Called my first turkey...

[Crow Terminator]

This is my sophomore year of turkey hunting. I guess I got tired of hearing all the veteran turkey hunters that I know, tell me "hey we'll go one day..." and me not ever seeing that "one day" come around. So I have fully decided to learn everything from scratch on my own. Not an easy task mind you.

Last year was a humbling year. Everybody I knew was hearing turkeys and killing the devil out of them...I went all year and never even heard a bird gobble, much less see one.

This year started off different. I heard one gobble on the roost the other day and then it hushed. Then about 4 hours later I had a hen slip in and came to my calling from behind me. She busted me, started making a weird sound that I'd never heard before...and she was gone. That has me fired up!

Seeing you guys post the kill threads is getting me going.

So I have a few questions for you from a newbie.

1. How often do you call? I've just been going in and sitting still and doing light calling...then be quiet for an hour or so, then more light calling.

2. If you go in to a place, and don't hear any birds gobble of the morning...do you find a place to sit and just stay put or move on? I only have access to 60 acres...turkeys are on it but it's the only land I have available. This limits my mobility so to speak.

3. Decoys...yes or no? I've only in the last year or so, started to see the effectiveness of decoys in crow hunting...and every body on TV has turkey decoys. The problem is...everybody on TV also rattles and calls in deer, and such...and I've rarely had it work. I've got a couple decoys now...have a B-Mobile and She-Mobile. Not even put them out or anything....been trying to get them to take their correct shape...they want to cling on to the form they were in while in the box.

4. Mouth calls. Are they essential to kill one? I for the life of me, can't sound any better than a dying cottontail or some predator call with one. I've got one call that I can make sound "somewhat" like the learner CDs I have...and that is it. The rest of my calls are friction calls and such. My best sounding two (to my ear) are David Halloran pot calls. I've got a slate one and a glass one.

5. Locator calls...owls and such. I have one friend that swears them off...he kills plenty of turkeys...usually limits out in east Tennessee every year. He don't ever use a locator call. He says the less they know about his location, the better. And I've heard others say right the opposite. Thoughts on this? I have several owl calls and such...none of them sound like a barred owl to me. I can do it better with my mouth than any call I have...actually can get the owls to come to me and start talking like a bunch of monkeys in the trees lol. Crows...well obviously I have a ton of crow calls. Several hand made ones that sound like a real crow...but there are so many crows around here that you can hear them at any given time of the day and I never hear turkeys gobble at them.

Fields or Woods? Most turkey hunts on TV are on the edges of fields. But so are the deer hunts...and I kill most of my deer in woods. I think they do it for camera light purposes and such and for ease of filming the critters coming in...but have never tried setting up on a field for turkeys. I'm new to this ya know.

 

[Grizzly Johnson]

Turkey hunting can be a humbling sport..... Public land and Private land hunting are two different beasts..... I find public land hunting will teach you more because of the obsticles you have to overcome while competing against others, sometimes in limited space.

1) Usually every 15 to 20 minutes, unless I am stalking/walking, then it may be every 100 yards or so depending on my pace.

2) Depends on if you KNOW birds are in the area and use it regularly. Seems where I am hunting, the toms are being tight lipped some mornings. Opening morning they didn't gobble until about 8:45.... may have been roosted with hens I don't know, but I saw them in the area the evening before and didn't figure they would have been too far away..... So I just kinda sat and stalked until they finally fired up.

3) IF they are visible from a ways.... in field hunting or woods that are pretty open, yes for visual stimulant. In thick woods or like now where there is thick green undergrowth.... no, because by the time they get to see where that decoy or calling hen should be, they are already in your lap anyway.... trigger time.

4) NO, practice, practice, practice. Some people have a bad gag-reflex and can't even use them.... Do what you can to get better, but use pot or box calls until you get the hang of the mouth calls.

5) I would rather use one when going in blind to hunt a place. He may not shock gobble to it every time though. If you feel more comfortable just easing in and waiting for him to gobble on his own, it works too.... then just move in his direction. If hunting public land, the fewer gobbles, the better. Other hunters will be seeking out his location and the more he gobbles, the higher the chances are someone else will be competing with you for his attention.

If you can owl with your voice, why waste money on a call.... As far as the crows... sometime they make a turkey gobble and sometimes they don't..... especially if there are good numbers of crows in the area and they hear them all the time.... try a hawk screamer or peacock call for something different. A coyote howler instead of an owl hooter, just don't draw out the howl as you might still be howling when he shock gobbles and you won't hear him.

Hunt where the birds are.... if you can't get on him in the woods and get him to work. Move out to the fields where they will likely end up feeding on bugs.... If hens are in the field, ole tom may just ease out to show off for the ladies. Fields are good for wet/rainy days as well.... and in the afternoons on sunny days, especially if pretty warm, set up on the shady side of the field as it will be cooler there and the birds may use that area first.

 

[Crow Terminator]

Thanks Grizzly!!

I have a bit of hearing loss in my right ear and it makes it tough sometimes to hear what direction stuff is coming from. This may hinder me a bit on turkeys. I'm having a tough time now trying to cipher whether I just heard a turkey gobble or if it was a woodpecker giving it all he's worth. LOL...especially off in the distance.

For lack of land I may start heading up into Tellico and hunting them mountain birds. I know they are up there...the only turkey I've ever killed came from up there (it flew off a ridge and slammed into my truck). I'm afraid to call too much on my 60 acres cause I don't want to make them call wise.

 

[Grizzly Johnson]

I have become aware of some hearing loss over the last two years. If it's a gobbling tom or a hen yelping far enough, I can't hear it but people hunting with me can.

I guess it's from all the gun blasts while hunting, being around heavy equipment years ago, and loud noise while working....


I hear them mountain birds are a different bird as well.... been told that if you can kill a mountain turkey, you can kill flatland birds easier.

Either way, best of luck to you!! Patience & Persistance is key.

 

[Winchester]

Some good advice, good luck!

 

[catman529]

She busted me, started making a weird sound that I'd never heard before...and she was gone.

Probably was "putting" and you will learn to hate that sound, lol. One thing if they spook and leave quietly but if they make that sound it tells all the birds to get away from you.

 

[de novo]

3. Decoys...have a B-Mobile and She-Mobile. Not even put them out or anything....been trying to get them to take their correct shape...they want to cling on to the form they were in while in the box.

Good luck, my B mobile is three years old and hasn't taken correct shape yet.

 

[ruger7mag]

3. Decoys...have a B-Mobile and She-Mobile. Not even put them out or anything....been trying to get them to take their correct shape...they want to cling on to the form they were in while in the box.

Good luck, my B mobile is three years old and hasn't taken correct shape yet.

Have ya'll tried a hair drier on the decoys? It worked on mine.

 

[plasticfantastic]

I highly recommend buying a set of good muff's, I have Peltor Tactical Sports and they are worth every penny. bought them mainly for the range, but they worked awesome turkey hunting this morning.

 

[Grizzly Johnson]

3. Decoys...have a B-Mobile and She-Mobile. Not even put them out or anything....been trying to get them to take their correct shape...they want to cling on to the form they were in while in the box.

Good luck, my B mobile is three years old and hasn't taken correct shape yet.

Run it under HOT water in the bathtub..... or turn the shower on hot and put it in there under the spray.

 

[Crow Terminator]

I got B-Mobile to take the right shape...put him on top of a 5 gallon bucket and left him outside in the sun all day. When I came out he was looking good. Gonna have to try the hair dryer or the hot water thing on She Mobile because I can't get her on top of the bucket lol

Had one of the better turkey hunters at work tell me if he is hunting call wise birds, he wont even do cutting or yelping in his calls. He said the most he does is purr and cluck, and scratch the leaves like a turkey scratching. He said he has killed more birds doing that than every other method he uses. Sounds like something I will try. He said after the hens go on the nest about mid day, they leave the Tom by himself and he kills most of his birds between 10 and 1 o clock. Which tells me I've been leaving too early.

 

[Grizzly Johnson]

If you run her under the hot water, be sure the stream hits the area where the folded place is.

 

[Crow Terminator]

Got her fixed with the hair dryer...worked awesome. Went early this morning...didn't hear anything. Went to Hardee's for a biscuit and gonna wait til about 11ish to try again for a lonely Gobbler whose hens have went to nest.

 

[sure shot]

if i dont hear any gobble in areas i know there are birds,set and call with 1-2 decoys out,every 15-20 min if its windy go louder.decoys almost always theres a learning curve with them as well i too have a b-mobile and until this year they all came running to it !! idk..mouth calls for you starting out get a single or double reed i suggest a single they take less air pressure until you get to making good notes then progress from there to a 2,3,4 reed if you want to.as far as slate glass or aluminum??? your call but get a box and pot call and learn to make fighting purrs with the pot,i have always owned a lynch box and i wont trade it for no other..locators i rarely ever get one to answer a crow,but a good raspy owl is the way to go,over the years i just use my mouth now....good luck hope this helps

 

[scn]

Crow,

Hang in there! IMO, successful turkey hunting is likely 80% woodsmanship and 20% calling. You have the woodsmanship background, so you will be successful.

Your friend that gave you the advice on clucks and purrs and scratching in the leaves is on the money. If you like to hear one gobble back at you, hammer away if you are good with the call. If you want to pull the trigger a little more, tone it down a little until you get really good with the call.

I killed a nice bird this morning and never touched a call. I saw him strutting at about 200 yds, slipped out of sight and cut the distance to about 75 yds, and got lucky with him wanting to strut my way. He was closer than I wanted when I saw him again, so I eased down and scratched in the leaves. He gobbled twice and strutted on in. 25% woodsmanship, 70% luck, and 5% knowing to keep my calls in the vest.

I agree with you resting your land occasionaly. You will learn a lot chasing those mountain birds.

I learned by myself withsome great advise from some old turkey hunters. It was a pretty long learning curve-but a lot of fun along with the frustrations. Hang in there!

 

[Crow Terminator]

I'm just thankful I have folks willing to help and answer my bizillion questions. I probably come across to some folks as being the TnDeer "know it all" that people ignore most of the time lol so this probably has folks scratching their heads. I'm tellin' ya...I am absolutely green on this topic.

I probably shouldn't have listened to my buddy about what shotgun choice to make. I was going to get a nice 12 gauge and let him talk me out of it and got a 20 instead. The gun itself is fine...it's a brand I had never heard of but has been 100% reliable for me after a hundred or so rounds now. It's a TriStar brand of semi-auto. I got it brand new for around $200....it is a crow killing machine. I can shoot a REALLY deadly group out to 45 yards with it but I have nearly $100 in the choke I got in it. The problem ain't the lack of killing power with it...it's lack of shell availability. Winchester Supreme #4 shot shoots really good out of it. I went to BPS today and they didn't have a single box of it. Everything was for 12 gauge...and plenty of it.

I did pick up another decoy though. I meant to get a Redhead brand Jake that they had on display...and didn't notice til I got home that I had grabbed the box for a hen...which I guess now I have two hens and a B-Mobile haha. Played with all the slate calls and box calls on display...like the ones I already have better than any of them. Did pick up another mouth call though.

The single reeded ones I can't get to sound worth a flip. All the ones I've bought marketed towards "beginners" style, I can't get to do anything more than a glorified high pitch squeel. Sounds like a turkey on helium and laughing gas. But I noticed the one good one that I have...is one of the several layered ones...that comes down to a V point. So I got a couple different brands of ones like that...and what do ya know...I can actually make them sound halfway decent. They are very raspy sounding but I can only do the purrs, clucks, and cuts. The yelps sound a little off to my ear with them. There has to be an in between somewhere though...maybe I can hit one just right and do pretty good yelps.

Anyway that's enough rambling for the night. Y'all be good and keep posting those kills. I'm gonna go find some more turkey land and turkeys in the next little bit. Been meaning to go trout fish a day anyway so I'll do a dual purpose run while I'm up there.

 

[scn]

Crow, trust me-just enjoy the process. I promise you that you will remember the ones that beat you a lot longer than the ones you flop. The "bad" ones are what makes it fun.

Mouth calls are great because they make a very realistic sound and you don't have any movement. I can use one OK, but just not as consistent as I want. Plus, I think a lot of birds hear more mouth calls than anything else. About three years ago I pretty much switched over to a box call, and a Roberts Bros. glass over slate and a Woodhaven aluminum call. My sucess went up.

I've heard some terrible sounding real hens, so worry less about your calling and more about finding a good set up spot and sitting still. It will happen for you if you hang in there!

 

[stik]

I've heard some terrible sounding real hens, so worry less about your calling and more about finding a good set up spot and sitting still. It will happen for you if you hang in there!

the first hen of opening morning sounded like somebody on an unchalked box call. sounded absolutely terrible. so bad that i was about to take off to run the "trespasser" off until the other hens joined in.