TIPS FROM DIXIE'S TOP TURKEY HUNTERS

Jim Crumley and Preston Pittman

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you hunt turkeys in the South, you have to deal with several subspecies of birds under different hunting conditions and a wide variety of terrain. In ...
* Florida, you'll hunt palmetto swamps and pastures,
* Virginia, you'll hunt the mountains and the valleys,
* Texas, you'll hunt arid desert lands,
* Mississippi and Louisiana, you'll hunt along flood plains,
* Alabama, you may hunt pine plantations,
* many sections of the country, you'll hunt crop lands and
* other regions you'll hunt in deep woods. To have success hunting turkeys in the South, you must use many tactics and understand the differences in the turkeys and the terrain you hunt. I've interviewed some of Dixie's top turkey hunters to give you situations and strategies that will help you take more toms this spring.

BAGGING BIG-WOODS GOBBLERS WITH JIM CRUMLEY, OF ROANOKE, VIRGINIA, THE CREATOR OF TREBARK CAMOUFLAGE:

Question: How do you handle a gobbler that gets in close in big woods but then hangs up?
Jim Crumley: You also may have a problem if the tom's in close enough to take a shot but is behind a bush or a tree and won't step out to let you take the shot. To solve this problem, I continue to call to the gobbler and give soft purrs, soft yelps and soft clucks. Many hunters may tell you to shut up and make the turkey come hunting you. However, I've found that oftentimes when you choose this tactic the gobbler will walk off and leave you. What's even worse is if you don't see or hear him walk off, you don't know where he's at, and you run the risk of spooking him. I believe that by giving those soft, subtle feeding calls I'm imitating a hen that's totally disinterested, which often causes the gobbler to come in closer. Then he thinks the hen can see him better, realize what's she's missing and be able to observe what a fine gobbler he is. Most anyone can call in a lone bird in the big woods when the toms are screaming out gobbles every breath. But where generally a hunter fails is in that last 60 or 70 yards. Subtle calls pay the most dividends when the hunter not only gets a turkey in close enough to take but also has him in the right position to take a shot."

UNDERSTAND FLORIDA TURKEYS WITH PRESTON PITTMAN OF PICKENS, MISSISSIPPI, OWNER OF PRESTON PITTMAN GAME CALLS:

Question: How is hunting Florida turkeys different from hunting other southern birds?
Preston Pittman: Most of the time when you're hunting an Osceola gobbler you'll have to hunt them either in pastures or palmetto swamps. A palmetto swamp in Florida is the exact opposite of a Mississippi or a Louisiana swamp. In Mississippi or Louisiana, you can see 100 to 300 yards in a swamp. But in Florida's palmetto swamps, you may not be able to see 10 yards in front of you. In river-bottom swamps, you can hear a turkey gobble from 1/4- to 1/2-mile away. However, in the Florida swamps, you may not be able to hear a turkey gobble 100 yards in front of you. That's why often a turkey hunter who hunts Florida for the first time may try to get too close to a gobbler before he starts calling to him. He may spook the bird. So, if you're hunting a Florida gobbler, take a stand further away from the bird then you will if you're hunting anywhere else. Another problem with hunting the Florida gobbler is that these birds often won't gobble much when they get to the ground. Because Florida homes plenty of bobcats, and bobcats eat turkeys, the turkeys realize that the birds that gobble a lot on the ground will get eaten at a young age. The turkeys that are silent on the ground live and breed the most. A Florida gobbler may not come to you like an eastern gobbler will. He may have to walk around or fly over water, or he may attempt to dodge an area where he's been harassed by bobcats. Patience is the number-one key required for taking a Florida turkey. I don't call much when I'm hunting these birds because I want them to come to me.

To learn more about John E. Phillips' turkey-hunting books, click here.