Turkey Hunting

[RL338]

I have 2+ weeks until my week of turkey season starts, first time for this. I like to hear how others go about their hunt.
I will be using my trusty Wicked Ridge X-bow and plan on setting up 2 blinds in different locations. A couple of decoys and Howie’s call is where I’m at right now.
The one week season kinda stinks and with work I’m mostly left with a weekend hunt.
Thank

 

[jimbires]

all my experience is with eastern turkey .

set your blinds up where you are seeing the turkeys . try to be in the blind and quiet about half an hour before they start to gobble from the roost . I don't call until they are on the ground . don't call too much . let them get into range before shooting . I don't think there is a carved in stone , never fails method of how to hunt turkey . what works one day , doesn't the next ten days . all you can do is keep going out and gaining experience . just remember , tomorrow is another day , and a fresh hunt .

some random thoughts ;
do not call to the birds before the season starts , they get call shy .
turkey are a lot easier to call in if you are on the route to where they are wanting to go . preseason scouting tells you this . an example would be , they fly down in this opening , and leave through the left rear corner , headed to the oak flat .
sometimes decoys spook the turkeys .if it's windy push a stick in the ground next to the decoy , to keep it from spinning .
sometimes the turkeys just don't cooperate.

have fun , it's a learning experience . this is a start , hopefully other guys will share too .

EDIT to add ;

you don't blast your calls at high volume , especially if you're seeing the birds . if I'm trying to locate birds , I call loud . I call louder if it's windy .

 

[JD338]

Jim gives excellent advice. I can't stress enough that less is more. If a hen is vocal, do what she does. If she yelps 5 times, do the same. If the birds are not vocal, try 3-5 yelps every 45 minutes and see if you get a response. If you get a gobble, call again. Another gobble, call again and shut up. He's got you pinpointed. It's now a game of patience. He will either come in gobbling and strutting or he will sneak in.
Hopefully you have patterned your shotgun, choke and ammo so you know what your maximum kill range is. My shotgun is a solid 50 yard gun so I know where a bird needs to be before I shoot. I try to get birds to 30 yards. If they are closer, your pattern is small and it's like shooting a rifle and it's easy to miss. Red dot sights really help. If you don't have one, make sure you have a solid cheek weld and you have a solid plane along the rib. If you don't, you will shoot high right over his head.
Welcome to the addiction!

JD338

 

[salmonchaser]

Seeing more and more turkeys every year. I need to get more involved in this!

 

[hunter24605]

You’ve gotten some sound advice so far. I like to go out the evening before and blast some crow calls to get a response to see where they’re roosting. I like to set up nearby the following morning and wait for the fly down, once all the flock’s “good morning” chatter is over, that’s when I’ll try to draw a Tom away by being aggressive with calls. As long as he is responding and seems to be working his way in, I’ll just sporadically call. If he hangs up I’ll step up the calling. Want to really get him worked up? Every time he gobbles interrupt him and “talk over him” with your calls. If he’s henned up, go ahead and eat your lunch, it’s very tough to draw him away from a friendly hen.

 

[JD338]

Don,
It's a ton of fun. I love to run n gun for turkey. Hear a gobble and go after it, set up and sweet talk that Tom into range. It's similar to locating and hunting a bulging bull elk with a bow and arrow.

JD338

 

[jimbires]

this coming Saturday is youth day . the following Saturday starts the season , it runs the month of May . so far we have two youth hunters that want to hunt with us on youth day . I hope they show up , and get a few of their friends to join in . it's been about 20 years ago I got a young fella out turkey hunting . he didn't get any shooting , but we had a couple in . I remember it as being a successful hunt .he brought a bag of goodies , it was like attending a picnic . he prefers to hunt deer and bear , and he does very well hunting them . he's told me turkey hunting gets boring , and you can't move . LOL I took a couple pics for his mom and dad .



I was driving in on our lease yesterday morning , two gobblers were strutting down the road . these two gobblers had three hens with them .




I was out looking for them one morning and couldn't find them . later in the day I was playing with my calls while on the back deck . shortly after I came in the house , they came to visit me . 2 deer and 2 gobblers and a hen .

 

[JD338]

Good stuff Jim

JD338

 

[RL338]

Good stuff , thanks guys.

 

[jimbires]

if it's dry out , you can rustle your hand in the leaves between calls , to make a turkey scratching sound . turkey will scratch up big areas feeding . I'll gather up a few handful of leaves and put them beside me before I sit and get quiet in the morning .

 

[jimbires]

we had 4 youth hunters , they took 2 birds . not too bad of a day in the turkey woods . sounds like they want to come back next year . the one lease member has a camp about an hour away from the lease , the kids wanted to stay at his camp

 

[hunter24605]

Very cool. Congratulations to the hunters!

 

[DrMike]

Has a be a real highlight for the hunters, and extremely gratifying for those mentoring the youthful hunters.

 

[jimbires]

I think there might be more kids that would try hunting , if they had someone to take them . a lot of parents don't hunt , or no one in the family that hunts . it's up to us to try and keep the sport going .

 

[mjcmichigan]

Jim’s advice is solid. I spent some time watching videos of NWTF championships.
This 12 yo girl, took a paddle box call, cupped it in one hand and struck it with her palm. Gave a unique yelp. I turned two Toms following a hen away from me at 170 yards… I got one close enough and harvested.

My first Tom, was hunting on a friends property. First time there. He didn’t know where they roosted, would just see them from time to time. Decided against going in super early when they are in the trees. Waited until 10am. Put on 3D camo and snuck in super slow. So slow a squirrel didn’t recognize me standing next to a tree until we were eyeball to eyeball. Probably took 30 minutes to walk 70 yards into the woods. Set up a decoy and a popup.
In the blind, nothing set up… a goose honks and a Tom gobbles. I frantically grabbed my paddle call and hit is loud and hard. Immediate response. Hit it a second time.. silence… let it be and continued to get my windows set, calls out, and I had this cute little
Call I could strap to my shotgun barrel and work with a finger loop. Had one in chamber, call on, mounted the gun and pointed near the decoy… pulled the loop, little hen yelps… 10 yards out. This Tom pops his head out of a bush to get a look, quick safety flick and my first Tom was in the bag. No idea how he closed all that distance that fast, but he pinned pointed me on those first to calls with the paddle box.

 

[salmonchaser]

This is great stuff!

 

[JD338]

Congratulations to you on your first Tom. A textbook hunt too.
Those big toms are smart. Sometimes they sneak on you so you have to be ready.
Nice work Mark.

JD338

 

[RL338]

Hoping to get out this weekend “IF” the bear left me a blind to sit in.

 

[Firebird]

Nephews girlfriend with her first Tom

 

[hunter24605]

Hoping to get out this weekend “IF” the bear left me a blind to sit in.

Last spring I set up my blind and decoys the night before just after sunset. Went back to hunt in the morning and couldn't see the decoys anywhere. After hunting I walked up the trail and started finding shredded decoy pieces all over. Mr bear had a good time with the decoys.. They were the inflatable type, so bet he was surprised when his easy snack deflated.