beginner to turkey hunting

[2012_taco]

there is a lot of good info posted here, but 1 thing over looked. Take your gun to the range and pattern it. you need to know your effective range and your guns pattern (does it hit high, low, right, left?) i had to add rifle sights to my rem.870 cause it shot low and left. Tight chokes and hevi shot can make shotguns shoot more like a rifle at close ranges, makes it easy to miss. Secondly get a turkey seat and a themacell. your patience in the turkey woods is directly related to being able to sit still for a long time !

[reeltime]

great responses so far. I live for spring gobbler hunting!

find some Denny Gulvas videos, he is one of the most experienced and respected turkey hunters in the video industry although I am not sure if he is still making them.

as far as decoys go if you feel you must use one use a hen, I do not use a decoy and I would NEVER place a gobbler

decoy anywhere around me, I have had too many instances of guys sneaking in on my location to put a legal target out there in front of me! and don't for a second think that just because your on posted ground your safe! spring gobbler hunting is an audible sport, when that bird starts gobbling guys loose their minds and some think nothing of tresspassing! if they are so intuned with that bird gobbling and sneak in to the turkey sounds they are liable to shoot the first thing to move.

Camo- you have to be covered head to toe, you are up against the best eyes in the woods! there is an old saying in the turkey world, a deer walks through the woods and sees a camod hunter setting there and thinks its a stump, a turkey walks by a stump and thinks its a hunter. keep movement to a minimum. grandad always said a turkey can see an ant crawling on a tree at a hundred yards,,,,some of the things I have seen them do he mighta been right!

calls- there are hundreds of diferent calls out there, some good some not so good. when you buy production calls you get what you got, maybe it will sound ok but I have seen a lot of them that wouldn't make my vest! there are a good number of custom call makers out there that you may pay a little more for but you will be getting a hand made call from an experienced turkey hunter. they are not going to send out a poor sounding call. there is a guy up in watertown that makes a sweet box call, Tim Fralick TP custom calls.

the box call is one of the easiest to use and learn, if you can get a handle on using a slate call you can get different strikers and have a whole range of call sounds.

calling- don't get caught up in the calling like your in a calling contest, take the temp of the bird, start soft and sweet and if he likes it and is coming in let him come in, if you have to get loud do so,,,this is not something that a person can

teach you it comes from experience. I have killed far nore gobblers with clucks and purrs than heavy yelping and cutting. turkeys can pinpoint sound extremely accurately! make 1 call they know your general vicinity, make 2 calls they know within 30 yards of where you are, you make 3 calls they will know what tree you are setting against!

gun/choke/loads- this is probably one of the most important pieces of the puzzle! you HAVE to know what your gun is doing. you need to spend time on the range at measured distances with different loads and chokes. you want as many pellets in a 10" circle @ 40 yards as you can get. I have done a ton of work to my turkey gun ( and thats ALL it ever gets used for) and I spent a good amount of $$ on different loads and chokes ( I still have 6 aftermarket chokes from my experimenting days) But with all the work and different loads I have settled on the best combination for my set up 242 pellets in a 10" circle @ 40 yards.

if your going to go with a stock choke or can only get adaquate pellet counts at 30 yards with the shells your shooting then keep that as your max range.

you can use front & rear sights or a scope, I have a bushnell scope on my turkey gun because it shoots such a tight pattern and I gotta see their legs before I shoot.

Do NOT skimp on pattern! you have got to hit them in the head and neck with as many pellets as you can! you can not body shoot them with a shotgun, while you may "get" one that way chances are you will loose more than you will get.

scouting- probably one of the most overlooked but most important tools in turkey hunting! you gotta find the birds, I live in the woods from feb 1- june 1. also keep your findings to yourself, nothing ruins a hunt faster than getting to "your" spot and seeing someone else there that you told of a bird being there! I put the time and gas $ into scouting so I am not giving out free info.!

patience/persistance- this alone has been the demise of many of my harvested spring gobblers, I do what I need to do when I have a gobbler on the hit list. I love hunting pressured birds! its not at all uncommon for me to be setting under a tree at 3 am waiting for daylight, and alot of those days I might not move till noon when I get up to leave the woods! But the whole time I am there I am paying attention to what the birds are doing. I have always said that every gobbler is killable on any given day you just gotta be there when he wants to play!

Safety- FIRST and FOREMOST at all times! always set up defensively, against a big tree, rock, stump etc. just make sure its higher than your head. eliminate red, white, blue colors from your clothing including what is under your camo these are the target colors on a gobbler. if you hear something approaching always think its a hunter first, try to keep calm and keep your senses in check. ALWAYS verify your target.

If you see someone approaching you do NOT try to wave them off,,, especially if you were working a bird!!!! they could be so far gone that the first thing to move to them is that turkey! call out to them! STOP TURKEY HUNTER HERE if they are that close to you that bird you were wokring is probably busted out of there anyway and even if not there is no turkey worth getting shot over.

if you can hook up with an experienced hunter thats a good thing, just make sure there is a mutual understanding that if you go to your spots he doesn't go there with out you and vise-versa.

well thats enough rambling for now, hop it was somewhat helpfull.

[Pygmy]

Hey Lee.. How you doing, Partner ?

I knew it was you when you mentioned Tim Fralick and his box calls ..

Welcome to the forum...Pretty good bunch of folks here overall...

[reeltime]

doin good Pygmy,, been her a couple years just not alot of time to post on any site anymore.

[2012_taco]

Reeltime, you said it all..

[Five Seasons]

there is a lot of good info posted here, but 1 thing over looked. Take your gun to the range and pattern it. you need to know your effective range and your guns pattern (does it hit high, low, right, left?) i had to add rifle sights to my rem.870 cause it shot low and left. Tight chokes and hevi shot can make shotguns shoot more like a rifle at close ranges, makes it easy to miss. Secondly get a turkey seat and a themacell. your patience in the turkey woods is directly related to being able to sit still for a long time !

holy crap how'd i forget to mention the thermacell! best money ever spent and great for camping, hiking and fishing too.

[mac]

If you decide to buy a box call, The Primos Box Cutter is worth all $25 on the price tag. Get in position early, cover yourself in camo and dont move except to pull trigger. If you can go out with others your first year, that would help. Watch videos online or tv shows. good luck

[josephmrtn]

ive had turkey at 1 yard before and i can tell ya is nerve wracking.... (no i didnt get that bird)

[2012_taco]

Went out this past weekend to remove a couple of deer stands, saw 5 longbeards in the open hardwoods, can't wait till May!

[Five Seasons]

Went out this past weekend to remove a couple of deer stands, saw 5 longbeards in the open hardwoods, can't wait till May!

seems so far away

[josephmrtn]

LOL yeah!!!