You’ve heard of attack dogs. How about attack turkeys?
Jacob Buehler of Grand Island, Neb., can tell you all about them after a recent hunt.
When Buehler, a former resident of Kansas City, went out on the opening day of Nebraska’s spring season, he didn’t even have to get out of his truck when he was greeted by a big tom — a turkey that was looking for a fight.
“When I pulled my truck into the farmyard, I saw six hens walk right past the truck,” Buehler said. “Then, I saw this big gobbler come in, all fanned out.
“He walked right up to my front bumper, so close that I couldn’t see him anymore. I thought maybe he had walked away, but then I heard this scratching and pecking.
“I thought, ‘What in the world is he doing?’ Then it finally dawned on me. I have a chrome bumper and that turkey was seeing his reflection and was trying to fight that other bird he saw.”
Buehler was unable to shoot because he was in his vehicle. So he sat back and watched the show, which lasted for more than five minutes.
Finally, he decided he had to shoo the bird away, so he honked his horn. Even that didn’t work.
“I honked my horn and he would gobble,” Buehler said. “I must have honked six times and he would answer with a gobble every time.”
Finally, Buehler shifted his truck into neutral and coasted partway down a hill, and the turkey ambled away.
Buehler hoped he would be able to call the big tom back in, since he obviously hadn’t scared it. But you know how that went.
Score one for the turkeys.
Missouri season successful
Favorable weather and increased turkey numbers proved to be a formula for a successful spring season for Missouri hunters.
Hunters checked in 43,273 birds in the three-week season that ended May 11. Add the 4,332 turkeys that were shot in the youth season, and Missouri had a spring harvest of 47,605.
This was the third consecutive year that the kill has climbed, and the total represented a big increase from 2011’s harvest of 42,226.
“Prior to 2011, the state’s turkey population had struggled through four consecutive years of poor hatches,” said Jason Isabelle, a wildlife biologist with the Department of Conservation. “The improved hatches of 2011 and 2012 resulted in an increase in the number of adult gobblers available for hunters this spring.”
Texas County led the state, with 938 birds checked in. Franklin was second with 921 and Laclede third with 736.
Now for the bad news
Missouri’s spring turkey season stood out in one other way … not a good one.
There were seven firearms-related incidents in the regular season and one in the youth season. Two of those resulted in fatalities.
Five of the incidents involved shooters mistaking other hunters for turkeys.
That came after a 2013 spring turkey season that was the safest on record. There were only one incident last year and it wasn’t fatal.
Missouri’s bass-fishing reputation
Missouri’s bass fishing is still getting national attention in Bassmaster’s list of the top 100 bass lakes.
The flip side is that the state’s rankings slipped from last year.
The Show-Me State placed four reservoirs in the top 100 listing that was recently released. Bull Shoals was the highest-ranked, coming in at 33rd place. It was 18th in last year’s ratings.
Table Rock was chosen as the 68th-best bass fishery. It ranked 39th in 2013. Mozingo Lake made its first appearance in the top 100 rankings, coming in at 79th. And Lake of the Ozarks was rated 96th, a year after it was ranked 31st.
The top spot in the nation? Wisconsin’s Sturgeon Bay, which was recognized for its trophy smallmouth-bass fishery.
Researchers at B.A.S.S., a national bass-fishing organization, make the rankings each year based on the latest information from fisheries departments, fishermen, pros and others.
Hunting, bass fishing seasons to open
May 24 marks the opening day of the Missouri squirrel hunting season and the catch-and-keep bass season in most Ozark streams.
That’s become a Memorial Day tradition in the Show-Me State. The seasons always open the fourth Saturday in May.
Fishermen can keep black bass that measure up to size limits year-round in reservoirs. But regulations requiring catch and release are in effect on most Ozark streams from March 1 until the last Saturday in May.
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