Turkey Hunting.....Tips/Techniques/Stories

Nailed a 19 pounder this morning. Had him roosted and he flew down opposite of my dekes. I gave him a few light clucks and he started strutting at about 60 yards. He was holding tight, I scratched the leaves a little. He circled around SLOWLY and was directly to my left. When he turned, I eased my gun up but he caught movement. He putted one time, I knew he was outta there so I didn't hesitate. He was at about 50 yards, I thought it was more like 40, but he took a dirt nap. 10" beard, 3/4 and 7/8 inch spurs. Nice 2 year old bird. This was my 2nd day out this season.

 

Great birds fellas and excellent stories!! Congrats!!!

Well we had a good time but the kids haven't connected yet. My son and I had a hen in the field with us yesterday and she circled the blind and foraged around us for about 2 hours. That was fun and entertaining. Rain rain go away..........wow what a wet spring. Hope the hens can still get in a good brood for the year.

 

hey im just starting out (muley and elk season is too far away) i just have a few turkey q's

are push pin calls the easiest call (like just push the button and a turkey calls back... haha jk but do they sound good?)


3" 5 shot(lead) in a 12g is good for out to 40 yards right(with a xtra full choke .690)?

 

I alternate between a box and slate call. No idea about any other methods, although I should try a diaphram call. I've had good luck with #4 and #5 shot with a turkey choke on my Rem 870. Made shots out around 40 yrds with that set up with no problem.

 

hahaha ya same here in utah. but it goes snow snow(8" last night in may!!???) go away.

 

I would say, yes and yes.

you can purr, putt, and yelp, all with one hand, and it was one of the first calls I taught my kids to use. A box call is very easy too. The only better option than one hand with a push button is no hands with a diaphram.

Remember to practice a lot and learn the calls of the wild turkey. Also, remember that turkeys aren't the perfect callers so you don't have to sound like a pro. Have fun and enjoy the spring woods coming to life.

 

spring gobbler opened april 30 in PA. was done at 7:40 am. 8 1/2" beard. sometimes it's easy,sometimes its not. my favorite call is a lynch world champion box , also use mouth calls, slatecalls, and a waterproof box, if conditions warrant. I don't think i'm that good a caller, but somehow I manage to call in a gobbler every year. my old faithfull lynch has gotten me most of my turkeys , but it's also the call I use the most. because it's double sided it has two different sounds. sometimes I use both sides to call,and a mouth call. sounds like several different hens.

 

does anyone know how many general turkey tags you can buy in utah?

 

Not trying to be a dick here but the only way you'll know if your setup is good out to 40 yards is to try it. Every gun and choke combo is different, even the same brands sometimes like different loads. You'll need to keep trying different things to see what patterns the best. My 835 loves a .690 Jelly Head choke. When the bore is polished it puts almost 200 pellets in a 10" circle at 40 yards using 3.5" 2.5 oz #6 Hevi-13s. If you haven't patterned your gun you'll have no idea how effective it will be at various distances.

 

nah man your good. as soon as my choke and shells come from cables(tomorrow) im going out to pattern it. my o/u really likes a full and mod with kentfast steel with 3 shot

 

I’ll save you the regurgitation of my past hunts, but suffice it to say; while I have killed three turkeys in 5 years I never really had my own skills tested to see if I could trick a wary tom. That changed Friday.

My wife conveniently scheduled our family vacation during third season…so that tag got unused. But I watched the forecast for season 5 and took a floating holiday for Friday. As I get older, I find myself hating to get up at O’Dark-thirty to hunt by myself. Just a personal issue I have…

I got out of the car and was walking to the spot at shooting time. It was fairly quiet and I was getting a bit concerned as there had been a gobbler or two in this area a few weeks before when I brought my son out during second season. He and I had no luck, a jake toyed with us a bit but I could not come close to teasing that gobbler away from the hens.

However, he began gobbling from roost as I neared where I wanted to set up. I got set, waited a bit and then struck the glass a few times. He immediately responded. He was farther away than I had hoped, but but made is way towards me at fly down. He gobbled and strutted just to my north around the corner of timber. I never set eyes on him but could hear it all, he was SO close! After about 30 minutes of trying to lure my decoy to him, he had enough and walked back to where he had been roosted. I decided I needed to mix it up for him so I pulled up stakes and made way to the south side of this patch of timber. He had set up in a field just off the southeast corner of the timber so I got me decoy out on the south side and hit the call. He was all fired up. The problem was, at about 100 yards there is a ditch that formed from all of the runoff from recent rains. This guy was not crossing it, it was apparent he was “old school” and believed the hen should come to the gobbler.

Again, after about 30 minutes of this little tango of back and forth, he went closed mouth. I was depressed. However, it was such a nice morning I decided I’d give it one more shot. My plan was to walk back through the timber to where I set up originally then walk down around the east end of the timber and see if I could get set up on the other side of him.

I took my time and eased around. I even found a shed on the way, but no mushrooms…



As I approach my destination, there is a thin line of trees with a ditch through it between me and the field where he was last gobbling. As I made my way through, I see his tail as he struts around a corner south of me. “Great! He’s got another hen!” I set up in the ditch anyway.

I got settled in and hit the glass. Nothing. I waited a bit and hit it again…still nothing. My heart sank. I sat pondering my options. Then I pulled out the Old Hen box and gave it a go, he immediately responded! I hit again and could tell he had gone into the timber south of me and up a hill. He had turned and was walking across the top and working his way back toward me. I switch back to the glass and he was still coming. I wasn’t sure where he’d come out so I just got ready. It was quiet for a bit, but then he gobbled just as he was coming out to my southeast.

He had worked his way all the way around the south and came out opposite of where he went in. As he came out, there was no doubt he saw my Primos hen, but he made no real solid indication he was interested. At about 70 yards he just began walking/feeding to the west, and just my luck, I could not see him. I waited and waited. I was just about to re situate to see if I could get an angle on where he might be when I just caught a glimpse of him all puffed up and strutting right to the decoy. A minute later his head was on the end of my bead.



After three setups, I had finally worked a bird to the decoy myself. It really makes you feel good to earn them like that. Don’t get me wrong, a person should appreciate every bird he gets, they are such tough animals to hunt. But wow, what a thrill to finally convince a wary bird to decoy!

23 pounds, 1 inch spurs, and a 9” beard. To my surprise, looks like he was trying to grow a second beard!

 

Sounds like patience and persistence paid off. Great story and Congrats!

 

Congrats fellas, awesome stories!!!

Great story oz. Felt my adrenaline pumping like I was right there. Great pics, thanks for sharing and mucho congrats on the deception over a weary tom!

 

Congrats on a great bird! Sounds like a great hunt. BTW, that is a second beard. He'd score a bit higher because of it...

 

KILLED MY FIRST BIRD THIS MORNING!!! Yeah it was awsome to say the least.... I have been hitting the woods hard this year with no luck... I managed to call one in for my hunting buddy for a couple weeks ago but I had not had the chance to put a bead on one myself. This is my frist year of turkey hunting and I have absolutly fallen in love. I have learned alot over this season and still have a ton to learn!! We were walking to our spot at about 530 this morning after about a two mile walk to our spot ( if you have never hunted in the N. Ga mountains... there is alot of walking involved) Anyways the wind was rediculous this morning and we really thought that we were not going to have much luck. We were wrong. We heard the first tom about 200 yards down the ridge from us at about 6:30 so we shagged ass down to him. He was still on the roost and was red hot. We sat down not 75 yards from him and he decided to fly down about 45 yards in front of me. I let him take a couple more steps and knocked the safety off. And that was the end of his life!! He had a 10 inch beard with 1 inch spurs. Im guessing he prob weighed about 18 pounds or so, we didnt have a way to get a weight on him. There was at least another three birds further down the mountain from us but the terrain was just to extreme to try and persue them. Having lived in the mountains all my life, Ive learned to pick my battles and i was not about to treck off the side of that mountain. Well thats how I spent mothers day morning and time to go spend some quaility time with the Ma...[/IMG]

 

hey guys still trying to get my first tom and have a quick Q:


do toms mainly call in the morning??

i've been out every chance i get but i've only got to go out once in the morning. that morning a tom was going crazy and calling back to me but i could get him to cross a fence on to public land.....

but in the evenings i cant get any of them to call back.


whats going on?

 

Ive had turkeys gobble at me all throughout the day, you gotta find a way to get that tom away from his hens and to you. Dont call to much just enough to let him know your there. The best way I have found to get them in is to get them to fly to you from the roost. goodluck hope this helps

 

thanks man..... ya im trying to get them to call back in the evenings cuz class starts at 715 so i cant go before school

 

You have to cut them off to their roost then, A tom isnt going to leave a bunch of hens unless there is something much better for him somewhere else.

 

Ben, congratulations on your first bird, great job!!!! It's dandy!!!



Stokesy, remember the two main things that trigger a longeard gobble. A shock or scare, and loneliness.

I took my bird this year at 2pm. I located him at about 1:30pm and he gobbled all the way in. He was a 2 year old, and they tend to be the ones that do that more than an older bird.

I wish you much success in harvesting that first bird.