Turkey hunting with decoys

Oh Tom, how you haunt my dreams.

That beard. Those beady eyes. That throat wattle. You're a beauty, old friend. And this year, I must make you mine.

I speak, of course, of Tom the Turkey — Meleagris gallopavo. The spectacle that is spring gobbler season opens in just more than a week, and already I'm having palpitations. You see, I didn't grow up a turkey hunter, and, arriving late to the game, I've got a lot of catching up to do. I've read all the articles I can find online and in the hunting magazines, but they can't prepare you for being in the woods, watching the wild turkey rut unfold.

Yes, this is the time of year when Tom finds a harem and breeds as many of them as he can. It's evolution at its best: Establishing dominance in an area, convincing the ladies that you offer the most attractive set of genetic traits to pass on, and defending your turf, your harem, from intruders.

That's why things are going to be different for me this year. I'll be roasting the most free-range of birds, taking my first wild turkey, by focusing on the intruders.

Amateur that I am, in the past I've hunted turkeys without using decoys. This year, when I head out long before dawn with Martin Hardy Jr., owner of the guide service Virginia Elite Outdoors, we'll be bringing rubberized reinforcements.

Hardy has hunted gobblers for 20 springs but only in the past four to five years has he seen the light on decoys. It was "when it seemed like some of the areas we were hunting, the turkeys were overinfested," he said. "They had too many hens."

With so many hens from which to choose, it became difficult to lure wily old Tom to a call.

"You hear him calling, and he's thinking, 'With all these girlfriends, I'm not coming all the way across the field unless I see something.' "

So, like many seasoned turkey hunters, Hardy has gone the decoy route. He prefers to set out two or three hens and a jake (a juvenile gobbler). When the dominant Tom peers down from his roost in the morning and sees an upstart in the middle of his women, he's likely to be more than a little peeved.

To put it in human terms, Hardy said, "It's like you're at a bar and you know your girlfriend is over there hanging out with three girls. Then all of a sudden you look over and there's some strange guy . . . and he's not quite as big as you are. You're probably going to see what's going on."

Mature gobblers are known to attack decoys viciously. After all, their bloodline is at stake. When you mate just once a year, that act takes on a whole new level of importance. You simply can't afford to tolerate competitors. If you do, and you lose, your DNA dies out.

That's why the jakes and hens aren't the only decoys out there. Hunters also go for mature gobbler decoys in full- and half-strut. The idea with those is to bring out the territorial response in a Tom.

"A dominant bird in an area might see a decoy in full strut as a threat," Hardy said. "But it's not always foolproof. If your decoy is particularly intimidating looking, the strategy could backfire.

"If (the one you're hunting) is a lesser bird, it could work against you. He could look out there and go the other way."

If you talk to enough turkey hunters and read enough about decoys, you'll hear some crazy stories. Hardy told the tale of a Tom coming in hard to some decoys. He had it dead to rights until, out of nowhere, six jakes rushed the gobbler.

"They roughed him up. I guess he got caught off guard looking at the hen decoy. They're kicking their legs and beating their wings, and I'm like, 'No, no!' "

That Tom escaped the jake gang and Hardy.

So you can see why I'll be dedicating serious quality time this spring to big Tom. It may cost me some beauty sleep, but with decoys in hand and Tom's mind on just one thing, there's no way I can strike out again. And even if I do, there's a good chance I'll be treated to an early morning show: Call it Darwin's Fight Club.

Sky, water conditions, Page C7