Clear skies. Low around 45F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Clear skies. Low around 45F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.

Luke captured this image of a couple of gobblers courting a hen close to his house this past week. The breeding season for wild turkeys is at hand!

Luke captured this image of a couple of gobblers courting a hen close to his house this past week. The breeding season for wild turkeys is at hand!

  I truly believe planning and making preparations for an upcoming outdoor outing is almost as much fun as the event itself!

  After many years kicking around the outdoors, enjoying everything from hunting big game to dunking a minnow in a farm pond for crappie, I’ve pared my gear down for each endeavor. This past week, I packed my bag for upcoming spring turkey hunts and checked it twice. I can’t afford to be way back in the woods on a turkey hunt and discover I’ve forgotten a vital piece of equipment!

  I have a special bag with all the basics needed for a day in the spring woods in pursuit of turkey. Calls, extra chalk for the box call, stakes for my decoys, a few extra shotgun shells, tape to attach the tag to the gobbler’s leg, a pen to fill out the tag and an eight foot by four foot piece of burlap camo I use to create a makeshift portable blind. It’s all in the bag. These are the bare essential for hunting gobblers in the spring and I don’t want to pack one ounce more than I absolutely need.

  I usually stay on the move, stopping occasionally to call. When I hear a response gobble, depending upon how far away the bird is, I set up a blind and stake the decoy out in front or, if the gobbler is out a few hundred yards, I close the distance before setting up to close the deal. Very often calling every hundred yards or so tricks a gobbler into thinking the hen he is pursing is on the move and caused him to come trotting into my set up.

  Textbook spring turkey hunting goes something like this, the gobbler hears the hunter’s plaintive hen yelps, he struts and gobbles back in the brush and then makes his way to what he thinks is a rendezvous with a hen. If he hears a gobbler sounding off from a distance, a bit more calling by the hunter is usually in order. With each calling sequence, the gobbler will sound off back in the woods, getting closer each time until he pops out of the brush puffed up like a peacock, strutting and gobbling his head off.

  This is textbook turkey hunting but it doesn’t always happen this way. Actually it usually doesn’t happen this way! Through the years, I’ve killed my share of spring gobblers in this manner but it’s far more likely that the gobbler will answer the hen yelps from back in the brush and then come in silently and suddenly appear, seemingly out of nowhere.

  That’s why it’s important to remain still when calling gobblers; you never know when a gobbler, especially a wary old long beard, will just sneak in to your set up.

  I hunted spring turkey many years with the late Bob Hood, who was outdoors editor for a major Texas newspaper for over four decades.

  Bob had a saying, “Patience kills more turkeys than anything.”

  Bob could set still for hours when turkey hunting and if he didn’t hear a gobbler responding to his calling and he felt he was in a good spot, he remained still and called sparingly. He figured sooner or later, a gobbler out searching for hens would hear his yelps and eventually come in, spot his decoy and eventually come within range of his shotgun.

  Calling too frequently is usually counterproductive. Listen to gobblers in the spring, even on days when there is lots of gobbling. Individual birds only gobble every few minutes.

  It’s just not the nature of a gobbler to gobble continuously for extended periods. I usually begin a calling sequence with a few soft hen yelps and then wait a couple minutes before resuming with louder yelps. Then I   call every five minutes or so until I either have a gobbler sneak in or hear one gobbling back in the brush.

  Through the years, I have written and read volumes written by others pertaining to outsmarting a spring gobbler. I have written many times that I have never experienced two turkey hunts that went exactly the same. Truth is, the turkeys are your best teacher. Get out in the woods as often as you can and listen and observe. The birds will teach you.

THE BEST TURKEY FAJITAS ON THE PLANET

  I am about to share a method of making fajitas that is fool-proof and rivals or surpasses the best fajitas you’ve ever eaten! I make these throughout the year using wild pork or venison backstrap or turkey leg or thigh meat when I have it. If using the leg meat from wild turkeys, make sure and wrap it in foil and slow cook on the grill a couple hours to tenderize and then pull the meat off the bone.

  If using breast meat or loin, cut the lean meat into pencil-size fajita strips. Place them in a zip-lock bag and season liberally with Fiesta Fajita Seasoning (available at many stores). Squeeze lime or lemon juice into the bag and marinate three or four hours. In a cast-iron skillet, fry several pieces of diced bacon; do not drain the grease. Add some sliced jalapeno or chipotle (smoked jalapeno) peppers and several diced garlic cloves.

  Allow the peppers and garlic to cook a couple minutes and then add the fajita meat and allow to cook until almost done. Toss in some sliced bell pepper and onion and cook until done. Serve on hot flour tortillias with your favorite toppings. This is a special meal I love to prepare at turkey camp from fresh turkey meat but I often bring some fajita meat made from wild pork just in case we get outfoxed by the gobblers on opening day!

  Listen to Outdoors with Luke Clayton online at www.catfishradio.

Wanda Lee Smith, 93, of Greenville, passed away Tuesday, March 22, 2022. Graveside Service: 11 a.m. Saturday, March 26 at Memoryland Memorial Park, Dr. James Ralson officiating. Visitation: 10 a.m. until service time at Coker-Mathews Funeral Home.

Larry Murphy, 80, of Greenville, passed away March 22, 2022 in Greenville. A memorial service will be held at a later date under the direction of Coker-Mathews Funeral Home.

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