Larry Case: Not too early to talk turkey, is it?

The Undertaker is a glass-pan style turkey call with some new modifications by Hunter Specialties.
The Undertaker is a glass-pan style turkey call with some new modifications by Hunter Specialties.

"To be prepared is half the victory." - Miguel de Cervantes

Here's something you may already know about me: I don't plan things very well. I might not be the president of the local Procrastinators' Club of America, but I have been to a few meetings. Right now, some of my hunting buddies are rolling their eyes and saying something like "Yeah, you got that right!"

photo You may need to try several types of turkey calls to find the one right for you when it comes to calling the birds, writes outdoors columnist Larry Case.
photo Larry Case

For hunting and fishing expeditions, I usually think of somewhere I want to go, throw everything in the truck, then take off in a cloud of dust. So maybe you can understand that when I started to see things on the Internet and in magazines telling us how spring turkey season is "just around the corner," I was a little grumpy (even more than usual).

Good grief! Let us suffer through January and whatever February will bring before we think too much about spring gobbler chasing.

Well, the fog in my procrastinator's brain cleared a little the other day, and I realized something.

These people may be right. The Florida spring turkey youth season is Feb. 27-28. For those of you who haven't looked, that's this month. Georgia's turkey season starts March 26, while Tennessee's youth season is March 26-27 and its regular season starts April 2.

Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania's seasons start later, but not by much. I don't know what you people were thinking - you have some getting ready to do. So in my never-ending quest to help prepare you for various outdoor adventures, let's think about how to start getting ready.

Ready to pursue the king of game birds, that is. (You know there will be more about this subject in a few weeks, but this is your early wake-up call.)

Any preparation for hunting the American wild turkey usually starts with discussion on calls and calling. I have told you before that I tend to think a little too much emphasis is put on calling these days, but there is no doubt that calling and the calls you use are important, so let's talk about that a little.

I also tend to think there isn't anything new under the sun when it comes to turkey calls and how they are made. Turkey call makers generally feel they need to come out with something new every year or so. I understand that is their business, but I usually look at new calls with the suspicious eye of most turkey hunters.

Well, don't tell anybody, but I might have been wrong about all of this.

Hunter Specialties (hunterspec.com) produces gear and tools for hunters. They have been around for a long time, and most of you who have been on the hunting trail for very long know about them. I think of them as a no-frills kind of company - they make things you need and want in the field, everything from a rifle sling to camo blind material to cover scents to turkey calls.

New for this year from Hunter Specialties are a couple of calls some of you gobbler-slayers need to check out. The Undertaker is a friction-type call that looks like any other glass or slate turkey call at first glance.

This type of call, with a "pot" or "pan" that holds the slate or Plexiglass material, has been around for a long time. The first slate versions showed up more than a hundred years ago. The turkey sounds are made by gently applying a pencil-like "striker" against the surface of the "pan." The friction between the striker and the slate or glass makes the sound, which sounds like a turkey if you do it correctly.

What Hunter Specialties did is put an aluminum soundboard underneath the glass surface where the calling is done. Then someone discovered that if you put precise cuts on this aluminum soundboard, it will enhance the quality of the sounds made by the call.

If you are not a turkey hunter, all of this sounds like an awful lot of trouble just to sound like a turkey, not to mention a little crazy. If you are a turkey hunter, all of this makes perfect sense and you are starting to think maybe you should try one of these calls.

The Undertaker box call is constructed of engineered laminate wood for increased stability and durability. This call features waterproof chalk on the friction surfaces for hunting in any weather conditions, and the call is hand-tuned to produce high-volume hen tones on either side. A box call that has a waterproof calling surface is not new, but what we haven't seen before is one that is made of laminate wood and is weatherproof.

Here is the deal. Some things you just have to try for yourself. Like Ford versus Chevy or Winchester as opposed to Remington, we are not all going to like the same things. Some of you will like the sound of these calls, as I did, right out of the box. Others may not.

It is a big old world out there!

Well, as usual, you have let me go on too long. I have not said one word about new camo clothing, patterning your shotgun, scouting for turkeys or choke tubes. I hope we can get together and gab about all of that later.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Maybe you could consider giving your wife and kids a break on practicing your calls this year.

A constant barrage of turkey sounds in the house is not the way to domestic bliss. Trust me on this one.

"The Trail Less Traveled" is written by Larry Case, who lives in Fayette County, W.Va., has been a devoted outdoorsman all of his life and is a contributing columnist for The Times Free Press. You can write to him at larryocase3@gmail.com.

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