TURKEY-TAKING QUIZ

What to do When the Turkey Comes Your Way

EDITOR'S NOTE: The game of turkey hunting is played in the turkey's backyard and on his terms. The strategies required to bag a tom turkey often may make war games look simple. The hunters who have amassed the most techniques, encountered the most turkeys and know what to do when the turkey doesn't do what he is supposed to do, will come home with bronze barons for dinner more often than other hunters.

17. When you have a turkey coming toward you, what is the best thing to do?
a) nothing
b) call lightly to keep the bird interested
c) call to him if he doesn't gobble in 10 to 15 minutes
d) try and move closer to him
Answer: a) nothing -- Once the turkey knows where you are and is committed to come to you, there's no reason to call any more. The gobbler is doing what you wanted him to do. So, mount your gun, and prepare to take the bird.

18. When is the easiest time to kill a turkey?
a) the first week of hunting season
b) during the time that the hens are being bred
c) the first week that the hens go on the nest
Answer: c) the first week that the hens go on the nest -- When the gobbler has been breeding, he continues to anticipate meeting his hens. When hens become scarce because they are on their nests, the old gobbler becomes even more anxious to find a willing hen. Therefore, he usually will move toward calling easier and quicker.

19. When you see turkeys in a field feeding, which is the easiest gobbler to take if there is more that one gobbler in the field?
a) the turkey that gobbles back first when you call
b) the gobbler with the most hens
c) the tom with the fewest hens
d) the gobbler with a few hens or no hens that struts when you call
Answer: d) the gobbler with a few hens or no hens that struts when you call -- Oftentimes, a subordinate gobbler will travel with a flock of turkeys. The boss gobbler usually will prevent the subdominant gobbler from breeding any of the hens in the dominant gobbler's harem. So when a subdominant gobbler hears a new hen yelp that is close to him, most of the time he will strut in hopes of attracting a hen that he can breed before a boss gobbler comes over to run him off.

20. What is the most critical factor in calling a turkey to where you want to take him ?
a) your ability to call
b) your ability to be camouflaged well
c) being in a place that a turkey naturally wants to go
d) knowing where the turkey's roost tree is
Answer: c) being in a place that a turkey naturally wants to go -- If you have taken a stand along a route that a turkey naturally wants to travel, then the turkey will come by you without calling and will less likely see you if your camouflage is not just right. Many turkeys are bagged each season by hunters who call very little, if at all. They take their turkeys because they know where the toms want to go and are in the best place to meet those turkeys.