We hope you’re having a Happy Thanksgiving. If turkey is on your holiday menu today, you’ll enjoy this this fun story about gobblers and gun dogs from our sister publication, California Sportsman:
By Scott Haugen
Nearly 20 turkeys fed uphill into the timber. As the flock dispersed under the canopy
of Douglas fir trees, I sent in Echo, my 9-year-old pudelpointer. She sprinted at the moving flock from 150 yards out. She’d done it many times over past falls.
Not until Echo got surprisingly close did the turkeys flush into the trees overhead. Echo scampered amid the ferns, nose to the ground, sniffing for a bird that held. There were none.
I gave two beeps on the electronic collar and Echo ran back to me. We hiked around the hillside, out of sight from the turkeys. I sat against a giant old-growth stump and Echo tucked under some sword ferns next to me where she laid stone-still.
As turkey chatter escalated in the trees, I let out soft “kee kee” calls with a Slayer Calls diaphragm. The birds and I talked back and forth and soon they were on the ground. Multiple turkeys came our way. A payload of Hevi-18 TSS from the little .410 dropped a tom at 15 paces.
I HAVE TWO PUDELPOINTERS, Echo and Kona. Both love fall turkey hunting. When they were pups I trained both to hunt for the big upland game birds in autumn.
Echo and Kona have successfully tracked and pointed multiple fall turkeys. I’ve hunted behind other bird dogs that are good at this too. Turkeys leave a lot of scent on the ground and it’s easy for dogs to follow soon after their passage.
Obedience and instincts make for a good turkey dog. It’s instinctual for upland dogs from a good bloodline to hold point. It’s also important to train for this because turkeys are, obviously, much bigger than quail and are sometimes visible when holding, which can overly excite a dog. Sometimes it’s a lone tom they’ve tracked; sometimes it’s an entire flock. Sometimes turkeys hold; sometimes they run. One of the joys of tracking fall turkeys with a dog is you never know how the hunt will unfold, and that’s where a disciplined dog comes in.
Sending a dog to bust a turkey flock so you can call them back in is a learned behavior. The situation has to be right, and that depends on the habitat and your dog. I’ve learned to not send a dog to break up a flock unless the birds are feeding uphill into cover.
When the dog returns to me and heels, we hike to the birds, keeping out of sight. It’s thick vegetation where I hunt and that’s what my dogs lay in for cover. We use no blind.
I HUNT ONE DOG at a time when flushing and calling turkeys; otherwise, the competition gets too high between them. I position the dog at my side so it can see me as well as the turkeys when they approach.
As turkeys come to the call, it’s total restraint and discipline for the dog. If you taught them this from the day you brought them home, it won’t be a problem. If your dog won’t sit still and remain quiet, there’s work to do before embarking upon such a hunt.
When Echo was a pup she whined when turkeys got close. She was perfectly still from day one, but the whining spooked birds. That’s when we headed afield to call turkeys, and I didn’t take a shotgun. Not taking a gun deescalated Echo’s intensity because I was able to put my hand on her and whisper commands – that was step one.
Step two was delivering a single beep on Echo’s e-collar when she whined. She knew one beep meant to stop and that if she didn’t obey, an intense beep or light shock would follow. By focusing on bad behavior, Echo was quick to learn.
I only had to zap Echo one time. After that she sat quietly. When a hen got within 8 yards and she didn’t make a sound, I was elated and knew Echo was ready to hunt.
To prepare to track fall turkeys, train your dog with wings saved from birds you’ve taken. Take the wings out of the freezer, thaw them to increase scent release, train for two days and then put them back in the freezer. This is a great tune-up. The wings can be cut at the elbow joint, doubling your training tools. Run them on drags for dogs to track and place them for dogs to work the wind. CS
Editor’s note: For signed copies of Scott Haugen’s popular book, Western Turkey Hunting: Strategies For All Levels, visit scotthaugen.com. Follow Scott on Instagram and Facebook.
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