Nobody wakes up hooked on meth. Similar to nobody casually strolls into the backcountry to hunt elk. There’s a pure development of slipping into searching insanity, and turkey searching may be the gateway drug that sends an individual down that rabbit gap.
Tags are low-cost, it requires little gear, and I can’t consider something extra enjoyable than watching a tom strut and gobble his head off on the opposite aspect of a shotgun bead. Whether or not you’re taking a youth or introducing a late-in-life hunter, turkey searching offers a enjoyable entry into the game.
Take a Buddy
A number of years in the past I provided to take a buddy turkey attempting to find the primary time. He was a bit hesitant at first, primarily as a result of his solely searching expertise concerned sitting in a field stand and watching a inexperienced patch for deer. He assumed that turkey searching can be the identical. After a lot convincing, he lastly agreed. Whereas he didn’t kill a turkey on his first hunt, he did get to see three strutters gobble their heads off simply throughout the property line we had permission to hunt. It was an insane hunt for anybody, a lot much less a brand new hunter. My buddy was hooked.
Quick ahead a pair years, and he’s purchased his personal turkey searching shotgun, bagged his first chicken, and even tried to hunt one other state. Not solely is he hooked on turkey searching, however I’ve additionally managed to speak him into a couple of pubic land whitetail hunts. And it solely took one encounter for him to start out researching the perfect deer searching rifles.
However don’t suppose I didn’t profit from his newfound love for turkey searching both. I’ve acquired one other searching buddy, I get to tag together with him as soon as I’ve tagged out, and attending to see considered one of your finest buds shoot their first turkey is extra rewarding than doing it your self. Plus, lacking a turkey together with your searching companion is quite a bit simpler to shake off than lacking one by your self. Which is strictly what we did final 12 months. We each missed the identical chicken, had giggle, and got down to strike one other one.
Low Stakes, Plenty of Enjoyable
Not like different huge sport, turkey searching has quite a bit much less using on it. Positive, it sucks whenever you miss a turkey or spook one, nevertheless it’s not practically as deflating as whiffing on a mature whitetail or a stud bull that you just referred to as into bow vary.
Whereas there’s not one ready round each nook, it isn’t out of the query to strike one other one for those who blow your first hunt. It’s low stakes for everybody concerned, particularly for brand new hunters who’ve zero notion of what to anticipate.
Study the Fundamentals
Instructing a brand new hunter to scout and interpret turkey signal can present much less of a problem than different sport species. One purpose is that turkeys are diurnal creatures. They’re solely lively through the day. Should you discover a place with tons of recent tracks, scratching, or scat, you’ve discovered the place the turkeys roam throughout capturing hours, which new hunters can wrap their brains round.
Train them find out how to roost a turkey, and so they’re on their means. There’s clearly quite a bit they’ll must find out about calling, turkey habits, and habitat, however these foundational expertise are a fantastic beginning place and can translate to different species as effectively.
Should you’ve ever taken a brand new hunter to the woods, you realize that stealth is the primary talent they should hone. Fortunately, turkeys can’t scent like deer. This implies you possibly can assist a brand new hunter work on being nonetheless and silent with out having them juggle the added complexity of wind path and scent mitigation. In fact, what turkeys lack in smelling capabilities, they make up for with periscopic imaginative and prescient, that means they’ve an almost 300-degree viewing window always. If they will be taught to be nonetheless sufficient to kill a turkey, they’ll just do nice with different sport species.
Even when they’re fortunate sufficient to fill a tag, new hunters must know find out how to costume and prep their kill. Not like skinning a deer, dressing a turkey is fast and painless. Whether or not they resolve to piece it out or pluck the entire chicken, new hunters are in all probability extra aware of the anatomy than different critters, because of the native grocery retailer and Thanksgiving at Granny’s. Nonetheless, dressing a turkey is a straightforward strategy to introduce somebody to cleansing their kill and doubtless one thing they will do by themselves after only one crash course.
Final Name
There are few issues extra satisfying than tagging a turkey. Watching somebody bag their first is considered one of them. It’s a fantastic reminder for these of us who got here from searching households that not everybody has the identical alternative. And sharing the chance to hunt is a good way of constructing sure it goes on. Turkey season can’t get right here quick sufficient.
