GARLAND, Maine — At some point on Wednesday — halfway between swatting my fifth ant, squashing my third spider and filling my autumn-weight camouflage jacket with a gallon of sweat — I realized we must be doing something (or many things) wrong.
Despite our best efforts, the turkeys were not participating in our first outing of the spring.
To be truthful, it had been a long May, and work commitments kept me and BDN visuals editor Brian Feulner from heading out to hunt turkeys like we had planned.
Finally, on Wednesday, on the advice of game warden Jim Fahey, we hopped in the truck and headed for the Bud Leavitt Wildlife Management Area, where we hoped for the best.
Sure, it was late morning by the time we cleared the decks here at One Merchants Plaza and were able to start motoring out Route 15.
And, sure, we had to stop and buy a few last-minute turkey-hunting supplies.
And we might not have been able to do any scouting.
And, as I mentioned, it was hot enough to broil a bird by the time we arrived in the (supposed) turkey woods.
But we were hunting, more or less, and we figured that even if the turkeys didn’t cooperate, the trip would provide us the opportunity to share some late-season tips — from the experts — that could pay off for hunters as we head into the final week of the spring season.
Feulner, for one, was excited to finally head hunting.
“Chee-yock!” he said, repeatedly, as we drove, trying to figure out how to make a vaguely turkey-ish sound with the new mouth calls we purchased a few minutes before.
The concept of a diaphragm call was foreign to him, he admitted, but he was game for the challenge and kept practicing. At least, that’s what I think he was doing — at times, it appeared he was honing his skills for an Olympic spitting contest.
“Chee-eek! Chew-york!”
This, I realized, was going to take some practice.
Late-season hunting changes
Kendall Marden, a wildlife biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, said late-season hunters may face several challenges and may benefit from a few tactical changes.
Marden said that while turkeys might have responded well to calling earlier in the month, they sometimes become accustomed to calling and clam up in the latter weeks.
“One of the things I would offer as a tip is to call differently,” Marden said. “Be more patient. Don’t be quite so aggressive, unless the situation calls for it. If you elicit a response of continuous gobbling, it’s OK. But certainly they’ve been called to a fair amount, so oftentimes just calling and then sitting silent for a long period of time and just waiting [can pay off]. A lot of those late-season birds aren’t going to gobble very much and are going to sneak in silently.”
For the record, Feulner and I likely disobeyed Marden’s directive: We called early, often and loudly but to no avail.
But it turns out that our later-than-desired starting time was perfectly fine, as far as the biologist is concerned.
“To me, one of the most important things — and I employ this in the early season too — is that patience is a virtue,” Marden said. “Rather than get up at 3:30 in the morning, if you wait until 7:30, when most of the other hunters have gone to work or gone back to bed, if the birds are not tied up to another hen, they may be wandering around a little bit. [Heading in later] can be a pretty good tactic, I think.”
Marden said cold, rainy weather can quiet down a wild turkey, as can extreme heat, which we experienced Wednesday. Advantage: Turkeys.
And the blustery winds we dealt with also didn’t help our cause, the biologist said.
“[When it’s blowing 30 mph] They don’t hear well, so they don’t respond [to calls] if they can’t hear,” Marden said. “It’s a real tough situation for them to be able to communicate with each other when nothing is audible at all.”
Our in experience on the land, which we chose because it was conveniently located to Bangor and offered us to check out a nice parcel of state land, also played a role. Advance scouting, which we didn’t have time to do, always is essential, Marden said.
“[It’s] even more critical at this time of year because their response is dwindling,” Marden said. “The mating season is winding down at the end of the hunting season here, and certainly scouting is even more critical, because you need to be able to be where the birds are going to be, because they’re not going to be as receptive to calling.”
Marden’s final tip really rings true after our afternoon afield.
“Enjoy the bugs,” he said.
Marden said that despite the challenges, he’s among those who are still hunting late in the season.
“It only takes one, right?” he said.
On the road back
So we didn’t bag a turkey Wednesday. The bugs were fierce. We weren’t patient or modest with our calling. And we hunted on a windy, hot day.
Other than that, everything turned out perfectly.
Why?
Well, halfway back from Garland, Feulner — turkey call still in his mouth — let out an ear-shattering series of yelps.
“I had the call in backward the whole time,” he said, sheepishly.
For the rest of the drive, he serenaded farmers, cyclists and pedestrians with his newfound turkey-calling talent.
And finally, just after we re-entered Bangor’s city limits, we had true success: We saw a turkey walking through a field.
“Chee-yok!” Feulner yelped, as I tried to figure out where I could park so I didn’t get run over by traffic as our turkey-talking photog angled for a shot.
Then, just before I got myself into position, the turkey flew away.
I’m betting it knew the coast was clear and was headed back to Garland.
A previous version of this story said that turkeys don’t hear well. The birds actually have good hearing, but that is limited on windy days.
