Eddie Salter is a country boy
from Alabama, a fun-loving man with a thick accent
and yen for telling stories.
And, trust me, Eddie can spin
a good yarn.
At age 50 and counting, Salter,
a two-time world turkey calling champion, likes
to wax nostalgic about the “old” days – that
is, his first days in the turkey woods near his
Alabama home.
“I’ve been hunting
turkeys for 40 years,” he said. “I
remember hunting them when I was a young boy
when the sport was pretty much isolated because
there weren’t many birds. In the last 20
years turkey hunting has come along ways. Thanks
to the conservation efforts of the National Wild
Turkey Federation and state wildlife agencies,
we have more turkeys now than I ever imagined.”
Indeed, Eddie grew up in an
era in which wild turkey hunting wasn’t
the wildly popular sport that it is today, especially
in spring. But he knew the sport was so addicting
that it would take off once the wild turkey population
came around. “For me, turkey hunting revolves
around calling,” he said. “There’s
no greater pleasure than mimicking the sounds
of hen and calling in a boss tom. That’s
what motivates me.”
Eddie’s wild turkey resume
would make any diehard turkey hunter envious.
Not only is he a former world champion competitive
caller, but he’s also won dozens of other
calling contests across North America. What’s
more, he has hunted the wily tom in 35 states
and harvested five different wild turkey subspecies
-- an achievement about which few others can
boast.
Today, Eddie is one of Hunter’s
Specialties resident turkey hunting scholars.
Over the last nine years with the company, he’s
helped the company develop its turkey game calls
and taught scores of youngsters how to use them.
I asked Eddie to divulge a few turkey hunting
trade secrets -- particularly the most common
mistakes novices make -- in hopes of making your
turkey hunting experience one to remember.
Eddie believes that some hunters -- especially new hunters -- call far too
much. He recommends letting nature take its course. “It’s fun to
hear a turkey gobble back to your call,” he said. “But a lot of
times when the bird gobbles, flies down from the tree and starts coming in
your general direction, it’s time to stop calling. Let the bird come
into you.”
Calling too much, he says,
sounds unnatural to most turkeys. In many instances,
he said, they may be ready to commit to your
position but get spooked by overzealous calling.
“This is a common mistake,
because, let’s face it, it’s fun
to call,” Eddie said. “New hunters
in particular need to learn patience. If the
bird stops well short of your position, or starts
to move in another direction, by all means try
calling him back. But remember not to call too
much.”
Another common mistake is that
hunters go into the woods with only one type
of call. Eddie likens that mistake to the “angler
who has a big tackle box but insists on using
only one lure.” Even if you haven’t
mastered a fancy calling repertoire for all call
types (slate, box, mouth), Eddie says to learn
how to use one note -- the basic cluck -- for
each.
“You are far better off
with having a variety of calls in your vest,” he
said. “Some days a box call works better.
Some days a slate call works better. It may be
that you can get the bird close with a box call,
but not close enough for a good shot. In that
case, one cluck with a mouth call may be the
ticket. Like I always say to kids, you need to
practice your calling, but you don’t have
to be a champion caller to successfully hunt
turkeys. That’s a myth.”
Another mistake is that many
hunters don’t pattern their shotguns before
they go afield, causing them to miss routine
shots. “Some guys take a gun that they’ve
been shooting doves with, try to shoot turkeys
at 40 yards, and the shot pattern just blows
up,” he said. “You need to know your
pattern, and that includes using different shot
sizes from different distances.”
More and more hunters nowadays
use specially made turkey hunting choke tubes,
which helps keep the shot pattern more concentrated
over a greater distance. According to Eddie,
Hunter’s Specialties manufacturers a choke
called the Undertaker that “shoots approximately
90 percent of the pellets into the target at
about 40 yards.”
“When I’m aiming
at a turkey, I pick out the place where the turkey’s
head meets the feathers,” he said.
“That’s the whole
head and neck and part of the breast. To practice,
stack up two pop cans on top of each other to
create the desired pattern – about 12 inches
tall and 3 inches wide. You want to get as many
pellets into that small area as possible.”
Above all, Eddie says, novice
hunters should learn as much as they can about
turkey behavior and hunting tactics before going
afield. That includes calling, decoy placement
and more. “There’s all sorts of books,
DVD’s and videos on turkey hunting, and
studying them is a good way to learn,” he
said. “I tell people to join their local
turkey federation chapter. There are a lot of
members out there who are willing to teach a
new dog some old tricks.”
For more information
about Hunter’s Specialties turkey hunting
equipment, see www.hunterspec.com.
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