Great youth turkey hunt event

© By Othmar Vohringer

Richard Warden form the Hunters Helping Kids Organization sent me the following media release that I will be only to happy to pass along.

The Northern New York Hunters Helping Kids held their fourth annual Youth turkey weekend event at the Sandy Pond Sportsman’s Clubhouse on April 25 & 26th with 34 youth registering this year. Eighteen youth harvested a bird this year with one weighing in at twenty four pounds,9,1/2 beard. A first for our chapter, we had a youth with his dad from Canada register from the Watertown Sports Expo and he harvested a bird. Plus there was several double bearded birds taken by the youth hunters. One youth harvested two birds with one shot. Troy Miller, from the Mason/Dixon PA HHK Chapter, was one of mentor/callers and also photographed our youth hunters. His family also helped out for the weekend event.

All enjoyed a lunch of hot dogs, hamburgers with soft drinks furnished by SPSA. Then they enjoyed the laser shooting game furnished by the Oswego Co 4-H program and telling their hunting experiences of the morning.

On Sunday, more birds were weighed in and everyone enjoyed a chicken barbecue furnished by the NNY HHK chapter members. After the meal, awards were given out. Each hunter was asked to write an essay about his/her weekend hunting experience and the best essay was won by Justice Ames of Watertown and the runner up was Matt Glowfeskie of Henderson. The winner of a turkey mount provided by Don Miller of Lakeside Taxidermy in Fulton was Zach Kirksey of Dexter.

Door prizes for the youth were drawn and a bingo board game awarded each youth hunter in attendance, two prizes. Also a prize was given to all the underage youth in attendance.

Everyone enjoyed the festivities and looking forward to next year.
A big thank you goes out to the Sandy Pond Sportsman's Assn, the Oswego Co 4-H, NRA, Troy Miller family from the Mason-Dixon, PA HHK chapter, Jefferson Co Journal, Oswego County Weeklies, also the various sportsmen's clubs, the mentor/callers, the local businesses and the community for their support so NNY HHK can keep this a free event for the youth of our north country.

As any organization the HHK needs your help to continue the important work they do in passing the hunting heritage on to the next generation. One way to create support is a fundraising events. We are having a display table built like a glass top coffee table with a drawer under the top for displaying a assortment of unique Turkey calls preferably made by D.I.Y. craftsman, hobbyist, not major call manufactures. As soon as we get this completed tickets will be offered to the public and at all HHK show booths and events by all chapters.

So if any of you make turkey calls or know of someone who does please approach them with this idea
All donors will be shown on any literature we have for promoting this fundraiser along with a tax-deductible receipt if requested. For more information visit: Northern New York Hunters Helping Kids


Othmar Vohringer Outdoors
Founding Member of Outdoor Bloggers Summit

What’s your story?

© Othmar Vohringer

After juggling a few dates around I finally will be able to squeeze a few days of turkey hunting in before our season closes on May 15. For a while there I was worried I couldn’t make this year. On May 8th, that is three days after my birthday, a friend and I head out to the Christina Lake area for a few days of turkey hunting.

That late in the season it will though going, I have been told that the area has seen quite a bit of hunting pressure lately. I hope that I can come back here after the hunt and tell you all a great success story. To be honest with you all, turkey or no turkey, I am just glad to get out and do some hunting and spend time with friends in our great outdoors. That alone will be a story worth telling

In the meantime I would like to hear your spring turkey hunting stories. Submit the story and a picture, if you have one, to me and I will be happy to post them up here for all to read.

Which shot?

© By Othmar Vohringer

“Just get the heaviest and biggest load and that should do the trick.” This was the answer I overheard given by a sporting goods store clerk to a customer inquiring what the best load for turkeys would be.

While it is true that a turkey can be shot with a magnum load and large pellets – heck you could even use buckshot - there is more to choosing the right load than just picking any shot shell box that says “Turkey load” or something to that effect on it.

Your goal should be to find the perfect gun / load / choke combination that will provide you a consistent pattern out to 30 yards and beyond. This is easier said then done. Each gun is different in what it likes to shoot. My turkey gun for example performs best with Federal Premium High Velocity Turkey Load 3” with #4 shot pushed through a full choke. But don’t take this as the gospel. Your gun might like something entirely different.

The only way to find out what your gun likes is to spend time at the shooting range. Purchase as many different loads from 3” to 3 1/3” (provided your gun is chambered to accommodate 3 ½” shells) stuffed with pellets from size 4 to 6’s. I also recommend using different brands and different designations from the normal to the “turkey loads”. If your gun comes with interchangeable choke tubes, most do, try different chokes with each load. The results can vastly differ. For example my gun didn’t perform a consistent pattern when I used the “extra full turkey choke”. When I changed to a ordinary full choke I had the pattern I was looking for.

Another often overlooked but very important factor is recoil. The 3 ½” and the 3” magnum turkey loads deliver a heavy payload, but the recoil these loads produce can be very uncomfortable to handle for some. Heavy recoil creates flinging. Believe it or not, but it is a fact that magnum loads account for more hunters to miss turkeys because they flinched in anticipation of the severe kicking a magnum load dishes out then anything else.

As ethical hunters we owed to the turkeys to develop the perfect killing pattern and not just head in the store a day or two before hunting season opens and buy any old load that’s on sale. Or as in the case at the beginning of this article let a sales clerk that obviously had no clue tell you what you should use. Take the time it takes to figure out what makes your gun a turkey harvesting tool and you will not have to live with doubt and spoiled memories.

Image Copyright by Othmar Vohringer Product Stock Photography

Othmar Vohringer Outdoors
Founding Member of Outdoor Bloggers Summit

Are decoys costing you toms?

© By Othmar Vohringer

While there is no doubt in my mind that turkey decoys can enhance your hunting success, there are undeniably situations when decoys have been a detriment to success.

I have heard many stories of hunters whose success has been spoiled by using turkey decoys. I even could share some personal experiences I had over the years when decoys have worked against me. The stories reach from hunters that have had their decoys mistaken by others for the real thing to the incidents of turkeys that were scared by decoys. Other stories I heard, and personally experienced, were of toms that hang up well out of shotgun reach the moment they can see a turkey decoy.

Lets look at a few scenarios I addressed above and see how we can avoid a negative response to decoys. Lets start with hunters stalking decoys because this is the most serious and dangerous aspect of decoy usage.

As I have often said, using turkey decoys on public land isn’t a very safe thing to do. If at all possible avoid using decoys on public or private lands were chances are that other hunters could be preset. The most common turkey hunting accidents are the ones were hunters getting shot at because they have been mistaken as turkeys or the hunter shot at the decoys.

If you feel strongly that you cannot do without decoys on public land then at least go the extra length and mark the decoys clearly visible with blaze orange tape or flags to make it plainly visible to approaching hunters. I have yet to see that blaze orange ribbons or flags spooks a turkey away from the decoys. And if it did, so what. I rather return home without a tom in the bag then not at all or after a stopover at the hospital.

There are times when turkeys get scared by decoys and this is often the case in strong wind. I had ones a tom spooking so badly that he fell over himself as he run away. Just in that moment when the tom came into shooting range the wind picked up and the decoy started to spin on its stand. This unexpected erratic behavior in turn scared the pants off the tom.

Most decoys come with mounting devises that prevent them from spinning in the wind but if you still own decoys that are mounted with a single rod you will have to anchor them. Anchoring a decoy is not difficult. Usually sticking a twig of some sort or and old arrow to either side of the decoy will be sufficient to pervert the decoy from spinning.

What can we do about the tom that hangs up out of shooting range when he sees our decoys? A very common problem is that hunters stake out decoys where they can be seen for a long way in the hope that a tom seeing the decoys from far away will come running. But that is not so. A tom seldom will come to a hen. Gobblers are male chauvinists. A tom will only go as far until he can see the hen and then stop. He expects the hen to come to him.

It is a much better strategy to set up the decoys in such a way that the gobbler can’t see the decoys until he is in shooting range. By using the features of the terrain this is seldom difficult to achieve. A gobbler that comes to calling fully expects to see a hen as I described in Show him what he want to see – or hide. The same tactics can be applied to decoys. As I said, a tom expects to see something when he comes to calling, preferably a turkey hen. Placing a decoy will give him that confidence to stick around for a minute or two before he gets suspicious.

Turkey decoys can be a great asset to your hunting success, but they have to be used wisely and with caution otherwise the decoys will be a detriment to your success. As with everything else in hunting, using decoys is not a strategy in itself, it is only a small part of a well planed and thought out strategy that will lead to success provided everything is done right.

For more information on turkey hunting, seminars and course visit my website

Image copyright by Othmar Vohringer Outdoors Stock Photography

Turkeys and Barriers

© By Othmar Vohringer

Here is a question I received in the email from a hunter who visited my recent turkey hunting seminar. I would like to share the question and my answer with you because it’s a frequently asked question. The hunter described the following situation.

“I have permission to hunt turkeys on a farm which borders onto a river bottom. On the other side of the 20 to 30 foot wide river is a rocky hillside populated with lots of tall pine trees with open spaces in between, ideal turkey roosting area with easy access to the river bottom. However, there seems to be little food on that side of the river, whereas the farmland has many crop fields. To access the farm fields the turkeys would have to fly across the river. My question is would the turkeys do that provided they roost on the hill side?”

The short answer to this question is; although turkeys can fly quite long distances they do not like to across rivers, canyons and other barriers if they can help it. Unfortunately the hunter did not tell me if he has seen turkeys on the farm or on the rocky hillside. Without knowing this vital fact I was left no choice but to answer the obvious.

Scout both sides of the river, the farm and the rocky hillside, for turkey sign and turkeys present. While turkeys prefer to roost in tall trees on a hill or ridge top they have no hesitation to roost is a river bottom if there are suitable trees available. I suggested to the hunter to check out the river bottom on the farm side of the river and if there are tall trees it is quite likely that the turkeys will use the farm as roosting, strutting and feeding area.

The hunter also should check out the rocky hillside. If that area provides the turkeys with everything they need there is no need for them to fly across the river to access the farm. With the rocky hillside also bordering onto the river bottom it is very likely that the birds find enough food there.

As I said earlier, turkeys do not like to cross any sort of barrier. This is something to consider when you set up on turkeys and call them. Make sure that there are no barriers that prevent the birds from coming to your calling. I had this happen a few years ago. I called a tom and when he came in he just paced back and forth below a little dip in the landscape. After about an hour of calling the tom finally gave up and walked away. When I checked the area where the gobbler paced I found that that little dip was a small and shallow creek not much wider then a couple of feet. The tom could have easily hopped over it but he didn’t.

Barriers come in many forms and we need to be aware of it before we set up. At another occasion a tom refused to cross a cattle fence although all he had to do is tuck his noggin in a bit and walk right under the wire to cross the fence. Downed trees are another barrier that turkeys don’t like and so are roads, thickets, the above mentioned creeks but also sloughs and many other features.

This brings to mind how important it is to scout and get familiar not only with the resident turkey population but also with the lay of the land and how the birds navigate that area.

Related Articles:
Scouting - Turkey Sign
The Ultimate Turkey camouflage
Top 11 Turkey Hunting Tips


For more information about my turkey hunting seminars and courses visit:
Othmar Vohringer Outdoors

Turkey seminar is huge Hit

...and still a few more to go!!!

Othmar Vohringer Outdoors
Founding Member of Outdoor Bloggers Summit

HS Strut ® Ring Zone™ Turkey Calls

© By Othmar Vohringer

There is no question about it that good calling is an essential part of turkey hunting success. The emphasis in the former sentence is on “good calling” as in getting the right sound and perfect pitch. Turkeys have been called to a great deal by hunters. They have learned to distinguish between a real turkey sound and almost real turkey sounds. This ability has saved many a toms life.

Game call companies go to great length to provide hunters with calls that that sound perfect and are easy to use. One such company is Hunter Specialties ® and I recently ha d a chance to field-test tow of their new friction pot-calls. The package information of the new HS Strut Ring Zone™ Starfire Crystal™ and the Ring Zone™ Ceramic reads, “Scientific testing shows that the Ring Zone™ produces remarkably consistent sounds, more so than other commercial calls. With more accurate and authentic yelps, hunters can call in more turkeys. You can ‘get in their head’ because you can make the same sounds they hear and produce.”

For comparison HS Strut ® provides two oscilloscope frequency charts, one of a real live turkey yelp and the other of the Ring Zone™ call. The similarity of the two charts is remarkable which leads the company to the conclusion. “Turkeys will hear the difference with the Ring Zone™ and you’ll be convinced that all turkey calls are not created equal.”

Am I convinced that the HS Strut ® Ring Zone™ Starfire Crystal™ and the Ring Zone™ Ceramic can make the difference the manufacturer promises? Lets find out.

The moment I looked at the call I noticed that the new calls had a new feature that will greatly enhance the sound of the call. The outer ring on the call is separated with spacers from the mainframe that holds the play surface. This invention serves in my opinion two important purposes. First it will keep your fingers of the calling surface, a mistake many novice turkey hunters make. Second, even if you hold the call wrong by cupping the hand around the bottom of the call you still will be able to get the volume needed. Both, touching the play surface and cupping the hand around the bottom of the call will muffle the sound.

Seeing this new invention was very pleasing, especially knowing from my turkey hunting seminars and working with novice hunters that this is a very common problem with many turkey hunters and HS Strut™ has solved it is great.

Inspecting the calls carefully for manufacturing faults convinced me that the Ring Zone™ is manufactured with great care to detail and the components fitted perfectly together, which is no small feat by mass production standards.

Satisfied that I held a quality turkey call in my hands I was eager to hear how the Ring Zone™ calls sounded. Having hunted turkeys for many years and having specialized in turkey vocalization I pride myself on knowing the difference between a real turkey sound and something that almost sounds like a turkey. Time to find out.

Since I have never used a ceramic call I tried the Ring Zone™ Ceramic first. By the first yelp I produced with the supplied rosewood striker peg I was surprised about the clarity of the sound, the perfect pitch with just the right amount of raspy undertone common to older turkey hens. Yelping is one thing but clucks, cackle and purrs are quite a different story. In the past I have found that most calls can produce a passable yelp but are often fail a bit when producing a purr. Not the so the Ring Zone™ Ceramic, I was able with little effort to produce the perfect purr sound that experienced turkey hunter look for in every quality call.

After I was satisfied that the Ring Zone™ is everything it promised to be I focused my attention on the Ring Zone ™ Starfire Crystal (Image on the left). As expected form a class call, the sound was not as raspy and bit brighter but still at the perfect pitch needed to convince a gobbler to come closer. For me the glass call is the favourite to call a tom form a long distance and the Ring Zone™ Starfire has the power and volume needed to reach that extra distance without sacrificing tone quality.

Conclusion:
With the Ring Zone™ calls Hunter Specialties definitely has given turkey hunters a welcome and in some cases a much needed addition the their bag of tricks to call in even the weariest of toms. I can say with confidence that from now on the HS Strut ® Ring Zone™ calls will have a permanent place in my turkey hunting vest when I am heading out in pursuit of big mature toms.

Images courtesy of: HS Strut ®

For more information on Hunter Specialties game calls and other products visit their website.

Related articles:
Music to a tom’s ears
Turkey calls


Othmar Vohringer Outdoors
Founding Member of Outdoor Bloggers Summit

Tags: Turkey Calls, H.S. Strut, Hunter Specialties, Ring Zone Turkey Calls