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By ETTA PETTIJOHN
Virginia native Doug Totty harvested his first turkey when he was about 11 years old, calling the bird in with an old wingbone call his full-blooded Cherokee Indian grandmother gave to his father. He has hunted them now for 40 years, and guided others to this addictive activity for the past 25 years.
Throughout those years, he has hunted in both the spring and fall and in a variety of ways. The state of Virginia allows the use of dogs to hunt turkey, and had only a fall season until 1965, when state officials established the first spring season.
Tennessee just last year established its first fall turkey hunting season in 12 counties, then extended it to 25 counties this year. These special quota hunts are Oct. 29-31, and one turkey of either sex is allowed.
With 40 years of fall hunting behind him, Totty has some tips on how Volunteer State newcomers to fall turkey hunting can find success with these year-round wily birds.
There are some definite differences in how to call these birds, and Totty has two methods for scouting and hunting fall turkey.
Scouting and hunting how-to's
The first method involves locating the general vicinity where birds are feeding and visiting it immediately before dark the day before the hunt. The ideal places to find turkeys feeding are around water, like creeks and rivers, particularly if these areas have hardwoods nearby.
"A good place to start scouting is an area with a good crop of beechnuts, with seven or eight trees in a stand," says Totty. "The area will look like someone has gone in with a lawn rake that time of year." According to Totty, turkeys at this time of year are only interested in feeding their way to a water hole after they leave their roosts in the mornings.
He says you can also find them feeding at the edge of a cleared field, alongside the treeline. "Run in and scatter the birds, so that they separate," he says. "I can almost guarantee you a bird the next morning under this scenario, providing they don't have enough daylight left to get back together. That is one of the most deadly methods I know of."
When hunting this way, Totty enters the woods way before daylight the following morning and builds a blind on the ground. He says one can hear the birds tree calling and clucking.
"They'll be so far apart, with you in the middle," says Totty. "It takes roughly 45 minutes to an hour for the turkeys to start calling to get back together, which gives me time to build a blind on the ground so I can be well concealed.
"A blind is a necessity during a fall hunt," he added. "These birds are subject to come up in front and in back of you. I've had one in front and three behind me before." After you are in your blind start calling the birds, says Totty.
Method two involves roosting the turkeys the night before the hunt. Listen to them fly up to their roost so you can pinpoint the exact location.
Again, return to this location long before daylight. Build a blind and listen to the birds start talking.
"I don't start calling until I hear them hit the ground," says Totty. "If you call too much while he (a tom) is still in the tree, it gives him too much time to get his eye on you."
Calling techniques
The key to "talking turkey" in the fall season is to be subtle, says Totty.
"In the spring you have a lot of aggressive calling by the birds, because old Tom is in love and all fired up," says Totty. "You use a lot of cuts and cackles, especially on young toms. Sometimes an older Tom won't respond to that type of calling, and, there again, some of the softer, more subtle sounds will pull him in."
He suggests using a series of "lost" calls, unless he hears a bird up close. These calls incorporate seven to nine notes. Start low and then go higher.
"Another call I use when hunting fall birds is what I call assembly clucks. These imitate the old boss hen. They are loud cluck, cluck, clucks." Then, he pauses and clucks again, always spacing out the time between these series of clucks.
He also uses soft yelps and a call known as the ki ki run, which imitates a young turkey. These, he says, are excellent in the fall because young birds can't call very well this time of the year.
"The key to fall turkey hunting is to get those birds scattered," says Totty. "I have seen it happen, they don't get scattered good and five or six run off together. Then it's no time before they have the flock all together again."
He says if this happens, try to figure out which way they went. Then, when you find them, run up to them and scatter them again. At this point you'll need to build a blind (preferably in a place where you can see well around you). Wait 30-40 minutes, then use assembly calls, clucks, ki kis, and soft yelps and purrs. Purrs work well this time of year, he says.
As for the kinds of calls to use, he admits he is prejudiced. Totty developed his own call that can make all these sounds and more.
"Of course I think my call is the best on the market," says Totty. "But up here (Virginia) poor dogs don't wag their own tails."
The call makes all the sounds of the wild turkey, and he feels it is the most natural sounding.
He says a good call to use in the fall is the wingbone yelp, because it reaches further than most calls. "Use this to get them responding. Then, when they are 100 yards or less, pick up something softer," he says. "A good slate call works well."
Patience is a virtue
Totty says that, like spring turkey hunting, patience is essential. You may call for an hour to an hour and a half before getting a response.
"I called in three off of one flush one morning," says Totty. "Me and two buddies killed all three. They were calling less than 20 minutes, which is unusual.
"Usually it takes 30 minutes to an hour to get a tom to open his mouth. A lot of times one will answer you and then not answer again until he is right on top of you.
"If someone will go in and break them up, then watch until the last light, that person will be sitting in the catbird's seat in the morning," says Totty.
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