"Anyone who says turkeys are not as vocal in the fall as they are in the spring has not been in the middle of a big flock of fall birds," Stotlz surmised. "I hear sounds from fall birds that I never hear in the spring. Fall is an excellent time to actually study all the vocalizations of wild turkeys."

Stoltz is legendary for his ability to harvest turkeys with a bow, and fall turkeys are no exception.

"I love to bowhunt fall turkeys," Stotlz said. "It gives me the opportunity to scout for big bucks at the same time."

Stoltz provides a shock to the system of those who claim that fall gobblers are the next thing to impossible to kill.

"Harvesting a fall gobbler is easy, IF a hunter puts in the scouting time to find the bachelor groups, especially where they roost. Key in on how the gobblers travel from their roost site to their primary feeding location, and then on how they make the return trip to the roost. Fall gobblers can be consistently taken by setting up an interception point on the birds' daily travel path. They will travel the same routes, if they are not disturbed, because they are feeding heavily to get ready for winter.

"Gobblers yelp and tree cluck a lot in the fall. We don't hear that in the spring because the toms are busy gobbling. In the fall, hunters often mistake the tree calls of a gobbler as hen calls."

Stoltz uses the same calls in the fall that he uses in the spring.

Stoltz recommends the 4,500-acre Deer Ridge CA in Lewis County for fall turkey hunting.

"It is a big area with gently rolling terrain, which is mostly wooded. It holds lots of birds. Some agricultural crops are raised there and some of the land is in CRP. The drainages and creeks are good places to hunt."

For well over two decades, Ray Eye of Dittmer has been known as a living legend among turkey hunters. "He is the best, no doubt about it," Alex Rutledge said.

"I love turkeys," Eye fondly admits. "Unfortunately, fall turkey hunting is one of the most misunderstood of the hunting sports. It is like someone, at some point in time, wrote fall turkey hunting rules in stone. And they stuck. I do seminars all over the country and I hear it everywhere I go: 'Fall turkeys don't gobble.' And they are saying that while I am showing them footage of gobblers strutting and gobbling in July. They do that stuff all year 'round, because they are constantly working on the pecking order. It is their nature to want to be the dominant bird in the flock. People don't hear it or see it because they are not out there. I study and film turkeys all year long.

"Fall gobblers can be stirred to a frenzy quickly," Eye said. "Aggressive clucks, cackles, yelps and fighting purrs will appeal to their natural instincts to fight to move up in the pecking order." Eye must have been the first to teach such tactics. I had never heard about fighting fall gobblers until I accompanied Ray Eye on a hunt in northern Missouri. I could not believe my eyes as five mature gobblers ran to Eye's aggressive, raucous, combative calling, fighting among themselves all the way to a load of 6s. As Eye continues to share his skills, he is sure to break that proverbial stone tablet of rules -- no myth or mystery, just facts that will become legendary.

Fall is the most splendid time of the year, with fresh, cool air, stunning colors and an air of mysticism about the past and the future of fall turkey hunting. And, harvesting a wild turkey for Thanksgiving should be much easier this year by imitating the Legends of the Fall.