Any Turkey Hunters out there?

[yoderjac]

I'm working on the curriculum for a Turkey Hunting Skills Workshop. One of our local turkey hunting experts will be the class lead. It will be taught under the state Hunter Education program in VA. This is not the basic hunter safety class. I'm trying to set it up so that we can assess the experience level of the students that sign up and change the depth accordingly. While the outline and PowerPoint we plan to use is intended to be comprehensive, the plan is to cover some sections quickly and focus on others based on the class makeup. The workshop is for folks who have never hunted turkey but may or may not be experienced hunters as well as folks who have hunted turkey for a number of years but want to improve their skills. We plan to have a hands-on activity for calling and decoy setup. While we will have an agenda, I would like it to be student-driven with lots of Q&A. There is no test or certification. This idea is to give each class the information they want rather than have learning objectives.

I have a stating outline. I want to make sure I'm not missing any significant areas in it. Please review and let me know if I should add anything. Critique is welcome. Here is the outline:

Introduction
Facilities
Workshop Purpose
Instructor Introductions
Student experience assessment
General Turkey Information
Turkey sub-species
Identification
Head
Beard
Tail and other feathers
Legs
Life Cycle and Behavior
VA Annual Turkey Cycle
Roosting
Fighting
Mating
Brooding
Traveling
Feeding
Dusting, Sunning, and Preening
General Turkey Hunting Information
Virginia Hunting Seasons and Regs
General Summary
Point to Regs booklet for details
Turkey Hunting Ethics
What are ethics
Turkey Related Ethical Discussion Topics
Where to Hunt
Local
Overview
WMAs
State Forests
PALS
Military areas
Quantico MCB
Out of State
DIY
Guided
Turkey Hunting Safety
Blaze Orange
Colors to Avoid
Shoot-Don’t Shoot
Safe Decoy Setup
Turkey Hunting Equipment
Firearms
Industry Packages
DIY Combinations
Performance
Sighting devices
Chokes
Ammo
Key Factors
Options
Patterning for Turkey
Ranging
Archery
Bows
Compound/recurve
Crossbows
Speed vs silence
Shot Selection
Broadheads
Clothing
Blinds and Seating
Types of Calls
Decoys
Spring Hunting
Spring Scouting Techniques
Drive-by listen and mark
Listen and Follow
Scouting for sign
Morning
How close is too close
When to call and when to be quiet
Calling to gobblers or hens
Scratching in the leaves
Bumping Hens
Henned up Gobblers
When to wait and when to move
When gobbling stops
Strutting zones and loafing areas
Late Morning Gobbling
Setup – Using terrain and vegetation
Decoys or not. When and why.
Run and Gun Vs. Sit and Wait (Blinds) or split the difference.
Afternoon
Afternoon setups
Roosting Gobblers
Calling
The calls turkeys make and when/why they make them
ACTIVITY: Calling demonstration and hands-on practice
Techniques to avoid
Gobbling
Scoot and Shoot
Fall Hunting
Fall Scouting Techniques
Glassing fields
Fall Food Sources: Bugs to Acorns.
Archery Season Turkey Hunting
Calling in a family flock
Finding , Busting, and regroup calling
Hunting with dogs.
Wildlife Management
Restoration of the Wild Turkey
Managing land for Wild Turkey
After the hunt (Cleaning, mounting, cooking).

Thanks,

Jack

 

[ksgobbler]

Our NWTF chapter does the same thing. They have been doing it 17 years. You can look up Flint Hills Gobblers. The guy that runs it has his contact info on there

 

[Mud Hen]

Jack,
Thanks for devoting time to helping other hunters. I'm not sure how the ticks are in your area, but in Wisconsin they are unavoidable and pose a health risk to hunters. If it's the same by you, it might be worth including as a topic.

Keith

 

[JFK52]

Mud Hen, great topic to suggest. I once pulled 11 wood ticks off myself after a one hour spring WI turkey sit with decoys. The worst thing is that the rest of the day one feels them crawling all over, it they are there or not.

 

[yoderjac]

Jack,
Thanks for devoting time to helping other hunters. I'm not sure how the ticks are in your area, but in Wisconsin they are unavoidable and pose a health risk to hunters. If it's the same by you, it might be worth including as a topic.

Keith

Thanks! It is in there. I included it the equipment section. We talk about both permethrin based insecticides that you apply to clothing and the pre-treated clothing. However, based on your comment, it is probably worth beefing that up a bit with lyme information.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[ksgobbler]

Mud Hen, great topic to suggest. I once pulled 11 wood ticks off myself after a one hour spring WI turkey sit with decoys. The worst thing is that the rest of the day one feels them crawling all over, it they are there or not.

11 is nothing. Ive been in triple digits before and if you dont treat with permethrin 30-50 is an everyday occurrence.

 

[FarmerDan]

Great curriculum! There's a lifetime of learning stuffed into one day!
A little backstory before my question, Jack...

I've been wondering about the sport of hunting, current participation demographics, and what the future looks like. I'm old and suffer many rigid opinions and beliefs about how and why we do things the way we do. My son, who's 30ish and a life-long hunter schooled in rigid ways was sharing with me stories about what he called Millennial's (I think of him as one, but I guess he's beyond it), and how they want to hunt for the "pureness" of their harvest. Let's not argue that one.

So, my question is, who are the people who attend this training? Backgrounds, age, hunting experience?

Thanks!

 

[yoderjac]

Great curriculum! There's a lifetime of learning stuffed into one day!
A little backstory before my question, Jack...

I've been wondering about the sport of hunting, current participation demographics, and what the future looks like. I'm old and suffer many rigid opinions and beliefs about how and why we do things the way we do. My son, who's 30ish and a life-long hunter schooled in rigid ways was sharing with me stories about what he called Millennial's (I think of him as one, but I guess he's beyond it), and how they want to hunt for the "pureness" of their harvest. Let's not argue that one.

So, my question is, who are the people who attend this training? Backgrounds, age, hunting experience?

Thanks!

For this turkey hunting workshop, I won't know that until a week or so before the class. The plan is for them to complete a short survey during the on-line registration process.

The reason we are teaching this workshop is to address some of the hunter demographic change. Our Hunter Ed classes used to be two days long. In 2014 they removed most of the "how-to" aspect from the class and cut it to a single day. The idea was to lower the bar for entry into hunting without sacrificing safety. The state also instituted an "apprentice" license that is good for 2 years where the novice must hunt under the direct control of a licensed hunter. The idea again was to lower the bar to entry. The next step they took was to allow most of course work to be done on-line with a short proctoring session. A couple years ago, they began allowing the entire class to be taken on-line with no classroom work or proctoring.

This significantly reduced the demand for the basic Hunter Ed class. We still offer it in the classroom, but demand is way down. This freed up Hunter Ed instructors for other options.

Back when we were teaching basic Hunter Ed many times a year, we noticed a demographic change. Classes when from being all youngsters to having a lot of adults in them. I see several reasons for this. We do ask students why the took the class. One reason was concealed carry. In VA, our hunter ed class qualifies as sufficient training for a concealed carry permit. Some adults were taking it for that. Also, in northern VA, there were significant deer over population problems in the suburbs. They instituted controlled hunts in the parks and did not accept grandfathering. They required the course. More and more military bases in our area are requiring the class and not accepting grandfathering. Some states don't accept a license only as proof and you need a hunter ed card, so experienced adult hunters planning to hunt out of state were taking it.

That accounted for some of the change but not all of it. There was also a group of young adults who remember hunting once or twice with grampa when they were kids. They now live in the city and got busy with college and work. They are now getting a little nostalgic and thinking, I'd like to try hunting. Another group is women. The amount of female participate has increased significantly as a percentage of the class.

When we survey folks who took the class, folks in that last group often say "I don't know the next step". They don't really have mentors or ways to develop outdoor skills. For many years, the state has offered a variety of classes in Hunter Skills weekends, but they cost some money and are typically taught down at Holiday Lake in the middle of the state.

So, one group we are targeting is this last group that has enough interest to take the basic hunter ed class but needs help with the "how-to" aspect. There are also self-starters who read about turkey hunting and watch the hunting show, and just got out and give it a try. They usually expect things to happen like they see on the hunting shows and are surprised when they don't. Often they get frustrated and give it up. We would like to help keep them in the sport. The final group is comprised of existing turkey hunters that simply want to improve their skills. We have a couple instructors who are truly outstanding turkey hunters. In addition to regularly filling there own tags, they take out and call for wounded warriors and novice hunters. Some have done single year grand slams and such. Even quite experienced turkey hunters can pick up a few tips from these guys.

I'm hoping to have enough class content breadth and depth to be able to teach at any level. When we get the surveys back from the first class registrants, I'll have a better idea. I think it may take a few years of teaching this workshop to get a good handle. The lead instructor has such a good local reputation at Quantico where we will be teaching the first class, that they class may fill with fairly experienced turkey hunters simply wanting to pick his brain. Over time, we will get a broader spectrum of participants.

Thanks,

jack