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Turkey Tips - Nuances of Gobbler Hunting
Nuances of Gobbler Hunting
1. Roost Revenge
- A lot
of times, I'll work birds off the
roost and for one reason or another
things don't work out. Come
midday, for two reasons, I'll ease
back toward the roost and setup.
One, that gobbler may come back
looking for the hen he never saw.
Two, it's always a good idea to
spend as much time as possible with
a particular turkey. Why?
Because the more time you spend with
a particular turkey, the more you
learn about his idiosyncrasies and
the more likey you are to kill him.
- Mark Drury, M.A.D Calls
2.
Inspect the Spectacle - When
a turkey comes into view, we try to
get a look at him and gauge his
mood. People always ask, well,
how does he sound? I know who
he sound; I want to see what
he looks like. If he comes
into view and looks like he's out
for an afternoon stroll, then he's
very killable. If he comes in
and stops every two feet, puts his
head up and looks around, shudders
and drops his fan, then he's going
to be a tough bird to kill. If
that neck is straight up and down
when you see him, that's not a
pretty sight - he's looking and he's
wary. you want that neck to be
a nice loose "S".
- Jim Clay, Perfection Turkey
Calls
3.
Wanderlust Turkey -
When I'm roosting birds for a
morning hunt, I love to hear a
turkey gobble where I've never heard
a gobbler before. It's a
gobbler that's looking for hens,
hasn't found any and out of his
territory. He's like a buck in
the rut: he's traveling hard
and looking to breed. Usually,
that's a bird where after the first
yelp or two, you're wearing him.
- Ernie Calandrelli, Quaker Boy
Game Calls
4.
Quick Comback - When
you call to a turkey, anticipate his
answer. When that gobbler
gobbles back, he wants to hear
something. Think about it: He
gobbled and that excited you as a
hen. So, instead of just
sitting there, wondering what to
say, pile a bunch of excited yelps
right on top of him. Gobblers
just love that.
- Wayn Carlton, Carlton Calls
5.
Come On Over - Many
hunters will hear a turkey and just
sit there and call and call and
call. It's real important to
move toward the turkey, and give him
the illusion that you're a hen on
the way. Then, when you get as
close as the terrain will allow,
hang up and get aggressive.
Don't
call as you walk; go 100-150 yards
stop by a tree and then call.
Keep the turkey communicating.
Keep him excited. A lot of
times, once you stop that last 75 to
150 yards, he'll break and come in.
- Ray Eye, Hunter's Specialties
6.
Blown over - Turkeys
normally feed directly into the
wind. Think about it: If
its a 20 mph wind and it comes the
other way; it's going to knock him
off balance, especially when he's
trying to strut. If he's going
into the wind and the wind is
slicking his feathers back, then
he's okay. Sometimes you can
treat it like deer hunting.
Just eas upwind looking for kurkeys.
They'll be facing the other way.
- Jim Clay, Perfection Turkey
Calls
7.
Pinpoint the Bird - In
my opinion, the best turkey hunters
are those who have a feel for
exactly how far away a bird is.
Because they know just where the
bird is, they can mooch in on a
gobbler and set up as close as
possible. And that just makes
it easy for the bird to com on in.
- Chris Kirby, Quaker Boy Game
Calls
8.
Back to Basics - I
started hunting as a youngster with
a box call my grandpa made and had
tremendous success. I thought
I was really some kind of hunter...
until I sat on it. I switched
to the mouth calls and slates, but
my turkey hunting wasn't quite as
good - turkeys just weren't quite as
excited when they came in. I
didn't realize until I went back to
the box call, that it was the
missing ingredient, that
high-ringing, raspy sound that just
drives turkeys crazy. There's
just something about it in the
woods: if you've got a good
call, if you can make it run, it's
just unbelievable.
- Brad Harris, Lohman Game Calls
9.
When Silence Speaks
Loudest - A lot of times,
especially early in the year, you'll
blow a locator and the bird will
gobble right back, but as soon as
you cutt and yelp like an excited
hen, he won't gobble. Usually
that's because it's too early in the
breeding season. Somehow, I
think the birds just know it's too
early for hens to be hot.
If it's early in the season and a
bird won't gobble to the call, I'll
sneak as close as I can and make
some soft clucks and purrs.
I'm not trying to appeal to his
breeding instincts, I'm appealing to
his curiosity.
- Ernie Calandrelli, Quaker Boy
Game Calls
10.
Field Drills - When it
comes to field birds, I'm having a
lot mor luck getting out there with
the bird, as opposed to trying to
call him to an edge. If
there's a ditch or a terrain break,
I use that to crawl as close as I
can - and I mean, right to the edge
of spooking him. Then, I'll
ease up a decoy and go to work
calling him. People seem to
think that he'll pick you right off,
but with today's camo, your just a
lump in the field.
- Mark Drury, M.A.D Calls
11.
Slow Down - Most Guys
walk too fast through the turkey
woods. Now, I understand if
you have a destination and need to
get there, but you should really try
to slow down. I move through
the woods at a snails pace and
because of that I can hear gobbles
better and a lot of times, I'll see
a turkey before it sees me. If
I were walking fast, I'd miss most
of this stuff.
- Harold Knight, Knight &
Hale Game Calls
12.
Head Games - Here's a
common situation: You're
working a turkey and he hangs up.
After a few minutes, you start
thinking things like, "Oh man,
I only have a few days to hunt, I
better make the most of this."
And before you know it, you're
calling hard and aggressive and the
bird never shows.
Next time that happens, put the
mental pressure on a turkey by
seeing things from the turkey's
perspective. Know what he's
thinking? "Oh man, I only
have a few day to breed. I
better make the most of this."
If you approach hunts believing that
the onus is on the turkey to make
the move, you'll be relaxed, you'll
play hard to get and ultimately,
you'll kill more turkeys.
- Chris Kirby, Quaker Boy Game
Calls
13.
Late Sleeper - I don't
like to call to a turkey on the
roost. I'd rather let him hit
the ground, then boy, that's when I
do my thing. You can move
around then without scaring a bird.
That's one of the biggest mistakes
hunters make. They don't
necessarily spook a bird off the
roost, but they spook him enough
that he thinks he's seen something
not quite right. So he pitches
the other way and you don't hear
from him until two or three hours
later.
- Harold Knight, Knight &
Hale Game Calls
14.
Confidence Kills -
Turkey hunting is all about
confidence, so use the calls you
believe in. For me, it's a
boat paddle for starting birds and
push-button for finishing them off.
- Dave Streb, Quaker Boy Game
Calls
15.
Landing Zone - If you
can get near a turkey at flyup, try
to figure out where he flew from.
Since it was safe there the night
before, a lot of time that's where
he'll land in the morning.
- Tad Brown, M.A.D Calls
16.
Ridge-Run-Around - Say
you're hunting with a buddy in ridge
country, and you strike a turkey.
The bird moves toward you up a hill
and then hangs up. If it's
clear the bird isn't coming, what
I'll do is send the shooter around
the hill and have him sit right in
the path the turkey took to get up
the hill. Then, I'll pick up
my calling. I mean lay it on:
That turkey hasn't seen a hen, so
he's not coming any closer.
What he's going to do is head back
down the hill in a path he knows is
safe, the same path he took to get
up the hill. And that will
take him right by the shooter.
- Ray Eye, Hunter's Specialties
17.
Roost Wrangling -
Generally speaking, when you call to
a gobbler on the roost, he's going
to fly the other way; that's just
the way they do it. When he
goes, move up within shotgun range
of the tree. He sat on that
limb for a while and so he thinks
that area's safe. Then all of
the sudden, Bingo! You call
from there and he thinks, "Agh,
that hen was just late coming.
I gotta' get back."
- Jim Clay, Perfection Turkey
Calls
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