About the American Wild Turkey Hunting Dog Association

wild turkey hunting with a missouri mule

The American Wild Turkey Hunting Dog Association is a nationwide volunteer group dedicated to preserving, protecting and promoting our wild turkey hunting dog heritage. We were founded by sportsmen and women seeking equality for all persons who pursue wild turkey with their loyal companions. Many of these dogs are family pets and companions that hunt other game as well. Our original goal was to organize everything on the web pertaining to the sport, primarily to support legislation allowing fall turkey hunting with dogs in Wisconsin. It's grown to where we are today through the contributions and collaborative efforts the members you see on this website have made.
Photo courtesy Ben Tennison © Western Mule Magazine. Ben's Missouri mule 'Tote', carrying a fall turkey, is a bucksin dun, john mule, standing in front of a beautiful Missouri dogwood tree.

Turkey Dogs can be the solution to a variety of personal and societal concerns.

1. With todays obsession with video games, internet socializing, and endless television, psychologists determined long ago that many children suffer from Nature Deficit Disorder. They don't spend time outdoors, and have few responsibilities. By getting them a puppy, a future turkey dog, they will have many opportunities to reconnect with nature, their family members, and learn to care for something beyond themselves. The whole family can be involved in selecting, training, and caring for the puppy, and then hunting a turkey dog.
2. For those of us who are getting up there in age or weight, and have knees and backs that are more cut out for an easy walk rather than a climb up a tree stand to sit in one spot for long uncomfortable periods, turkey hunting with a dog can be just the type of hunting you're looking for. The dog will do most of the work, allowing you to enjoy the stroll, until your dog scatters the turkeys, and then you can sit down and enjoy the rest. Plus the wild turkey provides low fat, healthy, organically grown food for the dinner table.
3. In today's economy, a low budget venture is tough to find. While it can cost an arm and a leg to get into some pastimes, turkey hunting with a dog doesn't. Some of the best turkey pups are free, or mixed breeds rescued from a dog pound. Your time spent in training, dog food and health care will be your biggest investment.
4. Plus your dog provides the family protection against crime; burglars don't like entering a house with a barking dog!

Since the AWTHDA is headquartered in Wisconsin, we'll use our state as an example. The wild turkey is the most prolific bird we have today, far exceeding all other upland birds, and with the 3 month long fall turkey season in Wisconsin, there is more opportunity to get outside and pursue turkeys than any other wild game except deer (and that usually means sitting in a tree stand for long periods). Plus, the turkeys are a lot easier to carry out of the woods!

Training a turkey hunting dog means spending hundreds of hours with your dog, both indoors and out; studying, scouting, photographing, and observing hundreds of turkeys for every one you shoot. More often than not, the weapon of choice is a camera. Your turkey dog gets you outside walking and breathing in fresh air; playing fetch with your puppy, watching turkeys on your stroll through the park, attending obedience classes, or going to dog parks for socialization and exercise. With so many wild turkeys living in suburbia today, they can make for some exciting neighborhood walks for yourself and your turkey dog-in-training.

Hunting our country's most spectacular game bird in the fall is growing in popularity, as is training a dog to assist. We use all sorts of dogs, from purebreds to mixed breed dogs. There are plenty of wild birds to train your dog on (check dates permitted, varies by state). There's no need to pay game farms for expensive pen raised birds (chukars, ducks, pigeons, pheasants, quail, or heaven forbid - farm turkeys) to train your turkey dog. We train them on the real thing (the Wild Turkey Dogs book will tell you how, and when to start).

We don't have registries, judges, shows, conduct testing, have field trials or hold competitions (yet). The only competition is the hunter with his or her dog, against the wild turkey. Many dogs are versatile enough to hunt other game besides turkey, it's just up to you to see they get plenty of exposure, practice and discipline. Plus, you don’t need all the decoys and extensive equipment spring turkey hunters do. Just a few shells in your pocket for the old single shot, some camo material to hide your dog, a call or two, and you're in for an exciting experience. Join the AWTHDA, read the book, and learn how to hunt fall turkey with your dog.

For the past 40 years or more, most of us learned to hunt turkeys in the spring. Once we experienced a spring tom strutting and gobbling his way towards us, we got hooked on turkey hunting. Now with the wild turkey population restored in most states, we're allowed that same opportunity in the fall (like it used to be), and with our dog. In the fall, the gobblers are more likely to stalk, than strut towards you. But you'll hear gobbles, along with a full repertoire of other turkey language.
Thankfully, the fall tradition of hunting turkey with a dog was kept alive for hundreds of years, primarily in the central and southern Appalachian (or Allegheny) Mountains (which run from Alabama to Newfoundland) known as the Piedmont, Blue Ridge, Catskills, Cumberland, and the

George LaVanish's "The Contenders" wild turkey print

Appalachian or Allegheny Plateau, primarily in the states of Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Maryland, and southern Ohio.
But the rest of us novices, with no experience in fall hunting, often used what we'd learned hunting spring turkeys, and applied that to the fall. We tried everything allowed, from jumpshooting, shooting them out of trees, or studying a flock's habits, and setting up an ambush. Now, fall turkey hunting differs from spring hunting, primarily in the birds' behavior and how they communicate with each another. And once we experienced a good scatter of a fall flock, and called them back in, we discovered this special way of hunting wild turkeys unique to the fall season. It doesn't get any better than watching a gobbler silently stalking our call, or having lost turkeys calling all around us, with your dog watching right beside you.
For a successful autumn hunt, a good dog is as essential as learning the language of fall turkeys. Most turkey dogs are made and not born, and the owner usually learns right along with a new puppy. In the first fall season, a young dog gets exposed to turkeys, and practices sitting quietly. By the second year, he's better at locating and scattering the turkeys, and then sitting still while we practice our improved calling. Both hunter and dog are pretty accomplished fall turkey hunters by the third season. From then on, the communication between the two of you becomes so well-tuned that you'll know when a turkey is coming in, and from what direction, just from your dog's body language, long before you hear a turkey calling, or their footsteps in the leaves, or see their shape in the distance. Eventually, with patience and practice, by the fourth of fifth season, the dog is teaching you as much about hunting fall turkeys, as you're teaching him. Turkey hunting with a dog is a one on one experience. One dog, and one hunter. Over half the fun is having your dog sit quietly with you, as you call the birds in. If you'd like to join us for a hunt, just send an email. Photo courtesy George LaVanish - Limited edition of 100 large format 2 X 4' canvas giclee prints available from Wilderness Editions

Turkey hunting traditionally meant the fall season, after the turkeys were fattened up all summer, and when the meat tastes good. Compare that to a bird that just came through the winter, strutting for hens for months, fighting with other toms, and worn thin from not eating. Fall turkeys are more savory than spring turkeys. And approximately half of the birds born in summer won't make it through the next winter. Much better for them to be on your dinner table than frozen stiff at the base of a tree.

Dogs have been trained for everything from police work, to assisting the handicapped, to hunting wild turkey. Today, if every turkey hunter was required to have the assistance of a trained dog, we'd recover every bird accidentally wounded, and prevent any crippling losses. We use a dog to hunt every other game bird in the United States, there's no reason we shouldn't hunt turkey with a dog, spring or fall. The usual method (in the fall) is for the dog to scatter the flock, then we take advantage of the birds flocking instinct to call the birds in, while our dog sits quietly by our side. In the spring, the dog sits quietly until the gobbler is called in and shot, and only then does the dog assist when a gobbler is inadvertently wounded, and the dog is needed to find the crippled bird. These dogs must be highly trained or their presence in the spring is more likely to ruin the hunt, than be helpful. Only the owner will know when their dog is ready. This usually doesn't happen until the dog is 2 or 3 years old. When that is depends on the amount of time the owner has spent with the dog, hunting and not.

Except for sheep or goat, there's no wildlife more challenging to hunt in the fall than a mature wild turkey gobbler. There are debates about whether hunters should bag hens or jakes in the fall, because it may affect the availability of mature gobblers the following spring. Think what the fall population of mature gobblers would be if all those weren't shot the previous spring.

In the late 1940's, when game laws first began, only thirteen states had turkey hunting seasons, and they were all in the fall. Then came the first Spring gobbler seasons: 1958 South Carolina, 1960 Kentucky, 1961 Virginia, 1963 West Virginia, 1968 Pennsylvania, 1969 North Carolina, 1973 Vermont, 1978 Minnesota, 1980 Massachusetts. 1984 Wisconsin. That's why today we have hunters from 8 to 80 who never hunted turkeys in the fall, because all they or their elders ever knew was spring hunting.

Rev. Zack Farmer said that Archibald Rutledge and Henry Davis "thought it an abomination that people were allowed to shoot gobblers during the spring season and likened it to shooting fish in a barrel. They thought it much more sporting to bust up a group of turkeys in the fall and call them back in and hunt them by stealth, than use hen calls during the mating season to bring even wary old birds running foolishly to gun." The Times and Democrat Orangeburg, S.C.

"In Virginia, the wild turkey afforded the Virginians much exertion as well as wariness to come up with it and kill it.
Blinds of pine or oak boughs were erected at different eligible spots in the woods, and here,
after scattering the flocks with trained dogs, the hunters would hide themselves, and by skilful use of the yelp,
soon call up the confused and unsuspecting birds within range of the guns." P.A. Bruce, Richmortal VA, 1907

As for whether or not fall turkey hunting with dogs should be allowed, Jim Paige says it well: "It's funny how hunters can nit-pick so much, against one another. If hunters' ranks were anywhere NEAR as together and supportive as the anti-gun crowd, we'd never have a problem with supposed "anti-gun" legislation or so-called 'animal rights' groups!"

"Hunting turkeys in the fall with dogs will not harm anything, or compete with any other type of hunting, but simply add more hunting opportunities for those few hunters who are interested. We are losing hunters (and their money and political support for conservation, wild lands and creatures), because we are losing hunting opportunities. Only a limited number of hunters will take advantage of turkey dogs, just like the few who participate in the recently-approved hunting seasons for crow and dove." Wisconsin wildlife biologist Jim Evrard 4/18/06

"A duck, crow or a turkey call in the hands of the unschooled is the nations greatest Conservation asset." Tom Turpin.
"None of our native animals is more wary than the 'educated' wild turkey."
The Wild Turkey - Its History and Domestication; A.W. Schorger p. 136

Turkey dogs used to be a big secret, with their availability and training methods only shared among close family and friends. They didn’t want anyone else to know about turkey dogs, or compete for turkeys with them. Those who still practiced the art were few. But thanks to them, a crucial part of our hunting heritage was kept alive. Today we live in a different world; turkeys are abundant, but there are less hunters, and less places to hunt. From teaching young hunters the secrets of the art, to sharing experiences and renewing old friendships, you can help by supporting this website's continued development by joining.

We're the country's number one advocate of fall turkey hunting, especially with a dog. If you like turkey hunting, and hunting with bird dogs, then welcome. Take out a membership and you'll be helping us lobby fish & game departments, and state legislators on behalf of all turkey dog hunters. Your membership will help us advocate for longer fall seasons in those States where it's currently allowed, and to get dogs allowed in those States where it's currently not. Since our founding in 2004, seven states changed the rules to allow dogs (IA, ME, MS, MT, NH, PA, WI), and several more lengthened their fall seasons because of our members requests. We're making a difference and you can too by becoming a member. Your benefits of a membership also include: Networking with researchers, biologists and practitioners. Annual hunt invitations, and a free classified ad. Join now. Foot-draggers can request a free sample of the Turkey Dog News.

We support the International Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies Teaming with Wildlife C oalition (Wisconsin ),

and the International Association of Natural Resources Crimestoppers (IANRC). Their members operate the Operation Game Thief, Turn In Poachers, Report All Poachers, and related programs operating across the U.S. and Canada.

Concerned your dog is over-medicated with unnecessary vaccinations? The Rabies Challenge Fund is making a difference.

We have a few rules to turkey dogging:

#1. No shooting at turkeys running on the ground! We love introducing hunters to turkey dogging, but if you hunt with us, always keep the dogs safety in mind as much as you do other hunters. The dog is likely right behind any running turkey, and no turkey is worth a dog getting a pellet in the face. If you shoot one of our dogs, expect the cost to be considerable. The value of our dogs is not so much based on their pedigree, show quality, or registration, as much as their initial cost, annual shots, medications, veterinarian fees, lic

enses and food. Factor in the cost of travel and the hours of training time, the dogs age, their value as a companion, family pet, and watchdog, their awards, any special recognition they've received in the turkey hunting community, and you get an idea of how much value we put on our dog.
#2. Never shoot your gun near my dogs ears, her hearing is far more important than getting a turkey.
#3. Never disparage any dog. You're welcome to critique another hunter, their gun, calling, woodsmanship, or anything else you like, but never speak poorly about any dog chosen for turkey hunting. The dog can't help who their ancestors were, and every well cared for dog will do their very best for a deserving owner.
#4. There's more ways to call turkeys, than books written on the subject, so let's not go there.

The AWTHDA was founded to promote the sport and affect legislation. We like talking turkey as much as anyone, but the best information we can give you about hunting with turkey dogs we put in a book you can purchase for $20, and it includes your membership in the AWTHDA.
Choosing, training and hunting turkeys with a dog written by Jon L. Freis
Includes Training a Turkey Dog by Parker Whedon, secrets of the old days, and contributions by 44 turkey dog hunters. Limited Edition. Order here. If you have a question, send an email to AWTHDA@turkeydog.org
Or send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: AWTHDA W4747 W Slab City Rd, Bonduel, WI 54107

If you have a turkey dog of your own, or hunted with a friends turkey dog, and would like to share your knowledge, skills and experience with our readers, simply write it down, and email it to us here. Thank you for the contribution!