Beginner turkey hunting

[Wassid82]

best advice I can give is dont feel bad If it doesn't work out the first time (or few times). I always thought Turkeys were just some dumb bird that stumbled around the woods. Sometimes you'll find a stupid one but most are keen especially with their eye sight. After first light move slower than you think you need and sit longer than you think you should. If you are in a good area better to sit tight

 

[Anobody]

Where do I start
1. Beginner buy a push button call. Easy to use sounds like a turkey. More importantly than sounding like a turkey is knowing what your saying to him and when to say it. It’s easy to call and him gobble but all that means something and by calling to much or saying the wrong thing can mess up your hunt just as fast.
2. patience has killed more birds than the 870. If that bird answers you and goes away that’s ok hang tight he has a routine and will get to u sometime in the day. I can promise he knows exactly where he heard they lonesome girl earlier in the am. But also this is important because old wise birds dont gobble and will come in silent. I’ve killed a lot of birds by just seeing a red head coming through the woods and he never make a sound.
3 understand patterns and social areas: scout and find the roost food and strut areas and link them together this will help u Figure out where u need to be to hunt him. Old wise saying is “it’s easier to call a bird in a the direction he wants to go” all that’s based off scouting and patterns. With this finding g social areas like dust bowls will also increase success these are areas turkeys frequent and expect to see other turkeys so if u set up on these areas and use the above patience u can get in on birds as well.
For hill country. Try to get on level ground or above the turkey. It’s a security thing for the bird and a lot of times in hills all u get is the periscope of his head to shoot at. With that I’ve also found birds in hill country circle your position. Not sure why exactly but in my time when a bird came in it circles and got quiet. So patience and stillness will help and seeing him before he sees u is the fun part with hill country birds.

enough rambling for now

 

[Anobody]

Rant 2:
Decoy placement. Always try to sit perpendicular to your decoys in relation. To the direction Your bird is coming from. Nothing worse then working a bird directly behind your decoys...makes adjusting really rough.
when hunting on logging roads or long narrow stretches I like to place decoys past me 30-50 yards down from me and drag the Tom past me (again perpendicular). Lots of times birds will hang up away from decoys wanting the hens to come to him and by setting up this way even if he hangs up he should be in range.
I like to face my hen facing away and the jake toward me. Toms will go to the buissness end of both which can cuase him to circle in closer of your decoys are out at 30 yards or so.
quality decoy debate? Does it matter... if your shooting the bird when he shows up... no but quality decoys IMO will keep hens around and calm and I have had toms lock in on quality decoys way better than cheap foams.. will cheap foams work...yes.. shot many off them but I’ve also had them come in and leave before committing. So food for thought.

 

[rbljack]

lots of info provided already. Im no expert, but here is what comes to mind for me:
1. Pick up a slate call and box call right away and start listening to the turkey sounds (using podcasts, youtube, etc) to re-create them. Also start practicing with the mouth calls. If you don't get proficient with the mouth calls before the hunt....that's ok, because you still have the slate and box. Id save the box calls for windier days. They put out more volume. The slate lets you do softer more subtle calls.
2. Bring along a hen decoy even if you only run the cheapest ones....that distracts the gobbler a bit IMO and keeps his focus on the decoy.
3. You can locate roosted birds after dark, then slip in before daylight and get positioned. Sometimes very little calling is needed if you wait for the birds to come off the roost and then lightly hen call them to ya.
4. Patience patience patience. Don't overcall (its a mistake ive made WAY too often) and stay as still as possible. they detect movement SO well.
5. the reason its important to learn the mouth calls is because of #4 above. The mouth calls allow you to make sounds without moving your hands, or while holding the weapon.

 

[Vermont Hunter 34]

I’ve called all my birds in with box calls, and I usually set until 8-9 and then start walking and calling. This is the tactic I use and I have killed a bird on opening day every year with it

 

[CLB38]

Another beginner here getting ready for first turkey season. This is all great information. Thanks everyone!

 

[Vermont Hunter 34]

best advice I can give is dont feel bad If it doesn't work out the first time (or few times). I always thought Turkeys were just some dumb bird that stumbled around the woods. Sometimes you'll find a stupid one but most are keen especially with their eye sight. After first light move slower than you think you need and sit longer than you think you should. If you are in a good area better to sit tight

Exactly
Don’t underestimate turkeys!!

 

[evanszach7]

Soft call... clucks and purrs> yelps

If hens are yelping nearby, cut them off and mimick them.

If birds are quiet, learn they're strut zones, then wait them out with soft calling.

If you don't have one roosted, get to a high point and listen. Pressured birds might not reply to an owl or crow locator. I'll usually just listen for the first 30-45 minutes then move in or move on depending on my knowledge of that area.

 

[nettereo16]

The two things I learned as a self-taught turkey hunter:

1. Don't overcall. It's fun to hear them gobble back but once he's fired up, SHUT UP! Give him 15 minutes he'll get curious and start sneaking in your way. When I first started I would have birds at 80 yards gobbling their heads off but not coming in. I was definitely calling too much & too often.

2. 10-12AM - generally the roost hunt first thing in the morning is exciting but then birds go silent 7-930AM. 10-12 can be awesome. Start walking and calling. If you strike a bird it's likely he's alone and will be very willing to come running in.

 

[jmez]

If you are going to use mouth calls, download the sound cloud app on your phone. What you hear when calling is generally different than the sounds you are actually making. Call and record, then listen to it. Cadence, rhythm, and breaking the reed correctly are the most parts of a mouth call.

Hunt the hens. A lot of over calling advice and that is true with toms. On hens you can't overcall. If a hen answers one of your calls immediately call back to her the same sounds she made. This will go back and forth and she will get agitated increasing volume and urgency of calling. Increase as she does. When you are sure she's coming your direction start cutting her off and call over her. She will walk right to you and the toms will be following.

Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk

 

[Rangerpants]

Great info from lots of folks! I hunt just about everything but turkeys and am going to give them a call in a week when the season opens up. Lots to try and lots of mistakes to make. Any thoughts from anyone on hunting in burn scars? Are turkeys like deer in that they are drawn to them when they start to regenerate?

 

[Huntnfish89]

Following as I'm in the same position. Like always, a ton of great information here.

 

[kpshunts91]

Have you ever considered starting out with a shotgun? Turkey hunting can be pretty tough, a shotgun would allow you to learn the basics before you take on the challenge of killing a bow gobbler

 

[Huntnfish89]

Have you ever considered starting out with a shotgun? Turkey hunting can be pretty tough, a shotgun would allow you to learn the basics before you take on the challenge of killing a bow gobbler

I don't know if this was in response to the OP or me, but for me, I chose to spend my $ on a bow instead of a scatter gun this year so that kinda sums it up. Perhaps as the season wears on I might borrow one of my friends and take that out, but it would also be fun to try and get one with an arrow.

 

[Campcreek12]

try to use a non turkey locator (owl early, crow later in the morning) before you hit your turkey call. Close the distance quickly while using terrain to hide.. Dont be scared to bump em, it happens and you will do it sometimes. Get decent with a mouth call, you dont have to be great at it. Sometimes less is more. Use a box to make em gobble and close em with a mouth call.

 

[KaBoilers]

I did my first ever turkey hunting this spring. Loved it! Had two mornings in a row with lots of chatter to a group of 3 Toms and 7 hens. I jumped straight into a mouth diaphragm and probably butchered it a bit, but they kept gobbling back at me so I couldn’t stop . First morning, the neighbor woo’d them out of the woods in between us and filled his tag. Second morning was very windy and I had a blind whipping around a lot. Had two of the Toms to 100 yrds across the field, but I think I over called them or the blind whipping around spooked them. They would not come to my decoys, though they were already hen’d up so not sure I had a good setup with a Jake and two hens.

I ended up stalking that group after it crested a hill. The wind covered my noise and I closed to 40 yrds and was able to shoot one right as he saw me and made to scoot off. I’d call it pretty lucky but boy was it fun!!