Gobblers That Taught me something

West Virginia offers some of the best public land spring gobbler hunting in the country, so one April morning in 2021, I arose early to make the two-hour drive to the Monongahela National Forest from my Virginia home.

- Bruce Ingram

I had not heard a gobbler until one answered about 9 a.m. So I charged up the mountainside, crested it, and ran right into the tom. Earlier in that season, I had decided to move “one tree closer” when a Virginia monarch was answering and I bumped that bird, too.

For years, my first reaction when I heard a gobbler was to run toward him and call aggressively. Older hunters with long memories may recall that the run-and-gun game plan was popular in the outdoor press at the time, and various writers promoted this gambit. To be fair, this aggressive style will work occasionally.

But on the long drive home from my Monongahela debacle, I did some serious thinking about why I didn’t kill more turkeys, and it finally dawned on me that I can’t tag them if they’re flying or running away because of my aggressive moves. Now, I’m a lot more patient. The cliché “good things come to those who wait” is very true in spring turkey hunting.

In more than 35 years of pursuing spring gobblers, like most hunters, I’ve lost more battles than I’ve won. But five of those gobblers, including the one just mentioned, have taught me lessons that made me a more successful hunter. Here’s what other members of this quintet have taught me.

The 2004 Tom and Putt-Purr Call

In 2004, I hunted with Tennessee’s Larry Proffitt, who would become one of my turkey-hunting mentors. At that time, my basic calling game plan consisted of uttering clucks, yelps and cuts – sounds that will lure in most gobblers, most days. Of course, I knew the other sounds that hens make, but I rarely bothered to simulate them. But that all changed on an April outing with Proffitt.