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John N. Felsher's Turkey Hunting Adventures
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Chasing after the wily mountain
turkeys requires considerable luck
turkeys requires considerable luck
TOP: Glenn Wheeler waits
for a turkey while hunting in
the Ozark National Forest
near Harrison, Ark.
BOTTOM: Glenn Wheeler
calls turkeys while hunting
in the Ozark National Forest
near Harrison, Ark.
for a turkey while hunting in
the Ozark National Forest
near Harrison, Ark.
BOTTOM: Glenn Wheeler
calls turkeys while hunting
in the Ozark National Forest
near Harrison, Ark.
My brother bought a used 1964 Ford Falcon as his first car. Built like a
tank, it could go anywhere, making it an excellent hunting vehicle. Of
course, being the ONLY vehicle available to us also made it an excellent
hunting vehicle!
That old Falcon squeaked and rattled terribly as we crossed even the
smallest bumps, alerting anything in the woods for miles. However, it
apparently emitted a certain squeak that turkeys liked, or at least one that
aroused their curiosity. Whenever we drove the Falcon through the woods,
we saw turkeys. Growing up hunting ducks, we didn’t know much wild
turkeys. When the old Falcon rattled up a bird, we stopped, grabbed our
shotguns and began running through the woods after the very surprised
bird.
Of course, that never worked. However, I did almost get a shot at one
gobbler that flew up into a tree. Focusing on the bird and racing to get into
range, I didn’t notice the brier patch looming in my direction at a rather high
rate of speed until it caused me to make an abrupt unscheduled stop. I
think the bird fell out of the tree laughing. I didn’t hunt turkeys much again
after that and claim no kills to this day.
Still, Knight and Hale Game Calls invited me and some other outdoor
writers to hunt with their pro staffers in the Ozark Mountains near Harrison,
Ark. The next morning, everyone picked hunting partners. Glenn Wheeler,
noted photographer and writer from Harrison, and Mick Bowman, a Knight
and Hale pro staffer from Garnett, Kan., lost the lottery, but they decided to
take me hunting anyway as long as my son, Steven, did the actual
shooting. Since I hadn’t taught Steven anything about turkey hunting, they
figured he still had a chance to bag a bird.
“Northern Arkansas has a lot of public land for hunting,” Wheeler
explained. “Newton County has about 922 square miles with more than half
of it open to public hunting. The Buffalo River is about 150 miles long.
People can hunt almost all along the entire corridor of the river. It’s mostly
composed of U.S. Forest Service and U.S. National Park Service lands, but
people can still hunt on the park lands.”
With unseasonable temperatures hovering around 17 degrees and
merciless, biting winds whipping through the mountain passes, we prayed
for global warming. Reluctantly, we rolled out of bed in the middle of the
night to climb into Wheeler’s jeep. It seemed to make familiar squeaks as
we rattled up rugged mountain game trails that Glenn insisted really were
roads.
“It’s rugged country,” Wheeler said. “These mountain birds can be
frustrating and they can be a little more difficult to hunt. There are so many
hills and hollers up here that sometimes, it’s tough to determine exactly
where birds are gobbling. In hill country, it’s a good idea to drive or walk up
a ridge that overlooks a lot of land and listen to determine where a turkey
might be. Fortunately, I know where one hangs out.”
Indeed, he did. Climbing out of the heated jeep near the top of a
mountain, we readied our gear in the darkness. A few feet from the car, we
heard something like a turkey flying down off its roost on the right side of
the road. Then, another turkey, not 20 yards away on the left side of the
road, took off and flew directly over us as we stood on the dark road.
“Glenn, you really did know where those birds roosted,” I said, only
able to resist running after the bird because of an added 30 years and
umpteen pounds since the last time I saw such a turkey. Besides, this land
looked pretty rough. At least in south Louisiana, I wouldn’t run off a
mountain and fall into a rocky ravine in the darkness. “If we had been
ready, we could have shot that bird out of the sky like a big duck.”
Needless to say, we didn’t bag either of those birds or any others.
Walking near a green field later in the morning, we jumped a hen turkey.
Throughout the day, we probably saw about 30 more turkeys, a few deer,
an elk and numerous other critters, all from the confines of the jeep.
Maybe we should have just gotten out and run after them like the old days!
For information about hunting the Ozarks, call the Harrison Convention
and Visitors Center at (888) 283-2164. On line, see www.harrisonarkansas.
org. To order Wheeler’s photographs or his book, Swimming Holes of the
Ozarks, go to www.glennwheeler.com.
tank, it could go anywhere, making it an excellent hunting vehicle. Of
course, being the ONLY vehicle available to us also made it an excellent
hunting vehicle!
That old Falcon squeaked and rattled terribly as we crossed even the
smallest bumps, alerting anything in the woods for miles. However, it
apparently emitted a certain squeak that turkeys liked, or at least one that
aroused their curiosity. Whenever we drove the Falcon through the woods,
we saw turkeys. Growing up hunting ducks, we didn’t know much wild
turkeys. When the old Falcon rattled up a bird, we stopped, grabbed our
shotguns and began running through the woods after the very surprised
bird.
Of course, that never worked. However, I did almost get a shot at one
gobbler that flew up into a tree. Focusing on the bird and racing to get into
range, I didn’t notice the brier patch looming in my direction at a rather high
rate of speed until it caused me to make an abrupt unscheduled stop. I
think the bird fell out of the tree laughing. I didn’t hunt turkeys much again
after that and claim no kills to this day.
Still, Knight and Hale Game Calls invited me and some other outdoor
writers to hunt with their pro staffers in the Ozark Mountains near Harrison,
Ark. The next morning, everyone picked hunting partners. Glenn Wheeler,
noted photographer and writer from Harrison, and Mick Bowman, a Knight
and Hale pro staffer from Garnett, Kan., lost the lottery, but they decided to
take me hunting anyway as long as my son, Steven, did the actual
shooting. Since I hadn’t taught Steven anything about turkey hunting, they
figured he still had a chance to bag a bird.
“Northern Arkansas has a lot of public land for hunting,” Wheeler
explained. “Newton County has about 922 square miles with more than half
of it open to public hunting. The Buffalo River is about 150 miles long.
People can hunt almost all along the entire corridor of the river. It’s mostly
composed of U.S. Forest Service and U.S. National Park Service lands, but
people can still hunt on the park lands.”
With unseasonable temperatures hovering around 17 degrees and
merciless, biting winds whipping through the mountain passes, we prayed
for global warming. Reluctantly, we rolled out of bed in the middle of the
night to climb into Wheeler’s jeep. It seemed to make familiar squeaks as
we rattled up rugged mountain game trails that Glenn insisted really were
roads.
“It’s rugged country,” Wheeler said. “These mountain birds can be
frustrating and they can be a little more difficult to hunt. There are so many
hills and hollers up here that sometimes, it’s tough to determine exactly
where birds are gobbling. In hill country, it’s a good idea to drive or walk up
a ridge that overlooks a lot of land and listen to determine where a turkey
might be. Fortunately, I know where one hangs out.”
Indeed, he did. Climbing out of the heated jeep near the top of a
mountain, we readied our gear in the darkness. A few feet from the car, we
heard something like a turkey flying down off its roost on the right side of
the road. Then, another turkey, not 20 yards away on the left side of the
road, took off and flew directly over us as we stood on the dark road.
“Glenn, you really did know where those birds roosted,” I said, only
able to resist running after the bird because of an added 30 years and
umpteen pounds since the last time I saw such a turkey. Besides, this land
looked pretty rough. At least in south Louisiana, I wouldn’t run off a
mountain and fall into a rocky ravine in the darkness. “If we had been
ready, we could have shot that bird out of the sky like a big duck.”
Needless to say, we didn’t bag either of those birds or any others.
Walking near a green field later in the morning, we jumped a hen turkey.
Throughout the day, we probably saw about 30 more turkeys, a few deer,
an elk and numerous other critters, all from the confines of the jeep.
Maybe we should have just gotten out and run after them like the old days!
For information about hunting the Ozarks, call the Harrison Convention
and Visitors Center at (888) 283-2164. On line, see www.harrisonarkansas.
org. To order Wheeler’s photographs or his book, Swimming Holes of the
Ozarks, go to www.glennwheeler.com.
