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Turkey hunting/calling for a first timer

5K views 44 replies 17 participants last post by  Coondog 
#1 ·
I'm taking the plunge this year and buying my first turkey tag. I have a clover rye and chicory plot I'll be mowing in the spring that I get turkeys passing through pretty often so I'm pretty much going to post up there knowing the turkeys roost just up the ridge. These birds aren't hunted whatsoever in the immediate area and like to dust in the landowners front yard under his pines. I own a slate call that I've messed with a bit but are there any other calls I should pick up or can I get it done with the slate call? The clover plot is a kill plot so if they are coming into the plot I can shoot them, no need to coax them closer. I could wait for them to strut through on their own but they sometimes head off to another field the opposite way from my plot. I'd like to get them heading my way at first light. I'm sure I will get more into turkey hunting in the future but for now I just want to try one on the table with the least amount of expense possible. I'm willing to add another call if it ups my odds. Any call suggestions or ideas for this setup? The landowner tells me to sleep on his couch then pop out the porch door and shoot one but I'm looking for a little more of an experience.
 
#7 ·
X2 bwoa, get a diagram you will be good enough by season to use it to call in a bird man, there is nothing better to use when you're looking down the barrel and need them to come an extra ten yards!!! Hands free!!!! But get a a couple frictions to get different sounds, they all have their differences in what they will and won't answer. Btw it took a few diaphragms until I found the right size, we all have different sized mouths and you need proper fit!!
 
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#6 ·
Seems like all call types work. Your slate will be fine just try to limit your movement. I started with the push pin type and it worked just fine but I then went to the mouth calls based on the limited movement required. I got a Primos Turkey Calling Made Easy CD that came with a few mouth calls and was surprised at how quickly I was able to get some calls down. Try to mimick the calls you are hearing in the woods. The first few times out it will be hard to decipher the calls as you try to hear them but listen very hard and you will start to notice them. Do not call too often or too loud(I think this may be the biggest mistake newbies make). Turkeys can hear very well so you don't have to call very loud. Also, alot of times the birds come in silent making you think that your calls aren't working. They don't all come in gobbling like crazy. Good luck!
 
#8 ·
An avian decoy would help work wonders too!!! But if cost is issue you can get good primos hen decoys for around 30$ on their website!! My favorite diagram calls at first were Micheal wadell's they have lots of different sizes and once you find the size you need you can go from there trying others!! Turkeys are awesome to hunt, I may even love it more than bow hunting honestly, it's really close!!!
 
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#9 ·
Thanks everyone.. I'll read up on your suggestions a little more and see what's on YouTube. I can add a call and a deke. Turkey season is just a cool time to be in the woods. I had some smoked backstrap recently and it made me decide to finally try turkey hunting. Smoked turkey is calling my name. free time to get out there helps too.
 
#13 ·
If you can get them to gobble on the roost the night before, set up between that plot and the roost, sometimes you can get close, like seventy five yards or so from the roost, place you decoy, and bring them right to ya!! Calling turkeys will become one of your favorite hunting tactics real quick man!! roosted isn't roasted as primos guys say, but knowing the roosting tree kills many big gobblers in the spring
 
#16 ·
Bywayofarrow. At first, try to get a handle on 1) the purr; 2) soft clucks; 3) a series of soft yelps. For the louder stuff you can use your box or pot call. When you get more of a handle and confidence calling louder by mouth, then let it rip. Go on the NWTF website (or some other site, as others have said) and familiarize yourself with the simpler calls. Practice repeating them until your wife/kids tell you to leave the house! Practice calling by yourself in the car.

Some of the "worst" yelps and cutting-runs I've heard were from turkeys themselves! And whatever you do, don't do this! It's the alarm putt: ...

Best wishes this spring!
 
#22 ·
Yea it's surprising when you are in the woods and your like for sure that's a hunter who sounds like crap calling, then a hen pops over the hill and it was her the whole time!! What we consider champion calling and turkeys, may differ!! But the purr has been my go to call for that extra ten yards!! Works like a charm!!
 
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#24 · (Edited)
I started out with the Turkey Trooper box from A-Way Outdoors. It's amazing and I still use it: clucks, purrs, yelps....basically everything all in the simple box. It even has a way to soften the call. I may "graduate" to a mouth call one day, but I've had so much success with the Trooper, I can't stop using it. I started from scratch myself 4 years ago and am hooked!

Another thing I would consider is getting Ray Eye's Turkey Hunting Bible. It's a must have to understand why turkeys do what they do and when they do it!

As far as set-up is concerned, I purchased a basic plastic hen and jake decoy set for like $25. I set them up with the jake looking at and following the hen. I don't usually set them directly in front of me either. I prefer more off to the side of my popup blind, so if the toms get "hung up" i still have a shot.
 
#26 ·
The most important thing you can do is watch the "Fun Girls" episode of the Andy Griffth Show!

You want your tone to sound like a "Fun Girl" of the turkey world.

How much to call? Well, think of it as a conversation with the gobbler. I can't tell what, or when, or how much to say... Unless I am in that conversation at the time. And that comes with experience and for me is why I enjoy turkey hunting.

All that said, your SET UP is the most important key. Try to set up in an area where the gobbler feels safe and is easy for him to commit to.

I have called birds up hill, down hill, across roads, creeks, power lines, and brushy areas, BUT if you can get close enough to an area the bird will commit to going, it is a little easier.

Best of luck and hunt safe.
 
#27 ·
Huge thanks to everyone that offered tips and advice in this thread. I had an incredible opening day. I'm a lifer now. As the season progresses how should my strategy change? Monday birds were gobbling everywhere and I snuck in close to some roosted birds. I'm sticking to public land until I have a reason to head to private. I heard 4 total shots Monday and they were far away so there should be plenty of birds to get after this weekend. So, locate them at first light and go? I know where several scratching areas are I'm debating heading to if I'm not hearing birds at first light.
 
#28 ·
i d say you are well on your way BWOA. i ve often thought and said that woodsmanship will kill more turkeys than the best caller or decoys or the fanciest shotgun. (especially on the big public) be where the turkey wants to be and sound something like a turkey, if you have to, and you ll kill birds consistantly.
 
#30 ·
Calls don't really matter all that much. Sure I like to have a call that sounds as close to the real thing as possible but calling turkeys is all about cadence and rhythm. Everybody has different opinions on how much you should call to a turkey and my advice would be to take a little bit of advice from everybody and put it all together. No two turkeys are the same and no one turkey is the same as it was the day before. You have to learn how to take a turkeys tempature so to speak. Know what he wants to hear and when he wants to hear it. Some turkeys you can just pour the calls all over em and they will come running right in. Some turkeys (usually smarter ones) you have to play a little more hard to get. I think overcalling a lot of times is attributed to calling to loud. In the turkey woods experience is the best teacher.
 
#42 ·
I may need to rely on this method. I can't get up!!!! Im going to make an honest effort tomorrow. Last night I turned the alarm off at 3am when my windows where shaking with some high wind. If the radar isn't doomsday ill try........maybe. I can wake up and sprint out the door for walleyes perch gills and rut, but turkeys I role over for 5 more minutes that turns to an hour or hours. 5:15s coming fast good luck tomorrow everyone.
 
#32 ·
Thanks guys. The calling part started to make sense as the day progressed. Easy to get a little carried away on the calls and be too loud. I was calling 1/3 of the volume I had been when the birds actually came through.

Any tips for later in the season if I'm hitting a dead end? I've read on here people say cover ground but are you stopping at points and trying certain calls to fire up a gobbler? All the turkey hunting shows only show the glory moments of the birds coming.
 
#35 · (Edited)
Thanks guys. The calling part started to make sense as the day progressed. Easy to get a little carried away on the calls and be too loud. I was calling 1/3 of the volume I had been when the birds actually came through.

Any tips for later in the season if I'm hitting a dead end? I've read on here people say cover ground but are you stopping at points and trying certain calls to fire up a gobbler? All the turkey hunting shows only show the glory moments of the birds coming.
I Yelp when I'm locating a bird!! Alot of times if you get a gobble, then you make a move on the bird!! If not sure where exactly he is I will get a couple hundred yards away and Yelp again!! Alot of times they think she is coming to me!! When you are yelping the second time to pinpoint the birds, do so in a an area where you can set up fast if you need too in case he is coming to you already!! If he is still a couple hundred yards out, move fifty yards closer or more if you can, cause the next time you hear him, he may be in your lap basically!! We had two gobblers yesterday let out as soon as we stepped in the woods!! We listen and they wont Gobble again! I had Bill Yelp and sure enough they fired up about six hundred yards across a huge hollow on the ridge paralleling ours!!! I was reluctant to go down in the deep hollow so I had him Yelp again. They gobbled again, "hot bird looking for love over here" is what I heard. So over the mountain we went, fast as we could!! We got to bottom, set up the decoys in a small field in the bottom about three hundred yards below where we heard them gobble!! By the time we sat up, and I started yelping on my bamboo pot call, my go to pot call, they gobbled and we're only a couple hundred yards away!! In sixty seconds I Yelp and they were a hundred yards away. In ten minutes from hearing the first gobbles, we had the turkeys in the field at seventy yards!! I think the quarter strut Jake avain made them a little nervous cause they went up on the bank about five yards to get high enough to see it better!! Some purrs and putts and they were just across the small field from us about fourty yards away!! That's why I locate with a series of yelps, sometimes you have to set up in instance with no decoys if the bird fires up a hundred yards away, but more than not, you can close the distance to within a couple hundred yards and it makes the gobblers come the other hundred or two yards feeling safer cause most hunters won't do that, and since you sound like a bird coming to him to be bred, he will come part of the way with more urgency!! Some guys think I'm crazy, but just about every bird I've ever seen killed was killed using this exact method!!!
 
#38 ·
Thanks guys. The calling part started to make sense as the day progressed. Easy to get a little carried away on the calls and be too loud. I was calling 1/3 of the volume I had been when the birds actually came through.

Any tips for later in the season if I'm hitting a dead end? I've read on here people say cover ground but are you stopping at points and trying certain calls to fire up a gobbler? All the turkey hunting shows only show the glory moments of the birds coming.
When I'm hunting a lot of land I move around. I hunt southern Ohio public and usually I will call every 100 yards or so. It usually depends on the terrain. If I can't see over a rise, before I pop over the top to look around I will give a few yelps with a slate or a box call. Also use a crow call if I think there might be a turkey close but henned up. I've killed many turkeys after they let me know they were there after a shock gobble to the crow call midday.
 
#33 ·
Your thoughts on keeping the private land till later in the season is a fair one, as are your thoughts on the scratching areas if you fail to strike a bird early. If it's rainy like they are predicting, stick to fields or conifers. Turkeys will move to the open to escape the noise and movement or to the pines to seek overhead cover. Some of my best hunts have occurred as the rain clears after a thunderstorm or heavy downpour and the sun comes out over an open field. The birds will come out to sun and dry out, and often the gobblers will turn on pretty hot as well.
 
#36 ·
I agree with all that except the first sentence, I hunt all the private early and try to locate public land birds in the last couple weeks if I'm going too!! I try to do it differently than other guys that have already beat up the public land though, I will call not from a pulloff where most people do, but from hard access areas, just the same as going in after whitetails!! You will get way more birds to answer you!! And the same as whitetail hunting, no slamming doors or loud music, park somewhere off the beaten path and walk a couple hundred yards helps too!!
 
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#34 ·
Yes covering ground is important, but also remember that birds will still use the same areas and they don't need to gobble to come to your call. Sometimes camping out in a good spot and being patient while occasionally calling is all that's needed. Trolling for a hot bird is fun, but when all else fails, go to where you know the birds are/want to be, and wait em out. Don't discount afternoon/evening hunts either, especially if you know where they roost.
 
#44 ·
Made a small effort. Was a half mile off the road on private ground with ***** feeding 70 yards away. I was n early. Daylight comes woods awakes.....nothing. crows finally go off in the distance. I hear a gobble a good ways off maybe in pines 1/2 mile or could be further. I called looking for a answer where I am 0 takers. Went sneKing down a fence row 200yds to the pines. I call into o response. Back to work at 730.
 
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