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Luke captured this image last week close to home during a spring turkey ‘hunt’ with his Nikon camera. Photo by Luke Clayton

By Luke Clayton

Last week, I was in the turkey woods well before daylight. The day promised to be perfect for a spring turkey hunt, calm winds that would allow the sound of my plaintive hen yelps to carry back into the woods where I knew several turkeys had roosted. I had “put them to bed” the previous evening while scouting. Several gobblers sounded off from their roost tree just before dark to my owl hoots. The stage was set this morning for a close encounter with one or more boss gobblers as I placed Henrietta, my plastic hen decoy, about 25 yards out in front of the brushy fence line I intended to use to conceal myself from what I hoped to be a close encounter. Henrietta had helped me dupe many a gobbler in past years and I placed her in a prominent spot in front of my blind so that an approaching gobbler would spot her from quite a distance and hopefully close the distance and offer me a close “shot”.

Since mid March I had called in and “shot” a total of eight gobblers and I hoped to make it number nine this morning. WHAT? You are thinking,  is Ole’ Luke doing hunting turkeys before the season opens in mid March and WHAT is he doing killing eight gobblers, way over what the law allows! Before you call the game warden, I need to tell you I was “shooting” the birds not with a shotgun or bow but rather a Nikon camera equipped with a good 300mm lens! As I mentioned in a previous column, my wife recently had shoulder surgery and I’ve assumed duties of chief cook and bottler washer around the homestead, I’ve been sticking close to home the past few weeks. But thankfully, Rio Grande turkeys were stocked in my portion of the county a few years ago and the birds seem to be flourishing. There is no open season here and probably won’t be for several years. I am hoping the birds continue to propagate and one day provide hunters with the opportunity to bag a ‘close to home’ gobbler but until that day I will continue to do my shooting with my trusty Nikon.

Most spring turkey seasons, if I’m lucky, I’ll harvest one or two birds and my hunting is over until the following year. This year, I’ve spent more time hunting turkey with my camera than I would normally do in several years and, I believe the experience has made me a better turkey hunter. I’ve had the opportunity to actually observe the birds rather than focusing on sending a heavy charge of #4 shot to the bird the moment it comes within shotgun range!  I’ve watched gobblers fight and puff themselves up strutting to impress hens, I’ve been so close I could actually hear the tips of their wings dragging the ground as they strut. One one occasion, I actually watched the birds mating.

Back in March, I noted the turkeys, both hens and gobblers, were in large flocks but then about the end of March, the flocks began to disperse and I was seeing hens looking for nesting sites a long way from where I was filming them back in late winter. I’m sure this is nature’s way of increasing the bird’s range. I’ve witnessed this phenomenon the past several years, around the end of March, something tells the hens it’s time to move away from the flock and seek nesting sites and I’ve seen them travel a mile or more to find that perfect spot to nest, lay their eggs and raise their young.

Hens right now are mostly solitary but I often see mature gobblers together in pairs or maybe three birds. Jakes or year old males remain together in flocks and where I see one, there is apt to be several. These young gobblers are easy to call in and will often come running when they spot a hen decoy.

Turkeys are smart birds; they have to be in order to survive all the predators. We have a large population of bob cats, coyotes and an overabundance of raccoons and skunks. I’ve read studies that indicate  wild hogs account for just over half the predation on turkey nests. With all the hogs in our area, it’s a wonder the birds are holding their own, much less increasing in numbers but they seem to be doing just fine. A few years ago, it was a rarity to see a turkey in this part of the county and now it’s become commonplace, we occasionally spot hens traveling through our yard in the spring in search of nesting sites.

Restocking wild turkeys, both the Rio Grande and Eastern birds, is nothing new in Texas, through the years thousands of trapped birds have been relocated to suitable habitat. Eastern birds were originally stocked in counties along the Red River in northeast Texas. The birds are holding their own in some areas and on the decrease in others. In Red River County where I was raised and where the eastern birds were first restocked, many of my friends report far fewer birds than just a few years ago, the reasons are unclear but I have to think predation by furbearers and wild hogs is a primary reason for the decrease. Years ago smaller numbers of trapped birds were released but biologists are currently doing ‘super stockings’ with around 80 birds per site (3 hens for every gobbler) in areas with suitable habitat.

It is unclear if there will ever be a turkey season here in Kaufman County where I live but I’ve learned that hunting them with a camera is ‘almost’ as much fun as with a shotgun or bow. It’s very nice to have the opportunity to shoot photographs within a half mile of my home on land owned by a couple of friends.  The down side is that I won’t be enjoying wild turkey fajitas and chicken fried turkey breast dinners!

I filmed a turkey segment for our weekly TV show  “A Sportsmans Life” that you can watch on YouTube or Carbon TV www.carbontv.com.

Contact outdoors writer Luke Clayton by email through his website www.catfishardio.org

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Luke (rt) and his good friend Larry Weishuhn are both in their mid seventies and still enjoying the great outdoors, maybe more now than ever! Photo by Luke ClaytonThere was a time back when I was in my twenties and thirties that I thought I would be hanging up my hunting and fishing gear when I reached those magic ‘golden years’. I used to dread turning sixty and then.. seventy because I truly thought I would be on the front porch in a rocking chair reminiscing about all the great times I had in the outdoors as a young man. I guess these so called ‘golden years’ occur at different times for different folks but for me, now in my mid seventies, I’ve found that I enjoy hunting and fishing every bit as much as I did as a young man and maybe even a bit more but I definitely do things a bit differently. I actually enjoy some of the new ways I do things, very often out of necessity. I’ve always enjoyed planning for an outdoor outing and today I deal with a few ‘built in’ challenges when making those plans that come with the aging process.

Hunting is way more than just harvesting a game animal especially big game hunting; it involves packing the meat out of the woods and butchering which equates to work but work that can still be accomplished by ‘mature’ sportsmen. There was a time when I thought nothing of shooting a wild hog  or buck back in the woods and either dragging it out in one piece or quartering it and carrying it out in sections. I suppose I could still do this but my body would pay the price and I’d probably be sore for several days. I’ve learned this the hard way during the past few years. What’s the old saying, ‘work smart, not hard’? This old axiom applies to hunting and fishing as well. Take a hunt I have in the works as an example.

I have a corn feeder several hundred yards back in the woods that I usually access via my rancher friends hay meadow. With the currently wet conditions, I don’t want to risk tracking up the road and have decided to access the spot from a different route which will only allow me to drive to within about 300 yard of my feeder/stand. That would be no problem when hunting during daylight hours, I would have plenty of time to get a harvested animal back to the truck with plenty of light but the hogs are moving at night, usually around 9 to 10 and I will be hunting with my AGM Global Rattler thermal scope and little .223 Mossberg Patrol rifle. If I were to shoot even a 100 pound hog that far from the truck at night, it would be a challenge field dressing and packing the meat back to the truck.

While walking the trail back to the feeder last week, I devised a plan that would make things much easier and be a lot of fun putting to practice. Why not bring the hogs up close to the truck? I began sprinkling a little corn from the feeder down a trail, heading to a spot about 60 yards from where I can park my truck. There I baited heavily and placed a trail camera on a nearby tree to monitor the activity. My plan is to back the truck up about sixty yards away, place a comfortable chair in the bed and hunt from the comfort of the elevated truck bed with a thermos of hot coffee at arm’s reach, I can even pack another chair and have a buddy join me for a very comfortable after dark sit in the quiet spring woods!

My plan is now in place and I’ve been watching my new baited area for two nights. Thus far the porkers have not found the corn but four very healthy looking whitetail deer have been munching away; one very heavy doe and three younger bucks.  With the hog’s excellent nose, it’s only a matter of time until they locate my daily offerings of golden corn kernels. When I see a pattern develop, I’ll back the old pickup up to the designated spot, break out the comfortable chairs and thermos and settle in to collect some fresh pork for my smoker!

We aging fishermen/women also have our challenges. I do a good bit of fishing from Jon boats on private waters and have found getting into and out of the boat a bit more of a challenge than just a few years ago. I now run the bow of my little flat nose boat up a couple feet on dry land before disembarking. I still fish solo from time to time but for safety reasons as well as a more enjoyable time, I often invite a friend to fish with me. I always wear a life vest, even when fishing farm ponds and really favor the new inflatable vests that are now available at a reasonable price. I’ve always been a good swimmer and although it was not smart even in my youth, I often ventured forth on private waters without a safety vest.  I could have easily swam across most of the ponds if needed but I didn’t account for the ‘what iff’s’ of reality such as hitting the side of the boat with my head while falling or one of a kazillion other mishaps that could have occurred.

I no longer plan on fishing all day, especially during the heat of the summer. I like to be on the water just after first light and wrap things up by mid morning. I’ve found my energy level after several hours fishing is beginning to dwindle and my body tells me it’s time to head back to the ramp, after all if things went well, I will have to conserve energy for fish cleaning!

My good friend Larry Weishuhn, also in his mid seventies is also a very active sportsman, actually the most active hunter for his age that I know.  He’s planning a bear hunt in Canada this spring as well as a moose hunt this fall. Larry also says he enjoys hunting as much or more now than when in his youth.

“I hunt at a slower pace these days and I honest think I’m a better hunter because of it. As a young man, I was always thinking about what was just over the next hill and I’m sure I passed up lots of game along the way”, says Larry.

To sum it up, if you are also ‘getting along in years’, by all means don’t stop doing the things you love, just understand that you will not be able to go as strong or as long as you once did. Once these facts sink in, you might just be in for the most enjoyable outings of your life!

Email outdoors writer Luke Clayton through his website www.catfishradio.org

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As an outdoors writer for the past 39 years, I’ve become accustomed to “gallavanting” around the country fishing, hunting and collecting material for my articles. Lately though, I’ve been sticking pretty close to home.

Kenneth Shephard with a good “eater size” gar. Photo by Luke ClaytonMy wife had shoulder surgery a couple weeks ago and I’ve been serving as chief cook, bottle washer and caregiver to her and her cats (she’s no problem but the cats have been a challenge). Thanks to some great friends very close to home that allow me to hunt and fish on their land, I have managed to get out for a bit just about every day and head to my happy place back in the woods or on one of the ponds to wet a hook.

Gar have moved into the shallows to spawn and turkeys are doing what turkeys do this time of year, the gobblers are gobbling their heads, strutting and showing off for the hens that are moving out of their winter haunts in search of that perfect nesting spot. Bowfishing for gar with a good friend and a little pre-season turkey calling and photography has provided the fodder for this week’s column.

Gar first

One of my close-to-home friend’s gravel pit has an abundance of gar, mostly alligator and spotted gar with an occasional needle nose. Kenneth is an expert shot with anything that launches an arrow or bullet, and when he called the other day and informed me that gar had moved into the shallow flooded areas of his pond and inquired if I might wish to come over and do some bowfishing, I was all in.

The wheels began to turn. This would make a great segment for the TV show that I do with Larry Weishuhn and Jeff Rice. “A Sportsman’s Life” airs weekly on Carbon TV and YouTube as well as several other places. I calculated that I could make the mile drive to Kenneth’s, film him shooting an ‘eater’ gar in an hour or so and build a segment of our show around the event complete with a ‘wrap up’ cooking gar nuggets on an open fire the next day.

We arrived at the gravel pit which was elongated with a dogleg in the middle. Recent rainfall had caused the water to flood some adjacent lowland and this is where the majority of gar were spawning. The afternoon was sunny and the temperature in the mid-70s, gar had moved into the really skinny warmer water close to the bank.

Gar can be spooky when in very shallow water and one’s shadow will send them scurrying to deeper water. We had the sun at our back and Kenneth was careful to stay far enough from the water’s edge to avoid spooking the fish, using shoreline brush for cover when making the shot.

Kenneth invited me to shoot but I declined. I needed to get back home in an hour or so and opted to serve as cameraman, besides my buddy was more practiced with his bowfishing rig and I figured his aim would be better. Our goal was for one ‘eater’ size gar around two to three feet in length.

As we rounded a tree lined bend in the pond, a couple of nesting greater Canada geese spooked and began paddling across the shallows to the far bank where they probably had a nest. Kenneth says the pair nest here every spring, raise their young and then fly away until the next year.

Observing wildlife is a big part of any outdoor outing to me and I couldn’t help but wonder where this mated pair spent the remainder of their year. With my video camera rolling, I locked in on Kenneth slowly approaching a long, dark spot in the water about five feet from shore. It was a 30-inch gar, perfect for my plans with the cast iron skillet, cornmeal and hot cooking oil. His shot was perfect, and I was soon on my way back home where I made short work of removing the two snow white backstraps from the gar.

I trimmed the meat well, cubed it into nuggets and applied a liberal amount of seasoning and into the fridge it went to marinate for a few hours.

Fried to a crispy golden brown over a wood fire at my little cabin behind the house, the gar was very tasty. Gar is a bit chewier than catfish, but the flavor is very good when eaten fresh.

Next time, I plan to make gar balls by first boiling the meat and mixing chopped peppers, onion, garlic along with salt and pepper, forming the mixture into balls a bit smaller than golf balls and dusting with corn meal before frying. I’ve had this dish before and found it to be very tasty and easy to prepare but never made it myself. We are already planning round two with the gar and another cooking session.

On to the turkey

A few years ago, Rio Grande wild turkey were stocked close to my home, and it appears each year the population is growing. Although hunting season is still probably years away, I have a lot of fun each spring filming the birds during the breeding season with still and video cameras.

This past week, I packed my old hen decoy, some camo netting, my box call and cameras back to the corner of a fence that proved to be a perfect spot to construct a quick blind. A few subtle hen yelps and I heard a gobbler answer back in the brush.

Each time I called, his answer gobble rattled the leaves on the trees. He was hot and as they say, coming to me as though on a string. With each call, his answer was closer. He was coming and I turned the camera in the direction of his approach and waited.

This was textbook turkey hunting, even though I was using cameras instead of shotgun or bow. A big gobbler in full strut reminds me of the American flag with all the bright colors contrasting an otherwise pale green early spring landscape.

My gobbler stayed long enough to become the star of this week’s show and his still image will hopefully grace the pages of an outdoor magazine or two in upcoming months. Another close to home adventure and within the hour I was back home checking on the wife and downloading the images.

Where there is a will there is a way.