to a place where someone has been calling in the road. Anytime someone is standing up, and they call more than one time, then the indention in the footprint will be heavier toward the front. They're up on their toes, trying to make that call go as far as they can. If you see one of those, you can just walk on by because it's a pretty severe yelp mark.

To order Ronnie Strickland's book, "The Truth About Turkey Hunting," which Mossy Oak has published, call (888) MOSSY OAK. To learn more about turkey hunting, go to Night Hawk Publications' home page, and click on books. You'll find information about three of John E. Phillips' turkey books -- "The Masters' Secrets of Turkey Hunting," "Outdoor Life's Complete Turkey Book" and "Turkey Tactics." These books explore the minds of some of the nation's top turkey hunters.

Tomorrow: More Interesting Cuz Stories in "The Truth About Turkey Hunting"