JF Griffin - Index

JF Griffin - magazine - Index

My fi rst
gobble
spring
gobbler
By TONY YOUNG
gobble
gobble
gobble
gobble
gobble
My interest in hunting the
quirky-moving, nervousacting,
but beautifully
colored wild turkey was
piqued a few years ago by an old high
school friend of mine, Todd Bevis.
Todd’s a turkey hunting fanatic if I’ve
ever seen one, and the excitement in his
voice that’s apparent every time he tells
me a hunting story played a big part in
me getting the fever to experience spring
turkey hunting myself.
I had permission to hunt a nice tract
of land in northern Franklin County with
a half-mile of deep creek frontage on a
major tributary of the Apalachicola River.
Over the years, I’ve enjoyed deer hunting
there and taken a few fall turkeys, but
bagging a good long-beard in the spring
takes a bit more skill.
I was now ready to learn how to call in
and harvest my fi rst spring gobbler. All I
needed was the know-how, and I fi gured
I could get that from Todd and from
watching Saturday and Sunday morning
hunting shows on TV.
Todd encouraged me to get a box call
because he said it would be the quickest
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gobble
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gobble
and easiest call for me to learn – and the
spring season was approaching fast.
He taught me how to do some basic
yelps and a single-note cluck and said
if I had birds on the property that had
really never been called to before, and – if
I could sit still long enough – I just might
be able to call one in.
But Todd warned me, “Don’t make
the mistake some people do in calling too
much,” he said. “Let ’em know you’re
there, but let ’em come to you – less is
more.”
With that advice in mind, I set out
early opening day. I needed to get there
a half-hour before fi rst light so I could
set my three decoys in place and get my
ground blind situated before settling in.
Sunrise wasn’t until 7:45 a.m., so I
had about 30 minutes before the sun’s
fi rst rays would begin to illuminate the
longleaf pine-palmetto fl atwoods I’d be
hunting.
It was a brisk North Florida spring
morning, but I knew as dawn gave way
to late morning, the weather would warm
up, and it wouldn’t take long for those
pesky, deep-woods mosquitoes to come
20 2008-2009 Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission