Far Afield
To call or not to call...
With Oak Duke

No doubt about it. The best time to learn and practice "running" a turkey call is just prior to the season in the spring.

But is it wise?

Well that's debatable.

Most experienced gobbler hunters can tell you that a tom turkey will "wise up" in a hurry if he is "worked" too much during preseason.

"They get ed-e-cated," some say, with the emphasis on the "edgy" part.

And on that same side of the fence, the No Preseason Calling side, their buddies chime in and say that gobblers may actually become afflicted with a psychological malady.

That's right, Over-Calling Syndrome is a dreadful mental state to overcome.

Some birds may even get spooked to the point of not even gobbling at all!

Time to bring in the turkey "shrinks."

But wait, I know just the medicine to cure Mr. Tom: how about a shot, a shot of copper-plated sixes, threeinch mag!

But, seriously, back on the other side of the equation: if a turkey hunter wants to perfect his calling technique and learn what gobblers like in a call, the "preseason" is the place to do it.

Oak Duke shows his West Virginia tom, taken April 25, near Flatwoods, West Virginia. The tom was with five hens, had an 11-inch beard, 1 3/8-inch spurs and weighed 21 1/2 pounds, taken after a steep climb down a steep "hollah" and then up the other side of a rocky mountainside.

Ball players practice, tournament bass fishermen practice, shooters practice, musicians practice, then why not turkey callers?

Well, for one thing, there is a lot more hunting pressure than there used to be in the turkey woods.

Long gone are the days when we could fool around during the hunting season (which traditionally starts May 1, in New York State, and lasts through the month.)

Back in the early 1970s when Spring gobbler hunting was just hatching in the Northeast, those of us who ran the ridges after toms pretty much had it to ourselves. And we learned to run our calls during the season in those earliest years.

A young fellow or gal now, just starting in the wonderful but challenging sport of turkey hunting has their hands full trying to learn how to work a tom in.

Some of those old gobblers out there have graduate degrees to go with their hooks. (Why do you think graduates wear those tassels on their graduation caps - they look and swing like a boss tom's beard.)

Turkey hunting can be one of the most frustrating of the outdoor sports, yet one of the most exciting and rewarding.

And there is always something to learn.

In most hunting areas, especially in the Southern Tier of New York state, if a tom sounds off, you can bet your best pair of hunting boots that at least one other turkey hunter has his boots laced up and is moving into position on an adjacent ridge.

The more vocal a bird, the more we can be assured that another gobbler hunter is moving in too.

The preseason gives those of us who have a few ropes and spurs on the wall a chance to "tune up" our calls and get in touch with the woods. Our winters are long and too much time is spent indoors with too little exercise for the spirit and body.

Gobbler hunting gurus caution, "Better not call too much."

Well OK. That makes sense. But wait a minute.

What's too much?

How do we know when "it's too much?"

And who says, "That's too much calling?"

Nobody.

Nobody is out there. Just you, that wild gobbler, and lots of little birds singing their fool heads off is all that's out there under the great dawn.

Nothing else.

But admit it. Those of us who caution others to "not call too much," sometimes, ok, maybe that rare time, find that the only way to call 'em in is to give that trolling old tom all kinds of "cuts and trash-talk."

We learn through experience.

Our calls may sound good in the truck or out off the back deck, but there is nothing that accelerates our learning and confidence like calling one in.

If good calling is 50 percent of the wild gobbler game, hunting skills make up 75 percent, no matter how you add it up.

You can't learn hunting skills, woodsmanship, and reading sign in the backyard or from the TV.

But there's a catch, the two-edged knife, the old yin and yang.

As we learn, so do the toms.

Some hunters even say that gobblers learn individual calls!

That's right.

Some turkey hunters work off the premise that each hen has a different voice, a different tone. And toms learn the sound of each one of his girl friends who yelp sweet nothingness into his ears.

And if they hear a call that comes from a camouflaged hulk at the base of a big maple too many times, they start up that snappy putting.

"Putt ..., putt ..., putt ... ," Spooked.

Then Mr. Tom stores that one away on the old hard drive.

He would have been roosting in the corner of the freezer if he hadn't been "wised up" before the season by too much calling.

But turkey hunting only pretends to be logical and rational, and sometimes only slightly. And other times it does a very poor job.

Turkey hunting is an emotional enterprise.

What else could pull us out of our warm beds at 4 a.m. into a wet, dark, end of the night, woods?

Turkey hunting beats us 'til our eyes bag and all we want to do is sleep.

And for many of us, calling them in is the primary excitement and fun. Killing one is actually secondary, but as necessary as the period at the end of this sentence.

So I say, "Go for it," when asked about preseason calling.

But here's a few quick cautions:

A. Slip away, get out of the woods, only when the tom has moved off, out of sight.

B. OK, train and spook "your" birds, but don't educate "my" tom.

C. And when a gobbler "hangs up" for me during the season, "shuts up" and gets lockjaw so bad I can't pry his big beak open with a crow bar, I'll have a good excuse...

"Darn preseason callers around here ... "

"Don't have a clue what they are doing!"

"Well, they wised up another tom, and that's why he didn't come in. Hope they're happy."

Oak Duke, publisher of the Wellsville Daily Reporter and author of three books, writes a weekly column.