If you're a new turkey hunter, here's what you need to know to get started this spring. For years, when talking to others about the spring hunt for gobblers, I often got the response, "I'd love to try a wild turkey dinner, but I haven't taken the turkey course." Well, last year the MNRF eliminated the need to take a separate wild turkey hunter education course, so Ontario hunters can now lock wattles with a spring tom or jake if they possess a hunting version Outdoors Card and a turkey licence tag and seal. With expanding turkey-hunting opportunities, a growing population of birds, and the recent opening of new seasons and WMUs, these are the good old days of turkey hunting in Ontario. Here’s how to go one-on-one with a beard-swinging tom. To make authentic calls, start by listening to real hens. Find recordings, YouTube videos, or live birds to study. Pay attention to the snappy beat of a hen yelping. Once you learn to yelp, cluck, and purr, you’ll have enough calls to grab a tom by the ears and pull him in. Calling all toms Calling in a boisterous gobbler in full strut is a thrilling dimension of the hunt and it’s not a secret art. With a bit of practice on a box call, mouth call, or pot-and-peg call, you can be talking turkey. Box Call basics To yelp (a searching call): Pass the paddle lightly over the top of the sideboard, from the outside of the call toward the centre. At some place in that movement the tone will change from high to low. That’s the sweet spot. Take note of that spot and pass the paddle repeatedly over it with a snappy pace to create the yelp. Experiment with downward pressure on the paddle to find the best sound. Too much will make it screech, not enough will make too soft a sound. Don’t lift the paddle off the board for the backstroke so it can’t smack down on the board, which might spook your tom. Press harder on the paddle to yelp louder. To cluck (a short-range searching call): Extend your left thumb up over the sideboard as a stopper for the paddle. Put the paddle up against your thumb and tap on it with a slightly downward motion to create clucks. Your thumb acts as a stop and a spring to push the
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