I once heard Ernie Calandrelli, a skilled hunter of the old school who believes in relying on wisdom and woodsmanship as opposed to the aggressive, take-it-to-'em tactics so popular with many of today's hunters, sum up the linkage between water and roosting sites in a pithy, pointed fashion.

"An old gobbler," he said, "is most comfortable at night when he can hear his droppings from the roost hit water."

There's a world of truth in that thought.

Just as water offers safety on the roost -- predators are far less likely to approach by water than by land, and when they do they make more noise -- so is water utilized as a protective device in other ways. Turkeys routinely fly back and forth across larger streams and rivers, seeming intuitively to know that by doing so they are placing a security barrier between themselves and potential threats. Likewise, in the extreme wetlands of the South, turkeys fly from one island or elevated bit of ground to the next, and they can manage quite well even in vast swamps as long as there is some ground available for feeding. Almost all swamps have some hammocks or slightly elevated spots that offer food and security. When turkeys can fly to and from the roost in such spots, they have a highly advantageous situation.

In times of flooding, even those small areas slightly above the water level are not essential, as the birds will eat tree buds and similar vegetation until such time as they can get back to the ground. Incidentally, wet feet mean nothing to a turkey, and they wade through 3 or 4 inches of water without so much as a second thought.

These are considerations the hunter should know, and at times they may figure in his strategy. He also needs to be aware of the many ways in which he can utilize waterways to his advantage.

For starters, streams and riverbanks, along with lake edges and the dams impounding farm ponds, are favored spots in the spring. Tender new vegetation appears there first as the days lengthen and grow warmer. That draws turkeys to feed on tender young grass and sprouts, along with insects, tadpoles, lizards and the like. Similarly, the margins along streams and rivers frequently feature just the sort of areas where toms like to strut -- large sandbars, open hardwood flats in flood plains, or in farm country, bottomland pastures. Add those considerations to the fact that the trees in or on the perimeter of the same areas are attractive as roosting locales, and you have a number of arguments in favor of paying careful attention to water.

TAKING THE ADVANTAGE
Moreover, rivers and streams can be utilized to good advantage in your hunting in a number of ways. Without question, one of the most overlooked approaches to turkey hunting is that done by boat. A canoe or johnboat, perhaps powered by a trolling motor, is an effective and quiet way to gain access to turkeys that are not otherwise easily reached, or in some cases flat out inaccessible.