Help Bill get his first turkey

[Bills Custom Calls]

I am gonna have Questions

How do you locate gobblers
What call do you use
Once you locate then set up I know camo plays an important roll in hunting turkey
Lets start there
Feel free to add what I might forget to ask


Thanks

[FinsnFur]

How big of a Turkey do you want?
I'm telling you right now, if you walk into the bathroom and look into the mirror, you'll be staring into the eyes of one about 180-190 pounds.

[Bills Custom Calls]

I was kinda thinking of a 20 pounder with a 10 inch beard and 3 inch spurs

No wonder Chris has been looking at me with a little twinkle in her eye I have slimmed down some  :roflmao: :roflmao:

I didn't think anybody noticed 

[Coulter]

Yep, camo plays a vital rioll in turkey hunting. Those birds have some awesome eye sight. I would recommend a camouflage pattern that matches the surroundings you plan to hunt in and then sit still. The slightest movement - even a blink or your butt cheeks flapping wildly around while you flatualte will alert them to your presence.   Let me know if I can help ya some more.

Seriously though - are ya looking for information that is a bit more specific?

[Bills Custom Calls]

Yes
I need to know how to locate once I locate then lets talk set up.How do I know the direction he is gonna come from.Will he come straight to the call?Will he circle way out then come to the call? Will he take the easiest rout to the call 

[KySongDog]

I can guarantee you that you'll find the CHEAPEST turkey at your local grocery store.   

Here some random thoughts:

Scout and hunt where the birds are   
Wear full camo, hat, mask, gloves, etc.
Get a tape or CD and practice hen yelps and cutting, purrs and clucks. I use these most of the time
I use a diaphram call and box call mostly
Do not use the gobble call in the woods. It attracts hunters 
Do not hunt hen calls.  You might get shot    Hens aren't legal anyways in the spring
Sit still......do not move.
I use an owl call early in the morning to get them to gobble if they don't do it on their own.
Get in the woods WAY before daylight
Turkeys see and hear everything.....set up no less than 100 yards unless terrain or foilage allows you to get closer.
Set up so when you see the turkey he is in range
Pattern your shotgun
Get a comfortable seat! Set with your back to a big tree that covers your shoulders if at possible.
Keep your gun up! You never know when the bird will show and you can't raise the gun if he can see you. Wait till he walks behind a tree to make any movements
If you wear glasses, fog proof them.

There are a million other things but those should help some.   

Good luck!

Semp

[KySongDog]

Yes
I need to know how to locate once I locate then lets talk set up.How do I know the direction he is gonna come from.Will he come straight to the call?Will he circle way out then come to the call? Will he take the easiest rout to the call 

Sometimes they come in on a string. Sometimes they circle. Sometimes they hang up and thumb their waddles at ya. 
They are easier to call up hill than down hill I think.  Try to get on the same level with the bird or at least get above him.

Semp

[Coulter]

There are a couple of methods used for locating...some guys go out the night before and put a bird to bed so to speak. They basically just find the roost tree and a good spot to set up by it in the AM. I don't usually have time to do this, but I would try it if I had more time the night before.

The method I use is knowing there are turkeys in the general area and go in early in the am, before first light. If there are turkeys in the area there's a good chance they will be gobbling on their own. If you think some are around but the woods are quiet - give a couple hoots on an owl hooter or a couple of soft yelps on a turkey call. They should gobble at this point if they are in hearing range. Once you have them located and have found a good spot to set up - sit tight and take a nap until first light. There are numerous schools of thought on what to do prior to the tom flying down - some guys call normally, some guys will call softly once or twice and shut up, and some guys will not call until the bird flies down.

Once the bird is down, there is no telling where he might go. I have had them gobble back to me once they hit the ground and shut right up not to be seen again for a few hours, and I have had them not make a peep once they hit the ground. They aren't like coyotes with using wind to their advantage, they utilize the terrain more. The best thing I can tell you is know the area you are hunting intimately. You should know every creek, ditch, fence or other obstacle that may keep them out of your shotguns range. If they do cross one of these - I would consider it nothing more than sheer luck. There is no real way of knowing which way a bird will come in - this goes back to using the terrain to your advantage as well. Try to guess which way he will come and then set up in the opposite direction. Well, not really. But it does seem like that at times.

When is your season anyway? I might be due for a road trip sometime in May, if I have all my tags filled

Steve

[Bills Custom Calls]

Now we are talking


OHIO

Youth-- April 19th-20th.

April 21st-May 18th.  1/2hr before sunrise til noon.

Thanks fellers

[HaMeR]

I'll help you too Bill. You just gotta let me know when you're going out & I'll be there.   

[Silencer]

All the advice given so far is top notch, not much I can add. 

They are easier to call up hill than down hill I think.  Try to get on the same level with the bird or at least get above him.

  Not many people know this 

[Bills Custom Calls]

What about a decoy? Is it better to have one,or take a chance without  more then one
How far away do I set the decoy from my stand?Do I set the decoy in open sight or hidden some so the tom has to look a little bit?

Thanks guys

[Silencer]

If I have time in the morning before daylight on a pre-planed hunt where I've scouted and know where they're headed  I'll set up a lone hen about 20-25yds out where I want to shoot. 

Afterward if that fails I run n gun for em and usually dont have the time to set one up.

[alscalls]

Bill, just go out a few evenings and sit up on a high point and listen......just listen. Until it is so dark you think I am out hunting coyotes. If the gobblers are not calling at all, you will hear their wings flapping as they fly up to roost. if you are not sure if they are gobblers wait until O dark thirty- ish and hit the loudest coyote howl you have and they should shock gobble. This only works if there are turkeys present of course but when you find them kind of keep track of them from time to time to see if they moved just by sneaking in and listening. LEAVE YOUR TURKEY CALLS HOME you do not want to educate them.
The night before you go hunting put em to roost. By just listening you should already know about where they are so listening is all you need at this point. Then you move to within 75 to 100 yds. of them the next mourning and see what you can do with them. Do not get to where they can see you from the roost   Stay just around the corner or ideally up hill from them, they are easier to call up a hill.
There is a lot more to it than this but I think this should keep you busy for a while.
Did you know this little trick?... If he hangs up and you can see him wait till he is facing strait at you and SHOOT! he will fly the direction he is facing and you can get him on the second shot.
http://www.geocities.com/alscalls/coyote.html

[nailbender]

   Good thread Bill !  You guys are helping me at the same time.  Thanks!  Dave
The NWTF website has turkey sounds on it to help with practice.

[wv_yoter]

I'm with nailbender, this thread is very helpful to me too. Thanks fellas

[BigB]

Lots of good info so far.  I've also heard that when they fly down from the roost, they prefer to fly towards an uphill slope than downhill.  Coulter is also correct - know the terrain very well.  They don't like crossing creeks and fences at all.  They ones that I have had cross fences, ended up being jakes.  I use decoys, especially early in the season when there isn't any underbrush grown up on the ground.  Later in the season, they have to search harder through the foliage to find the hens, and are less prone to hang up out there about 50+ yards and just strut around.

I like to hunt later in the season because of the foliage.  You can get away with more movement as you are walking through the woods.  It's hard to walk in the wide open without being seen especially if there isn't any foliage around.  

I set up on the edge of the open fields along the timber.  When they are out patrolling for hens, they walk the edges of the fields next to the cover.  They can cover some pretty good ground in a day.  And I've had them travel about 3/8th of a mile to a call before.  Don't try to get too close.  If you do, the chances are really high that you will bump them and they'll head the other direction.  I do this at least twice a season before I realize that I don't need to get that close.  And I keep telling myself that I won't do it again.

Don't worry about smell and wind direction.  If they could smell, we would never kill em.

I use a hawk scream to try to get them to shock gobble.  I don't have an owl hooter.  I don't use a coyote howl in the morning to locate.  I found that they tend to go the other direction when they hear a howl.

If the toms are with hens, good luck.  You may be able to call the hens to you easier than to call a tom away from the hens to you.  A lost hen yelp is a good call for those times.  Call the hens to you and the toms will follow.

I rarely use binoculars when hunting, but turkey time I always have them on.  If you can see the turkeys before they see you, that is a huge bonus.  If they do see you and they are more than 100 yards away.  FREEZE!!  They will check you out for about 30 seconds.  If you don't move, they will keep doing their thing.  Slow movements are a must, especially when there are multiple eyes on the lookout.

I like a box call for a breezy day, and a slate call otherwise.  The very first turkey I called in was with the pump action yelper (12 years ago).  That goes to show that about any type of call will call them in.  A diaphragm gets used every once in a while.  The yelp will be more than adequate to kill a tom, and the other vocalizations are an added bonus if used at the right time.

Good luck Bill.

Brian

[iahntr]

I'll throw my pennies worth in here too. If somebody disagrees with somethin, feel free to jump in, we can all learn from each other.
Like everybody else was sayin if ya know where there roosted and your goin to set up on em, this is where knowin the terrain helps,
you want to try and set up close, but don't get busted and kick em off the roost. Then your hunt's kinda done before it started.
I hate to admit the number of times I thought I was far enough away, and still got busted. When I'm set up with em on the roost,
( this is where Steve was talkin about different opinions) as it gets closer to light usually ya hear em start talkin, right before I think there gonna
fly down I like to call softly to em. Most of the time I just mimic what there doin. Sometimes you can get that old boss hen irritated with ya.
Sometimes I'll do the fly down cackle first before they fly down. Part of the reason I do this is because I'm bow huntin and I have my blind
and decoys all set up, and I hunt ground with a few other bow hunters so because of those two reasons I don't have the mobility to go
after em once they fly down if they head off in the other directions. It seems like more then not, if I don't get em to come in fairly quick after
fly down, if I'm limited to stayin put in the same spot, I just as well take a nap in the blind cause I'm not gettin any action until the Toms get done
with the hens they left with, and are lookin for more action. If you can move around and they go the other direction from fly down, try and circle
around em and get in front of the direction there goin.
Once you're at the point that you got one gobblin and you know he's comin to ya I usually stop calling, if he stops gobblin after a while, or he gobbles
several times from same spot I may give him a couple more calls. Basically don't go nuts callin and think ya gotta answer him for every gobble he does.
If he gobbles several times from same spot and he's still out a ways where you can, get up and move so he thinks the hen is movin.
I do like to use decoys. Sometimes I'll use a single hen, some times I'll use a hen or two and a jake. I set them up within shooting distance.
I like to change up my calls and sounds. Sometimes because I'm bored, sometimes because a different sound gets em goin when one didn't.
There's some of my "vast knowledge" I've learned (most of it the hard way) over the past several years, and the many, many (one) birds
I've harvested over the years.    I'd hate to say how many birds I've had within, or close to shootin range without bein able to seal the deal
for one reason or another. I can tell ya if your bow huntin your chances are increased greatly with usin a blind.  I tried it for several years
with out, and would get busted or not even be able to draw on em. I'm not sayin it's impossible or anything, I just think your odds are way better usin one.
I hope a few of the pros join in so we can hear what they have to say. If I think of somethin else good I forgot I'll add it later.
                                                                                                                                                                                    Scott
- couple other things I just thought of, when they were talkin about callin a bird easier up hill then down, that's another reason why I like to set up on ridge lines.
I also like to set up on field edges like Brian was sayin. The other one was don't think your hunt is blown if ya mess up and do a little "crappy" callin.
I've had it before where I had some of the worst callin coming towards me and I wondered what the heck somebody was doin coming towards me when
they weren't supposed to be over there , and out pops a hen.  So ya don't have to be perfect all the time. 

[KySongDog]

I think calling is maybe 10% and setup is 90% of the hunt.  A one note cluck will bring a turkey in if he wants to come.  If you're calling and hit a sour note just blended it in and keep going. Rhythm is most important.  Heck, if you got him roosted in a tree there's a 50% chance he will fly down on your side of the tree without you even calling at all! Setup is critical.

Another thing, if its raining they like to go to the fields.  For those days, I set up in a Double Bull blind with a decoy or two out front and wait them out while staying dry.

Semp

[possumal]

Bill:  When I was serious about hunting turkeys, I found you could shock gobble them with about any loud, high pitched sound. Your coyote howler is about as good as you can get.  Somebody put out a call that sounded just like a screaming peacock, pretty easy to master.  On the other hand, an owl hooter like the Knight & Hale will sometimes make them gobble right on the roost. Same for crow calls.  All that being said, you can hear them without all that when they have love on their mind.  In my opinion, they are not a very smart creature. They are naturally sneaky and have a damned neck that they can stick up like a periscope.  They have excellent hearing and excellent eyesight.  If they had a good sense of smell, you may never see one.  When they are gobbling a lot and really in love with love, they are relatively easy to hunt.  When they have a harem of hens, and clam up, it gets considerably more difficult for you to stay focused.  If you get set up on a good strut zone, like an open hay ridge or field with cover all around, those big old toms will remember where they heard that anxious, hot hen, when their harem slips off to head to the nest and sit her eggs. He'll come back to check that other promising girlfriend out if you have the patience to wait them out.  They are likely to come any number of sneaky ways to get back to her, and that is where a motion hen is dandy.   I always liked to use a jake decoy and a hen on the nest nearby to further piss him off.  I hate ticks and hot, humid weather, and I'd rather hunt coyotes.  Coyote hunting never gets old to me. Good luck on getting a big tom.