HOW TO HUNT PUBLIC-LAND GOBBLERS

Call To Turkeys, Not Another Hunter

EDITOR'S NOTE: Paul Butski of Niagara Falls, New York, hunts public lands in the North in his home state of New York and guides on private lands in the South during the early part of turkey season. According to Butski, public-land hunting for turkeys is altogether different from private-land hunting. This week he will tell us the differences between the two and the skills needed to bag that prize tom on your public land.

Another way accidents occur on public lands is when a hunter is reluctant to give up his hunt, even when he sees other hunters approaching. He may believe he can communicate his position to the second hunter without spooking the turkey. But don't give a turkey call to attempt to get another hunter's attention so he will see you and back out of your area. The hunter is coming into that region to see and hear a turkey. If he hears the sounds of a turkey, he may mistake you for a gobbler. Don't wave your hand, or throw sticks at him. The hunter who is coming toward you is looking for the movement of a turkey at about the same height you will be sitting at when you move. The safest and most correct action to take is to use your voice and say, "Hey, fella, I'm another hunter. I'm over here."

Although you will spook the turkey, you will reduce the chances of a hunting accident. Although some states are require mandatory hunter orange for the turkey hunter, Butski is convinced wearing the bright blaze orange will make bagging a gobbler very difficult. "Rather than having a mandatory blaze-orange regulation, I favor a mandatory turkey hunter's safety course for all turkey hunters," Butski suggests. "I don't believe anyone who hunts turkeys should be exempt from taking this course - no matter how long a person has hunted. We all can learn to be safer in the woods by completing a hunter education/turkey safety course. When you're turkey hunting, you're imitating the sound of the species being hunted. Therefore we have to be much more careful as turkey hunters than any other sportsmen who go into the woods."

The largest percentage of the turkeys taken in the United States are harvested on public lands. The good news is more and more public lands are being stocked with turkeys. To be more successful when hunting these areas, you may need to change your strategies and the calls you use as well as hunt more aggressively and defensively than you do on private lands.