The late Paul Harvey used to conclude some of his famous radio broadcasts, “And now you know the rest of the story.” Here's the rest of my spring turkey hunting story.
I was lucky enough to be assigned an article in the spring of 2024 to travel to Maine to spend some time at a turkey camp with a group of people who have been getting together for years. The thrust of the article was not so much about the turkey hunting and turkey killing that goes on but about the camaraderie the group shares and how love of the wild turkey brought not only them together but people in countless other camps and locales across the United States. We wanted to show how love for turkey hunting and the outdoors is the common denominator that changes friends into family.
The folks in the camp were Pennsylvania Matt Van Cise, perennial senior champion in the National Wild Turkey Federation’s Grand National Calling Contest and his wife Cathie, North Carolinians Sandy Brady and Johnny Young, and Rob Sukis, the only Maine resident and the camp’s host. These folks are exceptional callers and experts at getting inside a mature gobbler’s “bubble,” as Van Cise and Young call it. This is the zone where you make a mature gobbler uncomfortable or challenged, forcing him to react.
“You get 200 yards from a turkey and he might gobble, and he’ll gobble and gobble, but he’s not going to leave nearby hens,” Van Cise said. “But suddenly, his hen’s voice pops up at 80 yards. Add a fan, where legal, or use a jake yelp or a gobbler decoy, and you’re challenging that gobbler. He has to go check that out.” Consequently, this crew is extremely efficient at tagging their targeted birds.
Here's the opening excerpt of my article that ran in the November-December 2024 issue of NWTF’s Turkey Call magazine. At the end of the excerpt, there is a link that takes you to the digital version of the magazine where you can read the whole piece. And, if you’re a turkey hunter or someone who simply loves conservation, please join the NWTF. It’s only $35 and there are many perks including gift cards that offset the membership fee. So, here we go. After this intro, I’ll get to “the rest of the story,” the incredible, short hunt I had with these guys.
Cathie Van Cise, just moments before fraught with tension and burdened with pressure and doubt, pulled her mask down from over her nose and mouth and placed her face in her hands, tears flowing, overwhelmed by the moment. She nestled tightly into her low-slung chair as the emotion poured out.
“It’s got a band,” yelled out Johnny Young, hoisting the mature gobbler and prompting the joyous scene around her.
What made the moment so incredibly unique was that Cathie’s husband Matt Van Cise, a perennial senior turkey calling champion, was with her. Further, the Van Cise’s had traveled to Maine from Pennsylvania, a trip celebrating their anniversary. And, most remarkably, Matt had shot a banded gobbler two days earlier.
The hunting party earlier had joked about getting jewelry – as bird bands are often called – as an anniversary present. The prize, though, didn’t come without first overcoming a deep dose of adversity. Cathie had earlier missed – twice. Turkey hunting can be notoriously difficult when conducted as a group affair. After all, each person represents an opportunity for a wary bird to spot something amiss and call the whole thing off. Yet, Cathie had a substantial supporting entourage… As they spotted and moved in on promising gobblers, Cathie’s shooting scenarios got squirrelly, as turkey hunting setups often do. One hasty opportunity, where the turkey unexpectedly rushed toward them, only presented a standing, offhand shot. Misses can be rough, psychologically, with the range of emotions and intensity often flipping at light speed.
“She wanted to give up. It would have been easy to give up, but with the four of us behind her she couldn’t give up,” Young said.
The full article, titled, “A Family Affair,” begins on Page 64 of Turkey Call. Check it out.
Wild Turkeys on the Rocks, and the Roots
With Cathie Van Cise tagging her banded gobbler in the morning, only one person in the Maine turkey camp had yet to take a bird – your truly. Cathie remained in camp while the remaining five of us piled into the crew cab pickup and set out looking for lonesome toms strutting their stuff in Maine’s beautiful spring fields. We began by checking out some places known to hold turkeys. At our first stop, we dismounted, grabbed gear and headed quietly down a dirt road. Young carefully edged toward a spot where he could peer into a secluded field, separated from the road by a five-yard stretch of trees and shrubs. He returned and whispered, “There’s a single gobbler all the way in the back.”
This is often an ideal situation. Hens are typically on nests and these gobblers can be motivated. It was decided that Brady and Sukis would stay back while Van Cise, Young and I continued down the road, trying to cut the distance until we could slip into the gobbler’s bubble before calling. The turkey initially seemed cooperative, coming a little closer but then something turned him around. He reversed course and retreated back to the woods.
Oh well, we still had about another 90 minutes of hunting time left. Maybe we’d find another bird. Hopping back in the truck, we slowly patrolled the rolling landscape. “There! Birds down there in the back, low section of that field,” Young called out. An apparent solo turkey was strutting in an overgrown field near the edge of a wood line some 400-500 yards distant. Sukis pulled over so we could get a better look. That's when Young spotted another tail fan about 15 yards from the original bird. Additional turkeys were milling about. A single hen was nonchalantly feeding nearby.
“This could be doable, but tough,” Brady remarked. We put our heads together. There were two options to try to get to the turkeys. Both involved using the terrain and cover. The first was straightforward, trying to advance through the field's tall vegetation in an effort to get close enough to try to call the birds into gun range. The second option was slipping through the woods bordering the field, possible sneaking close enough to get a shot from the wood line or make a couple of calls to attempt to work the birds a few yards closer.
Again, Brady and Sukis remained behind, this time comfortably sitting in the truck and watching the turkeys through binoculars. Young, Van Cise and I began our maneuvers. The going was easy at first, but then we got to the low ground where rain had pumped up a swampy area. We mucked through and then got back into mostly dry ground, that rocky, mossy terrain for which northern New England is famous.
“Those birds have to be close,” Young turned and whispered. I was right behind him with Van Cise behind me. “I think we’re going to have to drop down and do some crawling from here.”
“Ugh,” I thought. I hadn’t told the guys that my senior citizen knees were riddled with bone spurs just below the knee cap. We got in a single file to minimize our exposure. Crawling slowly over rocks, exposed roots and other impediments hurts and can compromise my ability to get into a certain position or hold a position for very long. I bit my lip and figured I’d give it a go. It was rough. Young “shhhsshed” me a couple of times as I audibly winced when a rock inflicted enough pain. But after several minutes of patient, stealthy crawling, we made it. We halted about 8 yards into the wood line, at the place where the edge habitat thinned into saplings and shrubs with open patches of field ahead.
Young carefully raised his head along a slim tree. “They’re still there,” he informed, later adding the view included the two strutters and a few hens and jakes. Young carried a full turkey fan in his hand and deployed it, using it as a bit of a confidence screen to help shield our moves. We couldn’t risk advancing further. At first, I couldn’t see the turkeys but then a gobbler moved into view. This was going to be tough. I had no rest for my Mossberg 940 Turkey Pro 12-gauge shotgun. My knees were killing me, and I was a little uncertain of the range to the birds. The gun was loaded with Apex Tungsten Turkey Shot so the potency with the ultra-tight choke in the gun was longer than the traditionally acceptable 40 yards. But still…I don’t like taking long pokes.
My breathing was a bit labored and my heart rate picked up, as it always does, when I’m turkey hunting. Plus, the crawling had been a little strenuous. I motioned to Young that I could try to move a couple of feet to brace myself against a small sapling. He shook his head, instead rising to his knees behind the fan and motioning me to maneuver right behind him, indicating he wanted me to use his shoulder as my rest.
"I could see both strutters the jakes and the hen," Young recalls. "The birds where all tight together and the two strutters were walking in circles. We waited a few seconds for Ken to catch his breath so he could take steady aim. Then a hen moved into the line of fire. I called the shot off and told Ken let the hen clear the strutters…"
Eventually, the hen moved well to the left. The two gobblers stayed tight. I whispered that I might kill both gobblers if I took a shot but Johnny said it's okay to shoot both of your Maine spring gobblers on the same day. "One bird came out of strut and started to shy from the bird strutting," Young explains. He motioned to Matt to make a call. At the sound of Matt's exceptional realistic vocalizations with his mouth call, both birds came alert looking for the apparent hen. "I spun the fan side to side to look like another bird strutting and the two long beards came back tight together and the other birds moved off to the right," Young says. "I told Ken to send it!"
Despite the close proximity of the two birds, I wanted to be certain of at least one so I centered the red dot on the primary strutter's wattles. Young put his fingers in his years. Boom. "I saw the strutter crumble," Young says. "I never saw the second longbeard run or fly. The other birds didn’t really know what happened and started putting. Then I caught a glimpse of a wing flapping in behind the strutter Ken shot and realized he had killed both longbeards with one shot."
“What?” I was amazed. I had a Maine wild turkey double! I didn’t see the second nearby gobbler go down. In retrospect, it wasn’t that surprising. That 12-gauge Apex load launches some 940 TSS pellets. When Young paced it off, we discovered the shot was 45 yards. The pattern at that range starts opening up and with number 9 TSS hitting with the kinetic power of number 5 lead, it only takes a couple magic pellets to a turkey’s noggin to bring it down.
Rob and Sandy watched the whole thing unfold. And it wrapped up just as a glorious sunset was about to descend over the Northwoods.
I had never taken two turkeys with a single shot before, despite having many opportunities. It’s illegal in Virginia, where I do most of my hunting. And, honestly, I didn’t intend to get two birds with one shot in Maine. After all, setting up the stalk and the hunt is most of the fun. So, I was all done. The experience also shows how important it is to be completely aware of the position of all turkeys in any group whenever you’re considering a shot. Still, it was an amazing experience.
As Young notes, "All things must come to an end but we are all looking forward to 2025 turkey season to start this journey all over once again!"