Rog's Rod & Nimrod

This past SD spring turkey season was our first where rifle hunting was made illegal. It appears that the policy change received minimal attention. I find this interesting in that the most negative column feedback I’ve ever received happened years ago when I suggested that rifles should not be a part of spring gobbler hunting.

I encountered a barrage of nasty phone calls and letters from senior hunters who claimed that they could no longer climb steep hills or tote decoys and blinds to their favorite spots. Game Fish, & Parks had made the same proposal, and, like me, received enough flack to back off of the issue.

I answered every phone call and letter with an apology, and promised to support rifle hunting in my next column as I could see their point. Today I am a fall turkey hunter, and a rifle, legal for SD fall turkey hunting, will be a part of my arsenal.

Rifle hunting spring gobblers has taken a deadly toll, and the recent ban is justified in my opinion. The tragedy I most vividly recall happened in the Black Hills in the spring of 1999 when a Minnesota hunter killed his son when he thought he was a turkey. There were similar fatalities in 1979 and 1996.

Years ago I bagged a battle-scared spring gobbler in Gregory County. On my way home, I stopped at the bait shop in Pickstown for breakfast. An old-timer walked in and shouted,

“Whose turkey is in the back of that old Chevy pickup?”

“Mine!” I replied with an air of pride.

“Wiltz, one of these days you’re going to learn why you shouldn’t shoot old gobblers.” I didn’t know what he was talking about. A week or so later, Betsy and I hosted Easter Sunday dinner with that wild turkey. Betsy invited her mother as well as my father and some of our neighbors.

That turkey was tougher than nylon rope. The eatable dinner consisted of dressing, potatoes and gravy, salad, veggies, and dessert. We slow-cooked that bird for three days. It was still so tough that Brown, our Chesapeake who would eat anything, wouldn’t touch it. No more gobblers for this hunter!

I have a fall turkey tag for Gregory County. If I’m lucky enough to bag a bird, it will be a hen or a jake (young gobbler). If I use my Ruger .223 single-shot rifle, my ammo will be custom hand-loaded to shoot a bullet at around 2200 fps muzzle velocity. By doing so, I won’t ruin any meat. I’ll also wait until December as the winter birds don’t have pin feathers.

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Pages 84-85 of the October 2019 National Geographic magazine depict leatherback sea turtles crawling over plastic bottles in order to get to the sea. Though I’m no environmentalist, I sometimes wonder what I can do for our planet other than support renewable energy and recycle garbage. Plastic bottles are the number one pollutants along our nation’s rivers and waterways. I’m proud to say that I’ve never bought a bottle of water. Why couldn’t we carry our own personal water bottles that we fill at home with tap water? Years ago The Better Business Bureau told me that tap water is probably better for us than the bottled water.

As I glanced through the 10/8/19 issue of USA TODAY while sitting in a doctor’s office the other day, I noted that UNILEVER, one of our country’s corporate giants, plans to halve its use of non-recycled plastics by 2025. This amounts to 100,000 metric tons. Hopefully most everyone is trying to help.

Readers often ask me how my weight losing project is coming along. About a year ago, I mentioned that I had lost 30 pounds. I’m on no special diet, but I try not to eat after our main meal at 1:00-2:00 p.m. although Betsy will occasionally give me a salad or bowl of ice cream in the evening. My “bulge” problem began 43 years ago when I quit coaching. I hate the word “obese,” which I still am, but I weighed 257 lbs. yesterday after weighing 300 lbs. three years ago.

Prior to this, I’d lose 20 lbs. In a hurry and then gain it all back. Losing a pound a month is relatively easy, and it has certainly helped me to be a better hunter as well as feeling better. Maybe I won’t be obese a few years from now.

See you next week.