Excitement about turkey hunting is a good thing. For those of us so afflicted, few things in life are more exciting. Until you’ve had a tom belt out a gobble so close to you it shakes your bones, it’s impossible to appreciate the addictive control with which turkey hunting can overwhelm you.

But it’s that very excitement which can cause serious hazards if you don’t find a way to keep in under control. As in all hunting (and life for that matter?) your safety and that of those around you depends on you keeping your head at all times. The Number One rule of turkey hunting safety is – “THINK!”

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It was one of those nights in sporting clays league. Everything was working, and I was “in the zone.” To me that means a night when I’m not thinking too hard and as a result the majority of targets disintegrate in satisfying explosions – centered!

My squad was nearing the end of the round and I stepped into a station that was a single and two report pair. I loaded two shells into the Beretta 303 20 gauge semi-auto and smacked the first target. I replaced the shell and broke both halves of the report pair. Then suddenly I wasn’t thinking enough. I dropped in one shell and hit the button to close the action and called “pull.” The first target looked like a trash can lid, and I centered in nicely. The gun was empty with the action open, I put the safety on and turned to leave the station with a let’s-see-the-rest-of-you-do-that grin on my face.

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I’m just a guy who loves guns and hunting. However, for the most part, I like my coffee black, my whiskey straight up and the defenders of my Second Amendment freedoms American-made. We need to remain ever vigilant against those who would take away our right to own firearms for hunting, sport, collecting, enjoyment, and of course personal defense and protection. That’s why I am a paid member of the National Rifle Association and encourage every American concerned about their constitutional rights to be the same!

So it came as an eye-opener last week to read a blog from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) touting the work of a global pro-gun organization called the World Forum on the Future of Shooting Sports Activities (WFSA), and an even bigger surprise to note that this group represents more than 100 million sport shooters worldwide!

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If the premise of this blog is a bunch of hunters sharing stories around the campfire, then at least once in awhile you’d expect to hear some bragging – right? Well, with the accompanying picture taken by Tim Brandt of Federal on our snow goose hunt in Nebraska last week, I just can’t resist. This photo is simply the best “black dog” shot I’ve ever seen whether she was my dog or not. Taking a photo of this quality of a black dog holding a white bird is nearly impossible. I think Tim combined a lot of skill and a little luck in capturing this photo. (By the way, that was one of the Ross geese we took on our hunt, that’s why it makes the dog appear large. She’s a smaller Lab of about 50 pounds.)

The subject is my young dog “Callie” — short for “Northwings Calamity Jane.” She won’t turn two until mid-May, but she’s showing every sign of stardom at this early age. Late last summer she went 4-for-4 in AKC Retriever Hunt Tests to qualify for her Junior title. We’re thinking we’ll be running Senior level tests by middle of this summer.

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Here’s to the hunters of shed antlers … but I have to admit I’m not much of one myself.

I’ve tried. I really have, but this is just one form of hunting that I can’t find a passion for. It could be because the best shed hunting season falls at the same time as spring snow goose and turkey hunting is going on. However, that’s a lame excuse because I know a lot of folks who chase those birds and still have fire in the belly for seeking out those discarded headsets of whiteails, mulies, elk and even moose.

Friend and co-host of North American Hunter–TV, Mark Kayser has tried to kindle in me the fire for shed hunting. Several years ago, we set up a camp not far from the Missouri River in south central South Dakota. Mark brought his horses and we spent a couple days riding and searching for sheds. Mark’s method makes it a lot like spot and stalk hunting of big game.

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Just returned from the first snow goose hunt of spring 2010 in west central Nebraska with Jim Martinowski’s Central Nebraska Outfitters. We were taping a segment for the upcoming season of North American Hunter – TV on Versus with Rick Stoeckel and Tim Brandt of ATK/Federal. The primary purpose was to ring out their new special “Snow Goose” version of the highly successful Black Cloud waterfowl loads.

Anyone who has hunted snow geese, especially in the spring seasons, will tell you there isn’t a more fickle bird on the planet. They are incredibly wary and make the spring migration north on a schedule that’s entirely up to them. If you have the ability to “time” your hunt to the migration there are a number of online services available on which hunters report success and include migration status maps.

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Growing up in eastern Wisconsin in the 1970s and early 80s we didn’t have turkey hunting at home. Though the family’s small farm shared a line fence with the Kettle Moraine State Forest, wild turkeys weren’t reintroduced there until I was a teenager. A huntable population was years away.

While my dad was my greatest influence in learning to hunt deer, upland birds and waterfowl, we never shared a turkey hunt. (I don’t have a lot of regrets in my life, but that’s one of them.) My turkey hunting education started 26 years ago as a straight-out-of-school associate editor for North American Hunter magazine. In that role I was lucky enough to experience the tutelage of some of America’s greatest hunters – the guys who carried over the turkey hunting skills nearly lost when only a few states retained huntable birds. I’m honored to have shared hunts with Ben Rogers Lee and J. Wayne Fears…

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Though I’m not a big Hollywood fan or movie nut there are movie lines that live in nearly universal humor infamy. In the original “Airplane” Peter Graves’ pilot character Captain Clarence Oveur is seated in the cockpit next to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar playing co-pilot Roger Murdock. A young boy – Joey – is visiting the cockpit prior to take off. The captain engages Joey in small talk…

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With the combination of today’s shotshell technology and custom chokes, shooting a shotgun for turkey hunting is much more akin to shooting a slug gun or even a rifle than it is to swinging a scattergun on flying game. Oddly enough the closer the range, the more that holds true.

To me the thrill in turkey hunting is calling a bird into your lap. First turkey I ever killed was taken at 8 steps. He came in strutting, gobbling, dragging his wings and strumming. From that moment I was hooked, and the challenge is all about calling birds close.  Over the years, the distances have stretched to more average ranges. A couple notable exceptions topped 50 yards. One bird fell in a bare dirt field at 60 yards. It was good to have those birds in the bag, but the adrenaline rush wasn’t the same as a bird in close; so close that when he gobbles you feel that vibration right through your own body!

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You want to learn to ski, what do you do? You take ski lessons. You’re hoping to shave strokes from your golf game? You seek help from a good pro. You want to advance through the belts in the martial arts? You join a dojo and learn from a Master.

So why is it hunters and clays shooters are so hard headed? A wing shooting school or, even better, a personal coach is the fastest, best and ultimately, most economical way to improve your score in the field and on the range. Yes, I said economical. With qualified instruction it takes less time, fewer rounds, fewer targets and fewer shells to see improvement. A good coach looking over your shoulder will prevent developing poor techniques and bad habits that will take longer and more money to eliminate later on…

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