October Is For Turkeys

Chasing these birds is as fun now as it is in spring, and you may get your Thanksgiving feast to boot

- Phil Bourjaily

BOB FULCHER PAID $1,500 for the long-box call in his hands, which is odd considering he built it himself. When a call wins the Grand National NWTF Hunting Call Competition, it’s auctioned off. If the call-maker wants the call, it’s understood that no one else bids. This time somebody didn’t get the memo, and Fulcher really wanted his call back.

Here in the October woods near Coshocton, Ohio, where acorns patter onto the leaves like rain, Fulcher (shade tree callers. web) scrapes a cluck out of the prize-winning call. It’s a beautiful cluck. Maybe even $1,500 worth of beautiful.

The turkeys aren’t impressed or, more likely, are elsewhere, because when “Turkey Bob” talks, turkeys listen. He’s guided hunters to nearly 200 turkeys, though only 30 or 40 have been fall birds. The autumn hunt doesn’t get the attention the spring season gets, and that’s a shame. Fulcher loves fall turkey hunting, and so do I. “Most hunters get into deer mode now,” he says. “To me, November is for deer. October is for turkeys.”

MAKING FALL TALK