A toast to Ben Franklin! His confession that "every man I meet is in some way my superior, and if I will listen to him, I can learn from him" is a favorite on my list of "silver bullets."

Franklin was indeed a wise ol' bird who was rarely without a catchy commentary, but I'm glad that some of his ideas were snubbed by his peers. Among his credits are Poor Richard's Almanac, bifocal glasses, political humor, the postal system and the discovery that lightning was indeed electricity. But Ben also met with failures. He proposed that the United States' national symbol be the wild turkey. As an avid turkey hunter, I'm glad his colonial colleagues voted for the bald eagle!

In fact, come April 17th, I hope to commemorate the 208th anniversary of Franklin's death by talkin' turkey! The wild turkey, of which Texas boasts three of the four subspecies found in the U.S., exemplifies many of Franklin's inventions and beliefs. They have excellent vision, can be quite humbling and they can electrify April sunrises with their gobbling serenades.

For the last 10 years, spring turkey hunting has been the most rapidly growing segment of the hunting population. Yet, as I speak with various rancher groups across Texas, I'm amazed that so few ranchers have experienced the truly multimedia presentation called spring turkey hunting. Oh, some have shot a turkey while deer hunting, but that's not turkey hunting. Once you've experienced an April conversation with an amorous strutting tom, hunting turkeys over a corn feeder in December pales by comparison.

Spring turkey hunting is the feathered equivalent of hunting elk. In both instances the hunter attempts to sound like either a lonely female or a rival male, to which the rutting bull or "testosteroned" tom offers his best sweet talk or his harshest challenges.

The hunter's guise of imitating a lovestruck hen is best accomplished with various means of eliciting the plaintive yelps, clucks, purrs and whines that are indeed music to the ears of the amorous tom. Various calling devices fall into the broad categories of "friction" calls (e.g., cedar box calls, slate calls) or the "air" calls (e.g., mouth diaphragms). If you’re really into the heritage thing, then try using a wingbone turkey call, probably similar to what your great, great grandfather used if he called up a turkey.

The diaphragm calls are probably most popular, but they also require the most practice to be effective. A diaphragm call consists of something that looks like a dental retainer that your teenaged daughter might wear after her braces come off, but the working part is one or more small pieces of latex rubber stretched taut. By moving air across the diaphragm (which rests in the roof of your mouth), and by overriding the gag reflex, you can imitate seductive hen calls. Don't get discouraged by your first attempts to talk turkey with these devices.

Take a hint from me: do most of your initial practice in seclusion! Otherwise, your wife and friends may disown you. The cab of your pickup truck, or horseback on the range (assuming you have a trustworthy horse!), provide opportunities for solitude where you can begin mumbling your best efforts at yelps.

Once you've mastered the basic mating yelp, yelp, yelp, yelp ... don your camo and get ready to enjoy the show. Choose your seat near an open amphitheater supplied by a cottonwood draw or liveoak-lined river bottom. Be in your seat at least 30 minutes before sunrise for the "previews." Sometimes the best show takes place in the pre-dawn as you enjoy nature's commanding symphony. This is where an April turkey hunt makes a December deer hunt look like C-SPAN reruns on a black and white television.

Over the last five years, turkey hunters have taken on habits of duck hunters, i.e., they’ve begun to rely more and more on decoys. The favored spread consists of one or more hen decoys accompanied by a mannequin "jake" that will help to drop the incoming tom’s wariness while he gets ready to thrash the intruding youngster. I made my first turkey decoy from papier-mache back in 1979 and have some photographs of "Delilah’s" first field trip, where she is surrounded by eight jakes gobbling simultaneously. Decoys are fun, and especially useful if you’re hunting with a camera or bow.

The 1998 spring turkey season should be a pretty good one, especially so east of a line from Childress to Del Rio. El Niño (El "Green-yo") has blessed that area with much better rains than west of the line. A dry spring seems to contribute to toms being tone deaf to turkey calling. But if the redbud or sandplum bloom against a green background, the calling should be pretty good. With the abundance of jakes around from last spring’s good reproductive effort, you should be able to get a response from these most vocal of suitors. Long-bearded toms will be less plentiful and more discerning than their teenaged counterparts.

If you can't stand to be humbled and humiliated occasionally, then stay in bed ... turkey hunting is definitely not for you. But if you enjoy a conversation and an opportunity to learn from a wise ol' bird, then Ben Franklin's snubbed national symbol can make April mornings something especially electrifying.

Toast his life and accomplishments this April 17th by talkin' turkey. Somehow, I think he'd be pleased and honored by the tribute. And you may just find that, to paraphrase Ben, every turkey you meet is in some way your superior, and if you will talk to him, you can learn from him.