Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting New turkey hunter with a lot of questions

Joel,
Practice calling diligently but don't worry too much about it. A gobbler in the right mood will respond to a squeaky fence. I have seen gobblers come running to some pretty poor sounding calls plenty of times. Several years ago I had a new hunter out and after pulling a zero through the morning we stopped for a snack and a water break about 11:00. He had a couple new calls bought from the local Walmart and was trying to make turkey sounds with them. I was coaching and would occasionally give a run on one of my calls to tune his ear in so he could try to replicate the sounds. You can guess what happened... suddenly a gobble boomed out right behind us. I snuck a peak and three longbeards were about sixty yards out and in full strut. We shut up and they worked their way over on his side and when they sidled around about thirty yards he took a shot and missed. I expected that as the barrel of his shotgun was shaking worse than a little dog crapping peach seeds.

I saw a big tom laying dead on Interstate 81 in TN yesterday

I had a friend that was using an increment borer and it was giving that typical "squeak" each time he turned the handle on the auger. If you ever used one, you know the sound. It is almost like a yelp. Well, low and behold he hears something coming in behind him and he turns to see a Tom coming straight to him.

Like I tell my son, don't make it harder than it is. If you can yelp, you can call in a turkey.

I have seen Wild Hens yelping that i was sure was a beginner Turkey Hunter trying to use a new call. They were that bad . I'm saying even Turkey hens can't yelp worth a dam , but they have a bunch of baby turkeys following after them in the late spring . Their bad yelping must have worked .

The worst turkey sound I've ever heard came from a real hen. Don't be afraid to call a bit. Just stick it in your pocket after you rip off a few yelps.

I'm probably more aggressive than most with my calls but have been fairly successful. The one place I don't call much is when we're set up on roosted birds and there are hens calling near by from the trees. No need to call then, you have the best decoy and yelpers you could ask for.

unless all the hens are roosted on the opposite side of the roosted tom from where you are set up

I really appreciate all the input.

Was at the property this morning and learned some more. For the past year we have had cameras all over. We have a small clearing that is roughly 70yards by 40 yards. Turkey have always been on the camera but this year they have this place torn up scratching and just tracks. We have a permanent ground blind there for my dad ( handicap accessible for him) but I may just have to try it out. Real big tracks.

Back where I think they are roosting , we found a lot of poop and feathers. Cameras showed some birds but we had to move/re arrange the cameras.

Didn't see any birds today but did see 15 deer and they looked healthy, good sign for this fall.

great sign Joel, hang in there and don't be afraid to call. Just do it softly and they'll come in. BTW, killed a nice bird yesterday morn in the rain. Was gobblin his head off.

keep callin to a minimum,over calling can ruin a hunt fast.Sometime curiosity can" kill the cat"
big boyz have been known to hang up and wait.keep in mind natural breeding brings the hens to the gobbler.Doesn't hurt to shut up once you've got em coming in.

You are already scouting more than most turkey hunters Joel! They are very likely to roost in the same place night after night. Start close to there. What works for me is get about 100 yards away from the roost before dawn and when the birds in the trees start talking to each other, just imitate their soft call. They will think there is another bird already on the ground and MIGHT fly your way to check it out. If they do, and they don't see you - they are yours. As said above - they have excellent sight, good hearing, and no sense of smell. In NY only males are legal in the spring so I am usually surrounded by hens.......