Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Where does a noobie begin?

Find their food source.

In the spring it's all about love.

And since nobody has mentioned it. A turkey call is a dinner bell for every predator in the area. I've called in bobcats, coyote's and probably some I never saw. So you can really have an enjoyable experience.

Indeed. The land my friend owned in Caroline Co, Va had a pack of feral dogs on it that killed deer. I called turkey for my friend one spring and that pack of dogs showed up on the other side of the field but wouldn't come into the field. Just milled around at the edge. He hunted with a .22 Magnum instead of a shotgun. He killed one of those mangy dogs since the birds wouldn't come in. Hated to do it, I love dogs. But when they form a pack, nothing is safe. He would find fawns that were literally pulled apart.

If dogs are roaming around and running deer and other game. Or running livestock, there's a system called the "3 S". Shoot, shovel, and shut up.

aka yellow call?

I thought it was SDD....shoot drag and throw in a ditch.

Reminds of a hunt....I was turkey hunting with a buddy at one of his spots. Back then i was shooting Nitro Ammo 4x5x7 Hevi shot....(mostly 7s).

We were easing down this ridge when my buddy say this doe fast approaching from behind us...she was literally tongue dragging worn out. Then I spotted the dogs....I told my buddy don't move. When they got in range I stepped around him with the SBE....boom killed the one in the lead the big black pit turned to run I shot him in his dairy air.....he flinched but naire a whimper.

About a week later my buddy was up there and the black fellow that lived there walked out to his truck....Said "somebody done shots my dog in the nutt sack he's got pellets all in his nuttz"...my buddy kept a straight face and acted surprised.

The Pitt lived several more years as a porch dog never ran out trying to eat up our truck again.....

Gene Nunnery in his book "The Old Pro Turkey Hunter" described a fool proof way to kill turkeys.

Wonder how many people fell for it....

You can call in turkey hunters, too. When that happens, DON'T wave at them. Say "Good morning" loudly so they know they are stalking a man, not a bird.

Don't wear turkey colors (red, white, blue, black) for the same reason you don't wear brown in deer season. I wear camo, because it has no turkey colors. Robin Hood green would work too, but camo is easier to buy.

Don't walk around carrying a decoy or a dead turkey. If a hunter sees the bird and not you, bad things can happen. It's not a bad idea to wear an orange vest when you are moving around and wrap your turkey in it when you are packing out.

Rule #1: Nobody shoots Hogeye

Hard to imagine, but the thought of it makes me belly laugh….

Can you believe idiots crawl around holding gobbler decoys in front of them ?

Got to wonder who you're going to get to mount that on your wall.....

They call it "reaping" more than one hunter has been shot/reaped since the idiots started doing it.

I was hunting a WMA in Charles City County and made the mistake of setting out a decoy. I called to birds that were down the ravine. Pretty soon I heard the unmistakable plodding of another hunter through the woods. I watched him stop and eye my decoy. It was one of those cheap, collapsable, foam, grey headed hen decoys on a single stick. The dumbass literally stared at it then started to line up on it with his shotgun and I hollered "Hey." I think he [bleep] his pants. Goes without saying, he ruined my hunt. He decided to plod on past my decoy in the direction of ther bird I was trying to call. Never did hear him shoot.

I stopped using decoys on that WMA, Too many nimrods.

When it comes to hunting safety anyone can become a nimrod.....or become the victim.

I was hunting LBL years ago....got to my spot long before first light no one was there had to walk across this big field to where I was going.

Everything was going good until I see headlights pull in by my truck and the lights go out....I then see a light coming acrois the field in my direction
I got out my flash light and flashed it a few times as I was hot footing across the field.....not far in the woods I heard a bird gobble.

I eased up a piece and sat down.....it was really foggy that morning to the point of a heavy mist in the air.

As I recall the gobbler shut up.....after a while I gave a light call.....then directly in front of me I see movement that looks like a gobblers head beside a tree.....dam there he is....he disappears I get my gun up.

I called sofly again and there is the gobblers head again....I gave the gobbler another call and a man sitting about 30 yards in front of me looks around the tree....

I got up unloaded my pump really loud picked up my shells and walked away.....thinking how lucky we both were.

I have been lucky and never had someone come in close on me like LFC and 10Glocks talked about but I have always been able to hunt private land. That is no guarantee that it will not happen. Had a guy and his buddy slip in on the farm next to the one we were on. My buddy killed a bird and as he walked over to get it, one of the guys stood up on the fence like about 70 yards away. We did not know he was there but he had set up trying to cut the bird off we were working. Kind of scared us because we did not know he was there and if my buddy had shot in that direction, most likely would have peppered the guy.
We talked to the guy and he was from Mississippi and had seen birds on the farm he was trespassing on. He and his buddy slipped in and were trying to kill one of the birds. My buddy called the land owner and told him he had trespassers and the guys took off before the owner could get there.
Private land is no guarantee of safety.

That was my exact experience on public land, after that day I never went back. Never used a decoy anymore also.

A little while later, these bastards showed up, have a tripod in that big juniper tree to the left of feeder, also a bow blind.




Box blind is best way to get a bow shot off at a Turkey that’s close to a feeder. Deer also, can’t smell or see you.

We had a newbie at turkey camp last year. I wrote a multi-part missive on what to do and what to expect. It starts here:

If I were the New Guy at Turkey Camp PT1

I'm a self-starter. That is, I decided to go turkey hunting and really did not have a whole lot of help. Let me tell, it was a long hard road. Finding a mentor would have helped immeasurably. For my newbie, #2 son took him out and managed to call in the camp record. The Old Man of the Forest himself decided to plop down off the roost and come waddling up to the blind. It was Remnar's first time out, and Moose's first solo bird.

Details here:
Moose Nails a Whopper



The thing that helped me the most, in the end, was throwing everything folks told me about turkeys and turkey hunting out the window and just getting out among them. You can be doing that now. Don't call. Just observe. Find flocks and listen to them at fly-down and fly-up. Observe them feeding. Eventually, you'll get the hang of it. It's a slow process; don't expect big things right off. Live hens give the best master class in calling.

If you listen to my podcasts, I try to record audio in the pre-season and well as my hunts. You're welcome to listen to them.

The shaman's Podcasts

Are you for real with these goofy pOd casts....

Why yes, as a matter of fact, I actually get fan mail. Some folks must like them.