lancecolonel
NES Member
Yes it was a great program and I hope they offer more of them, in more locations in the future. It would also be nice to see something similar for duck/goose hunting.
I went to the one today at Conway Sportsmens club. It was a really good program, taught by lots of knowledgeable volunteers.
There were basically four sections to it, where the class was broken in to four groups and went to stations led by a few different groups of instructors.
1) Setup: How to pick a good spot and what to look for (i.e. how to pick the right tree to sit under, or how to position a blind), and how to set up decoys, etc,
2) Shooting: Shot a few rounds to see how to pattern your gun, discussed what size shot dispersion you want at different ranges.
3) Scouting: What to look for for turkey signs (tracks, droppings, etc) how to go about locating roosted turkeys
4) Calling: Different types of turkey calls and when to use them (shock calls, clucks, gobbles, etc) and, sounds like I"m saying the same thing twice... but, different types of calls: Box calls, slate/glass, diaphragm.
There was also a little bit of lecture/video at the beginning and end about history of turkey hunting in MA, turkey hunting laws, safety, and ethics.
Everyone also got a box call and binder full of info regarding everything they covered (I assume, I haven't paged through it yet).
bump. the BOW seminar went almost exactly like this. if any of you guys get a chance to go to one of these in the future, GO!
i can't say enough about how welcoming, enthusiastic and knowledgeable the volunteers who teach these are.