Strut Zone

Ca'Lyn Zachary of Morrilton, Ark., says hunting at home was a bust this season. Fortunately, the turkey hunter scored his first ever trip to Kansas but even there struggled on public land for a few days. Zachary and his brother-in-law had been seeing a pair of huge toms strutting with hens on private land and tried a time-honored, but not always successful tactic, they knocked on the landowners door and asked him for permission to hunt. The very friendly landowner said "sure" and the two hunters were in business.

The next morning was silent without a gobble to be heard so the two moved to the field where they had been seeing the toms. I'll let Zachary take it from here in his own words:

"We set up our ole' buddy B-Mobile along with a hen decoy. Several hens soon entered the field and grouped up in the middle but paid little attention to our calls or decoys.

"We finally heard a turkey gobble in response to my cutting at around 7:30 but he responded only once.  Then finally, around 8:15, I spotted a blazing red head in the woods near the creek. I immediately hit him with some cutts and a gobble from my Primos tube.

"He walked out into the field and erupted into full strut. He looked over at our strutter and fired off a gobble. Then his buddy joined him and they proceeded to sprint the 80 or 90 yards into our setup.

"My little brother-in-law took the first bird at just 11 steps, and I rolled the other one up with my Remingon 870 Tactical.

"The first bird was a large Eastern sporting an 11-inch beard and 1 1/2-inch spurs. He weighed 23 pounds.

"The one I downed was truly a giant. I'm still kicking myself for not sending him to the taxidermist. The bird was either a Rio or a hybrid and was my first ever double bearded bird. He had a very thick rope of 11 1/2 inches and the second beard was almost 6 inches. His hooks were 1 3/4 inches, making him a true limbhanger. That is if I could find a limb to hold him, because he weighed a whopping 26 pounds! (Yeah Ca'Lyn. You should have gotten that one mounted!)

"I thanked the landowner many times and despite all my efforts to give him a portion of my kill, he kindly refused.

"I am sending a picture of us with the birds, as well as a picture of the landowner's young son with the birds so you can truly see how large these two toms really were."

Just more proof that they grow the birds huge in Kansas. Great hunt Ca'Lyn and thanks for sharing it with us. Few hunters will ever kill birds that size.

Ca'Lyn will be entered into the "Give Us The Bird Photo Contest." The deadline was set for midnight at June 30, but since I'm on vacation right now (beach side in Virginia) I figured it would be unpatriotic of me not to extend the contest until midnight July 4. So all you procrastinators get those last minute entries in. I'll be running pics throughout the week.

We're not sure what Bradley Miller of Watertown, Wis., is more proud of, the 22-pound longbeard he took on April 14 in Juneau County or his 2-month-old son Aiden, who is already decked out and ready for the field. I'll give the edge to Aiden, though that is one nice tom from a land where even the jakes seem to break the 20-pound mark. The beard on Miller's bird measured 9 7/8 inches.

His wife, Connie, took and sent the picture in, so her name goes in the hat for the Give Us The Bird Photo Contest. The two can fight over the prizes (or share) if they win!

To you procrastinators out there, the deadline for entries is midnight June 30.

So you think snowfall shuts spring gobblers down? Not so. Bob Krummel sent this picture in on behalf of his 13-year-old son, Kyle, who killed this HUGE 22-pound jake during the April 7 youth turkey hunt.

"Opening Saturday morning was 22 degrees...snowing and blowing. Kyle toughed it out on a cold and windy day," says proud dad Bob.

Congratulations and great pic.

Kyle will be entered into The Strut Zone's Give Us The Bird Photo Contest.

Click here for complete rules. Deadline for entries is June 30.

Mark Pearl submitted this photo on his son, Logan's, behalf for The Strut Zone's Give Us The Bird Photo Contest. Here is their tale in Mark's own words:

In a hunt that was truly a family event, my 11-year-old son Logan and I hunted my Dad's farm in western Kentucky. Logan was using his other grandfather's 20-gauge Remington 1100.

Saturday morning we woke up at 4:30 to heavy rain and high winds. I told Logan to go back to bed. At least one of us should show good judgment. I saw several birds and four separate toms, none of which cared a bit about my calling or even the hens around them.

Sunday morning, however, the weather was cool for April but calm and the birds were gobbling early. To keep things simple for Logan we hunted from a stationary blind. So when the gobbling stopped after we had heard birds fly down this lack of mobility concerned me a bit. But my occasional working of the slate paid off when a tom came into view about 175 yards off at around 7:45.

I had not heard a gobble in an hour but when I called to him he immediately responded and started looking hard for his possible mate. Because of the birds actions on Saturday I had not put a decoy out for fear that it would cause more harm than good. But, it was now obvious to me that if he could have found sight of a bird he would have been in high gear.

I continued to call and he continued to answer. Steadily he closed the distance. I was afraid a couple of times he was going to go into full strut and wait us out but luckily he continued on.

By about 8:20 he was within 30 yards and still looking for the hen that was calling to him. I was unsure of the killing potential of the 20-gauge and from my angle I was not sure my son had a clear shot so even at his requests of "Can I shoot?" I held him off.  Within 10 more minutes the gobbler had inched to 20 yards and this time my whispered response was "If you have a clear sho…."  Logan responded by pulling the trigger before I had finished the word.  He had made a great shot and a clean kill.

We quickly recovered the bird. He weighed 20 lbs. and sported a 10 3/4-inch beard and 1-inch spurs.

Mark and Logan will be entered into the photo contest. Click here for complete rules and information on how to enter.

Rick Breland saw last year's contest after it was too late, but hoped to be included in this year's Give Us The Bird Photo Contest, so much so that he sent this picture in months in advance. Well, here you go Rick.

Pictured are Rick (right) and his good friend Randy Crockett on a Rio hunt where it was Randy's first Rio Grande gobbler and Rick's first turkey period. Rios can be quite cooperative in that way.

Randy's tom had a 10-inch beard, 1 3/8-inch spurs and weighed in the neighborhood of 23 pounds. Rick's first bird was a jake with a 6-inch beard and pushing the scales at 16 pounds.

Congrats to both of you on your respective first. For sending the photo in, Rick will be entered into The Strut Zone's Give Us The Bird Photo Contest. Click here for complete rules and submission guidelines.

Zach Hilton of Washburn, Wis., sends us this picture of a beautiful Badger State longbeard that he and buddy, Mike, called in this season.

Zach writes: "We were walking a field edge, calling every 100 yards or so because it was windy. We were just trying to raise a mid-day gobble. I spotted three toms coming across a field from the opposite woodline. They were 300 yards out and down wind from us, but they were heading for the first spot we had stopped to call and there was nothing I could do to turn them. 

"So, we hustled back through the woods and circled around, in front of the toms. We had to run for about 10 minutes to get around them, and  I had just sat down and gave a few clucks when we were hit with a gobble only 70 yards out. 

"All three got to within 25 yards, but neither of us were able to shoot since we were trying to film the hunt. The turkeys spooked and began to move off, when one of them found strolled into an opening. My 3 1/2-inch turkey load barked and sent the bird to flopping. The cool thing is that we ended up killing that bird at 2:30 in the afternoon, get this, in the same exact spot that we set up that morning! At that time, two toms had been roosted within 50 yards of us."

Spring turkey season 2007 is now a footnote in the history books and while the challenges of the season left some hunters saying, "maybe next year," from what I'm hearing around and about is that many hunters had one awesome season. Well, now it's time to gamble a little more with that good luck and send in your best picture of you with your turkey for a chance to win some cool prizes.

That's right, it's time to clean out the ol' gear closet here at Outdoor Life and visitors to the Strut Zone are the beneficiaries. Submit your best turkey hunting photo for a chance to win a Mossy Oak Elite III turkey vest stuffed with calls from companies like MAD, Primos, Knight & Hale, Preston Pittman, Woods Wise, Hunter's Specialties and others. Second and third place winners will also be named with second place winning a Carry-Lite Pretty Boy Decoy along with a turkey call and the Third Place winner receiving some mouth calls.

Pictured above is last year's winner, young James Smith from North Carolina. Some Strut Zone visitors have already sent their pics in anticipation of the contest. I'll do my best to run as many entrants as I receive, so be sure to send the image along with your name, address, email, and a little info on the hunt as to where you took it, when and how. The bird's measurements are also good to include. Send them to [email protected] or by snail mail to Outdoor Life, c/o Strut Zone Photo Contest, Two Park Avenue, 10th Fl., New York, NY 10016. The deadline is June 30. I'll announce the winners July 9.

For complete contest rules, click below.

This past turkey season was a strange one. Reports came in from all over about turkeys throughout the season shutting up almost as soon as they hit the ground. Many refused to come to the call. It made the hunting in many places tough, and as a result many hunters had to get creative.

No place that I hunted this past spring did things get as strange as they were in Texas where I joined Remington’s Linda Powell, Leica’s Karen Lutto and a couple of other hunters for a long weekend of turkey hunting around El Dorado. We were hunting with Live Oak Hunting Lodge But like every good (or really even bad) hunt should do, I learned a few new things and was reminded of others I’d forgotten. Here’s what Texas taught me in 2007:

1. Take Your Time—Turkeys aren’t in a hurry to be anywhere so neither should you. Particularly when nothing is gobbling and you have no clue what the birds are doing. Move slow, keep your eyes open, stay quiet and make sure that you spot a loafing bird before he spots you. Then you can cook up a game plan. Oh, and if you’re with a hunting partner, don’t let him prattle on about the kids or his bills. Save that for the truck ride back to camp. Now it’s time to shut up and observe your surroundings.

2. Stay Together—Turkey’s don’t shoot back, so there’s no need to move in a scattered, flanking formation with a “5-meter spread” before you “dubbull bahck” as California’s Governator orders his platoon in the movie Predator. On my first afternoon in Texas, my guide, Mike Horst, ordered Powell and myself to stick tight to him and in single file. As his foot left a spot, mine literally stepped into it, we were that close. And, as in No. 1, we moved slowly. We were in the wide open with nowhere to hide. Our goal was to work slowly to an area adjacent to a large roost without spooking the bejesus out of any loafing birds already in the area. Later, once we could get settled in to a good hiding spot, we hoped to intercept a longbeard or two before fly-up. As we moved in, a pair of turkeys saw us and just eased off into the mesquite, probably thinking we were a cow.

3. Expect Anything—After a hen and a gobbler trotted off, we let them get out of sight and continued on, wishing there had been more cover, really any cover, to keep us concealed as we approached a grove of oaks. We rounded a bend in the path where a single bush stood and I spotted him—another strutter not 70 yards in front of us. The bird lifted its head, peered at us, then went right back into strut. As its fan blocked its view of us, we slowly lowered ourselves flat onto the ground. At that point, the bird must have seen the three of us pressing ourselves into the grass as perhaps three hens lying low. He took a long hard look at us and then began strutting right TOWARD US! I couldn’t believe it. We didn’t make a call, but the turkey would stop every five yards, look at us, and then go back in strut and begin walking toward us. Just over 40 yards out, the bird stopped and started to parallel our position at which point I fired. My shot strafed much of the grass in front of me, but knocked the bird down. As it scrambled to its feet, so did I. I then sent a final shot at the running bird and dropped it for good with the Remington Wingmaster HD loads. I hadn’t been out of the truck more than 10 or 15 minutes!

4. Never Pass Up a Gift—Still amazed that a nice three-year-old would have come right to us in strut without hearing a call, Mike and I looked the trophy over. He admitted that it wasn’t really how he liked to kill them. “Me either,” I agreed. Of course, I prefer to work a bird into the call in a classic manner. But the whole way from the airport and to where we were hunting, Mike had been warning us about how tough the hunting had been. Facing such odds, I wasn’t about to let this gift-horse walk away on a two-bird hunt. Besides, it was one of the weirdest things I had ever experienced while turkey hunting and it just completed the story properly if it ended with a successful hunt. It’s one of those deals that I would have found hard to believe had I not witnessed it myself.

One of the great challenges to a blogger who likes to hunt is balancing the actual hunting (most often in places where there is no Internet access) with blogging. This past month has been a struggle for sure. I’m like an absentee landlord (maybe more appropriately a slumlord of bloggers) at the moment as I scramble to get caught up on work in the office and around the home, as well as try to become reacquainted with the family!

With the season now behind me and for many others playing out in its final weeks, I look back with a mix of sadness (that its over) and joy (as there are a million other things that I need to get done).

As I sort ‘em all out, here’s a guest post from OL contributor Ruben Perez:

This season, my daughter Raquel and I were invited by turkey call maker Marlin Watkins to hunt with him in Ohio for the year's youth hunt. Getting the chance to hunt with a group of experienced turkey hunters, seeing new turkey country and staying at Watkins' famed Limbhanger Lodge was too much to pass up.

Hunting with Watkins was a treat on many levels. Not only does he and his friends Ron Bolyard and Bill Greaves know how to hunt turkeys, but Watkins is one of this country's most respected custom turkey call makers. His shop was just what one would expect; full of machinery to make his masterpieces, along with different types of woods, and of course a collection of calls. It resembles the old country style candy store, where dozens of treats are displayed to entice the kid in us. I have to say my head was spinning after playing with and admiring his creations. What's unique about Watkins is that he doesn’t just focus on one type of call. He creates box calls, long boxes and trumpet calls as well.

As for the turkey hunting, it was grand. We were on turkeys from day one, and in fact, all day long. But being early in the season, most were tied up with hens. Nevertheless, Raquel still enjoyed an awesome hunt along with a memory box-full of turkey hunting knowledge. For us flatlanders, hunting the Ohio hills was a challenge, but fun none-the-less.

On the second day of hunting, Raquel and I were front row and center to one of the best turkey hunts imaginable. We set up on a ridge with a beautiful valley to the front and sides of us. Watkins and Bolyard set their calling position a few yards to the back of us. They used Watkins' calls, specially a new trumpet call that Watkins had made—to work on a longbeard for over two hours.

Sitting at the edge of a saddle, with only our Nat Gear camo to keep us hidden, we watched the turkey make a cautious approach up a steep ravine for what seemed an eternity. I was so proud of Raquel's composure. It was not easy to sit there and watch without moving for so long!

Soft calling, leaf scratching, and patience brought a nice 19-pound gobbler that sported a 9-inch beard and 1-inch hooks to the gun. Raquel's 20-ga. Benelli, shooting No. 5 Heavy Shot through a Kick's Gobblin Thunder turkey choke did the trick.

I've provided two short video clips (one at the beginning of this post, one at the end). One shot just at the end of the hunt, with Watkins describing the day’s events (it includes a lot of turkey hunting knowledge and tips right there). The second video is of Watkins in his shop showing the different calls he makes and how to use them. Hope the video can help some of your readers.

Well, I don't want to get into too much detail and give away what's on the videos, but I would like to say that sportsmen like Marlin Watkins, and his friends, Ron Bolyard and Bill Greaves, should be commended for selflessly giving their time to provide a meaningful hunt for young hunters.

There were two other youths hunting with us that weekend and both got with birds. I also want to thank companies like Natural Gear and Mossy Oak for being so generous and providing great turkey hunting gear in hopes of making the hunt a success.

Holy cow! What a week and a half it has been. Since I last blogged, I've been kicked off a plane in Houston, held virtual hostage by Continental Airlines for nearly 13 hours, sprayed with scalding water from a radiator, almost backed over by a pick-up truck, subjected to Mother's Day performing Mariachi bands from midnight until I was awoken to hunt at 3:30 a.m., marched up and down the Sierra Madres, left to sit by a water hole for more than 7 hours, stranded by more than three trucks that suffered either flat tires or blown or broken engines, almost refused entry back into my own country because of some missing paper work, and then caught some incredible cold which even now has refused to release its grip on my throat. But hey, I did get a Gould's!!!!!

Anyway, I apologize for not getting back here sooner, but it's been difficult to get to this part of my life. I've got a helluva story for you all, but in the meantime, here's some cool opening week video from my friend Matt Wettish in Connecticut. It's great stuff. Now if I can just find the darn thing....

Ah, here it is. Enjoy.