How Turkey Hunting makes you a better Mule Deer hunter
By: Trevor Hubbs
A Practice Game
Turkey hunting may not have the appeal of 100-plus pounds of meat in the freezer and a set of antlers on your wall that mule deer hunting does. Still, the spring season makes it an essential time of year to better prepare yourself for success in the fall. Turkey Hunting makes you a better mule deer hunter. If you found success filing last year’s mule deer tag in the early days of the season, It’s been almost six months since you went on a hunting trip. I don’t mean a day hunt or driving around forest roads to fill a B tag. I mean a real hunting camp out in the wilderness. Turkey season is a great time to break out all the gear that I’m sure you put away in an organized fashion last fall and make sure everything is still in good working order.
Don’t make it harder than it needs to be
Turkey hunting can be as fancy or as simple as you want. You can find success stumbling into the forest after a night out with a splitting headache and a cheap foam decoy, as well as after months of scouting a full-blown Gilly suit and special extended-range choke tubes.
I prefer to treat turkey hunting as a practice game for the fall. I bring out the wall tent, load down the truck with more gear than I need, and head out. It’s a scrimmage with no real negative consequences. I am not dependent on Turkey meat in my freezer to feed my family. While a beard and set of spurs would be nice. I don’t feel the regret that comes with missing a trophy buck if I miss in the turkey woods. Alternatively, if I succeed in the Turkey woods, the white meat would be a welcome addition to the freezer.
Go through the motions:
I wake up well before dawn, strap on a pack, and hit the hills looking for sign. Like with mule deer the further I get from other hunters and from roads the more often I find success. While certain aspects of Turkey hunting may not be applicable to mule deer hunting, like calling. The simple act of getting your body back in the natural rhythm of waking up early, carrying weight into the field, and looking for animals, is worthwhile.
You might learn like I did, that you have gotten horribly out of shape in the off-season. Or that your boots’ laces are worn thin and ready to break. You could find your tent has been eaten by moths, or your pack no longer fits the way it should. Turkey season can help identify faults in you, or your gear. It’s better to solve any issues over the summer instead of racing to a sporting goods store on the first day of deer season.
Turkey hunting makes you a better mule deer hunter.
Good Luck!
Good luck this Spring and remember to send any success pictures or stories from the field to [email protected]. You can be featured on our website or in our magazine. If this article or any of our articles have helped you become a better hunter or conservation steward, become a member of the Mule Deer Foundation or Blacktail Deer Foundation for only $35 dollars a year. Click here to join: https://muledeer.org/product-category/membership/
Trevor Hubbs
https://www.instagram.com/trevorhubbs/#
Trevor is the Communications Manager and Editor for the Mule Deer Foundation and Blacktail Deer Foundation. He grew up hunting and fishing the Ozark Mountains for quail, ducks, and bucks. Trevor is also a contributor for “Fur, Fish, and Game”, “Lethal Minds Journal”, “Strung Magazine”, “Fly Fisherman”, and “Shooting Sportsman”.
