Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 1, 1995 TAG: 9505020024
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In 1991, only 15 percent of the hunters participating in the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries annual spring gobbler season survey indicated they used a decoy. Last season, that number had reached 46.1 percent.
``We had been noticing a slight trend upward, but when it jumped to 46 percent that really floored me,'' said Gary Norman, the upland game bird biologist for the department.
Decoys are designed to help lure a gobbler to a hunter's call and divert the bird's attention from the hunter while doing it. Some hunters swear by them.
``They are not a panacea,'' Norman said.
On a hunt last week, Norman thought the decoy he used worked against him. He wanted to call a tom into range for his 12-year-old son, so he set out a decoy, knowing the youngster might move and flush the gobbler.
``I had been told that use of a decoy is a way of fixing a gobbler's attention on something other than the hunter,'' he said.
But when the gobbler approached close enough to spot the decoy he stopped beyond gun range.
"He would display and gobble and all of the things that they do. It was like, `Here I am. You can come to me.' In that case, I think that cost my son the opportunity to shoot that bird. He was on his way until he saw the decoy.''
Last spring, according to the survey, hunters heard 12 percent fewer gobblers than the previous season, but Norman believes that figure will bounce back this spring.
``Just from what I am hearing so far, people are hearing a lot more birds,'' he said. ``I kind of expected that. We have had two good hatches back to back and two good mast years.''
Even so, some of the big game stations Norman has contacted reported they were checking fewer turkeys this year than last.
Other findings of the turkey survey included:
Approximately one-third of the participants said they experienced some type of interference from other hunters.
Just over 50 percent reported seeing free-ranging dogs, which are a potential predator of wild turkeys.
About one in five reported seeing a game law violation. Trespassing led all violations.
Participants hunted primarily on private land (81.9 percent) followed by federal (14.6) and state (3.5).
Twenty percent of the gobblers called in were killed.
Hunters missed 21 percent of the birds at whidch they shot.
On a statewide basis, hunters heard 0.38 gobblers per hour of hunting. Gobbling was the highest during the first two weeks of the season and lowest the fifth week. The Tidewater and East Piedmont regions had the highest gobbling rates.
by CNB