If you're anything like I used to be, you think there's something a little off about hunting turkeys with dogs, like it's some bastardization of upland and turkey hunting. Me, I'm a changed man. I laughed when I first heard about turkey-dogging back in 1991, but since then I've fallen hard. It started innocently with hunts with friends, but it didn't take long before I had my own turkey dog. Now I firmly believe that it has spring gobbler hunting beat by a country mile. And bowhunting for deer? Forget it. I'm so consumed by chasing turkeys with my dog, I barely find time to hang a stand.

Despite being legal in 24 states, turkey hunting with dogs is often unknown, or it's vilified as not being sporting. Nothing could be further from the truth. This old tradition combines all the most exciting aspects of bird hunting-"scouting, woodsmanship, calling, and great dog work-"to make for thrilling days afield. As John Byrne, the acknowledged godfather of turkey-dogging, puts it: "There's nothing to calling in some love-dumb spring gobbler. Call that same bird to the gun in the fall and you've got yourself the greatest trophy in all of hunting.-¿