By Gary Joiner
TFB Radio Network Manager
The sounds of turkey calls are echoing on the grounds of the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, and local members of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) hope to hear even more this weekend during the show’s final two days.
It’s all part of a display hosted by volunteers of the Alamo Chapter of NWTF to introduce kids to the outdoors and the fun it represents.
“What we’re doing is trying to give kids an opportunity to think about the romance of the outdoors and how much fun it is to get outside. This is entirely a kid’s deal. We just want every kid to come by and play with turkey calls, be able to touch things. So we put everything on this table that says ‘touch it all,’” Bill Masden, NWTF member of San Antonio, said. “There’s nothing you can break. Our goal is to get every child that walks past us to put their hands on things and actually play with them so they have a good time. They should have a great time in the outdoors, no matter where they are.”
Masden and fellow NWTF member Dave Brown of Spring Branch help everyone who stops by with the basics of turkey calls by using push pin calls, box calls and gobble calls.
“We can teach anybody to use a call in just a few minutes or in a few seconds, actually. You’re trying to teach them rhythm, as much as anything,” Masden told the Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) Radio Network.
The first youth-only hunting season for spring Rio Grande turkey in the South Zone is March 10-11. Masden and Brown are helping with a youth hunt that weekend. The regular spring hunting season for Rio Grande turkey in the South Zone is March 17-April 29.
Masden said the outlook for the spring season is very good.
“Everything we’ve heard and seen, thus far, looks like a lot of birds. We had a pretty decent hatch last year. The year before we had a great hatch. So it’s looking real positive right now,” he said.
Click here for TFB Radio Network’s coverage of NWTF’s efforts at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo.