Fall Turkeys

I miss the fall turkey season.  GA DNR has us killing three toms in the two month spring season, but neglects us in the fall.  Fall turkey season in KY was great.  It opened on October 1st and ran through the end of the year.  This was an archery only season, which made difficult hunting near impossible.  Turkeys flock up in the fall, so unlike the spring you can’t call them off the roost and get their attention with subtle, sexy hen calls.  Fall season takes a little luck and some weird fun.  The recommended way to hunt fall turkeys is to break up the flock and try to call them back together.  How often is a hunter encouraged to run at the game, flailing their arms, and screaming?  This is the way to break up the flock.  You can attempt to stalk and take a shot at a bird, but with between 15-30 sets of eyes roaming the landscape, good luck going unnoticed.

The farm that I hunted had a good size fall flock that I encountered on many occasions.  I had won the spring battle taking a quality tom after a two-hour song and dance with a bird that should have won.  In the end, I outsmarted him (later story).  The fall victories went to the turkeys though.  I lost arrows, scarred my knees, and almost fell out of a tree stand in my attempts to harvest a fall bird.  The best opportunity was the day that I turned the corner in the open field to see the entire flock standing at 30 yards.  I stepped back, drew the bow back, and jumped out shooting quickly.  Unfortunately, in all the confusion of the birds scattering when I came around the corner, I don’t think I ever picked out a target and the arrow went sailing over all their heads.  No scattering the flock this day.  They all took off running in the same direction and off the property.

One morning I was sitting in my tree stand deer hunting when the flock came through.  The closest birds were coming down the trail at about 40 yards.  I don’t shoot with sights, so this was towards the end of my comfortable range.  I drew back and took aim on a jake.  I shot right on-line to see the arrow, once again sail over his back.  The flock began to scatter.  I grabbed another arrow from my quiver.  I turned back to see a turkey flying towards me.  I swung on this bird and released the arrow to watch the bird change his mind at that exact moment and drop to the ground.  The arrow buried itself into a tree about 15 feet above the ground.  I lost my balance and slipped off the top step of the stand.  I hated this stand, so I always sat on the floor board and put my feet on the steps.  I landed on the floor board and took a few seconds to recover.  I decided this tree was not for me.  I climbed down, bruised both from the slip and the ego from two missed opportunities and went to find the one arrow that was recoverable.  I headed to the truck and declared the turkeys the winners.

Finally, late in the season, I thought I had them.  The flock was coming through the hardwoods and towards the field and I decided to follow the advice of the locals.  I set my bow on the ground and took off running after them.  Turkeys were going every where; it was great.  I kept running determined to break them up completely to give myself the best opportunity to call them back together when oomph!  I hit the ground face first.  Well that was fun.  Running in hunting boots and winter gear was not in the books.  I picked myself up and wiped the blood from my face.  No big deal, just a small cut and some more bruises.  I am not sure how the turkeys continued to bruise me, but nothing else beat me up this bad.  I went back and got the bow and headed to the fenceline to set up.  I waited until I heard calling and then I answered.  We called back and forth for about an hour.  I watched as all the birds gathered back together about 200 yards away and off the property.  Turkeys win yet again.

We battled each other constantly over the next 3 seasons with the turkeys winning each and every one of them.  Finally KY decided to open a fall gun season and I moved to GA.  I am sure that the turkeys aren’t beating everyone now that the hunters are cheating, but they had my number.  Some day when GA decides to open a fall season, I will get my revenge on them but until then the score looks like a Cubs game…

Kenny – 0 Turkeys – A LOT!