Wing bone call made by Jeff Gearhart
Turkey season is about upon us and I still don’t have things organized since our move during deer season. This week I’ve been going through boxes pulling my turkey hunting stuff together to get ready for the season. Judging by the amount of stuff I got you’d think I’d been hunting turkeys all my life but you’d be wrong.
I’m not exactly sure how long it has been but it wasn’t until I moved to NC before I started chasing turkeys. So it’s been about 14 years I guess and the first few years I didn’t know what I was doing. After a couple of years of not even coming close to closing the deal on a turkey I had to get some help.
There was a couple of guys in my hunting club that were pretty deadly on the gobblers so I start pressing them to teach me how to hunt the turkey. Rick is still one of the guys I hunt with and he has taught me a lot over the years. He was there when I killed my first gobbler. The other guy in those early days was Jeff, he get on a gobbler and chase all day if he had to. I found a wingbone call Jeff made for me before he moved out of state. An old style turkey call that the average hunter doesn’t know how to use. I’ve never called one in with it. Heck it was a few years before I practiced enough so I could get a sound out of it that even remotely sounded like a turkey. One of my prize turkey calls one that reminds me of how a couple of guys helped me learn how to be successful at turkey hunting.
That is an important life lesson as we find ourselves close to the youth opening day. If you have the opportunity to take a kid or anyone hunting pass it on. The future of our sport depends on us introducing others to it and mentoring them on how to ethically and safely do it as well as how to be successful.
So Pass it on
