Posts by Donald Devereaux Jarrett
Gobbers Up Close And Personal
Surprisingly, there wasn’t a single truck at the gate when I pulled into the parking area in one of my favorite old spots. I had gotten there early in hopes of beating the crowd. It was only 4:15 a.m., but I was still surprised. I sat there in the truck for another 15 minutes rethinking…
Read MoreCrash Course Gobblers: Hunting New Land
The alarm sounded at 2 a.m., and it was briefly a bit aggravating. Then I remembered the reason I had set it for such an early hour. We were going turkey hunting, but we needed to leave earlier than normal to drive the 2 1/2 hours to a place we had never hunted. My good…
Read MoreThe 2021 Georgia Turkey Hunting Special
Two decades have passed since poult counts began to shift downward and hunters begin to cry about worsening conditions in the turkey woods. Southeastern biologists, researchers and hunters have come to the same table to discuss the issue, and we now find ourselves on the cliff of what could be pretty drastic changes to Georgia’s…
Read MoreSwamp Gobblers
The sandy road glowed in the darkness as longtime friend Jonathan Barber and I traced it toward the swamp’s edge. We finally reached the end and stood pacing, waiting for the first early morning gobble from the Savannah River swamp. We had hunted together here before and had tangled with some tough old birds. We…
Read MoreWhen Turkey Calling, Sometimes Less Is More
I guess we all would rather call plenty to a bird, to the point of excess, than to keep things to a minimum. I know I would. I love to hear one gobble, and when I’m the reason he is gobbling, I have to watch myself or I will get tangled up in spending more…
Read More2020 Turkey Special: No Rebound For Turkeys
I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine who loves turkey hunting. Today, he doesn’t hunt turkeys at all. When I asked him why he no longer hunted turkeys, he said, “I spend more time hunting for turkeys to hunt than I do hunting turkeys.” I get it. He told me how difficult…
Read MoreBack To The Basics Of Turkey Hunting
When it all began for me in the turkey woods, things were different than they are now. Everything from guns to chokes and loads, the equipment available and even the methods of killing a gobbler seems like it’s now changed. The very first day I ventured into the woods with the goal of killing a…
Read MoreGON 2019 Turkey Hunting Special
I’ve spent more than three decades in the Georgia turkey woods and have seen some highs and lows. In earlier years, I was only concerned with whether I’d get the good fortune to do close combat with a longbeard on a particular morning. However, these days I find myself more concerned about whether or not…
Read MoreGeorgia’s Custom Turkey Call Makers
I entered the exhibitor room at the annual Unicoi Call Makers Show at Unicoi State Park and felt a sigh of relief. The long wait for the turkey preseason was over, as a mix of every kind of turkey call imaginable bounced off my eagerly awaiting ears. It was turkey calls at their finest. Upon…
Read MoreWhen Turkey Hunters Should Stay Put
A common practice among turkey hunters is to cover as much ground as possible in order to kill a turkey. I used to be the world’s worst about using that technique too often. We’ve all had those mornings where the trees are full of turkey music at the crack of dawn but then quickly turn…
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