By Joseph Robison
With a statewide population nearing 160,000 birds, the 2005 spring wild turkey season should be a good one. In fact, DNR wildlife managers believe the increased population and additional hunting opportunities should produce another record season. Last year 92,000 hunters harvested 37,500 birds during a spring season that included most of the Lower Peninsula and portions of the central Upper Peninsula. That's an incredible turnabout from the first modern-day turkey season which was held 40 years ago in a small area of Allegan County. That fall, 400 hunters harvested 83 birds. The DNR's aggressive restocking and habitat restoration program for the wild turkey, begun less than a half-century ago, has been a major achievement in wildlife conservation. Today, wild turkeys are found in 76 of Michigan's 83 counties, and the turkey management units open for the 2005 spring hunting season cover a total of 44,000 square miles.Turkeys are common throughout the Lower Peninsula and portions of the central Upper Peninsula. State or federal lands in northern Michigan offer plenty of good hunting opportunities, but don't overlook hunting in southern Michigan, where the increasing population now matches that of the northern Lower Peninsula. Hunting turkeys on private land also can be very productive, but hunters should have the landowner's permission before applying for one of these turkey licenses.
The April 18 - May 31 season will be split into various hunting periods. The application period for applying for a 2005 Spring Turkey Hunting License is January 1-February 1, 2005. Notification results of the lottery will be mailed to all applicants by March 7. Results also will be posted on the DNR web site at www.michigan.gov. See the 2005 Spring Wild Turkey Season Guide, available at license dealers and local DNR offices, for information on leftover licenses and other specific details about the 2005 spring turkey season.Scouting for turkeys is the key to harvesting one of these magnificent birds. As soon as hunters know the results of the lottery, and their assigned hunting unit, it's time to go into the woods to start looking for turkeys or turkey signs. Look for droppings. Not only will they provide evidence of the bird's presence, you also can determine the sex of the turkey by the shape of the dropping. The J-shaped droppings of male turkeys (toms or gobblers) can be distinguished from the round or circular shape of hen droppings. Also look for lost feathers near dusting areas. Black-tipped body or breast feathers indicate the presence of a tom and brown-tipped, a hen. Look for scratchings on the ground. Turkeys rake away leaves and expose the soil as they forage through the forest in search of acorns, insects and grit. Another sign to look for are the etchings in the soil left by the wing tips of the toms that are displaying. And the size of the footprint is yet another distinguishing feature between males and females, as well as younger and older birds. Adult gobblers leave tracks that measure more than four inches from the middle toe claw to the back of the heel pad. Hen tracks are a bit smaller, but still big enough to tell you a large bird passed this way. Turkeys travel up to four miles a day, so they leave plenty of signs wherever they go.
It always will be to your advantage to hear or see turkeys. A good investment for the serious turkey hunter is a locator call which can help you find the gobblers. I've used owl, crow and hawk calls, and even a goose call. These calls may anger or frighten a bird into gobbling and thus reveal their location. However, just driving up and down the roads calling out the window of your vehicle trying to locate turkeys will spook the birds. It's best to drive to a location where you think the turkeys are, park your vehicle, walk a few hundred yards into the woods and try calling. This is a good way to locate turkeys when they're receptive to calling in late March or April. Remember, there may be other hunters out there scouting turkey or hunting, so give them the same respect that you expect. Another part of scouting is known as putting the birds to sleep or roosting them. About dusk turkeys will fly into trees to roost for the night. First, locate where you think the bird plans to spend the night and where it likely will fly down to the next morning. Then, long before sunrise, try to get within a hundred yards of its roosting place, but don't get too close, because if you bump the bird off its roost, you'll likely never see or hear it again.
One final thing often overlooked during the scouting season is not patterning your shotgun or practicing with your bow and arrow. Always shoot the same loads you'll be using while hunting to pattern your gun. This will help you see if you have an effective killing pattern and the distance you can shoot. I use an Extra-Full turkey choke which holds my load of No. 5 shot in a tight pattern. If you plan to go archery hunting, put on the clothes you'll be wearing and practice shooting from the position you'll be hunting in.There are a variety of decoys available for hunting turkeys. Some are made of hard plastic; others can be folded and carried in your hunting pack. Their are full-body and silhouette decoys available. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Decoys are painted to look like hens, jakes (juvenile males) and toms (adult males). Whichever kind of decoy is used, it is very important to think about its placement. Think about the direction the turkeys are likely to come from and where you will be in relation to the decoy. The distance between you and the decoy should be within accurate shooting range and also clear of obstructions.
If the opportunity exists, set your decoys in an opening. Visible decoys out in the open may help draw the bird's attention. I also try to locate a large tree (larger than the width of my shoulders) to sit against for concealment and safety. The decoy that works best one day may not work the next. For example, you don't necessarily want to use a tom decoy if you only have jakes in the area. The jakes could be reluctant coming near the "big" tom decoy. Try to anticipate the unexpected.
Although I highly recommend the use of decoys, learning how to "talk turkey" can be enough to entice a tom in close enough for a shot. There are two basic types of calls: Mouth calls (air operated) and friction calls. Mouth calls come in several variations: Diaphragms, wingbones and tubes. They require less motion than friction calls, but require more practice to develop effective calling skills. Friction calls can either be a box or slate call. Although these calls require both hands to operate them, they continue to be very popular with many experienced turkey hunters. The purpose of calling is to imitate the yelp, cluck, putt or the purr of a hen turkey, which will attract a male. Learning these basic calls should improve your chances for a successful hunt. Effective calling requires practice. Listen to cassette tapes or videotapes, or spend time in the woods listening to wild birds; both are a productive way to master the art of turkey calling.The final weapon in your arsenal to outsmart a savvy gobbler is to wear camouflage clothing. Although there are many different patterns available, think about the area in which you'll be hunting; it may be an oak forest, cedar swamp or along the edge of an open grassy area. Take a close look at the surroundings and try to match them with the appropriate color and pattern. Whichever camouflage pattern is selected, cover yourself from head to toe, including your face, and don't forget about your shotgun. A wild turkey's vision is just phenomenal!
As Michigan's wild turkey population continues to increase, more people are taking an interest in the unique ways of the turkey. Turkey hunters are no exception. Though luck plays a key role in a turkey hunt, patience, proper hunter and decoy positioning are important, and accurate shooting is a must. Still, it's the unpredictability of the wily turkey that makes it such a great sport.