American Wild Turkey Hunting Dog Association

we hunt turkeys, Indians, Pioneers, turkeys, dogs, hunt, 1854

Teaching turkeys to show a little respect one bark at a time.

we hunt turkeys - dog scatters turkeys by Charles L Jordan

"To me the ultimate in wild turkey autumn hunting, which will provide the individual with more thrills and personal satisfaction, is utilizing the old fashioned dog-blind-calling techniques. It is my conviction that to harvest a wild turkey without calling the birds within shooting range is a complete waste of a resource; and the hunter unknowingly is deprived of one of nature's most exciting experiences! The skillful luring of a magnificent trophy close enough to make the ultimate choice of either pulling the trigger, or granting life to the big bird is, to me, the greatest challenge." C.H. 'Kit' Shaffer

wild turkey gobbler silhouetted in the sun rise

"The fall hunt will never be as popular as the spring, because the fall hunt is a lot more work. In the fall, the turkey is not sitting out there on a limb, telling the world where he is!" Larry Case

Field & Stream: How To Hunt Turkeys in the Fall

Photos © Monte Loomis

antique old time traditional wild turkey dog hunt

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE - Check back frequently for further information.
At 6 and 10 months old, the young dogs Jake and Abby are doing well.
Two years later, turkeys stop traffic in Lancaster Pennsylvania, but turkey dogs are few and far between.
Virginia turkey dog Gracie puts on over 100 miles to find a gobbler.
Ray Eye and his turkey dog Peanut hunt a favorite Missouri mountain.
Kip and Stub hunt New York with their young Boykins and a Flat-Coated Retriever.
Arkansas closes their fall 2009 turkey hunting season! Probably just a concidence, a week before the Oklahoma-Arkansas chicken farm trial starts. It's long been known that domestic poultry litter causes blackhead and other diseases in wild turkeys. The Arkansas NWTF Field Day addresses the issue.
WISCONSIN ALLOWS TURKEY DOGS STATEWIDE!
Wisconsin fall turkey gun season runs 9/12 to11/19, and then from 11/30 until 12/31/2009.
We're celebrating our Five Year Anniversary (5/30/04 - 5/30/09) with turkey dog caps.

Kentucky Afield TV host Tim Farmer joins Eddie Williams turkey hunting with dogs.
Tennessee turkey dog doesn't budge an inch, with the turkey only ten feet away - Believe it or Not!

Old time photo courtesy G. Mixon

Have you been thinking of taking up fall turkey hunting, want your children to have the antidote to Nature Deficit Disorder,
or just need a reason to get outside and get more exercise? Check out all the reasons to get a puppy for turkey hunting!

There's a few writers that explain why we love fall turkey hunting with dogs.
Steve Hickoff is one. Read his contributions to Outdoor Life, in the StrutZone.

Fall and winter turkey hunting with your dog is an American tradition, and part of our nation's outdoor heritage. Americans have pursued wild turkeys in the fall and winter with their dog since colonial times. It has a much, much longer tradition than the spring turkey hunting that we know today (MT, NE, UT and TN allow the use of a dog to hunt turkey in the spring). By 1900 the wild turkey had been nearly exterminated nation-wide. This was due to the pioneers and the market hunters, plus the wide-spread habitat destruction - cutting the forests and clearing the land.
Beginning in the 1950's, our state game departments restored the wild turkey by trapping and transplanting native birds, through the sportsmen-funded Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act also known as Pittman-Robertson. They began a spring 'gobbler only' season, because in the spring it's easier to distinguish the gobblers from the hens, and to prevent shooting the hens they had just transplanted. By 1966, the restoration was declared 'broadly successful' The Wild Turkey - Its History and Domestication; A.W. Schorger, Univ. of OK Press. By 1967, The Wildlife Society declared it 'spectacularly successful' nationwide.

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The wild turkey has since proliferated throughout its original range and beyond. Once again we're able to enjoy the traditional fall and winter hunt with our dog. 'The fat of the wild turkey is spread throughout the flesh of the wild bird and renders it considerably more savory. And the best time to hunt them is in the fall and winter.' The Wild Turkey - It's History and Domestication; A.W. Schorger

We Hunt Turkeys, We Hunt Turkeys, We Hunt Turkeys, We Hunt Turkeys

Since discovering that turkeys respond to calls that sound like a rusty barn door hinge, spring and fall turkey hunters have combined their love of dogs, and the call making craft. In spring, hunters might lure love-sick gobblers with a simple cluck or hen yelp. During the fall and winter hunt, good calls are as important as a good dog, especially the keekee, yelp and gobble.
Durk Stark contributed the center picture below of his traditional wingbone calls. Each feather and matching wingbone call is from a sub-species of the wild turkey, and the drawing on each bone depicts that particular sub-species' feather.

While some hunters wait in ambush, shoot flushing birds, or conduct drives, by far the most exciting method is scattering the flock with a well trained dog, and then calling a turkey back in. The wild turkey is capable of out-running a galloping horse in a short sprint, so hunters rarely scatter flocks by running at them.
"Every fall you read the same old stories the suburban nimrods write about running toward a flock, trying to scatter them, then calling the young turkeys back. But it is silly, and dangerous, to be out in the woods running with a shotgun in your hands, trying to alarm and break up a group of turkeys."
That's where a specially trained dog comes in. There's no more guarantee you'll get a bird. It's just more rewarding, watching your dog work, then trying to call the birds back in, while your dog sits quietly by your side.

"Some hunters, or rather some writers, claim that the only time the wild turkey should be hunted is in the autumn and winter, and not in the spring. I have a different idea all together, and claim that the turkey should not be hunted before November, if then, December being better... I do not believe there is any safer way of bringing a turkey to bag than by the judicious employment of a good turkey dog, and by that I mean a dog trained especially to hunt turkeys." Chas. L. Jordan, quoted in
The Wild Turkey and Its Hunting by Edward A. McIlhenny, 1914. Available from Real Turkeys.
Traditional American Wild Turkey Hunting (McIlhenny) Bronze © Walter Matia

Choosing, training and hunting turkeys with a dog
by Jon L. Freis - Third Edition.
Includes Training a Turkey Dog by Parker Whedon, secrets of the old days, and contributions by 44 turkey dog hunters. Order here.

Photos © Views of the Past

Future of wild turkey depends on spring hatch

"I am intrigued by your book and found it far more than it appears - it reached deep into this hunter's soul." John Plowman
"Very informative, and entertaining too. Great book!" Keith Kharville
"Any hunter wishing to get involved with turkey dogs would do well to read it. I wished I had a reference like that when I first started working with my dogs, I could have avoided many mistakes." Gratten Hepler
"Your publication on training turkey dogs is really good and I would like more for fellow dog lovers." Carson Quarles
"The first paragraph of the book hits the nail on the head. That describes turkey dogs exactly." Ron Meek
"That book was so good I only wish it was another 200 pages long." Earl Sechrist Turkey nest photo © 2004 Patty Nagle

Become a member and get the book included, only $20.00 click here and buy #1.
The AWTHDA was founded in 2004 when hunting turkey with your dog was only allowed in 22 out of 43 states with a fall season. Today, in a large part because of our efforts, it's 29 out of 44. The new States since 2004: IA, ME, MT, MS, NH, PA, and WI. The 29 states with fall seasons (2008): CA, CO, HI, IA, ID, KS, KY, MD, ME, MI, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, TN, TX, VT, VA, WV, WI WY. States that don't allow it are in the minority. If you live in one of these, help us correct it: AL, AR, AZ, CT, FL, IL, IN, MA, MN, MO, NM, OK, RI, SD, WA.

Turkey Two Toter, Lead & Tie-Out for carrying 2 turkeys, leading the dog, and tieing the dog to your chair or a tree.
Fall and Winter Turkey Hunter's Handbook by Steve Hickoff.
Concerned your dog is over-medicated with unnecessary vaccinations? The Rabies Challenge Fund will get the rules changed.

Does your dog shed hair all over the house? Click here for the number one tool for de-shedding your dog.

"Turkey dogs are used only to separate the fall flock. It's up to the turkey hunter to call them back to the gun. It takes a 'special commitment' to own and train a turkey dog." Frank Cox

Parker Whedon is a legend among turkey dog hunters, and shares 50 years of memories with us on Peaches page.

George LaVanish wild turkey bourbon "I Call" poster

<<< Click on picture to the left - it speaks volumes about a turkey dogs passion for the birds. Complete story.
'Field and Stream' turkey dog feature: Confessions of a Turkey-Dog Addict by Gerry Bethge
American Gun Dog video at Turkey Trot Acres, Candor NY

George LaVanish's "I Call" poster, only $20 in the Store. (click)>

In British Columbia, the Vancouver Sun reports that dogs are no match for the wild turkey: "Those turkeys are smart enough that they almost outrun the dogs and don't take flight until the dogs are two or three feet behind them."
Watch Keena's flush and you'll see one turkey on the left not take off until she almost caught it!
Turkeys would always rather run than fly, so it takes a good dog to get them all off the ground.
Turn up the speakers! Hit the PLAY button over and over! This is truly rare footage.
Unless you've tried it, you have no idea how hard it is to capture video like this. Keena barks at her turkeys!
Because the turkeys are so wary, and the dog is so fast, the photographer never gets near the flock.

50% of turkeys born in spring don't make it through the next winter.
Statistics show a fall harvest of 5 to 10% of the fall population is acceptable.
"A mean life expectancy of 1.3 to 1.6 years, and average annual mortality rates of 76% (WV) and 60% (FL):"
The Wild Turkey: Biology and Management James G. Dickson/NWTF
"Only about 15% of the eggs laid live to become poults 2 weeks of age. Only a few birds live to be four years old."
Wild Turkey Hunting & Management Lovett Williams

International Association of Natural Resources Crimestoppers

We're the country's number one supporter of fall turkey hunting,
and the leading organization working to allow fall turkey hunting with your dog.
If you're a fall turkey dog hunter, make a contribution. If you're a fence sitter, read this.
We are firm believers in fair chase.
Click on the IANRC logo at the right to turn in poachers.

wild turkeys roost in freezing weather out in the open in hardwood trees

"The wide ranging dog that barks isn’t necessarily needed anymore, primarily because urbanization has destroyed so much of the turkey's habitat. I used to be able to hunt 500 acres, now it’s closer to 50. I have a friend who's dog didn’t bark, so he used a bell, and you could tell what the dog was doing by the sound of the bell. We believe the best dog is the one that suits you." Ed Morris - Charlottesville VA.
"Thank you for speaking for all of us who hunt with turkey dogs. I too live in Virginia and have hunted turkeys for 25 years. I've been fortunate to have had that 'perfect dog' that everyone looks for. My hunting partner and I had litter mates that were special. I now have a young dog that is showing promise of being very good. With the loss of land to hunt, it’s getting more difficult to find places to safely release dogs without offending someone, and avoiding traffic. I’ve said many times that if dogs are no longer allowed I’ll stop hunting. Watching the dogs develop into mature hunters is like watching your children grow up. There's nothing more gratifying. I spring hunt because I can, but fall hunting with a dog is my passion." Edward McDonald - VA

Many breeds of dogs are used to hunt turkeys. Most have primarily bird dog ancestry, sometimes mixed with cur, feist, terrier or hound. A lot of mixed breed dogs make excellent turkey dogs. Take the motley mongrel 'Jack,' the best leader of 156 dogs, who broke trail for 1300 of the 1400 miles Admiral Byrd made on his Antarctic Expedition - A Dog's History of America.
This website honors these dedicated hunters and their loyal companions, and their pursuit of the grandest of all game birds.

Jordan Tribute Call copyright Durk Stark. The dog scattering the turkeys photos courtesy Chris Dorsey & Howard L. Harlan.
The vintage box call with the hunter, a dog and a turkey was used by Simon Everitt about 1915, courtesy Jim Casada.
Many of the photographs throughout this site compliments of Monte Loomis Wildlife Photography© Site One, Two, and Three
"Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends." Alexander Pope

Hear samples of authentic wild turkey calls