Marascalco tags state record gobbler

By Mike Giles

March 28, 2008 12:36 am

— Don Marascalco moved stealthily in the pre-dawn darkness shortly before daylight last April. The veteran turkey hunter had spotted a mature gobbler and a large harem of 24 hens in a pasture on a previous outing. Once the gobbler belted out a lusty mating call to any would be suitors, Marascalco got a bead on his position and quietly moved in under the bird’s radar screen to a near perfect set up.
As the day dawned slowly with a pink sky rising to the east, the woods came alive with the sounds of hen turkeys all around. “As the hens flew down all around me I knew that this was the perfect set up and thought it was going to be easy,” related Marascalco. All he had to do was wait on the king to join his harem, or so he thought.
The gobbler gobbled a couple more times on the roost and then did just the opposite of what Marascalco had hoped. The wise old bird flew down across the creek and gobbled one time after he hit the ground. “One by one all of the hens flew across the creek to him,” noted the exasperated hunter. “And my hunt was over.”

Older wiser birds

Since Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast turkey hunting has been tough in many areas including the East Mississippi area. Due to the huge recovery effort as well as a large amount of downed timber, many turkeys escaped the following spring with little or no hunting pressure. As a result, many of the turkeys that survived the natural disaster became a year or two older and much wiser.
Along with a couple years of bad hatches, the majority of the birds that survived were three to five years old. The woods were no longer full of two year old youngsters eager to respond to calls. On the contrary, the older turkeys in the area were suddenly less vocal and much harder to find, let alone kill. Add in large flocks of hen turkeys and you have the makings for some tough hunting. This is exactly what the talented Marascalco was up against.
“I had been in the area a few times but never heard the bird gobble. I did eventually spot him in a field, but all I knew was that the bird was a mature gobbler,” advised Marascalco. “I had no idea how good of a turkey he was.” After tangling with him twice, Old Long Spur had proven to be a crafty and worthy opponent and Marascalco made plans to try him again.

Long spur’s final stand

Two weeks later, on April 16, the crafty veteran of many turkey wars was back in the gobbler’s home range and standing beside his truck before daybreak. “Before I even left the truck the bird gobbled,” related Marascalco. He promptly started in the direction of the old tom to find a good setup location.
“You know, you sometimes question just how close to get, or how far to go in your setup,” explained the excited hunter. As a result he stopped by a large pine tree before going any further. Many a turkey hunt has been ruined before it even began when the gobblers were busted off of the roost. And Marascalco wanted none of that. He had been there, done that before!
As the eastern sky awakened with an orange glow on the horizon, the woods began to wake up with the sounds of a new day dawning. Marascalco sent out a few light seductive tree yelps which brought a lusty response from the wise old bird, as he responded with a thunderous gobble. The bird was close, about 80 to 90 yards away. Though Marascalco thought that he stopped well back, the bird was actually much closer than he had anticipated.
Almost as soon as Old Long Spur finished his gobble, he left the roost tree and flew within 40 yards of Marascalco’s position and landed in another tree. “I thought it was all over, that he would surely see me now,” related Marascalco.

Moment of truth

With nowhere to go for fear of being seen, Marascalco just slid down the tree until he sat on the ground with his back propped against the tree. “I slid down to the ground, laid my gun down, put my head net on, got out my calls and got ready,” advised the excited hunter. “There was nothing else I could do. I think what saved me was a big beech tree that was between me and the gobbler!”
The turkey gobbled again and it was still so dark Marascalco couldn’t tell if the bird was on the ground or still in the tree. “I pulled out my slate and made two yelps, and the gobbler flew out of the tree and landed 20 yards to my left,” said the enthusiastic caller. “I picked up my gun, aimed and fired in one motion since my shotgun was already pointed in that direction.”
The coal black monarch had survived many hard winters and hunting seasons but had finally met his match. “All of his hens had gone to the nest,” commented Marascalco. And the bird that was to be dubbed Old Long Spur had finally met his match! As the veteran hunter stood over the trophy gobbler he was astonished at what lay before his eyes. The gobbler had a set of the longest spurs that he had ever seen. The longest spur was an incredible 1 15/16”, just short of 2” long! Marascalco had never seen such spurs, and nobody else in Mississippi had until that point, as the gobbler was certified as having the longest spur ever recorded in the state.

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