B
Saturday, April 10, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
P RIME
T URKEY
T IME
■ Northeast Oregon is a great place
to get started hunting wild turkeys
when the season begins on April 15
T
hey were little
more than six
brown dots on
a green landscape 800
yards away.
With the box call, I
made quiet hen sounds
while Jim watched with his
binocular.
“They’re listening.”
One of turkeys stretched out
his neck and gobbled. Then
the turkeys started to move,
high on the ridge. I doubted
they would cross the wide open
field between us this late in the
morning.
We heard a hen on the ridge
at the same level as the gob-
blers. If they ran into her, they’d
probably hang up, but it was
worth a try.
We jumped in the truck and
motored a half-mile up the hill.
Jim hid the truck and I walked
down through the trees, set
up the decoy and leaned back
against a tree.
A little hen talk prompted
the hen to start clucking again.
Way out in the distance a gob-
bler answered. There had been
six gobblers. There was one hen
between us. This could work.
On the box call, I tried to
mimic the sounds the hen
made.
Gary Lewis/Contributed Photo
A young male turkey skulks along a tree line.
turkey hunter. Since the fi rst
introductions in the 1960s,
ON THE
turkeys — Rio Grandes and
TRAIL
Merriams — have fi lled in
prime habitat in every county
GARY LEWIS
in our state.
It isn’t diffi cult for a green-
horn to get started.
Soon the hen was quiet.
Start with a shotgun —
Rather than raise the vol-
preferably a 12-gauge or a 20.
ume, I called whisper-soft.
Fifteen minutes, fi ve shiny There are special chokes and
camo patterns, but those can
toms came into view.
come later.
The grass was too tall to
As to the care and feed-
look at beards. As soon as the
fi rst bright red head cleared a ing of the shotgun, No. 4s, 5s
fallen tree, I put the bead on and 6s are good for turkeys.
Pattern the gun with the
it and squeezed the trigger.
It was 9:10 a.m. With that selected load out to 40 yards.
lonely hen’s help, I’d worked Start at 10 yards and work
back to 50 yards, with a tar-
the fl ock for an hour and 20
get about the size of a silver
minutes.
dollar.
At fi rst it seemed like the
Somewhere about 40
hen was my competitor for
yards, the pattern will open
the toms’ attentions, but
up. The load ceases to be
because there were more
effective when there are less
gobblers than females, her
charms helped lure them into than six pellets in a turkey’s
neck and head.
my trap.
Many people don’t try
If I had to guess, the boss
turkey hunting because they
gobbler got the girl. There’s
no doubt his wingman got to don’t know how to call. But
be guest of honor at my table. the turkey has a brain the
size of a pea. It doesn’t take a
The Good Old Days of
genius to learn to call them.
Turkey Hunting
Watch a video or listen to
There has never been
turkeys talking, then mimic
a better time to become a
those sounds. Call softly, the
Turkey
Hunting
SEASON
Open statewide from
April 15 through May 31.
DAILY BAG LIMIT
One male turkey, or a
turkey with visible beard
SEASONAL LIMIT
Three. It is illegal to have
more than three spring
turkey tags
YOUTH HUNT
The spring statewide
youth hunt, for hunters
17 and younger, is
today, April 10, and
Sunday, April 11. Each
youth hunter must be
accompanied by an
adult 21 or older, who is
not allowed to hunt. The
season bag limit is one
male turkey or a turkey
with a visible beard.
quieter the better. Turkeys
can hear at least three times
as well as humans. In the
spring, the gobbler is paying
attention to what any hen
has to say.
Calls are easy to master
with practice. I like a box call
because I can make it quiet
and hen whispers bring gob-
blers from hundreds of yards.
Go camoufl aged from head
to toe, all the way out to the
fi ngertips. The turkey might
have a pea brain, but it is
good at picking up move-
ment and the fl ash of human
Gary Lewis/Contributed Photo
Oregon’s turkey season
runs April 15 through
May 31. The daily bag
limit is one male or one
turkey with a beard.
Gary Lewis/Contributed Photo
Mimicking the sounds of a hen provoked a reassuring
gobble, close along the shoulder of the ridge. Whisper-
quiet calls brought fi ve gobblers into range.
skin. A facemask and gloves
complete the costume.
There have been days
when I have sat with my
back to the same tree for
four hours. A camo cushion
helps. But this gets to the
hardest part of turkey hunt-
ing — where do you put the
cushion?
Top Turkey Units in NE
Oregon
Four of the top 15 Oregon
turkey units are in North-
east Oregon: Northside, Sled
Springs, Heppner and Mt.
Emily.
Other good bets in North-
east Oregon include the
Murderer’s Creek, Fos-
sil, Sumpter, Wenaha and
Keating units. Access can be
easier because of the large
amount of public land in the
Wallowa-Whitman and Uma-
tilla national forests.
Spring fi nds turkeys in
the foothills, primarily on the
south-facing slopes, but they
begin to work their way up
to higher elevations as the
snow melts. According to the
harvest statistics, it takes
about 2 1/2 days for the aver-
age hunter to tie a tag on a
turkey. The season is long —
April 15 to May 31 statewide
— and there is a lot of time to
make the statistics work in a
hunter’s favor.
Gary Lewis is the author of “Bob
Nosler Born Ballistic,” “Oregon
Lake Maps and Fishing Guide”
and other titles. To contact Gary,
visit www.garylewisoutdoors.
com
Introduction to air guns: part 2
As we continue our
quest into air guns today
let’s talk about what
model to get. There are
three popular types of air
guns. Let’s cover those
and try to decide which one
would best meet your needs.
They are broken into the three
groups depending on their
power source.
CO 2
CO 2 ’s derive their power
from a CO 2 cannister that you
insert into the gun. The bad
deal with CO 2 ’s is that as the
pressure drops, so do your
pellets/BB’s.
most all of them are semi-au-
tos so you can scatter a whole
BASE CAMP
herd of deer.
TOM CLAYCOMB
• If you have small chil-
dren who you are wanting
Most CO 2 ’s only spit out
to get into hunting/shooting
pellets at 600 to 800 feet per
they are the best choice. It
second (fps), so they’re not
takes someone strong to work
really a viable option for hunt- a break barrel and PCPs are
ing. I assume so as to conserve expensive.
power, most of them are .177’s.
Sig Sauer makes CO 2 ’s that
So why even buy a CO 2 ? Well, mimic their real fi rearms
they do serve two purposes
which makes them great for
that I can think of.
training (smart idea). I teach
• If you want to run pests
a lot of air gun 101 seminars.
out of your garden such as
I was conducting one last year
deer but don’t want to kill
in Reno at the SCI convention.
them, CO 2 BB guns are great
for that. Plus, as far as I know,
See Air Guns/Page 3B
Ron Spomer Outdoors/Contributed Photo
With a good air gun you’ll be surprised at the groups that you can get.