Tennessee Turkey Time

by Garry Mason Outdoor Editor

Come along with me on a Tennessee Turkey Hunt!

Image, if you can… you are standing in the woods. The dawn is breaking day behind you, with just a hint of the morning light. Birds of all sorts are beginning to sing their songs. The dark woods are beginning to wake, all around you. It’s a peaceful feeling to be standing in such a place.

All of a sudden, to your right, an owl hoots. Then like thunder after close lightning, the whole world around you is shattered by a tremendous sound as the “King” of the woods awakes. His loud gobble seems to shake the very tree above you that he sits upon.

Others of his kind gobble in answer, in faraway trees, as the owl hoots again. But you’re not interested in them. Some other day will bring your paths closer together to those birds… but for now, each and every sound that comes from the bird overhead, is another step closer to you being able to locate your quarry.

The woods seem to go quiet again. Your thoughts turn back to hunts and birds from past years, as you continue to watch and listen to the world around you. Time seems to stand still. There he is again. This gobble is so loaded and crisp that he seems to be right above you. You can’t move for fear of him seeing you. Afraid to even breathe, you stand as still as possible.

There he is, on a limb not thirty feet away. Time does not matter now. It’s just you and him. You block out all other thoughts. His morning gobble will be heard many more times before he flies down from his lofty perch on high. This is the “King” of the Tennessee morning. This is the mighty Eastern Wild Turkey.

Many fortunate Tennessee hunters will get to enjoy that very scenario throughout the Tennessee Turkey Season. This is the kind of morning every turkey hunter dreams of. Days and nights of preparation go into waiting for the magic that occurs when a big “Tennessee Tom” walks the limb and flies down to begin the mind game.

This is the game that brings man and bird close together or sends him off into another county…  depending on how good the hunter has become.

Much like this morning began my first turkey hunt, many years ago. Back then, there was a gravel road that ran behind my house, through a Tennessee WMA property. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency had put together a restoration project for the Eastern Wild Turkey and one of the new locations for stocking was on what was known as Westvaco Timber Company land. 

A Wildlife Management Area was located just across the road from that property in which those wild birds had been restocked. After a couple of years, Tennessee hunters were allowed to hunt on that WMA.

I don’t remember how many mornings I spent back then, just listening to the sounds of the woodlands, on that old gravel road but I’ll never forget the very first bird that I ever heard. I remember that very morning, just like it was yesterday. 

That big ole Tom must have gobbled forty times but he did not fly down until well after sunrise… a fact that puzzled me at the time. 

As he strutted on a limb above me, a hen flew down from my right side. I heard her as she hit the ground, immediately making hen sounds. At first, the Tom just strutted on his limb and gobbled at her. Then, after what seemed an eternity, he flew down, but not to her. He flew down into the field in front of me. 

As I watched in fascination, I wondered if this was a game… maybe part of their courting ritual. They were very aware of one another as they closed the distance of only about fifty or so yards apart. I listened as they started to get closer to one another.

I was a third wheel in this party and an uninvited guest for sure. This hen was being very vocal, as she made her way to her future boyfriend.

I decided to try something new and began to imitate each sound that she made. After a few clucks on my slate call, she changed course. Instead of going to the Tom, she stepped back into the woods and headed toward my direction. Each sound that she made, I made the exact sound, right back at her on my slate call. When she came out in front of me, she was as close as ten yards away. And boy… was she upset. She was coming to fight another hen that was trying to take her fellow away. 

The ole Tom was about five yards behind her, strutting and gobbling every step of the way. My heart was pounding so loud, I was afraid they would hear every beat. As the Tom stepped behind a tree, I raised my Mossberg shotgun. His next step would turn out to be his last. 

I had the chance to visit and talk “Turkey” with two of my close friends just the other day, two of our nation’s top legendary turkey hunters. These two friends are none other than Harold Knight and David Hale, creators of Knight and Hale Game Calls. Harold and David established “Knight and Hale” back in 1972, in Cadiz, KY. 

Harold was a barber and David raised hogs on his nearby farm. Both men had a huge passion for all types of hunting but hunting Eastern Wild Turkeys held a special place at the top of the list for both men.

That passion was what brought these two iconic men together. And history would be made many times over, as both of these outdoor legends created innovations together, in the hunting call industry and especially with the turkey calls that they would build, in their shop for hunters to purchase.

From the very first hunt that these two shared, and still today, the legacy of Knight and Hale has become as American as “baseball and apple pie.” Both Harold and David have been chasing Tennessee Wild Eastern Turkeys since that first hunt that the dynamic duo shared together. Their passion for turkey hunting brings a gleam to the eyes of both men, even today, as they tell stories of bygone hunts in places such as Land Between The Lakes Recreational Area, near their homes.

Every turkey hunter owes a debt of gratitude to these two men. The turkey calls that they created, have helped, in part, to bring the hunting of wild turkey across this country to the American hunter. The videos that they produced on turkey hunting have kept us all on the edge of our seats throughout the off-season.

So many mornings have I shared with friends or family, at times in the woods or often roaming the hills while chasing the wild turkeys here in our beautiful state of Tennessee. Never to be forgotten, are those memories of those mornings with my sons and now their children, hunting these beautiful and mystical creatures.

From fog-covered swamplands to woodlands with the sunlight filtering through the trees, nothing that can be imagined is better than a Tennessee Turkey morning memory.

God Bless and good hunting!

Garry Mason

Thank you Jim Tostrud for allowing us to publish your art as a part of this article!