Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 24, 1990 TAG: 9004240014
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOORS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Jeff Fletcher, for example, is concerned about the growing use of gobbling tubes he is hearing.
For Horace Jimenex, the biggest factor eroding the joy of a spring morning in the hardwoods is the unacceptable amount of trash he is finding in the national forest.
Let's listen a moment to what these sportsmen are saying.
Fletcher, who is active in the National Wild Turkey Federation in Roanoke, said he heard six hunters using tube-type gobbler calls during recent hunts.
The tube calls are locator devices designed to get a reluctant tom to expose his position. The tubes make a gobbling sound when shaken.
Many hunters, Fletcher included, consider the calls dangerous because they produce the sound of the animal the hunters are pursuing.
"It is legal, but using them is a good way to get shot," he said.
Compounding Fletcher's concern is the fact that many of the tube calls are being used on private property by hunters who do not have permission to be there. He said he heard three being used on private property without permission last week.
"Two fellows were using gobbler calls more than they were using hen calls," he said. "Some fellows were shaking them like there was no tomorrow. Usually, they are used as a last resort."
Fletcher noticed that when the tube users switched to a box or mouth call designed to reproduce the yelp of a hen, they did a poor job of calling. Undoubtedly, this was a clue to the problem. The tube calls were being used by greenhorns looking for a shortcut. The hunters had compromised safety and traditional techniques in their pursuit of a quick score.
Seasoned hunters generally employ an owl-hooter or a crow call as a turkey-hunting locator call. They aren't likely to be shot that way. If they use a tube call at all, they do so sparingly and under conditions that promote safety.
A sobering thought for anyone stalking through the woods while shaking a tube call is this: All recent hunting fatalities in Virginia have involved turkey hunters.
Sights, not sounds, have Jimenex hot.
"I'm getting deeply concerned about the problem of trash in our national forests," said the sportsman from Radford. "Recently I was out checking for spring turkey hunting spots in Pulaski County and saw at least five piles of nothing but roofing shingles."
At a time when many families are recycling to reduce the strain on landfills, many people still fill their pickups with junk and deposit it in a national forest or on private property. Others think nothing of tossing a can or candy wrapper aside.
In the pastel woods of spring, you hope to see a trillium, not a garbage heap; a dogwood, not a hot dog wrapper.
Jimenex says outdoorsmen should be upset enough that they will report the dumping and littering violations to the authorities.
Not overlooked by Jimenex is the fact that when the woods are violated with trash, often it is hunters who are blamed. Sometimes hunters deserves it, but often they don't. Either way, the hunters' best approach is to put a stop to it.
by CNB