By: Tom Lounsbury
“A great program for introducing women and girls to the outdoors!”
For a long time, hunting especially was pretty much a “men only” pastime,
although there were certainly exceptions, women who ignored status quo and
went hunting. Annie Oakley is a prime example, who ventured into this
atmosphere at an early age when her father died, leaving her mother and large
family destitute. She would start hunting, first to feed her family, and then to
provide an income (market hunting was legal in her era). Annie would sell game to
a growing list of customers and because ammunition cost money, she learned to
make each shot count, causing her to become one of the most remarkable
shooters in history.
She would pay off the mortgage on her family farm when she
was only 15 years old and go on to become famous in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.
Thanks to my late mother, I was introduced to hunting at the wee age of
three when I was her “pooch” for pheasant hunting. She was a crack shot with her
single-shot Iver Johnson 20 ga, having been taught to shoot by older brothers and
hunting for her family larder during the Great Depression. Mom learned to make
each shot count, because ammunition cost money, an attitude she passed on to
me when she taught me to shoot. She also could care less about any status quo
stuff about “men only” pastimes, and she passed that attitude on to me as well.
turkey seminar/hunt for a Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) it was a
no-brainer for me to jump right in. BOW was first created in 1991 and is now
found in 44 states (including Michigan) and 9 Canadian Provinces. The recent BOW program took place at the Cass City DNR Field Office, starting with a wild turkey seminar there on Friday, May 12th, and a hunt with mentors on Saturday, May
13th. Ron Sting did an outstanding job arranging everything and the seminar
involved every aspect of turkey hunting, with knowledgeable speakers on each
from the Cass City DNR Field Office, the shooting portion was performed there.
Some ladies had their own shotguns and some did not, and Ron Sting made sure
all were fitted out and comfortable with shooting and putting an accurate pattern
centered on the turkey target, entailing the all important head/neck shot.
nervous, and DNR Conservation Officer Seth Rhodea (who had earlier given a talk
on turkey hunting ethics and safety) spent some one-on-one time with the young
lady, off to the side and performing dry-firing exercises with an empty shotgun. As
a result, the young lady was soon confidently hammering targets with a 20 ga and
thoroughly enjoying it. In fact I could see all the ladies were enjoying it, and it was
a real pleasure watching them all take their turn at eagerly shooting away at their
targets, followed by examining the results of the shot, and the obvious confidence
this created. There was no doubt in my mind, if a turkey hunting opportunity
happened for any of these ladies, a gobbler was going down.
participate, and in only two days he had an overwhelming response and it became
a first come, first serve situation, with 11 attending, and some from as far away as
Grand Rapids. Each woman had a mentor to take them turkey hunting and matters
would begin with breakfast at 4:30 AM on Saturday morning at the Cass City DNR
Field Office, immediately followed by hunters and their mentors heading out to
pre-selected areas, some on state land and some on private land.
Pam Walton of Lapeer, and we were heading out to meet with Bob Walker of
Kingston. Bob had very generously agreed to lend a hand and had arranged a
perfect spot for the two ladies to hunt. Bob would mentor Pam and I would
mentor Debra and in no time we were all headed our separate ways into the
woods. Deb and I would be in a wooden ground blind literally constructed into a
hillside, which reminds me of a bunker with a shooting window. While Deb got
situated in the blind, I set out two hen decoys with one at 15 yards and the other
because the gray light of dawn was fast approaching. Deb was sitting to the left
and I to the right, and I told her to load her gun at he get go. She had purchased
it used and it was dandy vintage Winchester pump 20 ga with an adjustable Poly-Choke at the muzzle, which she had cranked to the
“full” position. We had learned the evening before that this shotgun was a great
performer with #6, 3 inch Magnum turkey loads, which Deb had a great time
shooting. I knew she and her gun were a perfect fit and she would do her part if I
could do mine.
Lee” box call (which I purchased in the early 1980’s and is a collector’s item) and a
simple to use Quaker Boy “Easy Yelper” which only requires holding in one hand
and pushing a wooden rod. I wanted Deb to see things could get done without a
whole bag–full of gadgets and calls. My long recommendation to new turkey
hunters is to only start with one call and learn to use it well before moving on to
another call. I generally only take two calls out when I’m turkey hunting as it is,
and I prefer only friction types including the pan/slate calls. I’ve found the mouth
diaphragms don’t blend well at all with my chewing tobacco. After almost 50 years
of turkey hunting I’ve developed some instincts which are purely gut-feelings which come out of nowhere and I can’t quite put it into words. All I can say
is that when the woods lightened up and starting time was on I went to (hen) purring
mixed in with an occasional cadence of (hen) yelps on my box call. I’ve heard it said
that too much calling isn’t a good thing, but I’ve seen the occasion when you really
can’t talk too much turkey, and my gut feeling let me know this was an occasion to really
lay it on.
matter of seconds Deb and I knew the far right gobbler was incoming and closing
the gap. That is when a fourth gobbler cut loose directly behind us less than 10
yards away. I immediately stuck my hand out the window (which the gobbler
couldn’t see from behind us) and I let out a long drawn and very whining purr with
the Easy Yelper to give the gobbler the idea a hen directly downhill was real interested
in his advances. I was sitting with my back to the door when I felt the vibration a gobbler
can send out as it drums, and I knew the bird was standing right next to the door while
it looked over our blind’s roof at the hen decoys below. I whispered to Deb to
freeze and not to even blink, and then the gobbler suddenly appeared at point
blank range on Deb’s side of the window as it eased down the hill toward the
decoys. He was one of the largest gobblers I have ever called in, with a long and
thick beard. With its head up and moving around, this sharp-eyed bird had a 360 degree
pan of its surroundings (turkeys have 3 times the vision and color perception than
we humans have). Deb and I were frozen in position as the bird eased down the
hill and when he hit the bottom about 10 yards away, he fanned for the closest (15
yard) hen. With the gobbler’s head out of sight behind its tail-fan I whispered for
Deb to shoulder her gun, but before this could happen the gobbler dropped his
fan and panned his surroundings (we obviously weren’t his first rodeo), which he
would do three more times, and it was the third time and he was directly next to
the (15 yd) hen that Deb was able to shoulder her gun and take the safety off, all
in one fluid motion. However I saw the gobbler’s head suddenly poking out below
the fan, near he ground when this occurred and he obviously saw the twitch of the
gun barrel out the blind’s window. The gobbler immediately slicked down his fluffed-up
plumage and started to bank a hard left when I let out a long yelp from my throat
which caused the gobbler to briefly hesitate and lift his head straight up and I
hissed “take him”, followed by the bark of Deb’s 20 ga. The headshot big gobbler
immediately dropped on the spot and was definitely down for the count in what I
call the “spurs-up” position, and Deb and I were doing a “high 5”.
Deb Robinson had performed flawlessly
under pressure with a point blank gobbler
and did an outstanding job on the trigger.
Like a sniper team, Deb was the shooter and
I was the spotter, and she did everything on c
ue and without hesitation. She can be my hunting
buddy anytime. Her bruiser bird was DNR-aged
at being a 4 year old gobbler, which is a definite
trophy in my book.
anytime) with our gobbler response that morning, because the gobblers
elsewhere were all “henned-up” with hens leading gobblers away from various
calling set-ups. Bob Walker called in gobblers for Pam Walton, but each time the
gobbler was almost in range a hen would appear and lead it away (Pam said
afterward she would not have traded the experience for anything, because thanks
to Bob she now knows how to hunt turkeys). Only one other gobbler was taken,
by Jeanette Rousseaux of Port Austin, who was mentored by Ron Sting.
program for turkey hunting in the Thumb. As it turns out, the DNR says that forty
percent of our new participants in the ‘hunting world’ are ladies and children.
Stacey Roberts and Amy Mahanic (pictured left) travelled from Grand Rapids to participate in the BOW Turkey Hunting
Seminar held in the Thumb. They are proud of their patterning
results with their 12 ga shotguns. Stacey Roberts is a 6 year
Army Veteran who did a tour in Iraq.
Pam Walton (left) of Lapeer was mentored
on the BOW turkey hunt by Bob Walker of Kingston.Although she didn’t bag a gobbler, t
hanks to Bob she now knows how to confidently
go turkey hunting.
Tom Lounsbury has been an outdoor writer and photographer for more
than 40 years and has had his weekly radio show, “Tom Lounsbury
Outdoors” for more than 20 years. Tom grew up on a farm in
Michigan’s Thumb, and it is where his first outdoor adventures began
as a kid accompanying visiting pheasant hunters into the field during
the “pheasant hunting heyday” of the 1950’s and 1960’s. It is a passion
he still has to this day and being the 4 th generation to own the family
farm, he has put most of it into conservation programs with a focus on
wild pheasants, which in turn helps all wildlife.
Being an outdoor communicator, Tom appreciates all the outdoor
adventures he experiences in different places, and especially the
people he meets in which to share them.
than 40 years and has had his weekly radio show, “Tom Lounsbury
Outdoors” for more than 20 years. Tom grew up on a farm in
Michigan’s Thumb, and it is where his first outdoor adventures began
as a kid accompanying visiting pheasant hunters into the field during
the “pheasant hunting heyday” of the 1950’s and 1960’s. It is a passion
he still has to this day and being the 4 th generation to own the family
farm, he has put most of it into conservation programs with a focus on
wild pheasants, which in turn helps all wildlife.
Being an outdoor communicator, Tom appreciates all the outdoor
adventures he experiences in different places, and especially the
people he meets in which to share them.
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