Opening Day

April 27, 1960. 16-year-old Harold Knight steps out of his neighbor’s car, into the cool dark of a Kentucky morning. No camo, no game call except some advice from the old-timers on improvising a call from the young leaves just beginning to pop. It’s the first sanctioned turkey hunt in Kentucky, and Knight wouldn’t miss it for anything.

He’s carrying a borrowed gun, a Remington with side-by-side improved cylinders, a gun that just missed the turn of the century. To get the shells he’d saved from waterfowl season to fit, he had to sand their sides because they’d swelled. “And I stepped out into that dark, and I could hear the whippoorwills hollering, and I can remember just how pretty that was,” Knight said. “And it started breaking daylight, this beautiful sunshiny morning.”

Then it happened. Knight heard a song so powerful, it’s still stuck in his head to this day, and he’s devoted a good part of his life to communicating with turkey. “I heard that gobble, and the hair stood up on my back.”

An accident, according to Knight, but he tagged a bird that day. He hasn’t missed a turkey season in the 66 years since.

Only About a Hundred Days

If you don’t know who Harold Knight is, check your turkey vest: There’s a good chance you’re carrying a call he — or his partner of more than 40 years, David Hale — had a hand in making. Knight and Hale game calls have been putting turkey on the table since the early 70’s, when they released their first tube call. Since then, Knight and his partner have racked up a list of accolades including multiple halls of fame, earning an indelible place in hunting history.

At 82, Knight would tell you that he’s gone from “running and gunning” turkey to more “walking and gunning.” He’s put down his 12 gauge in favor of a 20. He doesn’t hunt as much as he used to, but that means he’s “only” in the field about 100 days a year.

Waterfowl, quail, deer. The squirrels in his beloved Land Between the Lakes home. “I’ve had the opportunity in my life to hunt it all; I killed my 32nd bull elk this year, and I’ve hunted game with bullet and bow. But turkey hunting is my favorite. Without a doubt.”

Turkey? When you’ve hunted elk in open country, and seen a covey of quail flush low over a prairie? “He’s humbled me every year I’ve ever hunted him. And he’ll humble me this year, too. And I’ll take it right on the chin, just like these other turkey hunters, and I’ll come right back for more.”

Knight’s King: the eastern

There are five distinct species of turkey in North America: The Osceola, the Rio Grande, the Merriam’s, the Gould’s, and the Eastern Wild Turkey. For Knight, there’s only one. “That dude? The Eastern? He is the king,” Knight said. “I’ve seen them so easy to kill. And then I’ve seen him just so hard. I’ve watched hundreds of them be harvested, but I have not totally figured them out.” He laughs, remembering all the ones that got away. “And I don’t think I ever will.”

The Eastern Wild Turkey can see 270° in color with better than 20/20 vision. Capable of making at least 30 distinct vocalizations and calls, the tom’s gobble can be heard a mile away. Chase them, they flee at nearly 25 m.p.h. Get them on the wing and they’ll hit 35-40 m.p.h. To know them is to love them. And for Knight, the bird has fascinated him since childhood.

“It got to be I’d go to school and think about turkeys. I had no idea what turkey hunting would mean to me in my life and making a living. How many places I’d get to go because of it,” Knight said. “I couldn’t comprehend any of that when I was in school, and I’m glad because I sure wouldn’t of had my mind on any studying.”

Making Turkey Music

He comes by his fascination with turkey vocalizations honestly: Knight’s father was a talented musician. Though Knight doesn’t play traditional instruments, it’s hard to deny the connection. “My daddy was a bluegrass musician, and I think I inherited some of that. But my instrument was always a turkey call.”

Watching Knight coax the most subtle yelps and purrs out of the simplest tube call feels like watching a maestro at work. But just as important to Knight is a mix of art and observation. “I didn’t have no money, didn’t have no calls except leaf calls and wing bones. I bought shells back then one at a time.”

What Knight did have is an unrelenting desire to know what made turkeys tick. “One of my favorite parts about hunting turkey is you get to talk to him. You get to work him in, and to do that, you need to understand him.” Knight has spent countless hours experimenting with calls. But he’s spent equal time watching and learning. “You got to learn how long it is before they can fly up a tree. Learn why insects are important to wild turkey and where you can find them. Keep up with that turkey year-round — what he likes to eat, where he likes to roost, what part of the terrain he’s comfortable in.”

Another Season’s Promise

Knight will, of course, be in the woods for this year’s opener. Back to a tree, vest stocked with his favorites. But he’ll be there sooner, too, taking another in a long line of mentees on a youth hunt. “Turkey hunters are the most addicted hunters I know,” Knight said. “And I love to share the fun with kids. It does something good for my heart.”

But it’s not just the bird, the calling, the eventual harvest that pulls him back. It’s remembering a day, decades ago, when he first heard that turkey’s song. It’s daydreaming about toms while the rest of the class worked arithmetic. It’s the feeling of walking out under a sky so dark the dreams are still fresh in your head. Whippoorwills calling, and somewhere out there, a gobbler getting ready to sing.

3 Turkey Tips with Harold Knight

1. Learn Your Transitions.

Transitions can be between seasons, weather conditions, and even time of day. “It’s not just what the bird is doing, it’s also the environment around them,” Knight said. Understanding transitions will help you locate and finish birds. It will also ensure you bring the right calls for your hunt. (For example, bringing the louder voice of a box call on a windy day.)

2. Sometimes, the Best Call Is No Call.

“When I’m finishing a turkey, a lot of the time I’m playing hard to get and his patience is going to run out.” The crucial part? “When that turkey is gobbling good to you, when he’s answering back every time you call? When he shuts up, that’s when you got to start hunting with your eyes. The next thing you hear will be that strut,” Knight said.

3. The Kill Isn’t the Only Thing That Matters.

“Especially with younger hunters, we put too much pressure on them to kill a turkey. We need to learn them, to show them how to enjoy a turkey hunt,” he said. “If you start there, and not with the kill, I guarantee you’ll enjoy the sport of turkey hunting a lot more.”

Follow link to watch the full Why Turkeys? The Harold Knight Story.

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