Hunters find turkey tough bird to hunt Superior sight, hearing means a lot of patience is required

Robert Tetu Jr. of Brewer recently invested three solid days in pursuit of this first turkey and he’s quick to assure all newcomers this bird is no pushover. There’re plenty around, said Tetu, but coaxing them into range takes patience.

“I heard turkeys each trip out,” he said, adding that he caught sight of a few, but calling them in to his decoys was more difficult.

“I quickly detected they demanded a well-trained turkey caller,” Tetu said.

He then realized time was tight because turkey hunting ends each day at 11 a.m.

“I decided to put my training as an army ranger in motion, and low crawl hoping to intercept one I’d been targeting,” Tetu said.

A couple of hours into his stealth pursuit, followed by a few surprising encounters with turkeys, Tetu “detected an overweight tom.”

“So I held up in heavy cover capturing his interest with a few clucks from my call, then hunkered down as he moved in my direction,” Tetu added.

It was a 45-minute standoff as the old bird took every precaution upon advancement. “I was motionless for the entire duration,” said Tetu, until the turkey stepped inside a range from which there was no retreating, and then the 20-pound tom paid the price.

“I’ve held a passion for deer season ever since I was old enough to tote a rifle. I bagged my first whitetail at 11 years of age,” said Tetu, but he admits turkey hunting contains ingredients just as exhilarating, and it will remain a sought-after event for him.

Makes you wonder if a hunters breakfast for turkey hunters should be getting some consideration.

Deer season has long been the meat and potatoes for Maine hunters, but turkey season is now rubbing elbows with this age-old sport. It’s gaining in popularity in the hunting community.

In 1986, only 605 hunters applied for the 500 turkey permits available, and interest reached an all-time low in 1988 with just 355 applicants, according to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

However, today the turkey season has rounded the corner of success as the 2001 season witnessed 20,000 applicants in pursuit of 7,000 permits.

It has become more popular for several reasons. It fills a huge void in the dreaded down time between the close of the deer season till October, a time when hunters can only dream of nailing a partridge with the business end of a shotgun or outwitting the elusive whitetail in his own back yard.

Turkey season also gives hunters new reason to reach into their library of age-old skills in order to outthink this clever creature. The season gives cause for excessive trips to the sporting goods store and thumbing through mail order catalogs for the latest gadgets and turkey calls. After all, we’re dealing with a bird having vision far greater than any eye doctor could comprehend, backed up with hearing so advanced he can detect the sounds of our decisions.

Landlocked salmon at Mopang

Regional fisheries biologist Ron Brokaw and fisheries biologist specialist Greg Burr stocked Mopang Lake in TWP T29MDBPP with 500 landlocked salmon 6-9 inches in length on May 10. Mopang needs a helping hand to improve the growth rate to the salmon inventory and smelt eggs have been moved into the lake in hopes of creating some heavyweights, Brokaw said.

Other lakes on their agenda that day were Brewer Lake, Phillips Lake in Dedham, and Upper Pattern Pond in Bucksport. They all received a helping of landlocked salmon.

Big fish at Haymock

In the past week Haymock Lake in the Allagash produced a 21-inch lake trout and a brook trout measuring 15 inches in length, according to Josie McPhee at Maccananac Camps on Haymock Lake. Last weekend one particular party fished Spider, Cliff, and Haymock lakes with little success, but that can change overnight because the season is still young, said McPhee. The Telos Road is showing fatigue from the tough winter, but it’s more than adequate even if you are hauling a boat trailer, said McPhee, adding that drivers should stay light on the accelerator.

Question of the week

On average wild turkeys live to be how old?

Answer to last week’s question: The belly on a female brook trout is usually a creamy white while a male tends to be bright orange. That’s true.

Terry Farren’s Outdoor Report is published each Friday. He can be reached at 990-8067 or by e-mail at outdoor report@bangordailynews.net