Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 7, 1991 TAG: 9104080350
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Food often was scarce for turkeys through the fall and winter months, the result of a poor acorn crop.
"Most of the birds had to be in and around fields, feeding on soft mast and grasses throughout the winter," said Gary Norman, a research biologist for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
That could mean turkeys are headed into the breeding season with a lower fat reserve, which could result in less gobbling and poorer nesting success, Norman said.
On the positive side, the winter was mild, and the lack of extreme cold and snow doubtlessly was beneficial to birds.
"That's probably the only positive thing I can think about," Norman said.
Negatives are easier, including the concern that last fall's record kill may have cut into the turkey population, Norman said.
"I might be going out on a limb to say we over-harvested birds, but we probably pushed them to the limit of what would be an acceptable harvest," he said.
At first, game officials thought the fall kill of 16,861 was the result of good reproduction. But when they studied the age structure of the population by examining the feather samples provided by successful hunters they found that nesting success was the poorest in 10 years.
The record kill, a 23 percent increase over the year before, had occurred when poor mast conditions concentrated the big birds in the low lands and farm fields where they were easy for hunters to locate, officials said.
Some hunters are wondering if turkeys will remain in the low lands during the spring season, rather than returning to traditional gobbling and nesting sites. After following a number of hens equipped with radio transmitters, Norman doesn't believe that will be the case.
"We don't have any radios on gobblers, but we do have radios on hens and they are making a dramatic shift right now from areas in and around fields and moving back into areas where they were last spring. We suspect they are with gobblers now, and there a couple of cases where the hens are beginning to nest."
Norman said he monitored gobbling activity as early as March 11.
"They will gobble even when they are in a lean condition. It is just, will they gobble as much and as often?"
Whether turkey populations and gobbling activities will be enough to push this spring's kill past last year's record of 7,691 is too close to call, Norman said. There are a couple of regions in the state where he belives that will be the case. The Tidewater area should see an all-time-high kill, he said. So should the 11 central mountain counties, from Alleghany to Shenandoah, where turkeys have been protected from hunting during the opening week of the deer season.
The Southwest and Piedmont sections could go the other way, he said.
The poor mast crop likely will mean that toms will weigh less on the average, Norman said.
"I am going to expect them to be lower than they were the two previous years," he said.
The spring season will remain open through May 18. Hunting hours are one half hour before sunrise until noon each day. The bag limit is one bearded turkey per day. No more than two may be killed during the spring season.
\ Champion calling
\ You don't have to be a champion with a turkey call to lure a gobbler within range of your shotgun.
"Good woodsmanship is just as important, if not more so," said Danny Oakes, the 1990 Virginia state calling champion.
Woodsmanship involves matters like scouting, moving through the woods quietly, setting up in the right spot, camouflaging yourself and marksmanship.
But skillful calling can make a difference, said Oakes, who lives near Farmville. It's just that hunters shouldn't approach it as some mystical feat that only a few can accomplish.
Oakes recommends starting with a friction-type call. Some are simple push-button operated. If you can use your index finger, you can do a decent job of calling.
Mouth calls are tougher to master, but they have the advantage of leaving a hunter's hands free. That can be important when a sharp-eyed tom is approaching.
Learn to use them all, Oakes advises. Sometimes a slightly different tone or pitch can capture a gobbler's fancy.
"I carry several air and friction callers with me at all times. If I work a turkey, before I leave him I will use every one of them."
Oakes recommends soft calls when a gobbler is on its roost, but once it flies down become aggressive.
"I want him to think I am an excited hen."
Gobblers aren't nearly as particular about quality calling as are contest judges, Oakes said. So if you make a calling mistake when working a tom, don't freeze.
"Run your calls on through. If you stop, you have given yourself away."
\ New Camouflage
\ In years gone by, about the only camouflage available to a turkey hunter was the military kind that Uncle Ralph wore on Iwo Jima.
Jim Crumley changed that a decade ago when he invented Trebark. It is a pattern that looks like the trunk and limbs of a tree rather than the dense foliage of a jungle.
Now there are scores of copycats on the market. Fifty-five patterns, said one recent magazine article; 400, said another.
Crumley, who operates Trebark Outfitters in Roanoke, has yet a new design called Trebark II.
It features a predominance of brown, and is in answer to requests from hunters in the deep south where the river bottom woodlands don't have as much gray as they do in Virginia, he said.
Trebark II has been selling well, but Crumley says when he hunts in the upland woods of Virginia he'll stick to the original pattern. As the season progresses deeper into the spring, he will switch to Trebark Leaf, which adds a splash of green to the design.
The important thing is to wear something you have confidence in, he said.
There are more than enough patterns on the market for a hunter to wear something different every day of the season.
\ Shot size debate
\ Virginia turkey hunters use more No. 6 shot than any other load, but some prefer No. 2 or larger, and even rifles.
The Virginia Wild Turkey Federation is uncomfortable with big shot and rifles.
Federation officials say a ban on rifles and on shot larger than No. 4 could discourage hunters from taking long shots, which can result in crippling losses, and it could reduce the severity of injuries resulting from hunting accidents.
Last month, game biologists of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries recommended that beginning in 1992 it be unlawful to possess shot larger than No. 4 while spring gobbler hunting. The department's board thought that was too restrictive, and proposed that the maximum be No. 2. That will be voted on next month.
One hunter told the board that No. 2 shot is especially effective for turkey hunting and no hunters has been killed with such shot since records have been kept.
\ Banquet set
\ A National Wild Turkey Federation banquet has been scheduled April 25 at the LancerLot.
Banquets held across the country are a major fund-raising means for the federation, which has helped establish wild turkeys in 49 states.
Tickets are available at Trebark Outfitters, Orvis, On Target and Capitol Guns and Ammo. They sell for $15. Membership is an additional $20.
The social hour begins at 6 p.m.; dinner is 7:30 p.m.. Bob Tully, owner of On Target, is the banquet chairman.
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by CNB