Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting NEED HELP FAST!

Ok Oh great and Wise Turkey Guru's...I have trouble!
<br> I am NEW to turkey hunting, lets get that out in the open!
<br> I went out yesterday...Upper NY, opening day. You are allowed to hunt 1/2 hour before sunrise to noon only.
<br> That means able to shoot 5:20AM.
<br> I was in position and in my ground bling (camo burlap) and I was in camo too...at 5AM.
<br> This calling "thing" has me confused. I have watched videos etc...
<br> I used a HS Strutt Locator call (gobbler call that gobbles)...the black and plastic one you shake. I sent out a gobble...(it is not very loud)....then I waited 15 minutes. NOTHING. I did this again...waited 15 minutes...nothing.
<br> Then I went to my Box call (again, HS Strutt). Let out several series of turkey gobbling...this one is nice and loud...and wited 15 minutes...nothing.
<br> I had one Jake decoy out at 20 yards.
<br> My spot is in the woods...on the edge os a cut cornfied (small field about 1 acre)...LOADED with turkey scratching and tracks...and have seen turkey there MANY times during deer season in November.
<br> I tried not to move at all etc...
<br> My brother was hunting in the forest about 200 yards away, his first time also, and he called in a single Hen. Thats it.
<br> Am I doing the calling series properly? After one single morning, I have gotten myself confused on calling. I was trying to not "overcall" and thus the 15 minute waits between volleys.
<br> ANY advice appreciated. Wish I could hunt the afternoons...but cannot shoot after noon-time in NY.
<br> Also, my Ithaca model 37 featherweight has a 30" vent-rib barrel (full choke)...12 gauge...but it SHINES and is not camo...should this be corrected, and how?
<br> Thank you all...and very best regards;
<br> Jake (not the turkey!)

mammoth - You have to correct the shiny gun.
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<br>First thing in the AM is to coax a real tom to gobble. Sometimes an owl or crow will do that for you. Otherwise, a purring sound from a friction call is the idea. Later in the AM, a yelping box call can be utilized to shock a gobbler into gobbling and approaching.
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<br>Turkeys have a range or circuit, so if they aren't there one morning, maybe the next.
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<br>Good luck and don't give up. sse

Thanks sse...forgot to mention...this area is LOADED with CROWS. Man, they are everyehere. Crows and Blue Jays...very Noisy. Figured this would mess the turkeys -up...or at least render a crow call useless.
<br> The crows were there also in Deer season last Nov...but those turkeys would march right on by me 20-25 turkeys or so at around 50-60 yards and not in any hurry...and all the while, the crows were squawking overhead.
<br> What does one do in this situation? Crows out the yang...noisy...chaos!
<br> I will buy a shotgun sock or something...to cut that shine.
<br> What is a friction call? Is that the round slate with the stick-looking set-up?
<br> Thanks again; Confused Jake!

MAMMOTH: in my experience on some mornings turkeys gobble their fool heads off at any noise and other mornings they don't utter a peep. for some reason, some days turkeys just do not gobble. so the lack of gobbling does not mean that turkeys are not present. and it doesn't mean one won't come without gobbling. on some days they may just do the spit and drum act. this noise is not readily heard to my ears from any distance.
<br> if i fail to get a gobble in the morning before i feel that turkeys would already have flown down i will not use a hen call. hen calling to turkeys in trees will usually keep them up in trees much longer than normal. i will not use the hen call until i know for sure that turkeys will be on the ground. and that is a while after you can see the ground good yourself. on cloudy rainy days it's much later than that. if you can locate a gobbler in a tree before daylight do not go up close to it. stay back a couple hundred yards to avoid the risk of the bird spotting you. when you get set up give three or four soft yelps or tree yelps. if the bird answers do not call again. wait until he flies down. then give him a short yelp series once. if that doesn't bring him he probably isn't coming. as i have said before, most turkeys are NOT killed coming off the roost. it's later in the morning when they are the most vulnerable.
<br> a shiny gun will not matter until you get a bird in sight. and maybe not then. my goal when setting up is to situate myself so when the turkey comes over a hill are around some obstacle he is close and he doesn't have time to get out of the way. if you sit where you can see one a mile he can see you a mile and a half! i suggest you sit under the crest of a hill and call the bird over. sit up close to the top in shooting distance. or reverse it and sit back from the edge of a steep hill and call him up the hill. that will eliminate the need for a camo'd gun. my son shoots a win. 97 with a light birdseye maple stock and forearm and an oil finish but that didn't matter a few weeks ago when we were sitting as formerly described. 2 mornings in a row and those 2 birds never had a chance to see that shiny gun.
<br> in fall and winter turkeys are flocked up and when you see them there are always a bunch of them. but in spring they spread out over a large area for nesting. it's actually better if there aren't a bunch of hens where you're hunting as that will make your hunt some easier. you will rarely if ever call a gobbler away from hens and usually they roost close together and fly down together. that's why it is tough to get them flying off the roost.
<br> best advise is to keep going, read all you can, maintain patience and vigilance and enjoy it come what may. so far this year i have not taken a turkey myself although i have have called in 3 for other people. but i have had a lot of fun going! luck!
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Mammouth,
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<br>I've hunted turkeys for along time and used to watch every video I could and go to NWFT events to learn also. To be truthful though I learned more by trial and error. Toms are just like people, they all have their own personality. I also have a gobbler call and often wonder why. About the only time it's helped was maybe roosting a bird in the evening. I've settled in to using diaphram calls and a fighting purr double box call. Sometimes that really gets them going in a frenzy. Try to use the gobble only as a locator and be VERY CAREFUL when you do . Acorns aren't the only nuts in the woods. Try hen yelping, clucking, cutting(really good call), and cackling. Don't get discouraged and keep at. Like I told my young nephew that I
<br> taught, "That's why they call it "huntin" instead of "shootin".
<br>I hunt the same area and the weather really went against us.
<br>Good luck, hunt safe!
<br>
<br>Qtip

Well: Report:
<br> WINDY...tree's falling DOWN in the woods...I got in my spot quite early and hunkered down against a tree...fully camo-ed...with one Jake decoy in the cornfield about 25 yards from me. Wind was flat-out!
<br> Every now-and-then the wind would quiet down for several moments...and I would give a series of clucks and purrs...then wind would kick back up and I just waited.
<br> Around 6AM, from the woods to my left...I heard "spit and drum" sounds for several minutes...then I heard the same sounds from my right at the same time...then quiet. NO other turkey sounds at all...NADA...ZILCH. Saw nothing except squirrels, crows(noisy as always). I did notice that after the rains of yesterday, field had fresh Turkey tracks. Also, as I was sitting there in the windy field edge, small downy feathers flew by me every now and then. I suppose that is turkey's way of telling me to drop-dead or something?
<br> Usually, when it was momentarily quiet, really very still and the sun was shining through the tree's....that is exactly when a JET would roar overhead and kill the quiet.
<br> All in all...just another morning in the woods...and that sure beats a morning anyplace else!
<br> As for me...I am going back tomorrow morning...and the next...and the next...etc...untill I get a TURKEY! I just hope having the whole month of May is enough time...for me!
<br> THANK YOU ALL for your help. I suppose the rest of it I must learn for myself by doin it. BUT I will say, that any of YOU would most likely have taken a Turkey this mornin if it was YOU sittin in my spot instead of me.
<br> Best to all; Jake

Q-TIP: i have suggested those fighting purr calls in here a few times but can't seem to get anybody interested. i really like that call and it has pulled a hunt out for me 3 or 4 times. it is an exciting call to use and completely differant from any other type of calling. and they are easy to use. so far as i can tell in here you and i are the only ones that use this type of call. luck!

Hey Mammoth!
<br>I'm trying for my first bird in the morning. Are you anywhere near Glensfalls or Lake George area?
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Hey Squacks,
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<br>My fighting purr call is a Preston Pittman and it is all in one unit. I've seen some that are two separate calls but I like this the best. One side has a wood peg and slate and the other is wood on wood. Best of all if used alone you have the equivalent of two box calls. I also use his diaphrams as nobody around here sells them. They just sound different, and different is what it takes sometimes. Good luck huntin'. I've made believers out of a couple of people.
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<br>QTIP
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<br>Soli deo gloria

mammoth - SQUACKS has forgotten more about turkey hunting than I'll ever know, nonetheless, don't go in the woods with a shiny gun.
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<br>regards, sse

sse: that's good advise. my only point was that a shiny gun is not neccessarily going to keep a sneaky turkey hunter from being successful. a dull gun is better. when my son and i went i had a dull gun along but he wanted to use that old 97. he had never taken a turkey with it. now he has 2. i learned that "sitting up close to a steep hill or rise" the HARD way. and it is one of the best ways to get CLOSE to a gobbler. and there are no decoys needed when i do it either. of all the turkeys i have taken and called in for other people only 1 was taken with decoys. in hilly wooded country i don't even want one.
<br> now in flat or open country i would think decoys would be needed. that would give the birds something to fix on rather than looking for the caller. the reason that sitting up close to a hill crest works is that when the bird gets up to where he could possibly spot you he is well within gun range and his superior eyesight doesn't have time to help him out.
<br>now using these tactics will cost you something. you will not get to see that old gobbler strut and display for you as would probably happen with decoys. he will be looking for you and since there will obviously be no hen waiting over the hill his suspicions get active quickly! so using this method i shoot as soon as i have a clean shot.
<br> as you can see i have not mentioned calling or calls. i am of the opinion that calling is secondary to position. being in the exact right spot is important. most anybody can get a gobbler interested in calling on a given day. but if you have sit your carcass in a spot that a turkey will not feel comfortable in coming to or if he can see exactly where you are sitting from a hundred yards out and can't see the hen that's doing the calling then you may be doing a lot of turkey calling and no turkey shooting. i have called a LOT of gobblers and got to shoot a few! but that's why i keep going back. it's the challenge! nobody will be successful all the time. luck!

friction calls are the type of calls that produce the sound by rubbing 2 objects together no matter what material they might be made of. these types of calls consist of slate type calls with strikers, box calls and those push button type calls. you can change the sound of your slate type calls by using differant types of strikers. if you are completely depending on friction calls to call your turkey then it is a good idea to have at least one that is truely waterproof! it's a natural fact that some days you will be hunting in the rain. in the segment "what in your call arsenal" i gave a combination of call and striker that is waterproof.
<br>the other type of calls are generally considered mouth calls. these can be diaphram, tube type or wingbone calls.
<br>of these 3 by far the easiest to learn is the tube call. there is no gagging on a tube call. there are many more varieties of diaphram calls. these are well worth learning as they are light and noiseless to carry. i have never been able to make a purr on one and i have tried a lot. but they make great cutting sounds that will often make the old turkey gobble and give up his position.
<br>wingbone yelpers were hard for me to learn and when a turkey is coming in to it i get excited and sometimes make a few flubs. it doesn't seem to bother the turkeys much but it sure makes me cringe when it happens!
<br>generally a box call will make all the noises needed to call turkeys. but as already stated some days it's that call that sounds "differant" that drives them to distraction! so i carry a BUNCH! luck!