 "Fall turkey
hunting in the Old Dominion is steeped in tradition, the
sport of dedicated men, long on experience and a bit short
on patience with the new breed of hunters who take their
birds in the spring. Success demands dedication." - Bob
Gooch, of his 1973 hunt with the Cosner family
(Spotsylvania), on Walker Mountain in Bath County. Page
one of six shown: Members - read all six here. |
| Our earliest stories of spring
turkey hunting in the United States come from: Rutledge 1907, Jordan/McIlhenny 1914, Turpin 1920, Everitt 1928, Mosby and Handley 1943, Davis 1949. Now recent archaeological and anthropological studies show it was a longstanding tradition of many native Americans to hunt turkeys in the spring, for the last several thousands of years. The pioneers likely learned spring turkey hunting from the natives. That may have been part of the reason why the turkey population was decimated, or at least contributed to it. Back then, turkeys were hunted year round for sustenance, but they're most susceptible in the spring. Quoting the recent studies: “Passenger pigeons' diet centered on mast, the collective name for acorns, beechnuts, hazelnuts, chestnuts, and the like; they also really liked maize. All were important foods to the Indians of eastern North America. Thus passenger pigeons and Native Americans were ecological competitors. A consulting archeologist in Atlanta... noted that Indians had also vied for mast and maize with deer, raccoons, squirrels and turkeys. Unsurprisingly, they hunted all of them with enthusiasm, as documented by the bones found in archaeological sites. Indeed, Indians actually sought out nursing or pregnant does... They hunted wild turkey in spring, just before they laid eggs (if they had waited until the eggs hatched, the poults could of survived, because they will follow any hen). The effect was to remove competition for tree nuts. The pattern was so consistent, that Indians must have been purposely reducing the number of deer, raccoons and turkeys.” Reference: 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus  Of all the
animals Native Americans hunted in the spring, the only
one we still do is the turkey. And while the natives had
dogs, the majority of hunting dogs came from Europe. ***
While the pioneers and early settlers may have learned
spring turkey hunting from the Indians, they didn't teach
them about hunting fall turkeys with a dog. "We know from
the historical record that Native Americans had dogs, but
previous population surveys in the Americas turned up only
dogs with European heritage" (National
Geographic). "Genetic evidence suggests that Native
Americans and Europeans domesticated dogs independently,
and that North American pre-contact dogs were almost
completely replaced by dogs that came over on European
ships" (Canadian
Museum of Nature). "What we know about dogs in
Native American societies is limited. But we do know that
the dogs brought by the Spanish were much different in
character and breeding from those already present" (A
History of Dogs in the Early Americas)."Interestingly, there are over four hundred dog breeds today, and most of them were developed in just the last 150 years." "The data also confirm the idea that dogs moved with humans from Asia into the New World and were not domesticated from scratch with wolves in North America. The large majority of breeds, however, likely have recent, European origins, according to the authors." Most breeds of dogs are at most a few hundred years old, but the English Setter appeared about 400 years ago in England. The English Pointer may have been around since 1650. Many turkey dogs are part Plott hound, a breed that originated in the mountains of western North Carolina about 1800, and is also the state dog of North Carolina. Who started hunting turkeys with dogs? They certainly weren't doing it in Europe, and the early settlers didn't learn it from the Indians. Turkey hunting with a dog is a TRUE AMERICAN ORIGINAL. We hope some day, one of our best contemporary outdoor writers will publish a book dedicated to turkey dogs, the people, the memories and the place in history they deserve. See the source cited by the 1491 book and read about the origin of the Turkey Hunting Dog. |
 We hunt wild turkeys with
similarities in bone structure to the hollow-boned
dinosaurs. Imagine you're hunting this ancient bird, the
feared velociraptor. Whose main
characteristics include three toes facing forward, scales
on its legs, a backbone parallel to the ground and its
neck is S-shaped. Will this theropod
be your familys thanksgiving dinner, or will you be the raptors? |
| National Geographic - Man
and
Dog
an
Evolving
Partnership (49 minutes), compliments of Hulu. |
 Dr.
Henry
Mosby,
a
noted
wild
turkey
researcher
and
teacher
at
Virginia
Tech,
wrote
about
fall
turkey hunting with dogs in his 1943 book entitled
‘The Wild Turkey in Virginia”: "The turkey dog,
usually a pointer or setter, is trained to trail a
flock of turkeys, burst upon the flock at full speed,
thereby scattering them so that the individual turkeys
are flushed in all directions. Unless the birds are
well scattered by being suddenly frightened, most of
the flock will fly in one direction and may reassemble
elsewhere, rather than the point of the flush. The
majority of fall turkey hunters prefer to use a silent
trailing dog that does not bark until it runs into the
flock. The barking at the flush serves several
purposes: first, to scatter the turkeys, second to
notify the hunter of the flush, and third, to advise
him of the locality where the flush was  made. The well-trained
turkey dog also must be taught to remain quietly at
the feet of the hunter when he is yelping. The
advantages of using a trained turkey dog are: (1) it
permits the hunter to cover a much larger area and to
do so more thoroughly; (2) because of the tendency of
the wild turkey to run rather than to fly in eluding
its enemies, the use of a dog is desirable if the
flock is to be well scattered, and (3) a well-trained
dog is of much assistance in recovering wounded birds.
Severely wounded turkeys are often capable of
traveling a considerable distance and are very clever
at hiding themselves. Without the use of a dog such
turkeys often are lost. In addition to these
materialistic advantages, many hunters obtain a good
portion of their sport from training and observing the
dogs which they work in the field. It cannot be denied
that it is a real thrill to hear a turkey dog make a
flush and to see him return to the hunter in the
field, panting and hot from the chase, and tail
wagging and a demeanor that clearly shows he is as
proud of himself as his master is of him. It is of
equal pleasure to the hunter to observe the dog at his
feet, quivering with excitement and anticipation, when
the long awaited turkey is heard answering the "yelp"
of the hunter as it approaches the blind."The Wild Turkey Population Dynamics Research Project transcript available upon request. Photos courtesy Steve Turpin. |
    Ben Tennison of Western Mule Magazine hunts turkeys in the fall with his Missouri Jumping Mule. "When I see a flock across a field I just ride slowly towards them. Generally the flock will go into the woods where they're all bunched up. That's when I run my mule at them full speed, and if we get a good scatter, I tie up my mule a ways away, sit down and call the flock back. It doesn't always work, but it sure beats trying to run at them myself, especially at my age." Ben fully agrees Missouri should allow dogs in the fall. Photos © Western Mule Magazine. Starting in the fall of 2005 Missouri will have a longer season, and hunters can take both birds the same day. |
| "The hens have recovered
their flesh which they had lost by sitting, the gobblers
have regained their plumpness by feeding upon nuts,
grapes, and a thousand and one good things picked up in
the forest. When all are fat and strong they gradually
form themselves into flocks, or gangs as the forest
settlers and hunters call them, frequently as many as a
hundred birds being in one group. This feathered '
gathering of the clans' has given the Indians their name
for the month of October, which they call Turkey month." "But there is another kind of sport better suited to the winter months before the gobblers would answer a call: and that is, hunting them with a properly trained turkey dog. A well-trained dog will never range very far from his master till he finds the warm scent of a single turkey or a flock. Then he will start upon the trail without giving tongue until he finds the game. He will then run on, and by continual yelping, compel it to ascend some tree." 1866 A Hunter's Experiences in the Southern States of America  |
 "In
the country of the Chickasaws, a dog is necessary to
hunt them. There are a great many in the same place, but he could do nothing without a dog." M. Le Page Du Pratz, The History of Louisiana 1724. Receive a Native American Name for your new turkey dog, from 47 Indian Tribes. |
  "Some tribes did not
consider turkeys enough of a challenge or delicacy to
warrant the attention of experienced hunters, but they
encouraged children to hunt them…(apparently speaking of
the Aztec Indians hunting the South
Mexican Wild Turkey M. g. gallopavo, which were
later domesticated).
They did so in various ways, an unusual one being a dart
blown through a nine-foot-long reed. Some youngsters
became proficient enough to kill a turkey at thirty
feet." Memoirs,
official and personal: With sketches of travels among
the northern and southern Indians : embracing a war
excursion, and descriptions of scenes along the western
borders Thomas Loraine McKenney 1846 Photos © Monte Loomis
|
  "In the early 1900's
hunting turkeys with dogs in Alabama was a legal and
accepted way to hunt, and pretty much the standard at
that time." Uncle
Roy Moorer told me, "A man had rather be caught
rustling cattle, than shooting a turkey on the ground
and not flushing it first, and giving it a sporting
chance to escape." John E. Phillips Read about Alabama's turkey dog history in John's Outdoor Life Complete Turkey Hunting |
| 'I sold a man a dog in
Alabama. Now it is illegal in Georgia, by the way. I sold
him a pup, and he wanted it for a turkey dog, to tree wild
turkeys. I said 'Man, you’re crazy, and he told me how it
was." “ He says, you walk in the woods, and you come up on
a bunch of wild turkeys, a person does, they’ll fly to the
next ridge. I mean, they gone! But a dog comes up on a
bunch of turkeys, they’ll just fly up in a tree. That
dog’ll move on the other side of the tree, and he’ll just
bark every once in a while to keep the turkey’s attention;
the man just walks up and picks out the one he wants and
shoots it. They just stay there ‘cause the dog has got
their attention, and the hunter just real quietly sneaks
up and shoots it out of the tree.” That is illegal in
Georgia, to hunt turkeys with dog. I checked on that. Now
whether it is in Alabama or not, I don’t know. But the man
bought the dog to turkey hunt with.' Ronia’s Hunter’s
Tales of the Cur by Austin Bauman pp. 142-143 (year
unknown) The
Foxfire Magazine, Volume 34 Issues 133 & 134
Fall/Winter 2000 (Note to Readers: It rarely works like
that, most times the birds see you coming and fly away. If
the leaves are on the trees or they're in evergreens, you
can't see them. Good story when selling a dog though. Ed.) |
 Outdoor writer Steve Hickoff travels from Maine to New York to hunt turkey with his dog. Update March 2006 NH is proposing a fall shotgun hunt, details on the Legislation page. UPDATE June 2007! DOGS ARE NOW ALLOWED during the NH fall turkey season. Update August 2007: A new fall shotgun season and with dogs approved in Maine for fall 2007. Steve's latest book features dogs, and is a must read: Fall and Winter Turkey Hunter's Handbook |
  'Indian children had to learn the different calls of the turkey, to communicate among hunting and war parties.' Samuel Kercheval A HISTORY OF THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA A history of the valley of Virginia |
  "In some states...
hunting turkeys during the fall is a bigger tradition
than hunting them in the spring. Most southerners would
classify fall turkey hunting as a northern or “Yankee”
tradition... The bottom line is that fall turkey hunting
can be a lot of fun without harming turkey populations.
Fall turkey seasons are a great opportunity to introduce
youth hunters to the sport that we all enjoy so much."Fall Turkey Hunting: Chasing that Elusive "Thanksgiving Butterball" By James Austin and Ron Seiss (see last page of the pdf). Mississippi expands their area for the fall 2006 turkey hunt and dogs are allowed. See details on the Legislation page. |
  Pennslvania
raised more turkeys for release than anywhere, and for
years you couldn’t use a call or a blind in the fall.
Hunting turkeys in Pennslvania in the fall is a longer
tradition than in the spring (it was closed for 95
years). All of which makes it particularly odd they
don't allow dogs, and now they're surrounded by States
that do! And as of 2006 you can take a 2nd gobbler in
the spring, but still only one bird in the fall, and not
with a dog. As of June 30, 2007, after 15 months of hard lobbying by the PA chapter of the AWTHDA, PA once again allows turkey hunting with a dog, like they did in the 1800's. |
  "Lieut. Henry Timberlake describes
Cherokee children in 1765 using a “sarbacan, or hollow
cane” to blow a small dart into the turkey’s eye. They
seldom missed." John D. Hunter, Memoirs of Captivity among
the Indians of North America 1823Memoirs of Lieutenant Henry Timberlake (The First American Frontier) by Henry Timberlake Photo courtesy Steve Turpin. |
  'Coursing turkeys with greyhounds, as
practiced in the more open western country is exciting sport... Well-trained turkey dogs are useful in chasing winged birds, which a man could never catch.' Audubon (1840) 'The Californian and Texan horsemen course hare, antelope, and wild turkey with their fleet greyhounds.' Theodore Roosevelt - Hunting Trips of a Ranchman 1885. |
 Chapter
Fourteen - A Wild-Turkey Hunt (from the 1800's): "We can ‘run’ them as we were about to do had they been buffaloes.” “Ha! ha! ha!” laughed François; “run a turkey! Why it will fly off at once. What nonsense you talk, brother!” “I tell you, no,” replied Basil. “It is not nonsense—it can be done—I have often heard so from the trappers,—now let us try it ourselves.”... He saw the dog standing by the root of a large oak. He had “treed” the turkey, and was looking upward with glancing eyes, barking and wagging his tail. The Boy Hunters by Captain Mayne Reid (1818-1883). |
  In Audubon's time, he couldn't find a single wild turkey in some areas of the Northeast. Today, Connecticut has 40,000 turkeys. New biography - John James Audubon : The Making of an American |
 While a Southern
tradition back in the old days, today hunting turkeys with
dogs in the fall or winter is no longer allowed in AL, AR,
FL,
GA, LA,
or SC.
Now, most of these states allow hunters to shoot up to
five gobblers in the spring, and don't even have a fall or
winter season!This photo (from a wood-engraved illustration made from the artists sketch) depicts fall/winter turkey hunting with a dog. One hunter keeps the dog still, while the other calls to the regrouping turkeys. Turkeys in the trees are pitching down to ones on the ground. "Yelping Up Wild Turkeys" from the 1/10/1885 Harper's Weekly (A Journal of Civilization), drawn by W.L. Sheppard (1833-1912). Photo courtesy of America's Oldest Name in Custom Calls |
  'American Indians would attract the gobbler by placing a decoy, then hiding behind logs and imitating the call of the hen.' John D. Hunter, Memoirs of Captivity among the Indians of North America 1823 |
 'In the 1950's,
Leigh H. Perkins of the Orvis
Company hunted fall turkeys in Georgia by driving
them off the roost just before dawn to 6 or 8 gunners.
They'd shoot for their heads at the height of the
tree-tops. Sometimes they only winged them, and they ran
off (even wounded they ran faster than a horse through
the woods). He began to use his Brittany Leda to find
these birds, and was soon invited to go on turkey drives
with others. One time Leda recovered a bird 2 miles from
where it was shot!' From A
Sportsman's Life: How I Built Orvis by Mixing Business
and Sport |
  "Drive
hunting
has
become
very
popular
in
the
Southeast...
The
most
spectacular
effect
is
when
the
great
birds come over in their beautiful glide with rigidly
bowed wings. Anyone who has seen a flight composed
mostly of old gobblers, with lighting effects right to
bring out all their georgeous coloration, has witnessed
one of the most beautiful and spectacular sights of the
sporting world. They may well be excused if they become
so absorbed in the spectacle that guns are forgotten and
the birds pass by without a shot being fired." The
Wild Turkey - Its History and Domestication; A.W.
Schorger, Univ. of OK Press |
  From 1843 to 1845 Captain
George A. McCall wrote about his hunting trips near Fort
Scott, Kansas. His favorite dog was a setter
pointer cross with a nose for grouse, woodcock, or
turkey...The backwoodsmen and western settlers think “The only bird worthy of their attention is the wild turkey.” Wm. Priest, Travels in the United States of America, 1795 |
  "Wild turkeys are relatively easy to catch; some Native Americans used snares and pole traps to secure one bird at a time." W. P. Baldwin, Trapping wild turkeys in South Carolina, Journal of Wildlife Management II 1947 Photos © Monte Loomis |
|
Pioneers built traps to catch wild
turkeys, they were the settlers primary source
of food.
How to trap wild turkey from A Boys Own Book of Outdoor Sports Rare print of wild turkey trap by Peter Rindisbacher (1833). |
  If you know the
origin of the brass piece to the left, let
us know. Picture courtesy of Steve Turpin. A Dog's History of America : How Our Best Friend Explored, Conquered, and Settled a Continent |
|
"The best thing about hunting and
fishing,' the Old Man said, 'is that you don't have to
actually do it to enjoy it.
You can go to bed every night thinking about how much fun you had twenty years ago, and it all comes back clear as moonlight." — Robert Ruark "The Old Man's Boy Grows Older," 1957 |
  History,
Fall
Behavior, Scouting, Hunting Techniques, and other Articles from the Wild Turkey Zone. |
|
PBS and Nova
special on how dogs evolved from wolves, and the truth
about dogs.
|
|
The reader is reminded that this is a
cooperative work, if you don't find something
that you know about turkeys, or the dogs that hunt them in these pages, you can only blame yourself for not having sent it in. |
|
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