ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 21, 1996 TAG: 9604220011
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-11 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: OUTDOORS
Carl Austin was striding through a Franklin County field at daybreak on a
recent morning, heading toward a wooded ridge where he planned to listen for a
turkey gobbler, but he didn't make it.
``I was running just a hair late,'' said Austin, a Roanoke roofer. ``That
is the story of my life.''
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
Suddenly he was stopped short by a sound, the kind that gives you goose pimples, like you get when you hear a windowpane shatter at night.
It was a boss gobbler greeting the new day from his roost - ``Gobble-obble-obble'' - and only about 100 yards up the ridge from Austin.
``I was always told, if you can work your way around them and get above them, you should,'' said Austin, who has been spring gobbler hunting for two years. ``It is harder to call them downhill. But I didn't have time. When I heard him gobble, I knew he was close. I just had to do what I could do.''
Austin quickly settled into a small thicket in the field and pulled down his face mask. ``That was the only chance I had,'' he said. It was a poor setup. ``I could see down into the field,'' Austin said, ``but I couldn't see up.''
Austin put a mouth call on his tongue and yelped. He could hear the turkey fly down from its roost, its big, muscular wings fanning the morning air.
``He came to me a little bit, but he never would come all the way. When I would call, he would gobble. But he got to the point where he wouldn't come to me anymore. He would just work from left to right.''
That's when Austin remembered a tip from his turkey-hunting mentor, Dorsey Huff, who lives in Bedford County. ``Try something different when a gobbler gets hung up,'' is Huff's advice. So Austin pulled out a shaker-type call that emits the sound of a gobble.
``I hit the gobble one time and I guess he thought it was another gobbler trying to sneak in there,'' Austin said. ``Buddy, he broke and ran. I could hear him coming through the leaves. He still wouldn't come all the way. He came about three-quarters of the way down the mountain and he stopped and gobbled again.''
The turkey was in full strut, his head tucked back, his tail in a fan, his wing tips dragging the forest duff.
``I just clucked a few times and he flew,'' Austin said.
The tom cleared several strands of fence and landed in the field below Austin, where there was a clear view. He was about 40 yards away.
``The reason I think he flew - I'm no expert - was to come across the fences,'' Austin said.
When Austin sent a load of No.6s into the turkey, he took off after the flopping bird like a sprinter. ``I did like I've seen them do on TV,'' he said.
For Austin, the story ends there, but Huff likes to laugh about how Austin, who is a big man, grabbed the big bird with a death hold and held on while the gobbler flailed its wings.
``He said he felt like it was going to make him fly,'' Huff said. ``He got real light.''
At Trebark Outfitters, the tom weighed 23.5 pounds. It had a 10-inch beard and 1-inch spurs, which means it scored well under Virginia's measuring system.
``I let him tell his story,'' said Huff, who has won Virginia's Western division turkey competition for two years. ``He talked to me two or three times, then I told him I'd killed one.''
The same day Austin killed his bird, Huff got one in Bedford County with equally large beard and spurs, but it was a couple of pounds lighter.
Huff appeared to be happier about Austin's gobbler than his own.
``I have enjoyed working with him,'' Huff said. ``He is a good listener.''
LENGTH: Medium: 70 linesby CNB