BY CHARLIE BURCHFIELD OLD-SCHOOL GOBBLER TECHNIQUES T HREE WEEKS. That's how long I'd been hunting the same gobbler that now was standing 30 yards away. In seconds, he'd wear my tag. To get to this point, many pieces of the puzzle needed to come together. And a near half-century of experience had helped to pull it off. My introduction to hunting spring gobblers began in 1971. A four-year hitch in the service had kept me out of the turkey woods during Pennsylvania's first three spring seasons, so I'd have to play catch-up to those who already started learning by doing during those early six-day seasons. Some Pennsylvania hunters had short- ened the learning curve by hunting spring gobblers in southern states prior to that inaugural 1968 season. Some teamed up with experienced mentors. Others invested countless hours in the woods, applying lessons learned from books authored by turkey-hunting experts such as Tom Turpin and Ben Lee. Spring-turkey hunting has evolved considerably since then, but those "oldschool" techniques employed 50 years ago still can serve a hunter well. INVESTING TIME Even though I'd hunted the gobbler for three weeks, that was only part of the time I'd invested in him. T I M E - T E S T E D 36 S P R I N