TALKING TURKEY WITH THE EXPERTS

Bill Harper On Bagging Gobblers

EDITOR'S NOTE: To help those of us who are frustrated more often than not by
America's most famous game bird, I posed some questions to several of the nation's top turkey hunters and turkey authorities. Today, Bill Harper, who turkey hunts in several states each spring and founded Lohman's Calls, answers questions.

Question: What is the most consistent way to kill a turkey? Answer: Hunt the strut zones. When turkeys are undisturbed, they will generally strut in a specific area at the same time every day. In this strut zone the turkey will both strut and gobble. Once you locate a region where a turkey likes to strut and gobble, take note of the time he is in the strut zone. If you find enough turkeys and their strut zones, you can hunt different turkeys in various locations all day long, depending on the particular time each turkey prefers to gobble. For instance, if you discover a turkey strutting and gobbling on top of a ridge at 9 A.M., another turkey strutting and gobbling at 11 A.M. in a nearby river bottom swamp and a third turkey strutting and gobbling on the edge of a field at 2:00 in the afternoon, you can hunt three turkeys in one day, if the turkeys are within four or five miles of each other and easy to reach.

Question: Is there another method you can use to consistently take turkeys?
Answer: I believe there is, but you must have plenty of time to hunt this way. Let's say you have found a turkey that is gobbling good in the morning but for some reason has become difficult to take. Or, maybe you want to be sure to get a turkey on opening morning. I have discovered that if you begin calling a turkey early in the morning and he starts gobbling, the tom should start to head your way. However, in this case, as soon as you get the turkey to answer, get up and leave the area until the next morning. Then do the same thing once more for the second and often the third morning. The old gobbler keeps receiving an invitation for a date. When he shows up to pick up his hen, she has stood him up again. So by the third or fourth morning, the bird will usually make sure he gets to the vanishing hen before she disappears. After all, he has come to that place for several mornings, and found nothing. Therefore, on that final morning when you go in and call the least little bit, that old gobbler will come on a run to meet his hen. Then you can take him quickly and easily.

Question: One of the most difficult turkeys to call is the one that is across a creek or river from the hunter. Can you get that bird to fly across the creek and come within gun range?
Answer: You can, but it's not easy. I have found the best way to get a bird to fly across a creek is to sound like a whole drove of turkeys, all very fired up and ready to mate. If you call to that gobbler and he keeps answering, many times he will get so excited he will fly across the creek and come within gun range. But you have to change calls and work on him with different calls to make a bird that fired-up.

TOMORROW: THE OWNERS OF KNIGHT & HALE GAME CALLS TALK TURKEY