BOB WOZNIAK - A GREAT NORTHERN TURKEY HUNTER
Hunt Near The Traffic And Walk Instead of Ride
EDITOR'S
NOTE: Bob Wozniak of Boston, New York, one of the true
masters of the sport of turkey hunting in New York State
and a member of the Quaker Boy Calls' Hunt Team, has
hunted turkeys for more than 30 years. He's bagged a
gobbler or called in a gobbler for someone to take every
year that New York has had a turkey season. Let's look
this week at some of Wozniak's best northern tactics
for taking toms in the spring, since many northern states
still are having turkey seasons.
Although
New York State may issue around 150,000 permits each
year, sometimes hunters only will harvest 1,000 birds.
According to Wozniak, "On many public-hunting areas
in New York, the turkeys have to deal with a tremendous
amount of hunting pressure," Wozniak explained.
"But I've found very productive turkey hunting
in the woodlots close to major highways and Interstates.
I know you miss some of the beauty of the silent woods
when a big 18-wheeler comes roaring by you, but that
noise doesn't spook the turkeys. Most hunters won't
hunt these places because they can't hear the turkeys
gobble as well as they can further away from the Interstates.
The longbeards that live close to the highways usually
have experienced little
or not hunting pressure. I've found these birds are
easier to locate, to call in and to get them to come
into the gun than the toms farther away from the highways."
Walk Instead of Ride:
In the past year, Wozniak hunted roads like most turkey
hunters in New York. But in recent years he's found
and bagged more gobblers by walking rather than riding
the ridgetops. "When I start out in the morning,
I try to get on the back side of a ridge close to a
road that hunters use," Wozniak reported. "Or,
I'll hunt the second ridge away from the road. I can
locate gobblers in these areas that the road hunters
never will call to or hear. I also like to walk because
I believe I'll have a better chance of calling turkeys
the more mobile I am. Often the fastest way to get to
a bird that gobbles in the morning is to go through
the woods rather than by the road. If I'm in the woods
hunting and you're on the road calling and a tom gobbles,
more than likely I can get close to that bird and call
him to me before you can drive near him, get out of
the car, walk into the woods and begin to call."
TOMORROW: HUNT THE DRUMS AND
DON'T DEPEND JUST ON YOUR CALLING
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