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John's Journal... Entry 188, Day 1

MARK DRURY'S TURKEY-HUNTING TACTICS

Turkey Hunting in the Rain

EDITOR'S NOTE: Longtime, expert turkey caller and hunter Mark Drury of Columbia, Missouri, the creator and founder of M.A.D. calls, also produces videos for Drury Outdoors, "Outdoor Life" and other well-known outdoor companies.

QUESTION: Why do you turkey hunt in the rain?
ANSWER: You have limited time, and you've got to take advantage of every day you have. Most guys don't have the luxury of hunting for a month in the spring. If it comes a hard downpour, I'd rather not hunt. But if I have to go out on a day like that, I can get in an old shed on an abandoned field at my farm to stay dry and still enjoy the hunt. However, in a light misty rain, I like to cover a lot of ground -- either on foot or by vehicle -- to try to spot a turkey. Nothing will make a turkey more visible than rain. They like to go out in the fields when it rains.

QUESTION: What have you learned about hunting turkeys in the rain?
ANSWER: Some years ago, I hunted with my friend Tad Brown on the backside of the property. It came a hard, steady rain. But we decided that since we were already there, we'd make the best of it and find some turkeys to hunt. We kept calling and struck a turkey that was real close to us. We yelped him up, and called him right in to us. That experience taught me early on that the turkeys are ready to go -- even in the rain -- but the chances of taking the turkey are lessened because the birds aren't as vocal. That type of experience teaches you to go out there and be persistent in rainy, bad weather. I like hunting immediately after the rain because turkeys will stop gobbling and strutting and begin eating. The day after the rain, they're ready to regroup, and you can kill these toms because they're not henned-up.

QUESTION: What kind of calls do you like to use on rainy days?
ANSWER: I like waterproof calls like carbon strikers and mouth calls.

QUESTION: Tell me about a time you took a turkey in a downpour.
ANSWER: The rain was pouring down, and we were standing in front our cabin. We had heard the turkeys gobbling earlier, but the rain had silenced them. There was a break in the rain, and we went out and began blowing calls. They gobbled, and we found the turkeys out in the middle of the pouring-down rain. We took four big gobblers that day. We called to them from the edges of a field. They had lost their hens and were ready to strut and gobble.

To learn more about hunting turkeys and the experts' tactics, click here.

TOMORROW: SHIPS TIPS FOR CALLING TURKEYS IN THE RAIN

 

 

Check back each day this week for more about MARK DRURY'S TURKEY-HUNTING TACTICS ...

Day 1 - Turkey Hunting in the Rain
Day 2 - Don Shipp's Tips For Calling Turkeys In The Rain
Day 3 - A North Missouri Turkey Hunt
Day 4 - Morning Henning and Gobbling
Day 5 - Afternoon Hunting


John's Journal