The author and his puppy with Appalachian Turkey Canine breeder John Byrne
In February, I bought an Appalachian Turkey Dog. For those of you who do not know what type of dog that is, it can be a k9 that chases and flushes turkey flocks inside fall. Quite few persons have heard of tumble turkey hunting with a pet dog even though summer turkey hunting continues to be around longer than spring turkey hunting.
The pet dog finds and flushes a flock of turkeys. When it flushes them, the dog barks like crazy, letting the hunter (who is often a number of hundred yards away in the canine in the time of the flush) know that a flock continues to be busted.
When the flock is busted up, the hunter sits down with the pet dog and calls the turkeys back again in. When a flock of turkeys gets separated from every other, they sooner or later reassemble at the web page where by they were busted up. Inside a flock full of hens and young turkeys, the lead hen normally calls the young turkeys back to where by she is near the bust website. If a group of toms is separated, one with the toms will call every person back together. Hunters call like they are the boss bird, reassembling the flock. Sometimes calling a bird or birds back again in can take an hour. Often it can take all day.
For the past five months, I have been training my turkey puppy puppy to smell out turkey wings I’ve hidden. I’ve taught her to hide in the duffel bag so when the turkeys approach they won’t see her. I’ve been taking her for walks from the woods so she will grow accustomed to wandering from the woods in lookup of turkeys. To guarantee I do not lose her, I’ve a Garmin GPS collar on her so I know where by she is at all times.
At six months old, she will crawl inside a duffel bag on command, research for turkey wings when I say “turkey†and run at any bird she sees. Hopefully this tumble we will bust up our fair share of turkeys together.
Though I purchased a turkey dog from famed Appalachian Turkey Canine Breeder, John Byrne from Virginia, virtually any pet dog can make a decent turkey k9. Parker Whedon, a well-known spring turkey hunter from North Carolina often applied dogs in the pound. If drop turkey hunting that has a puppy sounds interesting to you, check out the American Wild Turkey Hunting Puppy Association web site for much more facts at www.turkeydog.org.
Several diehard spring turkey hunters who try tumble turkey hunting using a canine eventually give up spring turkey hunting in favor of hunting turkeys from the summer. If you are interested in drop turkey hunting with a dog, make sure it can be legal within your state before purchasing a pet dog. To go on a guided hunt, contact Pete Clare at Turkey Trot Acres. To my knowledge, he could be the only outfitter inside country who offers drop turkey hunting using a canine.
Stay tuned. From the coming months, I will post much more journal entries on drop turkey hunting with my canine.
