DON SHIPP: FIVE TURKEYS I DIDN'T IMPRESS WITH MY THREE WORLD TURKEY CALLING CHAMPIONSHIPS

The "Out-Thunk" Turkey

EDITOR'S NOTE: Don Shipp of Clinton, Arkansas, an avid turkey hunter and caller and member of Mossy Oak's Pro Hunt Team and MAD Calls, has won the World Turkey Calling Championship, sponsored by Mossy Oak for many years, in 1997, 1998 and 1999. He also has won the Arkansas State Championship six times and the Southwest Open Championship four times. This week, Shipp will tell us about five tough toms and how he or his clients outsmarted them.

Several years ago, when I was still a very young turkey hunter, I hunted with my Uncle Doyle Shipp all the time. We'd double-team all the turkeys, unless there were two or three birds gobbling. But if there was just one tom, we'd always go to the bird together, and one of us would call for the other. One time, while we were hunting together, we learned about a stubborn turkey that some hunters had attempted to take. This bird would gobble his head off, but he always walked away from the hunters. Also, no one never knew where he'd be roosting. He'd be within hearing distance of one area, but he might be roosting anywhere -- a bottom, a ridge top or right in the middle of a clearcut.

My uncle and I sat down and talked about it one night and decided to hunt that ole turkey. I told Uncle Doyle, "If we can get on this turkey early enough, and if he's on one of the flats or benches, you get directly on one side of him and I'll get on the opposite side. Don't say anything. Just get ready, and I'll call. I'm not going to say a word until he flies down, because if I call to him on the roost, he'll fly away from you." So we waited. The tom flew down, and I called. Not even two minutes passed before the turkey walked directly away from me and toward my uncle, and we took him. He was one of the toughest turkeys to take, but we "out-thunk" him. That hunt was really exciting.

TOMORROW: THE FIELD BARON