Tom Harrigan '24
Guest Editor
This past weekend marked the beginning of spring turkey season in Virginia. Early Saturday morning, I and thousands of other Virginians made our annual pilgrimage to the woods in hopes of snaring a wily old gobbler. A typical morning of turkey hunting starts by waking up as your classmates are leaving Bilt, driving out to BFE, and hiking a few dark, lonely miles into the woods (flashlights scare the birds). Then, just find a nice high spot where you can hear a long ways away and make yourself comfortable. The rest of the morning is spent lying motionless, resisting the urge to swat mosquitos, and periodically cooing in the hopes of eliciting a gobble from one of the sexually frustrated dinosaurs that call Virginia home.
Turkeys have excellent sight and hearing, a combination which makes it functionally impossible to sneak up on them. Instead, hunters must rely on their ability to pinpoint the exact location of sound, in order to call them in by imitating the sound of an excited hen in hopes that the gobbler will come to them. Calling is both the most rewarding and the most frustrating part of the sport. Hen turkeys communicate using a wide vocabulary of sounds, each with a distinct meaning. Imitating these different sounds can allow a hunter to open a dialogue with the male turkeys that can be remarkably complex, communicating mood, social status, stress level, and whether the hen is part of a group or alone. These exchanges can last up to hours and involve communicating with multiple birds simultaneously.
Because a turkey’s ability to locate the source of a sound made hours ago is so precise, I find that one of the most effective techniques is to accidentally fall asleep after calling out a few times. Napping prevents the two most common errors made by turkey hunters, over-calling and moving too much, and I seem to be able to exercise more self-control with free will out of the equation. After five or six hours of listening intently and accumulating a few ticks, it’s time to pack it up for the day. I don’t measure success in dead turkeys—mostly because I’m unwilling to admit to a level of failure not seen since Nikolai Morse ’24 tried to play pool at Miller’s.[1] Instead, I opt to measure it in gobbles, a more favorable metric, because after a few hours of silence I start to imagine them, and as far as I’m concerned, those ghost-gobbles count.
Despite the early mornings, the bug bites, the failure rate, and the inconvenient coincidence with finals season, spring turkey season remains my favorite time of year. A Cajun best summed it up to me once, saying, “These birds ain’t smart, but they ain’t stupid neither.” The humbling experience of engaging in and losing a battle of wits with a bird, combined with the refreshing nature of disconnecting from the world and focusing yourself totally on a challenge in the outdoors, makes for a truly special experience.
You might be asking, Tom, how does an interested newcomer get into the turkey game? Well, I am just the right person to ask because unlike most turkey hunters, I didn’t grow up with it. I picked up the sport as an adult after developing an interest by watching the birds while working in Oklahoma. As an adult-onset hunter without a mentor, I was forced to learn though trial and error and the internet—a tough way to get started in a sport with a steep learning curve. Fortunately, for UVA Law students there is a better way! The UVA Law Rod and Gun Club will be hosting informational sessions in the fall, providing mentorship and advice on how to take full advantage of the two million acres of public lands open to hunting in Virginia.
On behalf of the incoming board of the Rod and Gun Club, I’d like to extend an invitation to anyone and everyone who is interested in fishing, hunting, or outdoorsmanship generally. The mission of the Rod and Gun Club is to provide opportunities in the outdoors to law students of every background and experience level. Next year, our programming will include group fishing trips, shotgun sports, rifle shooting, and more. Our intention is to provide a safe environment for people new to these sports to learn from their fellow students, create bonds, and hopefully find a new hobby. Our new board, composed of VPs Gamliel Yerushalmi ’25 and Nikolai Morse ’24, Treasurer Matt Turk ’25, Fishing Chair Casey Crowley ’24, and myself, has diverse experience in a variety of outdoor sports and is excited to share that experience. I encourage every law student to try and find time to come to one of our events. You never know—you may discover a lifelong passion.
Interested students should feel free to reach out to me at rsf5dy@virginia.edu.
[1] Stick to law review office pool, Nikolai.