GUNNING FOR GOBBLERS – January/February 2021

A LONE STAR KAYAK – January/February 2021
December 31, 2020
BASS FACTORIES – January/February 2021
December 31, 2020

The author examines the big gobbler he took in Upstate New York hunting with TFG Hunting Editor Lou Marullo. (Photos: Main, Canstock; Inset, Chester Moore)

“DAD THIS FRIED CHICKEN is great! I’m going to get some more,” exclaimed my 12-year-old daughter Faith.

“That’s not chicken, kiddo. That’s the turkey I shot last Wednesday,” I replied.

“Ooh gross!” she said while marching toward the kitchen to get more.

That’s classic Faith—a fine mix of enthusiasm and sarcasm and a desire to give Daddy a hard time.

And she’s right-the turkey was great-battered and fried, and it felt proper to celebrate its harvest with a nice meal.

After all, taking this bird was a dream come true.

I have always wanted to take the Grand Slam (Rio Grande, Merriam’s, Osceola, and Eastern), and last year I took another step toward this dream by taking a 20-pound gobbler with a nine-inch beard called in by TF&G Hunting Editor Lou Marullo.

Marullo is an expert caller, having taken dozens of birds over the years (he’s only an Osceola shy of a slam) and brought in this big bird that popped up 350 yards away in a field during a windy, rainy, cold morning.

At one point, the bird started walking across the field instead of down toward us, but a little box calling by Marullo and the enticement of a well-placed decoy allowed me to pull the trigger and deliver a load of No. 6 shot to take the majestic bird down.

Looking back on this and other turkey hunts, it is clear hunters need to be keenly prepared if they want to gun down spring gobblers. Nothing is warier than a big, old gobbler in the realm of game birds.

The one mentioned above not only popped up several football fields away but stayed there for more than 30 minutes. It knew something wasn’t right at first, but after expert calling and decoying, I was able to place the shot.

You can have all of the calls, blind, and decoys you want, but if the gun is faulty, forget it.

Serious turkey hunters should check out the CZ Reaper Magnum. This over/under turkey gun is designed specifically for this type of hunting.

Offering what single-barrel turkey guns cannot this 3-1/2-inch chambered, magnum

shotgun allows a hunter to equip two vastly different chokes, allowing the choice of short-range or long-range constriction with the flip of the barrel selector switch.

Another top choice is CZ’s 612 Magnum Turkey.

This pump gun comes equipped with two chokes, one extra-full to deliver maximum pellets to the kill zone and one modified for upland hunting and steel shot.

In terms of shot size for turkeys, No. 4 is the standard-bearer. I have hunted with 6 shot a few times when I knew the shooting window would be within 35 yards. No. 5 shot is also used, but most choose the former or latter.

The ability to boost any of these shots with a 3.5 inch round from the above guns is a major benefit.

Luring turkeys into an effective shooting range is crucial as all shotguns certainly have range limitations.

Lou Marullo often speaks of a turkey’s seven basic calls and said the following choices can help seal the deal.

“The yelp is the easiest to master and the most common call of a hen turkey. A novice using a box call can duplicate this sound fairly easily. A slow and steady slide followed by four or five shorter slides of the handle across the top of the box is all you need to do,” he said.

Marullo likes to use the cluck to simulate a calm bird and just walking in the woods looking for food.

Huge gobbler tracks are a great sign for spring hunters.
(Photo: Chester Moore)

“If you take the handle of a box call and hit the top of the box with it will sound like a cluck. Be careful, though. If you do more than one cluck at a time, it will sound like a warning call to any bird in the area.”

He brought my big gobbler in after his epic stall with the “purr.”

“When a bird stops his approach and is just strutting back and forth out of range, this call will bring them in fast. It tells a bird that you’re a hen, and you are ready for him. This is a little harder to do, but the box call works great with a little finesse. It requires a very slight amount of pressure on the handle to the top of the box. I find it easier to do on a slate,” he said.

Despite using these strategies in spring 2020, I hoped to have a photo of me with a big gobbler from the Pineywoods of East Texas taken with the CZ Reaper Magnum, but I didn’t get the shot.

Me and my friend Josh Slone hunted one of his friend’s properties that has a population of huntable Eastern turkeys.

Only through dedicated work of the National Wild Turkey Federation and Texas Parks & Wildlife Department officials are there now around 10,000 Easterns in the region. They are huntable in several counties but not widespread as of yet.

Taking an Eastern turkey in this region is as challenging as taking any game animal in North America.

On the morning of our second hunt, I saw the beautiful/red blue head over the tall grass just about 10 yards past our decoy. Suddenly two jakes ran toward the decoy, and I had a shot.

They were legal to take, but I decided to let them get older and contribute to the population.

In 2019, I began a five-year quest called Turkey Revolution to raise awareness to turkey conservation because I believe as turkeys go, so do America’s forests. Hunter-based conservation is what saved the wild turkey from eradication and is what will keep them moving forward as development and other issues in turkey habitat rear their heads.

It’s imperative when hunting these challenging birds we have the right gear and game plan to make the shot or perhaps not make the shot.

Conservation is a choice, and sometimes that means walking out of the woods carrying only a gun and a call and waiting until next year to get the big gobbler you’ve been hunting.

I’ll be back to those same woods this spring with the CZ Reaper Magnum in tow and plan on bringing my daughter a turkey this time.

 

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One Big Leap for Hunters, One Grim Reaper for Birds

WITH THE SAME 3 1/2-inch chambers of their poplar Swamp Magnum, engineers designed the CZ Reaper Magnum to slay turkeys! Offering what single-barrel turkey guns cannot, this magnum shotgun allows a hunter to equip two vastly different chokes, allowing the choice of short-range or long-range constriction with the flip of the barrel selector switch.

CZ Magnum Reaper
(Photo: Courtesy CZ-USA)

Shorter 26-inch barrels make it more maneuverable in the woods or blind, while the top Picatinny-style rail makes adding an optic easy as can be. Polymer stocks clad in camo help it blend in and adding a sling is simplified with QD swivels front and back. The Reaper Magnum ships with five extended interchangeable chokes, including an extra full.

CZ 612 Magnum Turkey

CZ 612 Magnum Turkey (Photo: Courtesy CZ-USA)

The 612 Magnum Turkey was created for the turkey woods. This pump gun comes equipped with two chokes, one extra-full to deliver maximum pellets to the kill zone and one modified for upland hunting and steel shot. Make sure you don’t take your eyes off it as you just might lose it in the spring foliage.

Available in 12 gauge with a 3½ inch chamber and a 26-inch barrel, the Magnum Turkey is hydrodipped in camouflage.

 

—story by CHESTER MOORE

 

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