Fall Turkey Hunting With A Veteran: A Hen For Uncle Harold

We hope Veteran’s Day is a meaningful one today. Check out this piece on fall turkey hunting written by longtime correspondent Tim Hovey, who also shared a memorable hunt with an inspiring Korean War veteran. Enjoy!

By Tim E. Hovey

Experienced spring turkey hunters understand what it takes to bring a longbeard into range. Placing a decoy or two in a location where birds exist, combined with some subtle calling, will almost certainly get the attention of a lovesick tom.

The draw to find a female is so strong during the spring that males become almost blind to the dangers of hunters. I’ve seen male turkeys killed during spring hunts and another tom will come walking right in to investigate the downed bird. If you’re looking to harvest a big mature tom, springtime is the time to hunt. But fall turkey hunting is a completely different animal.

NOT LOOKING FOR LOVE

With autumn not being their season for breeding, fall turkeys aren’t at all interested in pairing up and finding a mate. Subsequently, they will not respond well, if at all, to calls or decoys. Males frequently gather up in bachelor groups and are not often associated with females. In fact, it almost looks like they purposefully avoid each other, traveling in different areas during the day. I’ve even seen male and female groups of turkeys roosting in different trees. If you’re wanting to bag a turkey during the fall season, you’re going to have to change your turkey hunting tactics.

Fall turkey season in California begins on November 8 and runs through December 7, with hunters able to harvest one turkey of either sex daily and a total of two for the season. A valid California hunting license and an upland game bird stamp are required. And as always, nonlead ammunition is required to hunt any game in the state.

SPOTTING AND STALKING

Where spring turkey hunters use decoys and calls to get birds close, fall hunters need to rely on mostly spot- and-stalk tactics to be successful. Finding a roost tree is a great start for fall hunting, but don’t think placing a decoy close will get the birds interested. I’ve experienced turkey fly-downs during the fall in which birds completely ignore their plastic compatriots. Fall turkeys are just in a completely different mindset.

Honestly, my fall turkey success has always been through spot-and- stalk hunting. Locating feeding or moving birds from a distance using binoculars, I’ll gauge their movement and direction and attempt to quietly get in front of them. Setting up in the thick brush and wearing camo, I can hopefully get a bird to move close enough for a shot.

I’ve also noticed that getting close to a small group of birds is easier than doing so with a large flock of turkeys. Obviously, there are fewer eyes in a smaller group than in an entire battalion of birds.

You don’t want to just bust up a larger group so you can chase the stragglers. Once a group is disturbed,

they become even more hyperaware of danger and will be tough to get close to. Spot-and-stalk hunting and anticipating the birds’ travel route is your best bet.

BE A GOOD SCOUT

One thing that becomes a huge benefit for a fall hunt is preseason scouting. Turkeys will roost in the same group of trees, travel the same feeding routes and – especially in the fall when they aren’t being overly bothered by hunters, decoys and calling – be just a tiny bit calmer than spring. Just keep in mind they are still wild animals and on edge constantly.

If hunters can access the area prior to the season and study these movement routes, they can set up early along these paths and be waiting when turkeys move through. This is, of course, a waiting game and will require patience, stealth and camo apparel. For a bird that now ignores springtime theatrics, being set up in front of them on an established travel path is one of the best ways to be successful on a fall turkey hunt.

A FALL HUNT WITH UNCLE HAROLD

A couple of years ago, I was invited on a fall turkey hunt by my buddy Derek. After a short back and forth, he mentioned he was going to hunt a large private parcel with his wife. If I could go, I would be paired up with Uncle Harold. Derek gave me directions to the spot and told me to meet him there 90 minutes before sunrise. Excited to chase fall birds, I was just happy for the invite. Prior to this hunt, I had never met nor heard of Uncle Harold.

I pulled into the hunting spot in the dark and quietly got out. Derek and his wife JoAnne were standing next to their vehicle going over the hunt plan. I walked over and while whispering, we decided on the best way to hunt the property. Seeing only the two of them, I assumed that Uncle Harold had decided not to hunt that morning.

To cover more ground, Derek decided we should split up. He pointed to a tree line a few hundred yards away and suggested I hunt that side, while he and his wife would hunt the other side of the property. Since we were still in the dark and I had never been on the property before, I asked Derek about the best route to take to the trees. That’s when the back door of his Suburban slowly opened.

A slight figure, maybe 5 feet tall and excited, slowly moved over to us. At first, I thought it was Derek’s 13-year-old son who was taking Harold’s place on the hunt. But as the person got close to Derek’s headlamp light, I could see he was older than that, a lot older.

Uncle Harold had been sleeping in the back seat when I arrived. Derek introduced us and had to speak a lot louder to Harold to relay my name. In fact, he had to say it three times. I shook Harold’s hand and told him that he and I would be hunting together. His response was, “Huh?” Uncle Harold was 87 years old.

Derek and his wife headed to the northern part of the property, and me and Uncle Harold headed south. In the nearly dark conditions and unfamiliar terrain, Harold was stumbling all over the place. Even though we had headlamps, my new partner’s device wasn’t too bright. I steadied him by grabbing his arm and led him across the plowed field. Once at the tree line, I set him up under one of the larger trees and told him I was going to hunt about 100 yards to his left along the same tree line. “Huh?” he said.

THE WAITING GAME

Harold and I sat along that tree line for over an hour. I set up directly beneath a roosted tom, and 10 minutes before sunrise he loudly exploded from his tree in the exact opposite direction. Two more male birds followed suit but never offered a shot. After that early blunder, not much else was moving.

I walked down to where Uncle Harold was sitting and found him asleep. I gently woke him up and we started hiking back to the vehicles. Halfway back, I noticed movement in a small depression near the end of the tree line. I stopped Harold and looked through my binoculars. All I saw were the tops of over a dozen turkey heads. They were just milling around and occasionally picking at the ground. If we stayed low, we could sneak right up to them.

I grabbed my partner and practically dragged him near the closet mound that made up the depression. Earlier, while I’d sat in the dark, I decided that I really wanted to get Uncle Harold a turkey.

UNCLE HAROLD’S BIG MOMENT

We sat on the ground out of breath. I don’t think Harold even knew why we were moving towards the depression. I looked at him and pointed over the small hill. He carefully peeked over, saw the birds and instantly went into hunter mode. He bent down, shouldered his shotgun and got ready. I looked over at him and held up three fingers. He nodded and on three we stood and fired. The flock instantly dispersed, but once the dust settled, two hen turkeys lay in the dirt. After a quick celebration, we grabbed our birds and took a few photos.

That day was one of my favorite turkey hunts. On the drive home, I got to ride with Harold. I found out that he was a veteran of the Korean War and had served four years in Japan with the U.S. Army. After getting out of the service, he held a long list of jobs over the years. He ran the family grocery store, was a New York Life insurance agent, a taxidermist and, at one time, owned the largest fishing tackle shop in Yuma, Arizona.

When I dropped him off, I shook his hand and told him it had been a pleasure hunting with him. In all honesty, I enjoyed hearing all of Uncle Harold’s stories more than the hunt.

You may not have an Uncle Harold in your bag of fall turkey hunting tricks, but if you spot birds at a distance and can sneak into their route, you just might harvest a holiday dinner like he and I did. CS