Sunday, April 9, 2006

Learn to Hunt Turkeys I spent the weekend guiding novice hunter Jill Hepburn in the DNR's Learn to Hunt program, and we had a ball. We were one of 26 teams of mentors and novice hunters, ranging in age from 10 to adults. Yesterday, 10 hunters shot turkeys and several more got shots but did not connect. Today, five more got birds, making the tally 15 in all. Not bad for 26 first-time hunters! The group reached agreement on several points: 1. There are a LOT of birds around here! One team saw perhaps 100 birds, including one group of 20 jakes all together. Ted Fischer couldn't estimate how many birds he saw or worked. His hunter got a bird this afternoon, after two long days of running and gunning. 2. The birds are still flocked up. We worked one group of six toms that would not come in and saw four jakes together and one tom with six hens. 3. It takes a whole lot of calling to get them fired up this time of year. Ted said the only way he could get several toms to respond was with loud, constant cutting. I spent some time trading jabs with two hens yesterday, and one finally walked up to us through the corn. Today, though, no coaxing could bring a tom through a fenceline that a dozen birds had crossed yesterday. Ted's son, Jesse, guided his little sister, Ariana, who today killed the same bird she had shot at yesterday and wounded slightly. "There was blood everywhere in the woods," Ted said. So much for the rumor that if you draw blood, a turkey will die eventually. This bird was gobbling today and came in twice today, after being shot at yesterday. Ted and another hunter teamed up to help Jesse call in her bird. Not that they needed to! Jesse was state turkey-calling champion several years ago. Mike Keefe, who coordinates this event for the North Shore Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, guided his hunter, 10-year-old Keegan Hollrith, to a bow-kill on a bearded hen! Keegan, who has been shooting a bow for four years, drilled that hen at 15 yards. He was one happy hunter yesterday. Perfect weather greeted the novice hunters, all of whom said they'd love to do it again! It was a good kick-off to my season, even though we went 0-for-2. Jill has a first-season permit, so I'll be calling for her again come Wednesday. For now, though, I need to catch up on some sleep! Later... 9:00:08 PM    comment []