Dad, with his Spring 2008 gobbler, I called in for him while we were Buddy Huntin’.

                                               Photo by John Lander ( camera on tripod)

Posted March 4, 2009

By Art Lander Jr.

OutdoorsKentucky.Com

                     Gang Up On A Gobbler

    Call it Buddy Huntin’ or Tag Teaming. Whatever term you use, the strategy of two hunters working together to get a wild turkey into gun range, is almost always more effective than hunting alone.

    When I started taking my son John along on spring turkey hunts, we had so much fun, we hunt together now as much as possible, even though he’s grown and has taken several birds on his own.

At age nine, John went along as an observer, but after he received his Hunter Education certification (at age 10), he started actually shooting birds.

Ganging up on a gobbler is simple, and really turns the tables in favor of the hunters. One person shoots and one person calls, with the shooter positioned a few feet in front of the caller.

The shooter concentrates on the approaching bird, focusing on the most opportune time to swing the shotgun muzzle (when the bird’s head is behind a tree), to get him in the sights.

The caller watches the approaching bird carefully too, figuring out the best times to call, how loud to call, and how often – “taking the bird’s temperature,” in turkey hunting vernacular. If the caller and shooter are close enough together, the caller can whisper instructions to the shooter. Setting up behind and above the shooter, the caller can often see better, and that prevents the element of surprise (on a bird that comes in silently) that catches the shooter off guard.

When I started turkey hunting in the late 1980s, and killed my first gobbler in 1988 at Land Between the Lakes, I called with a mouth diaphram. Hunting hands free is very effective, and being able to cutt loudly and aggressively, often turns on a gobbler.

But when I started Buddy Huntin’ I switched to a friction call, and the results have been startling. We have taken our biggest gobblers by calling softer, and concentrating on clucks, seductive tree yelps and contented purrs. Older gobblers just can’t resist the subtle approach.

But when the situation dictates, it’s still possible with a friction call to make excited hen yelps and cutts, to get a gobbler to commit.

    Tag team a gobbler, and I promise you’ll get results, and make some great memories in the process.

Updated March 26, 2009

By Art Lander Jr.

OutdoorsKentucky.Com

             2009 Spring Wild Turkey Season Outlook

    Wild turkey hunters get ready.

    The outlook for Kentucky’s 23-day 2009 spring season, which opens on Saturday, April 18, is about as good as it gets.

    “I think it’s going to be an incredible spring season,” said Steven Dobey, wild turkey biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Last spring’s reproduction (created) the highest number of poults ever recorded in the 25-year history of our turkey brood survey. There are probably more turkeys on the ground now than at any time in recent history.”

    Dobey estimates the statewide turkey flock at 220,000 birds, despite January’s devastating ice storm. “The ice cover prevents birds from feeding. While it seemed long to us, fortunately it wasn’t long enough to (negatively) impact turkey survival.”

    Kentucky’s wild turkey harvest during the spring season has been stable for the last five years, hovering above 26,000. “If the weather is good this season, hunters could be very successful. There will be a high percentage of 2-year-old birds, and they are the most vocal.”

    Due to calendar shift, the season will start a few days later than normal, and extend through May 10. By regulation, the spring season opens on the Saturday closest to April 15.

    Dobey said the later start is not that big of a deal since about 75 percent of successful hunters take just one bird, and hunt more in the early season. But the late end to the season could benefit hunters in the mountain counties of eastern Kentucky, where temperatures warm up later, due to the higher elevation. “Warming temperatures and the lengthening hours of daylight trigger hormones which bring on turkey breeding,” said Dobey.

    Kentucky’s spring wild turkey season is timed to open following the first peak of gobbling. “That ensures that some hens get bred, and this benefits hunters, because there’s a decrease in (calling) competition from hens,” said Dobey.

    Last spring hunters took 27,073 birds, and last fall’s harvest of 5,058 was the second best ever.

    What hunters don’t want is an early spring, with a cold counter punch, like what happened in 2007. “It was real warm in March and some birds started breeding, but temperatures in the 20s in April killed some eggs in the nest, and reproduction suffered.”

    Hunters who plan to try their luck on public land can learn a lot from the department’s Telecheck results, which show harvests from all public areas open to hunting.

    Go to www.fw.ky.gov on the Internet and click on the “Hunting, Trapping & Wildlife” tab, “Telecheck Results”, then “Turkey Harvest Results.”

    Areas in western Kentucky with high turkey harvests include Peabody Wildlife Management Area and Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. “The Green River Region has the highest production on a statewide basis,” said Dobey. “They have plenty of habitat, agriculture and they have great reproduction every year. That’s reflected in the harvest.”

    Hunters should also consider Pennyrile State Forest in Christian, Caldwell and Hopkins counties, which is more than 16,000 acres.

    A newly-opened area in southcentral Kentucky is Marrowbone State Forest in Cumberland and Metcalfe counties.

    The Daniel Boone National Forest in eastern Kentucky continues to be a productive area to turkey hunt. “You may do more walking, but it’s beautiful scenery, and there is low hunting pressure,” Dobey said.

Posted February 17, 2009

Staff Report

                 Wild Turkey Management Practices

    Late winter is a good time to look over hunting areas, but it is also a good time to begin management practices that will benefit and attract wild turkeys year-round.

    Here’s some advice from wildlife biologists:

    “Keep in mind that ideal wild turkey habitat is a mix of old and younger aged forests, interspersed with open land -- plowed ground and overgrown fields,” said Steve Dobey, wild turkey biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

    Work projects that can directly benefit wild turkeys include timber stand improvement, planting grasses and small grain crops, and mowing fields at the proper time of the year.

    While the leaves are still off the trees it’s a good time to work in forests, creating openings, access roads, and removing undesirable species of trees that compete for nutrients and sunlight with preferred species.

    Dobey said the list of hardwood tree species that are not valuable to wild turkeys as a food source include: poplar, maple, elm, bitternut hickory, box elder, and locust. “What turkeys need is a mix of different species of oaks,” said Dobey. “Acorns are a pretty big (food) target.”

    Old age stands of trees are important because large trees with horizontal limbs are good roost sites. “If you don’t have trees like that on the property you hunt chances are turkeys will roost somewhere else.”

    Tree species that should be protected and encouraged are: white oak, red oak, black oaks, black cherry, and dogwood.

    Throughout Central Kentucky, cedar thickets are abundant, and while they do have some benefits, they also create problems for turkeys. “Stands of 6 to 8-foot high cedars are good ambush sites for predators such as coyotes and foxes, but turkeys do feed on cedar twigs, shoots and berries.”

    If your hunting property has lots of cedars it might be wise to selectively cut openings in thickets. A thick canopy shades out understory shrubs and forbs, which are highly sought-after foods.

    “(During the late spring and summer) grass seeds, green shoots and insects are a major food source for turkeys,” said Dobey.

    Brood areas where poults (young turkeys) can feed are especially important during the first month after hatching, when the young birds can’t fly. “Ideally, you want these openings to be grown up some, to provide protection cover,” said Dobey.

    When an opening is cut, make sure to pile up the cut trees and limbs to one side, to create a nesting site.

    Undesirable tree species can be cut down, girdled (cut through in the cambium layer to prevent the flow of water and nutrients), or killed with herbicides.

    Killing trees on the stump also creates new habitat for woodpeckers, squirrels, owls and other cavity-dependent wildlife.

    Plowing soil, preparing seed beds and planting grasses or small grain crops are very beneficial to turkeys year-round.

    “February and March are very lean times for turkeys,” said Dobey. “If you can plant something (like spring oats) that greens up fast, it will help turkeys early in the year.”

    Stands of clover make good brood habitat, and buckwheat will attract turkeys in the fall.

    “What I recommend to persons who want to establish clover is to spray the field in the fall with the herbicide Roundup (to kill fescue and other competing grasses), and later plant winter wheat,” said Clay Smitson, a KDFWR private lands wildlife biologist who works in Fayette County. “Then in February or March, when the ground is frozen, over seed with white clover. The wheat acts as a nurse crop and the freezing and thawing action pulls the clover seed into the soil (for a high germination rate).”

    Smitson said the combination of wheat and clover makes excellent brood habitat for turkey poults, supplying both food and cover.

    Mowing is beneficial, but if done at the wrong time it can be disastrous, destroying nesting birds.

    “The first week in June is the peak of the turkey hatch,” said Dobey. “You want avoid any mowing of standing cover from late April to the end of June.”

    A good mowing strategy for wild turkeys is to mow fields in February. “When light and heat get to the soil (in early spring), you’ll get some emergent vegetation,” said Dobey. “But don’t mow everything off. Leave some cover up on field edges, ditches, and stream banks.”

    Then in August, it’s okay to mow some paths through tall grass. “This stirs up a lot of grasshoppers, gives turkeys areas to forage, and more accessible travel routes.

    John’s 2007 gobbler we called “Ol’ Split Tail.”

                                                                      Photo by Art Lander Jr.

John’s Earth Day 2009 Gobbler here

                                                                             Photo by Art Lander Jr.

Posted April 21, 2010

By Art Lander Jr.

OutdoorsKentucky.Com

                     2010 Spring Season Opens with a Bang

    Perfect hunting weather, excited hunters, and a huge crop of 2-year-old gobblers combined for a memorable first weekend of Kentucky’s 2010 spring wild turkey season.

    “I was expecting a really big increase in the kill opening weekend,” said Steven Dobey, wild turkey biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “It was up almost 84 percent from last year’s opening weekend.”

    More than 12,000 bearded turkeys were telechecked Saturday and Sunday. The previous record for opening weekend was 8,238 in 2006.

     “That’s a really good total,” added Dobey. “The weather was perfect. If we get good weather (for the remaining weekends of the season), I’m confident we’ll have a record kill for the season.”   

    The spring season record, set last year, is 29,007.

    Youth hunters killed more than 1,900 birds during their weekend season, April 3-4, 2010.

    The 23-day statewide season continues through Sunday, May 9. The season limit is two bearded turkeys, but only one may be taken per day.

   

Updated March 17, 2010

By Art Lander Jr.

OutdoorsKentucky.Com

              Wild Turkey Season -- A Bounty of Gobblers

    When Kentucky's spring wild turkey season opens April 17th, hunters can expect to find a bounty of gobblers.

    “It’s looking like one of the best seasons in the past eight to 10 years,” said Steven Dobey, wild turkey biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “There will be lots of 2-year-olds, and they do most of the gobbling.”

    Kentucky's 23-day spring wild turkey season closes on Sunday, May 9th. The youth-only weekend, for hunters under age 16, is April 3-4.

    Record reproduction in 2008 is the reason for all the optimism for the upcoming spring season. "It was a great hatch," said Dobey. "The conservation officers and wildlife biologists who took part in our annual brood survey, observed an average of 3.7 poults per hen, and the highest ever total number of poults."

    Kentucky's wild turkey flock now numbers about 220,000, and the state has an estimated 90,000 wild turkey hunters.

    In 2009, hunters took a record 29,007 bearded turkeys during Kentucky’s spring season, an increase of 10,764 birds over just a decade ago. Most of the gobblers taken were adults with beards at least six inches long.

    "We have a very stable percentage of adult gobblers in the harvest," said Dobey. "That's something turkey managers like to see."

    During the 2006-08 seasons, the average percentage of adult gobblers in the harvest was 84 percent. It dropped to 76 percent last spring because hunters took advantage of the large numbers of jakes (juvenile gobblers) available from the reproductive boom of 2008. "Over time the percentage of jakes in the harvest has decreased, due in large to Kentucky hunters becoming more selective, preferring to take older birds," said Dobey.

    Since wild turkey restoration began about 25 years ago, Kentucky’s flock has grown to become one of the best in the region.

     “Of the seven states surrounding Kentucky (Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee), we tied for first place in 2009 (with Tennessee) in the number of birds harvested per square mile,” said Dobey. “That quite an accomplishment considering Tennessee has a much longer season and (hunters can take) double our bag limit.”

    High-quality populations of wild turkeys are present in all 120 Kentucky counties.

    Wild turkeys flourish in a mix of open land and forest. They need large timber for roosting, and depend on acorns and other hard mast as a seasonal food source. "Landowners often overlook the importance of nesting habitat," said Dobey. "Good nesting areas are stands of hardwood trees, with moderate understory, or overgrown fields that provide concealment and cover from the elements."

    Since about 95 percent of the state  is privately-owned, most hunting occurs on farms and woodlands owned by individuals, but quality hunting can also be found on state and federal lands.

    Land Between the Lakes and Peabody WMA offer good hunting in western Kentucky. A top spot in the Bluegrass Region is Taylorsville Lake WMA, and Grayson Lake WMA gets the nod in northeastern Kentucky.

    Southeastern Kentucky, because of its mountainous terrain, and large tracts of public land, has excellent potential for the adventurous hunter. "There's much less hunting pressure, and lots of birds," said Dobey. "It's worth the extra effort of climbing those hills."

    Top public lands in the region include: Begley WMA, Daniel Boone National Forest, Green River Lake WMA, and Lake Cumberland WMA. Last spring, hunters took 526 wild turkeys in Daniel Boone National Forest, which has 707,763 acres of public land in four ranger districts.

    Overall, the 28 counties in the southeastern region of Kentucky were second in wild turkey harvest with 6,616 birds taken, surpassed only by the Green River region (25 counties) with 8,585 birds taken.

The season limit during the spring is two bearded turkeys per hunter, but hunters can only take one bird per day. Any wild turkey with a visible beard may be taken, including bearded hens, which last season comprised just .8 percent of the spring harvest -- 233 bearded hens, compared to 28,774 bearded gobblers. In some wild turkey populations, a higher percentage of hens may grow beards. Typically, the beards hens grow are shorter and thinner than the beards of gobblers.

    Hunters are reminded that hunting over bait, such as grain, seed or manufactured animal feed, is illegal, and feeding wildlife outside the curtilage of the home (area immediately surrounding a home or group of homes) is illegal March 1, through May 31.

    While using a locator call such as crow or owl call is legal prior to the season, it is illegal for hunters to mimic the sounds of a wild turkey from March 1 until opening day of the spring season, when within earshot of birds.

     John’s 2010 gobbler taken on opening day, April 17th.  Opening weekend of Kentucky’s spring wild turkey season more than 12,000 bearded turkeys were telechecked. The previous record was 8,238 in 2006.                                                             

                                                                                                                Art Lander Jr. photo

Posted May 17, 2010

By Art Lander Jr.

OutdoorsKentucky.Com

Record Harvest for 2010 Spring Wild Turkey Season

For the second year in a row there was a record harvest during Kentucky’s spring wild turkey season.

Hunters telechecked 36,094 birds during the 23-day season, which closed on May 9th.

It was the first time since 2002 hunters had posted a record harvest two years in a row.

High winds, heavy rains and extensive flooding made the hunting difficult the last two weeks of the season.

Steven Dobey, wild turkey biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, said he believed the inclement weather had an impact on the harvest. “It rained the last two weekends of the season, if it had been clear, I think over 40,000 birds would have been taken.”

The final tally for the 2010 spring season was an increase of 24 percent over the 29,007 taken during the 2009 spring season.

Today, the state’s wild turkey flock is estimated to number about 220,000. Dobey said while turkey populations have “reached capacity in some areas, there is still has room to grow in others.”

Kentucky’s first statewide spring wild turkey season was held in 1996. Hunters are experiencing quality hunting in all 120 counties, where suitable habitat is available, with a very stable percentage of adult gobblers in the harvest.

Clearly, flocks east of Interstate-75 are continuing to expand.

“The biggest increases in harvest occurred in the mountain counties, especially in the 7th district, where the harvest was up 42.3 percent over 2009,” said Dobey. The 7th district is 13 counties -- 11 in the elk restoration zone -- and includes a substantial amount of reclaimed coal mine land. “There’s lots of good habitat for turkeys in elk country,” said Dobey.

The 9th district to the west, which includes public land in Daniel Boone National Forest, and Lake Cumberland WMA, posted a 32.6 percent increase in harvest, and the 8th district, which includes the northern reaches of Daniel Boone National Forest, was up 24.9 percent.

Despite the increase in the season harvest, hunter success was unchanged, Dobey said. “Seventy three percent of hunters telechecked one bird. Overall, more hunters were successful and that’s good.”

Turkey hunters understand that there are good years when game is abundant, often followed by average or below average years, when game is harder to find. This is because nesting success, which is influenced by weather, plays a big part in how many turkeys are out there during future seasons.

The record hatch in the spring of 2008 filled Kentucky woods and fields with 2-year-old gobblers this spring.

Now the question is how significant will the impact of flooding be this spring’s turkey reproduction.

“We won’t know for sure until the results of our summer brood survey are out in late September,” said Dobey. “If we see any differences in reproduction it’s more likely to be in western Kentucky, where so much of the nesting habitat is in the flood plain.”   

Unlike other wildlife, turkeys can escape flooding because they are highly mobile, and can offset reproductive setbacks by re-nesting.

“The flooding did occur early in the breeding cycle so hens could breed and re-nest,” explained Dobey.

 

2011 wild turkey season information here