The Turkey Hunter Podcast with Andy Gagliano & Cameron Weddington | Turkey Hunting Tips, Strategies, and Stories

In today's episode, I am discussing wild turkey diseases with Heather Fenton with the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study in Athens, GA.

Dr. Fenton discusses Avian Pox, Blackhead Disease, Lympho Proliferative Disease, Salmonella, and other diseases that affect wild turkeys.  We also discuss the symptoms of the diseases, the causes of the diseases, and the mortality rates of turkeys that get the diseases.

In addition, we discuss the likelihood that those diseases can be spread to humans, precautions to take while handling a bird we suspect to be diseased (as well as birds that we are cleaning/processing), what to do if we harvest a bird that we suspect to be diseased.

While there is nothing we, as hunters, can do to cure a bird that is diseased, we can help to do a few things to prevent the further spread of these wild turkey diseases.

One of the ways that we can prevent the spread of diseases in wild turkeys is to avoid artificial feeding of birds. Artificially feeding wild turkeys concentrates birds into smaller areas for longer periods of time and increases the chances that an infected bird will come into contact with a healthy bird and potentially spread the disease within the flock.

The Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study was founded in 1957 by the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies to determine the cause of widespread die-offs of white-tailed deer. 

Before the founding of SCWDS, little was known about diseases or sicknesses in wildlife. Sickness or death among wild animals spawned speculations, accusations, and wild myths. Not long after it was formed, SCWDS began to provide answers to many long-standing questions, and today it has grown to be a multipurpose wildlife disease research and study organization.

Why not add some wild turkey breast to your 4th of July BBQ menu? Here are some tips for cooking wild turkey on the grill or smoker that will help your turkey breast to come our moist and delicious.

Grilling or smoking wild turkey breast often produces a dry, tough, and chewy meal, but it doesn't have to. By following a few of the tips in this week's show, your grilled or smoked wild turkey breast can be moist and delicious. 

Today I am talking about trimming fat from your turkey breast, brining wild turkey, cooking and carving wild turkey so that your guests will be fighting over the last piece. 

Jeremy McCarty joins me this week to talk about reaping wild turkeys. Reaping and fanning wild turkeys have become very popular over the past several years, and Jeremy shares his thoughts about the strategy as well as some safety tips for those hunters who wish to try reaping a wild turkey.

We are chasing the Grand Slam of wild turkeys with Jeff Budz in this week's episode of The Turkey Hunter. 

If you are looking to start your first Grand Slam or complete a single season slam, then you can probably pick up a few tips from the man who has 92 of them under his belt. 

We are talking hunting Osceola's, Rio Grande's, Merriam's, and Eastern's on public land. We also discuss traveling with firearms and tackling the Grand Slam on unguided hunts.

In this episode, we are talking about summer and fall plantings for wild turkeys with Scott Bronkema, with Boneyard Seed, LLC.

Ensuring that the wild turkeys on your property have enough food to eat year round, will go a long way to helping to make sure that you have turkeys to hunt during the fall and spring seasons.

Chicory, chufa, peas, clovers, and grains are all great foods for turkeys and will not only help to draw turkeys onto your property but will help to keep them there. Before those seeds and grains are planted, making sure your soil is in ideal condition is critical to the success of your plantings. Another consideration for a great summer or fall food plot is proper fertilization as well.

Scott and I discuss all of the above this week, so please listen in.

In this episode, I'm sharing Episode 02 of my new podcast called Spurred. 

Spurred is a narrative hunting podcast where I actually take you along on my turkey hunts from the spring 2016 turkey season. These hunts take place over 5 different states and approximately 50 days.  I have audio of 9 different gobblers being shot at, not to mention some hilarious stories and great fun along the way.

To get Spurred, text the word "spurred" to 44222, and I'll send you the information you need in order to subscribe to the show.

I hope you enjoy this week's episode of The Turkey Hunter podcast's preview of Andy Gagliano's new podcast entitled Spurred.  Please leave a comment below after listening.  I would love to hear your feedback.

Join The Turkey Hunter podcast intern, Cameron, and I as we discuss our 2016 turkey season recap and takeaways.

Cameron and I recap the 2016 spring turkey hunts in Alabama, Tennessee, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. We also discuss our takeaways from the season - what we learned, or relearned, from our hunts throughout the season.

In this episode I discuss some of the factors affecting gobbling in wild turkeys with wildlife biologist Derek Colbert.

While getting his Master's Degree at the University of Georgia's Warnell School of Forestry, Derek Colbert headed up a study to determine how weather, nesting, and hunting pressure affect gobbling in wild turkeys.

During his study, Derek and other volunteers gathered and analyzed over 20,000 hours of audio to determine number of wild turkey gobbles heard at 14 different listening stations on two different pieces of property in Southwest Georgia - one hunted parcel and one non hunted parcel.  The goal of this part of a larger overall study was to determine what effects different weather variables played on the amount of gobbling by male wild turkeys and whether the timing of the hunting seasons have a negative effect on the breeding cycle of wild turkeys.

The findings from the study are quite interesting, and further prove the unpredictability of wild turkeys and why they are such an amazing game animal to pursue.

Listen in and enjoy learning more about some factors affecting gobbling in wild turkeys.

In this week's episode I interview my hunting buddy, Chip, about our unsuccessful outfitted turkey hunt.  We discuss a few things that we feel like we did wrong when booking the hunt. 

Listen in to learn why we feel like an outfitter who provides lodging helps our success.

Turkey Hunting Q&A with the Turkey Hitman

In this episode of The Turkey Hunter, I answer some of the questions that listeners to the show have asked over the turkey season.

I answer questions about missing turkeys and calling them in later, hunting in West Virginia, roosting turkeys, hunting afternoon turkeys, and calling too much.