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Spring turkey season is always special. The grass is green and wildflowers are in bloom. The weather is moderate to warm. And gobblers are chasing hens - drumming, strutting, and gobbling. A bad spring turkey hunt is a good day in the woods. A good hunt makes a memory for a lifetime.
The season opened here for north Texas April 1st. That morning found me and my grown son out bright and early looking to call in a nice bird. I had run into a friend at the local convenience store where we were getting a nice greasy breakfast burrito before heading out. We said we were going out and his remark was, "So you think you can get a bird without them seeing you......?" My friend was headed to his blind so he could use what I call the Texas turkey call - the sound of a corn feeder whizzing out a measure of corn. He had a tone of doubt in his voice - you know I'll circle back to this later.
We got out to the ranch about thirty minutes before first light. We are fortunate to have a small creek that runs through our place and the birds roost along the creek. We parked within 400 yards or so of a spot that has been historically productive. A thing I like about hunting spring turkeys is that you don't need to be particularly quiet. I've found two reliable methods of locating turkeys while they are still on the roost. One great way is to use a call to hoot like an owl. Hoooot hoot! - and they'll gobble every time. Another great method is to just open and then slam the door of your vehicle - they'll gobble just the same. I always use the owl call just because that seems more natural. So we hooted and got several responses from turkeys on the creek.
I would never disturb birds while they are on the roost so we just sat in the truck and waited for a bit of daylight. Once we had enough light to see a bit we got our gear and moved to a spot we thought might work. I was carrying my .40 flintlock I picked up just this winter. It was loaded with 40 gr of Swiss 3f, pillow ticking patch lubed with mink oil, and a .389 RB. We found a spot that was a far enough away from the birds so as not to disturb their roost. We put out a hen decoy and began the great wait. We usually just sit and listen to the birds untill you can tell they've left the roost and started to move. My son was calling and I was the designated shooter. We trade back and forth every year - but he really wanted to see me take one with the flintlock so he let me shoot 2 years in a row (good kid, huh?). As soon as he hit the box call two different groups answered. For about 15 minutes we just had some getting acquainted conversation. We'd call - he'd answer - but they wouldn't move. We decided to get up and change our location a bit - I mean, birds move around, right? We moved about 75 yards and set up again. This time my son must have mastered the sexy hen tone because as soon as he called it was obvious a bird was coming.
Just a few minutes later a young Jake appeared. We wanted to watch so we let him strut for the decoy a bit. He finally sensed something was amiss and decided to move along. My son called again and we got an almost immediate response from another bird. We first saw this bird from about 75 yards out. He strutted a bit and gobbled. One more call and he folded his feathers and came right in to us. This was a nice bird. When he came in and saw the decoy he fanned out. As soon as I got a nice broadside look I raised the little flintlock and held center. When the rifle cracked my son immediately said, "Nice shot!" I never saw the bird go down through the smoke. There was no need to reload; the bird was down for the count. As someone else said here recently, a broadside shot center mass on a turkey gets the vitals and misses the breast meat. It's a reliable placement The shot ended up being from about 12 yards. I guess the camo worked ok, huh? This bird was down about an hour after sunrise.
Every time I get a spring turkey I'm amazed at what beautiful birds they really are. The blue and red on their heads and the way the light shimmers on their feathers is just stunning. We took a bunch of pics and then headed home to clean the bird. I was sure to text my friend and show the bird. In case you are curious he said he didn't see anything. Yes I gloated a bit - don't judge me... Maybe he'll be more respectful next time.
In my mind there is something a bit nostalgic/poetic about taking a spring turkey with a flintlock the way we did it. In my mind someone could have been here with a wingbone call and a flintlock 200 years ago. The hunts would have been very similar. There is also something exciting about being in the woods WITH them. We were not in a blind watching until the feeder went off. Don't get me wrong - that's ok in my book. It's just more exciting to hunt them openly. This is a hunt I'll remember for a long time.
The season opened here for north Texas April 1st. That morning found me and my grown son out bright and early looking to call in a nice bird. I had run into a friend at the local convenience store where we were getting a nice greasy breakfast burrito before heading out. We said we were going out and his remark was, "So you think you can get a bird without them seeing you......?" My friend was headed to his blind so he could use what I call the Texas turkey call - the sound of a corn feeder whizzing out a measure of corn. He had a tone of doubt in his voice - you know I'll circle back to this later.
We got out to the ranch about thirty minutes before first light. We are fortunate to have a small creek that runs through our place and the birds roost along the creek. We parked within 400 yards or so of a spot that has been historically productive. A thing I like about hunting spring turkeys is that you don't need to be particularly quiet. I've found two reliable methods of locating turkeys while they are still on the roost. One great way is to use a call to hoot like an owl. Hoooot hoot! - and they'll gobble every time. Another great method is to just open and then slam the door of your vehicle - they'll gobble just the same. I always use the owl call just because that seems more natural. So we hooted and got several responses from turkeys on the creek.
I would never disturb birds while they are on the roost so we just sat in the truck and waited for a bit of daylight. Once we had enough light to see a bit we got our gear and moved to a spot we thought might work. I was carrying my .40 flintlock I picked up just this winter. It was loaded with 40 gr of Swiss 3f, pillow ticking patch lubed with mink oil, and a .389 RB. We found a spot that was a far enough away from the birds so as not to disturb their roost. We put out a hen decoy and began the great wait. We usually just sit and listen to the birds untill you can tell they've left the roost and started to move. My son was calling and I was the designated shooter. We trade back and forth every year - but he really wanted to see me take one with the flintlock so he let me shoot 2 years in a row (good kid, huh?). As soon as he hit the box call two different groups answered. For about 15 minutes we just had some getting acquainted conversation. We'd call - he'd answer - but they wouldn't move. We decided to get up and change our location a bit - I mean, birds move around, right? We moved about 75 yards and set up again. This time my son must have mastered the sexy hen tone because as soon as he called it was obvious a bird was coming.
Just a few minutes later a young Jake appeared. We wanted to watch so we let him strut for the decoy a bit. He finally sensed something was amiss and decided to move along. My son called again and we got an almost immediate response from another bird. We first saw this bird from about 75 yards out. He strutted a bit and gobbled. One more call and he folded his feathers and came right in to us. This was a nice bird. When he came in and saw the decoy he fanned out. As soon as I got a nice broadside look I raised the little flintlock and held center. When the rifle cracked my son immediately said, "Nice shot!" I never saw the bird go down through the smoke. There was no need to reload; the bird was down for the count. As someone else said here recently, a broadside shot center mass on a turkey gets the vitals and misses the breast meat. It's a reliable placement The shot ended up being from about 12 yards. I guess the camo worked ok, huh? This bird was down about an hour after sunrise.
Every time I get a spring turkey I'm amazed at what beautiful birds they really are. The blue and red on their heads and the way the light shimmers on their feathers is just stunning. We took a bunch of pics and then headed home to clean the bird. I was sure to text my friend and show the bird. In case you are curious he said he didn't see anything. Yes I gloated a bit - don't judge me... Maybe he'll be more respectful next time.
In my mind there is something a bit nostalgic/poetic about taking a spring turkey with a flintlock the way we did it. In my mind someone could have been here with a wingbone call and a flintlock 200 years ago. The hunts would have been very similar. There is also something exciting about being in the woods WITH them. We were not in a blind watching until the feeder went off. Don't get me wrong - that's ok in my book. It's just more exciting to hunt them openly. This is a hunt I'll remember for a long time.
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