MASTER TURKEY HUNTERS

Harold Knight on What Makes a Master Turkey Hunter

EDITOR'S NOTE: Each year John E. Phillips hunts with some of the nation's top turkey hunters and learns all he can about their calling and hunting strategies. This week we'll talk with a couple of master turkey takers to learn more about how they hunt. Harold Knight, one of the founders of Knight and Hale Game Calls in Cadiz, Kentucky, now a subsidiary of EBSCO, has taken a world-record turkey before and has won many calling contests across the nation. He's well known from speaking at hunting seminars and outdoor shows where he shares his turkey-hunting findings with his listeners.

"To be a master turkey hunter, you must have six characteristics," Harold Knight says.

"1) A master can bag a turkey without calling to the tom. One of the best examples I know is David Hale, my partner who is also from my hometown. David has hunted turkeys since the early 1970s. But the first six years he hunted, he didn't have a caller -- however, he still killed turkeys. David told me that not having a caller was the best thing that ever happened to him, because he had to get to know the turkeys well before he tried to take them. He had to learn where they were going and what they were going to do when they got there. Once he knew that, he knew where he needed to be to bag them. Then after David got a call, he became an even more effective turkey hunter. A hunter who's willing to learn the ways of the wild turkey and how to kill him without calling is well on the way to becoming a master.

"2) A master turkey hunter can hunt and kill a turkey at any time of the day. Almost any hunter can take a turkey when he flies down off the roost. And many hunters can bag turkeys just before the birds fly back up. But the hunter who can locate and bag one all through the day has to understand turkeys and their habits. This hunter must be a master outdoorsman."

TOMORROW: HAROLD KNIGHT ON MORE MASTER TURKEY-HUNTER CHARACTERISTICS