When Davis Love III was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame last year, he came ready with props. The wooden driver he used in his first U.S. Open in 1998. The metal one his son Dru had in the bag when he made his Open debut earlier that summer with Love caddying. The crystal vase his father won for leading the first round of the Masters the year Love was born and the identical one he received for doing the same in 1995. And a turkey call. But not just any turkey call. This one was made by Neil Cost, who Love called the “Tiger Woods of hand-carved turkey call makersâ€� during his induction speech. As accomplished a golfer as Love is, as consummate a professional, he is equally invested in the things he loves doing outside the ropes. Cooking barbecue, for one. Snowboarding in the winter. Hunting deer and catching tarpon and red fish. Turkey hunting is his favorite, though. “Everybody always asks me, if you had to pick one thing, what would you pick? And I said, well, can I pick per season?â€� Love says. “But honestly if I had to pick one thing, it would probably be spring turkey hunting. I just like turkey hunting. It’s the most challenging, entertaining thing.â€� Unfortunately, the season, which generally runs from March until mid-May, conflicts with some of Love’s favorite golf tournaments. Tournaments like THE PLAYERS Championship, the PGA TOUR’s showcase event that he was won twice, and the Masters, the major championship he always seemed destined to win. But Love, who turns 54 on Friday, makes time whenever he can. The hunt starts early in the morning, about a half hour before the sun even comes up. The sounds as the forest comes to life are mesmerizing to Love. “That’s the best thing, you go out there, it’s dark and … then you hear a few birds starting to wake up and an owl hoots and the turkey gobbles and the birds get going and the crows get raucous and the turkeys gobble at the crows,â€� Love says, a smile crossing his face. The turkeys have spent the night in the trees. You didn’t know that? Well, you’re not alone, and Love was patient as he explained what he calls the “chess matchâ€� of hunting them. “Turkey hunting is one of those sports like fly fishing that people don’t casually do it,â€� Love says. “It’s like you have to be kind of all in. There are a lot of intricacies to it. “Calling turkeys is probably one of the most challenging things to learn in hunting.â€� Love has a collection of turkey calls, so many he joked that night in New York City, that his wife Robin would probably like them all to go to the Hall of Fame to “keep Dru and I from making racket in our house.â€� While he says many people just go to their local outdoors shop, he has some real keepsakes like that one by Cost. “Having one handmade or you make them or historical stuff is a whole‘’nother little world,â€� Love says. The calls are as varied as the clubs in Love’s golf bag. Yelps, cackles, clucks, gubles, kee-kees and even purrs emit from diaphragm, slate and box calls, each one designed with to elicit specific responses from the turkey. And then the games begin. “The gobblers gobble to assemble hens and you’re calling hens and trying to get him to come out of his way for you to get close enough to see him or shoot him,â€� Love explains. “And so there’s, there’s a lot of back and forth. You’re not just sitting in a tree waiting for a deer to walk by. There’s a lot of back and forth and a lot of strategy. You kind of know what they want to do during the day and you kind of have to get ahead of them or in front of them.â€� Love remembers the first time he took his daughter Lexie turkey hunting when she was a kid. She, too, was amazed by the cacophony of sounds she heard on that serene spring day. “I took her out there and the owls just let off and they were just going bananas, and she’s like are those monkeys?â€� Love says. “I said, no, we don’t have any monkeys in Georgia. But you don’t hear that. “People just don’t hear those sounds unless you go down in the swamp in the spring. You can’t imagine turkeys talking. Even if you’re a deer hunter, sometimes you don’t, you just really don’t hear that because you’re not out there in the spring.â€� A wild turkey, which grows up eating nuts, berries and insects, is more muscular and lean than his domestic cousin. His legs are powerful and he can reach speeds of up to 25 mph. The meat is predominately dark and has a more intense, gamey flavor. “It’s free range. Organic,â€� Love says. “We hunt and we always say if we’re shooting something we’re eating it. We’re not just shooting something just to shoot it. “But they’re not that good, they’re tough and chewy. Like your yard rooster, he’s not quite as good as the Sanderson Farms chicken that you get at the grocery store. “Nobody’s serving a wild turkey really for Thanksgiving. They’re serving the ones from Mr. Sanderson’s farm.â€�
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