"I first started turkey
hunting with dogs in the early 1970's, when I was in high school
hunting with my friends' English Setter. Around 1975, I got my first
turkey dog; a Brittany Spaniel. I also used a German Shorthair, but she
ranged so far in these mountains I couldn't keep up with her. I have
been an avid turkey dog man ever since. I currently have a 8 year old
Brittany named Jenny. She has been my best dog to date. This picture is
of our opening day hunt 10/25/04. Two jakes and a hen. They were killed
on Potts Mountain which can be seen in the background of the picture.
Jenny hunted great. The fellow on my left in the picture is Tad
Robertson. I've been fall hunting with Tad for about 20 years. On my
right is Rob Tyree. Rob has been hunting with me for about 10 years. In
fact, he killed his first turkey with Jenny in 1998. He shot the bird,
wounded it, and Jenny ended up catching it; saving a lost bird." Read
about Jenny's
textbook flush in the first winter turkey season in Virginia in 31
years.
|
"If turkey hunters
use a turkey dog while fall hunting, the number of wounded and lost
birds will go way down. This is one point I stress to everyone I talk
to, about using a turkey dog. I have seen three turkeys wounded while
hunting with Jenny and she found all three. Also, it's a fact that
while turkey hunting with dogs has been allowed in Virginia for many
years, our turkey population continues to grow every year, and our fall
season is 6 weeks long.
"I've
chronicled my 30 years turkey hunting with dogs in a book now available
at Amazon for $13.95 plus shipping.
Turkey Dog Tales by Gratten Hepler |
|
"Today my Dad and
our turkey dog Jenny were out on a morning hunt, while I slept, and
they busted up a gang of about 15 turkeys. Dad came back and woke me
up, and we went back to set up and hopefully get a shot. We built a
blind and sat for about 30 minutes before making a call, but when my
Dad decided to make the first call it wasn't one minute later before we
knew the action was on its way. We heard several calling and I saw a
few fly down, but two decided to come up our way. I singled one out and
squeezed the trigger. It hadn't hit the ground before Jenny was on top
of it. We got our Christmas turkey, all thanks to Jenny."
Ben Hepler, 16 y.o.
|
Another good day for Jenny |
I had the pleasure
of going on a hunt last week near Yanceyville NC. A good friend of
mine, Mitch Childers who lives in Thomasville, and his son Colton were
my host. We were hunting in Caswell County on opening morning with
Jenny, my turkey dog. Jenny jumped some turkeys early but we had no
luck in attempting to call them back. Around 11:00, we went to another
spot and Jenny soon picked up the trail of a gang of birds. It wasn't
long before she caught up to them & scattered them. We saw
10-12 birds fly in all directions. One made the mistake of flying over
Mitch's head. He shot twice hitting it both times and bringing it to
the ground. To our surprise, it was up and running away with a broken
wing. I called Jenny back to our location and she quickly picked up the
trail of the wounded bird. She trailed it for probably a quarter mile
but finally caught up to it pinning it to the ground. It was a very
nice gobbler with a 9 or 10 inch beard. We believed that all the birds
had been big gobblers. We made our way back to the flush site &
quickly set up our blind. I stayed put while Mitch went to get his son,
Colton, who had been hunting a different spot.
|
About one hour
later, after giving some old gobbler yelps, I noticed a lone gobbler
coming in silently. When he got to about 30 yards, I shot knocking the
bird down for good. Soon, Mitch and Colton showed up. We took a quick
lunch break and Mitch began calling with Colton in the blind. Mitch
called in two more birds but they didn't get within range for Colton's
.20 ga. Around 3:00, they heard another gobbler yelping in the
distance. Mitch soon had this bird on it's way. The big gobbler yelped,
clucked, cut, and even gobbled as he came to Mitch's calling. Colton
finally got an open shot killing the bird cleanly. What a day of
hunting!! Three 17+ pound gobblers in one day. Having tagged out, the
only thing left to do was come back the next morning with a video
camera. We called in five more birds all with long beards. In over 30
years of hunting turkeys with a dog, I've never had such a hunt with
the long beards. NC doesn't have a
lot of participation for their one week winter
season for turkey hunting but I know of three guys that had a
once in a lifetime experience. Thanks to Mitch, Colton and Jenny for a
hunt I will always remember & cherish. Gratten
1/29/06
|
I'm working with my new 8 month old
pup, a liver and white Brittany named Missy.
She has flushed several gangs and hunts well with my older dog. Gratten August 2, 2006 |
Our one year old Brittany Missy split
a nice gang of ten to fifteen birds young birds late Monday, second day
of Virginia's season, after a full day in the woods. We were able to
call several birds back and take a nice jake and a hen the following
morning. Missy stayed in the blind with me while I called. I had a
leash on her just in case she decided to try and leave early. Tad
Robertson and Rob Tyree were my hunting partners for this hunt. Missy
was hunting with my older dog, Jenny, & has learned a lot from
hunting with her. Jenny is now 10 years old and doesn't cover the
ground as well as she used to but neither do I. The colors in our woods
this fall are beautiful. I don't know how anyone wouldn't fall in love
with hunting fall turkeys with a dog. But I'm just a little partial I
guess. Gratten
October 30, 2006 |
Just wanted to send a couple of pics
of the winter hunt we had in North Carolina that just ended 1/20/07.
The first picture is of Mike Shillinglaw who was my host on this hunt
showing a 18 lb. gobbler. With him is Missy, my one year old Brittany.
She flushed the gang of gobblers around 9:30. We quickly set up our
blinds and began our wait. We didn't know if we would have a short wait
or all day. About an hour later, we heard this bird begin to call below
our position. It yelped and clucked as it closed the distance coming to
Mike. When it got in range, Mike made a good shot. The bird sported an
11 1/2" beard and 1 1/8" spurs. The other picture shows my bird killed
a day later. With me are Mitch Childers and his son Colton who I've
hunted with successfully for several years in North Carolina. My older
dog, Jenny is on the left and Missy is on the right. Thanks to Mike,
Mitch and Colton for another memorable hunt in the Tarheel state. Gratten
|
"You
are certainly right about turkey dogs being invaluable when it comes to
catching wounded birds. Jenny never let a wounded turkey escape. She
caught 5 in her years of hunting. On a sad note, I had to have her put
down last week. She had a tumor that the vet found late in December. By
February, it had doubled in size. I hated to do it but I was not going
to let her suffer. She was 10 1/2 years old." Gratten
2/27/2007 |
Here
is
a
pic from our North Carolina winter hunt 1-17-08. The hunter is Mitch
Childers. Along with Mitch is my 2 year old Brittney, Missy and the 15
pound jake Mitch harvested. As you can tell from the picture, it was
not the best of weather. We had ice and freezing rain but we stayed
with it. Missy flushed the gang of about 10 or 12 birds feeding in a field around 8 a.m. Unfortunately, they all flew in the same direction landing in a thick grove of pines. We took Missy to the thicket where she was able to make enough noise running through the woods to flush the birds from the tree tops. This time, they scattered in several different directions. Mitch and I built a cubbyhole blind from dead tree limbs and settled in to begin calling. After about an hour and a half, we heard a jake begin calling in front of us. His approach was very slow and deliberate. When the bird popped up at 30 yards, Mitch was ready and let drive with his 12 gauge killing the bird cleanly. Even though the odds were against us that day with the inclement weather, we still had a great hunt. 2/19/2008 Gratten Hepler 208 Parsonage Lane, Covington VA 24426 Tel 540-747-5203 Cell 540-968-1244 |
Katie is my 2 1/2 year old Brittany. She is an awesome hunter and ranges out further than any Brittany I've had before. She barks on the flush and stays with me in the blind. I'm looking forward to getting her out in a couple of weeks. Gratten 10/5/19 Had good luck last week hunting with Katie and Earl Seachrist. Gun is my 106 year old 20 gauge Ithaca. Gratten 12/16/19 |
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