Wild Turkey Conservationist Honored

© By Othmar Vohringer

James Earl Kennamer, Ph.D. (photo: courtesy of NWTF) was selected as the 2008 Alumni Fellow for MSU’s College of Forest Resources, an award given to those who have earned special distinction in their professional field.

Kennamer is currently the Senior Vice President of Conservation Programs for the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF). During his nearly 30 years of service with the NWTF, Kennamer has worked with a wide range of conservation and sportsmen’s groups among them the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance
as well as government agencies to ensure a robust wild turkey populations. Through those efforts, he is considered a leading architect of the wild turkey expansion from 1.3 million in the early 1970s to more than 7 million today.
Dr. James Earl Kennamer has been fascinated by wild turkeys since he saw his first wild turkey gobbler killed by his father 53 years ago on Fort Benning military base in Alabama. Six years later, he followed in his dad’s footsteps and bagged his first turkey. Then, in 1980, Kennamer left his tenured position as a wildlife professor at Auburn University to help the NWTF get off the ground. Since then, he has played an instrumental role in wild turkey restoration.

Tags: Wild Turkey Conservationist Honored, Wild Turkey Federation, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, James Earl Kennammer

2008 Spring Turkey Hunting Contest Winner

© By Othmar Vohringer

Drum roll please…the winner of this years spring turkey hunting contest is…We will be right back after this announcement.

Thanks to everybody that has taken part in the 2008 Spring Turkey Hunting Contest. All the submissions were outstanding testimony to the dedication common to all successful turkey hunters. I enjoyed reading each and every one of the submissions and was glad that I did not have to pick the winner myself. I would have had a real hard time picking a winner from all the submission because, as I said each and every one told a story to which I could personally relate or that brought back memories of experiences I had in the turkey woods.

The winner of the contest will receive an Heirloom double Barrel turkey call. Heirloom turkey calls are all handmade by veteran turkey hunter Brian Warner of Louisiana. Brian started making his own calls because he just never could find a call that produced that important natural sound. It didn’t take long for serious hunters to realize that Brian was on to something that no other call manufacturer could match. Soon Brian had a little cottage production going, making calls for friends and for special orders. A year later Heirloom Turkey Calls was founded and the rest is history as they say. Heirloom calls are still made the way all quality products are made. Or as Brian Warner told me; “If it’s not good enough for me I will not sell it to a fellow hunter”, and so Brian still makes each call by hand and diligently tunes them individually. The hard work pays off by more hunters that demand his turkey calls and a wall full of success stories from satisfied customers.

I am a proud member of the Heirloom Pro Staff and had the fortune to field test many of their calls and can attest that these calls are simply the best. For this years contest I thought that I wanted to do something special by giving away a brand new Double Barrel call, my favorite, from my own stock.

…Welcome back to the 2008 Spring Turkey Hunting Contest. To establish a winner I used a nifty little computer program. It was quite fun to watch on small screen how it jumbled and tossed the numbers around and then finally one number started to flash. The computer picked the number six (#6).
The winner of this years contest is Sandy’s Rainy Day Gobbler. Congratulations Sandy and I hope that after your very first turkey harvest this year you will go on and harvest many more for years to come. I know that your prize, the Heirloom double Barrel call, will be a great aid in bringing those weary big toms in for you.

Sandy’s rainy day gobbler – Her first ever!

Entry #6

© By Othmar Vohringer

This is the story of a husband convincing his wife to join him on a turkey hunt and would you know it she harvests her first tom. Needless to say Sandy is hooked and her husband Arnold is happy to have a new hunting partner.

I am a great supporter of getting more women into hunting and what better example then this husband and wife spring turkey hunt story.

Story by Arnold Okonski

It was May the 8th a cloudy morning with rain showers in New York's spring turkey season just west of the Mass border.

The night before I had convinced my wife to go out turkey hunting with me, She has before but never any action so she gave it up for a few years. We set up on the edge of a field before daybreak. I started with some soft tree calls and right away had a gobbler answer.

I told the wife that this was a good sign and noticed her ready to shoot. I laughed and told her to relax that she will know and I will tell her when to be ready. After a short time it was time to start to call, and now at least 3 gobblers answered. I told her to be ready and went over the distance and shot placement with her. She was worried about missing she left her glasses home. The gobblers came to the edge of the field but into a depression so they never seen the decoys and they hung up on us. I continued to call and now we had a bird gobbling behinds us. I was excited so you can picture her excitement. Now it starts to rain after an hour of calling and the birds answering every call but will not come out of the depression.

The bird behind us now circled to our left and was in the field also. But we never had seen them. Now an hour and a half goes by and the goes “I have to move I can’t sit like this to much longer.” I also had to move so we shifted slowly and I told her to relax for a bit but to have her shotgun ready on her lap. We started to laugh on how many times the birds would gobble and never come close. They would even gobble when some heavy equipment was heard in the distance. After an hour and forty-five minuets went by I told the wife I was going to try an old trick. I will climb up the tree and if I can see the birds I will stay and continue to try to entice them to come in, but if I could not coax them closer I would go 40 to 50 yards behind her and then call again and it may bring the birds closer.

She said "OK as long as you are here when I shoot ". I laughed and said that would be hard to do from 50 yards away but be ready it may happen fast. I inched up the tree and could not see the birds so I slowly took off and went 40 yards behind my wife’s position. I sat down and called. As I had hoped one bird fell for it and came trotting up the edge of the field. Now I know she can see the turkey and I called again and the tom gobbled again.

A few seconds went by but it felt like forever and now I am thinking when is she going to shoot. I went to call again, figuring the bird was moving as I could not see him any more just then I heard a shot rang out. I got up to run over to my wife and seen her jumping up in the air saying; " I got it, I got it, I got it “. To see her face, the excitement and the thrill was priceless. I went over to the bird and seen it was a nice size 21 lbs, 9 1/2-inch beard and a whopping 1 1/2 inch spurs.

Right away she asked; “Is it bigger than your bird?” I said that it was and she got even happier. I asked what it looked like form where she was positioned, as I could not see the final seconds, and she told me. “I seen him come over the hill and I was going oh my God, oh my God. I hope I don't miss and he was moving. So when he went behind the tree I got ready and thought I will lead him and have him walk into the shot and he did .I shot and he went right down no flapping just plop.”

Looking into her face as she told her story was like a little kid telling of her adventure's wide eyed and a big grin. I told her she did everything right and to wait to get ready was a pro move. We still talk about it today and still smile each time and yes she will remind me that she is the new king of the turkey hunting household, but I don't mind I have a new hunting buddy and who better than my life long buddy.

Tags: Spring Turkey Contest, Rainy Day Gobbler, Husband and Wife Hunting Team

John's first turkey hunt in Minnesota

Entry #5

© By Othmar Vohringer

John is a member of the SHS Hunting Chat Forum and he went recently on his very first turkey hunt. Notice as you read his exiting story that when he changed his turkey call to a Heirloom Turkey Call he got lots of gobblers answering him back. There is a reason why I became a pro-staff member of Heirloom. They make the best turkey calls in the industry, simple as that!

Now without further ado here is the hunting report in John’s own words. Enjoy!

This was my first time turkey hunting of the 5-day hunt here in Minnesota. My first day hunting I had toms gobbling all morning but they where all the way across the river. I watched them strut and gobble along the river bank for couple hours, I had 2 hens and 1 jake decoy sitting out on the ridge top looking over the river but they still would not come over.

I was using a mouth call it started to rain and started to hail so I called it a day and went home. My second day I went back at 5:00 am put one hen decoy out and got in my blind and waited for the pheasants to crackle they got the toms talking soon. I heard a tom sound off I picked up Toby’s Rebel Yell box call (Heirloom Turkey Calls) and an answer from a tom came back, then the whole river bottom lit up with turkeys. This was at 6:00 am so I waited some more and listen for a tom to gobble and then I would answer him back.

This went on for a couple hours. Finally I look out my blind window and there was a bird straight across from me and the other side of the river so I used the box call a little more aggressive and then I acted like I was going away from him. All of a sudden I heard him flying over my ground blind and he landed 15 yards on the other side of my blind so I quit calling. Then I saw the farmers sheep coming in the area and chase the bird away. One of the sheep took off my hen decoy and drops it about 5 yards from the blind. I used the box call to try and get the tom to come back. I see the bird running towards the decoy as the sheep moved away, so I pickup the shotgun and fired at hi from five yards he did a couple back flips and it was over. The tom had a beard but the shotgun blast at such close range destroyed it. The turkey weighed 19 pounds.
Thanks to Heirloom Turkey Calls for getting me hooked on turkey hunting.

John Schroeder

Tags: Minnesota Turkey Hunt, Spring Turkey Hunting Contest, Heirloom Turkey Calls, SHS Hunting Chat Forum

Two toms in one day

Entry #4

© By Othmar Vohringer

The following submission has been sent in by Marc Alberto from New York. You can read and see more of Marc at his blog NYBowhunter

The following submission has been sent in by Marc Alberto from New York. You can read and see more of Marc at his blog NYBowhunter

It was the second morning of New York's spring turkey season and I was hunting just south of the Adirondack Mountains with my college buddy, Kevin. We set up along the edge of a field that had recently been tilled and we knew birds were using a cut cornfield behind us. Our plan was to catch the birds moving across this field on their way to one of the other fields.

As day began to break only a faint gobble was heard way off in the distance; this was not looking to be a promising day. I had my full strut decoy and hen decoy about 20 yards in front of me so that any bird coming into the large field would see the decoys and hopefully come in and that was just what happened.

About an hour into the hunt I caught movement about 150 yards away on the opposite corner of the field. I saw two birds making their way in and one appeared to be a gobbler although it was hard to tell. As the bird came in closer I noticed the white head, but couldn't find a beard and never saw the bird strut or heard it gobble once. I then realized it was a Jake as the second bird was clearly a hen and smaller in size. I still do not know why the Jake came right into a full strut Tom decoy, but as he passed the decoy at 40 yards I sent a 3 1/2" round of copper plated number fours his way and bagged my first bird of the season. It just so happened that both my college buddy and his father had watched the whole thing from opposite ends of the field and it was a great start to our morning.

Now we had to get my buddy a bird. I moved about 100 yards away from where I shot my bird watching the same field as my buddy moved up into the hardwoods near the upper cut corn field. Not more than 15 minutes after I sat down and started to call I saw a hen in the open field. I quickly radioed Kevin, but heard no response. The hen walked across the field and almost into my lap. It was an incredible experience. Then I heard a gobble not more than 50 yards away and five minutes later there was a huge eastern longbeard strutting and drumming about 15 yards in front of me. I was tagged out for the day (you can only take one bird per day in NY) so I let the bird walk back out into the open field and then watched him for an hour strutting and gobbling his head off. I called my buddy on the radio repeatedly, but he must have shut it off cause he never answered. Having fun with the bird I called using a diaphragm and slate call at the same time and got the bird all fired up. About an hour later the bird started coming back my way. This time I didn't call and let him walk into the woods. No more than ten minutes later I heard him start gobbling and then BOOM! My buddy called me on the radio - got him!

Later that day we weighted the birds and my Jake came in at a whopping 12lbs with 1/4" spurs and a 1" beard while Kevin's bird that I had to kick off my feet as it tried to walk over me weighed 22lbs, sported a 9.5" beard and had 1 1/4" spurs. It was a hunt we'll both never forget.

Tags: Spring Turkey Hunting Contest, Turkey Hunting , Turkey Hunting In New York

Working hard to get a tom

Entry #3

© By Othmar Vohringer

Ken Coulson of Liberty Lake, WA sent me his entry for the 2008 Spring Turkey Hunting Contest. Reading his story reminds us all that turkey hunting is no picnic. At times it is hard work and it doesn’t always turn out the way we plan it. However, if we keep at it and keep going out to pursue our dream it will be rewarded.

Here is Ken’s picture and story. Enjoy

After a terrible weather report for this weekend Saturday afternoon wasn't to bad. Decided to go hunting Sunday morning (April 20, 2008). Nathaniel couldn't go, studying hard for a big AP test in a couple of weeks. He was also gone for the last couple of days to jazz competition in the Tri-Cities so was feeling even more pressure.

Again I got a slow start in the morning. I was going to go to Mt. Spokane but it was completely covered with a big black cloud and Mica Peak was out in the sun so I decided to go that way. Went up to some Inland Empire Paper Co property that we've been to before (the same place Chuck and Roger got birds last fall).

I parked in the normal location at about 9:30 and started walking in.
Going up first hill I knew I had too much long underwear on. The sun was on me and I was getting pretty hot. I got to the top of the hill and stopped to cool off and watch some white tail deer just in front of me.

They just looked back. Then all of the sudden a turkey flew away only 20 feet away! I hadn't even seen it! I thought it was a hen but wasn't sure so I went back downhill looking for it. Didn't see it again. Started back up hill again. This time looking more carefully for sign, which I did see.

Continued walking north and entered into an area that was pretty logged.
Not much cover, it was all pretty open in the area. I had been making occasional calls, no responses. Then in the distance I heard a gobble.
I worked my way slowly to a spot where I could see further ahead.

Spotted a group of 6 or 7 birds. They were still lots of hundreds of yards ahead and there was very little cover. They did not respond to calls other than a couple of toms displaying. What to do? They weren't coming to me so I had to go to them. I was in downed trees so I started using them to get to a little gully that had a bit of brush cover in it. I climbed over a tree and a tom flew away right next to me.

Got to pay better attention!

I could see the group ahead of me still and had a bit of cover. They had move up to higher ground so I had some chance to sneak up. I moved forward with what cover I had, getting closer to ridge top. They then moved to other side of ridge and they were out of view. This was good. I was able to quickly move to close to the top of the ridge without being seen. (I think they had already seen me even though I was a long ways off.) I got close to the top and there was next to no cover. I crept in and was getting close to range when two of the birds went left along the ridge and five flew off.

They went quite a ways, but I could see where they went. It was some of the only standing timber in a creek drainage (they have to leave some for watershed protection). Which way to go? I had already picked out what I thought was big tom; it was one of the two that went along the ridge on foot.
I decided I'd better look for those two first. This was again difficult as there was basically no real cover. I crept along and spotted the two and I was in range, about 35 yards. Boom, they were both still moving, boom! At this point they were slightly downhill and I couldn't see them.

I sprinted over there. No bird. I was sure I'd hit one. Keep looking around. Found one of them in a little bit of brush about 40 yards away.
Luckily it was still flapping a bit making it easier to find. This was a nice sized bird. Was looking around and spotted two more groups of birds, both 6 to 7 in number way in the distance. Looking good for further hunting!

Took a couple of pictures, called Roger, and then started the mile walk
back to the truck. Luckily I was pretty close to the main logging road
running through the area so the walk was pretty easy, though a big bird
starts getting heavy quick! Back to the car and home.

Talked to Tamara, who was over at a friend's house (Jensens). Gary was excited to hunt also. I told him I'd be glad to go again. He rushed out to get license/tags and his gear together. We headed back up there at about 2:30.
We went to spot where I had seen one of the groups of 6 or 7. We were in this steep valley when we spotted them up towards the top on the hillside.

I told Gary was what we should do is have one person go up and the other stay in the bottom. If they fly, they are going to fly downhill right towards the bottom. Gary decides we should both go up the hill. We worked up the steep hillside. Again this is Inland Empire property and is pretty logged.
Not much cover. After not much time I spot the birds. A group of 7. I'm in a good spot, a little group of small trees and am out of sight.

They have not acted as if they've seen us. I radio Gary to not move, the birds are just ahead about 50 yards. (Chuck the radios are great!) I've got the scope on and the safety off. They are a long shot but marginally within range.
I'm thinking to let Gary try a shot and it's a long shot so I'm holding off.
He gets to antsy and moves. They all fly off down the valley. I almost shoot, but it was a long shot so I hold off. I told Gary they aren't going to stay down at the bottom of the valley, they can't fly very well out of there.

We wait a few minutes and then continue moving along hillside. Just a bit later I spot 4 birds ahead. It was amazing how fast they came back up
(I'm assuming it's not a different group). This time they are nervous and know we are there. We are now in a snow squall with thunder and lighting!
We try to work towards them (no response to calls this entire hunt).
They move ahead of use, out of range. Finally they drop out of sight over a little drop. I radio Gary to get up there super fast, they can't see us.
I quickly move up to gully top and peer over. Four birds just ahead. 40-ish yards. Gary is still 40 yards behind me and not moving to fast. I decide I'd better take a shot they are in range. 3 of the 4 are toms. Boom.
Doesn't drop. Boom. They fly off. We pull back to regroup and try again.
By now it's getting a bit late and we end up having to leave. Near freezing with occasional snow. I'm convinced the RedDot scope is a piece of junk. Just too much parallax error.

Back home. 22 1/2 lbs before cleaning. Tamara and I plucked and cleaned.
This was a big tough bird. It had fighting spurs and a 8" beard. Very nice fan, going to keep this one. The gullet was completely empty. Hmmmm.
Stomach had grass and small pebbles.

Tags: Spring Turkey Hunting Contest, Turkey Hunting Team, Turkey Hunting In Washington

Making a lifelong friend through turkey hunting

Entry #2

© By Othmar Vohringer

Wild Turkey Fever reader Brian Keck from Boonville NY sent me the picture bellow showing him and his Cousins husband and hunting partner Dom with two nice Eastern wild turkeys the harvested on May 12th.


Here is the story of that particular hunt in Brian’s own words. Enjoy!

These birds were taken May 12th 2008 in Boonville NY by Me Brian Keck and my Cousin’s husband Dom Ventiquattro.
I am originally from upstate NY and now live in West Virginia. For two years Dom has left an open invitation for me to come to his home in Boonville to hunt turkeys. I was going to go last year but killed a bird in southern NY and opted to head back home early.

Well this year I decided to definitely go to Boonville. Dom and I really didn’t know each other to well other than meeting at the occasional family get together. I arrived at Dom’s house late Saturday night and the next morning we headed out to the farm he hunts and had birds gobbling all morning. After having some deer sniffing are decoys, we called in a Jake at around 9:00am and I took him with my Remington 870 super mag.

The next morning we headed back to the same spot, which is a hedge row on a hill side that overlooks two fields that are divided by a drainage ditch with scrub brush and a small stream. From the hedge row to the end of the second field is a good 400 to 450 yards across. Well after a fairly quiet morning of just seeing a couple hens come in and out of the fields, at around 9:30 we spotted 7 birds all the way across the second field. We were mixing up the calls yelping and clucking, I was switching between my HS strut diaphragm, a lynch box call and my Knight & hale old yeller with a wood wise wet stick striker. Those birds worked there way across that field, as they got closer we could see three gobbles and four hens.

The big tom took the lead as he was gobbling and strutting. The hens were yelping and clucking like crazy. When they arrived at the drainage ditch they milled around still strutting and gobbling but I was not sure that they were going to cross the stream. We started yelping and again the big guy took the lead across the water and the rest followed. Dom let out a few purrs and pulled those birds right in close, he let loose with his favorite double barrel 12 gauge on the big tom, after his shot rang out there were birds running every where, one of the jakes stopped about 25 yards out and I put him down as well. That was by far the most fun and most exciting turkey hunt I had ever been on and I will be going back to Boonville for years to come. But the best thing of it all is that I made a very good friend and a life long hunting buddy in Dom. You couldn’t ask for a better guy, he mad me feel like we had been friends all our lives. Thanks Dom.

What I especially like in this story is how Brian Keck explains the different calls and calling sequences they used to lure the turkeys into their set up. This illustrates an important point I always stress in my seminars. In order to sound natural it is imperative to mix your calling up and use different calls. Especially on hard hunted birds. This is often all the difference needed to be successful. Sounding like a flock of turkeys always will get the resident birds fired up to investigate.

There is still time to take part in this contest and win a top quality Heirloom turkey call. For more information on how to take part click here! But hurry up it all ends on May 31, 2008.

Tags: Spring Turkey Hunting Contest, Turkey Hunting Team, Easter Wild Turkey, Turkey Hunting In New York, Turkey Calling Tips

Getting a tom the hard way.

Entry #1

© By Othmar Vohringer

Wild Turkey Fever reader Mike Carruth harvested this beautiful tom, what appears to be of the Merriam’s subspecies, in Placer County, California.

Unfortunately, Mike did not volunteer more information on the hunt other than that he harvested this gobbler with a compound bow, which is in itself a great achievement. His good friend Dan called the bird with a box call. The tom’s spurs measured 1.25” and he had a beard of an impressive 10.75”.



There is still time to take part in this contest and win a top quality Heirloom turkey call. For more information on how to take part click here! But hurry up it all ends on May 31, 2008.

Tags: Spring Turkey Hunting Contest, Bowhunting Turkeys, Merriam’s Turkey, Pacer County, California Turkey Hunting

Kidney Disease Patient Enjoys Dream Turkey Hunt

© By Othmar Vohringer

Today I came across a particular heartwarming article about a young boy suffering from kidney disease. With termination and persuasion Jake Ostermyer of Kansas managed to convince his doctor and family to let him go on his dream hunt for wild gobblers.

Below please read an extract from the article written by Brent Frazee for the Kansas City Star

Just a few weeks ago, it appeared that Jake Ostermeyer was going to miss this spring’s Kansas turkey season.

When his kidney disease worsened, Jake, 15, was hospitalized for 10 days in early March. Then doctors told him he would have to go on dialysis every other day while he awaited an organ donor.

A long day of climbing hills and scrambling down creek banks? That seemed out of the question. To everyone except Jake.

“I kept begging the doctors to let me go,” said Ostermeyer, who lives in Tonganoxie. “Hunting turkeys with my dad each spring is something I always look forward to, and I didn’t want to sit out this season.

“Finally, right before the youth season, the doctors said I could go, as long as I took it easy.”

Well, Jake didn’t exactly follow doctor’s orders.
He ended up spending a long day in the woods, hunting with his dad, Keith, on public land at Melvern Reservoir. But maybe that was the perfect therapy for a youngster who loves to hunt.

Read the full article here

Tags: Kansas, Spring Turkey Hunt, Jake Ostermeyer

Murrey Honored for More Than 30 Years of Conserving the Wild Turkey

NWTF Board of Directors member Sam Mars, left, presents Jack Murrey with the Joe Kurz Award recently. Photo courtesy of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency



NASHVILLE, Tenn. - For more than 30 years, John "Jack" Murrey of Nashville, has dedicated his life to wild turkeys and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA). As the turkey program coordinator, Murrey has been instrumental in restocking more than 10,000 wild turkeys and returning the thunderous gobble of the wild turkey for Tennessee's outdoor enthusiasts.

To honor Murrey for his dedication, the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) recently awarded him the 2007 Joe Kurz Excellence in Wildlife Management Award during a special ceremony in honor of Murrey.

The Joe Kurz award recognizes wildlife managers who have worked tirelessly for the wild turkey and its habitat. Managers, such as Murrey, are the unsung heroes who do the on-the-ground work for wild turkeys and other wildlife.

"If you hunt wild turkeys in Tennessee, Jack Murrey deserves your gratitude for bringing the wild turkey back," said Dr. James Earl Kennamer, NWTF senior vice president for conservation programs. "Murrey's dedication to the wild turkey is an example of why Tennessee enjoys great turkey hunting and will continue to do so in the future."

During his tenure as TWRA turkey program coordinator, Murrey worked to gain the support of TWRA law enforcement and administrative staff to expand turkey populations throughout Tennessee. Murrey was a member of the NWTF's Technical Committee between 1976 until his retirement in 2003. He continues to play a vital role in the wild turkey program for the Volunteer State as a member of his local NWTF chapter.

Source: NWTF Press Release