Malcolm Dykes: Gobble Gobble!

While driving home this past Saturday afternoon and in sight of the hill where I live, a huge turkey gobbler flew across the road and on into a large cutover to my right.

I briefly glanced over to see those majestic wide wings swoon and gracefully let the big bird down onto a small ryegrass food plot.

First time ever to see a wild turkey in and around my stomping grounds but it reminded me it was turkey season here in south MS.

Our good game commission has set the dates at Mar. 15 through May 1 with a youth season that started Mar. 8 going through Mar. 14.

That Saturday was the second day of the youth season.

A dear friend of mine Dewayne Hamilton of Darbun MS had the fond pleasure of taking his 9-year-old granddaughter hunting for her very first time on opening day and witnessed her scoring on a 2 1/2-inch jake.

Then the next day the child scored on a 9" beard 7/8" spur full grown gobbler.

This was her very first time to turkey hunt in her young life and amazingly, hit a home run on her first two at bats!

Congratulations to young Lilly Hamilton and parents Josh and Hailey Hamilton, all from Jayess MS.

Josh was at work offshore so he couldn't be along and be witness to a most incredible event for his little girl, but he was most proud of her.

Here is the actual account and parts of the whispered conversation Lilly had with her PawPaw Dewayne as they hunkered down in the piney woods of Lawerence County:

"Starting off that morning we got set up and heard a turkey gobbling in the tree about a hundred yards away.

We waited until they flew down and made a few calls with a white feather box call.

It answered us and PawPaw told me to be quiet that they were coming.

Then I said, "There they are Paw Paw" and then I said "Hush Paw Paw and count to three" and then I smoked the gobbler.... lol!

Lilly did so with her .410 shotgun fitted with a Red Dot scope.

Needless to say, there's a new hunter in the group and it's only going to get worse for little Lilly.

I was told as a young man the only thing more addictive than deer hunting was turkey hunting so I kept my distance or else I would overdose, ha.

Here's one for you hunters, a little-known fact:

There are a few hard-to-call toms or the toms that seem to hang up when responding to a call.

This a reminder that in nature, the gobbler is accustomed to the hens coming to him when he gobbles.

The natural instinct of the hen going to the tom is the opposite of what most turkey hunters want to see or hear when calling them into shooting range.

So when you convince the old boy to come courting, you are bucking nature!

According to the Miss. Dept. of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP) turkey harvests peaked in 1986 with nearly 60,000 birds taken by about 62,000 hunters but have fluctuated since then.

It was reported that 58,000 hunters killed 28,000 turkeys in 2022, a higher harvest than the previous 10 seasons.

The harvest limits this year are as follows:

One (1) adult gobbler or 1 gobbler with a 6-inch or longer beard per day, 3 per Spring season.

Hunters 15 years of age and younger may harvest 1 gobbler of choice.

Mar. 15 - May 1 (any age) per day, 3 per Spring season.

That is a very liberal limit given by our game commission because we have a healthy population here in the Magnolia State because of good hunting practices by the hunters and the diligence of the agency.

To all you who dun the camo again and take the old shotgun and turkey call, good luck on that old bird.

Gobble gobble!!

God bless you and God bless America.