Tony C. Zappia       Focus on the Outdoors

"Don't write the story yet," said David Forsythe, as I began packing up to go home after a two-day turkey and wild boar hunt at Basswood Lodge in Rensselaer Falls. Despite two mornings of close calls and missed opportunities, U.S. Army Specialist Alex Miller was heading back to Fort Drum without a prized turkey. But in true Basswood spirit, Forsythe invited Miller back about a week later for a second crack at tagging a spring Tom turkey.

Alex Miller, from Lindenhurst on Long Island, was the winner of the Watertown Daily Times Toms & Tusks Contest. Specialist Miller is assigned to the HHC 2-14 Infantry. A seasoned hunter, Miller has taken his fair share of whitetails at his family camp in Davenport, but has never spent any serious time wild turkey hunting.

I met up with Miller in the village of Canton on a Friday afternoon where we quickly made the short journey eastward to Basswood Lodge and Hunting Preserve between Canton and Ogdensburg.

Upon our arrival, we found a camp full of outdoor writers from across the state as Basswood Lodge hosted their annual spring safari. Soon arrive was Forsythe, co-owner of Basswood Lodge. He and lead guide Nick McNamara had been busy scouting birds for the next days' hunt.

Within a short time the two Primos Hunting Call Pro-Staffers arrived at Basswood after a five- hour drive. Turkey calling pros Chris Cartwright and Ryan Smith brought their appetites with them as Forsythe fired up the grill and cooked us a gut-buster steak dinner. As Forsythe prepared dinner, Miller opened a gift box from Primos Hunting Calls. In that box, Miller found their new Strap Turkey Vest, an assortment of Primos turkey calls and their new B-Mobile Full-Strut Gobbler Decoy.

The alarm clock sounded at 3:30 the next morning as we struggled to regain our composure after a long night of food and drink. The staff at Basswood had a monster gobbler scouted in a creek bottom bordered by a tilled field. This bird had seen a hunter or two during his life, and couple that with the fact that he had a half dozen hens rounded up, it would spell a most difficult and challenging hunt.

For two mornings the Primos team used all of their turkey hunting skills to lure the hard-hunted bird into gunning range. On one occasion the big bird strutted within easy gun range of Cartwright but only Miller carried a firearm and he was positioned too far from the approaching Tom. On another occasion, after glassing two strutting birds in a large green field, the four of us picked our way to a tiny peninsula where we thought we might get a better look at the birds. Slowly, Smith crept over a dirt mound and found himself positioned about 10 feet from a longbeard. Miller sat still at the bottom of the mound and trained his shotgun in the direction where we thought the bird would appear. However, the turkey gods weren't with us on that occasion as that longbeard simply decided to turn around and walk away from the mound and out of trouble.

Even though Miller didn't get to squeeze the trigger on a Tom turkey that weekend, he did get to hunt with two outstanding turkey Pro-Staffers, indulge in good food and drink, and experience the hospitality only Basswood Lodge could offer.

But all was not lost. On the last afternoon, guided by Basswood Lodge's Jeff Dezell, Miller found himself face-to-face with a wild boar. While picking their way through a section of hardwoods on a spot and stalk boar hunt, Dezell and Miller didn't notice the boar standing its ground at a short distance of about 40 yards. Heavy shadows and low brush made this dark-coated, mud-smeared beast almost disappear, but the tell-tale low grunt quickly gave its position away.

Immediately the boar spun and sprinted off about 60 yards to Miller's right. Unfortunately, for the boar, at the business end of the 30.06 rifle was a U.S. Army sniper. About two hours later, Miller delivered an iced-down wild boar to Kurt Hanni at Spruce Acres Custom Cutting for processing.

On Memorial Day, Miller was again back at Basswood to try to fill his turkey tag. With the weather considerably warmer and with a new hatch of blood-sucking insects, Miller made a pit stop to the Watertown Gander Mountain store and used a portion of his gift card to pick up a ThermaCell Mosquito Repellent. On the previous weekend, Basswood guide Nick McNamara extolled the virtues of this product and the last thing that Miller wanted was to worry about pesky insects when the moment of truth presented itself.

The afternoon prior to Miller's hunt, Forsythe found a farm field with a number of birds — including a couple of very respectable longbeards. So, that evening, McNamara, Miller and Basswood special guest, the 2007 NYS Turkey Calling champion, Jim Montanaro, put the turkeys to bed.

The next morning, McNamara, Montanaro and Miller watched as one of the big longbeards flew down into the field at 5:05. At 300 yards the bird began strutting. At 200 yards, he finally found a girlfriend to court. "Every time I called, he responded," Montanaro said. But, the big bird wouldn't leave his hen.

Montanaro used a series of calls, from gobbling using his mouth, to cutting, hen yelping and fighting purrs using a Rapid Fire Cutter made by his company, Empire Game Calls.

"He gobbled over a hundred times," McNamara said, "yet he still wouldn't budge from that hen." So, the waiting game continued until the hen walked off and left Mr. Tom strutting in the field all by his lonesome.

That's when Montanaro began to work his magic. With Miller hunkered down next to him holding a Remington Mag 10, Montanaro called a few more times until the gobbler began making his way toward their position. "He would walk, strut, walk and strut," Montanaro said.

With only a small clump of brush to conceal three men, Miller found himself out of position to draw a bead on the incoming bird. And, as the strutting bird got to about 45 yards, Miller readjusted his position for a clear shot. Instantly the fired-up gobbler's head changed from bright white to deep red. At that point Montanaro knew the color change meant the bird had seen something he didn't like and would take flight at any moment. "That's when I told Alex he had better shoot," Montanaro said.

The load of 10-gauge, copper-plated six-shot sent the bird tumbling.

Capping off a successful Basswood spring turkey hunt, Miller's first wild turkey sported an 8-inch beard and 11/2-inch spurs.

THANK YOUS

When I first pitched the idea to the Forsythe family at Basswood Lodge the only question they asked was, "What else can we do?" For this contest, the Forsythe family donated a fully guided wild turkey and wild boar hunt with all the trimmings, which included room and board and a surprise when they invited the 2007 New York State Turkey Calling Champion to accompany Alex during his hunt. Jim Montanaro, from Liverpool, is also the owner of Empire Game Calls.

When I approached both local and national corporate staff from Gander Mountain about their involvement in the contest, they, too, didn't hesitate to offer assistance.

I kindly asked the folks at Primos if they would outfit the winner with turkey hunting gear and they didn't hesitate. In addition to the quality Primos products they supplied, T.J. Williams put me in touch with two of their top New York State Pro-Staffers. Chris Cartwright and Ryan Smith drove from downstate to spend the first day hunting with Army Specialist Miller. The two couldn't have been more professional and accommodating.

I want to thank Spruce Acres Custom Cutting for their generous offer to cut and wrap the contest winner's wild boar. Kurt and Roberta Hanni emailed me when they read about the contest in the newspaper. They said they would be honored to donate their services.

Finally, all those involved thought the hunt was a great success due to the fact that U.S. Army Spec. Miller turned out to be a great sportsman who enjoyed a good day afield and the camaraderie of Basswood Lodge.

Thank you all!