Most common overlooked mistakes in turkey hunting. I'm sure there are plenty of real common ones. Not enough patience, calling too loud, etc. One that's often overlooked is sitting so that the black soles of boots are exposed. Real easy to see, especially if they move slightly. Other ideas on overlooked?
Starting to hunt the crazy birds is high on the list.
Need more than one plan of action. I tell people you need plan A, B, and C plan in killing these birds. You also need birds to hunt..
A lot of hunters are afraid of the turkeys. Not physically, but mentally. Afraid to move, call, walk away etc. They tilt the odds in the turkeys favor as soon as they step out of the truck by thinking they're probably not going to kill one today.
bad set up..
Quote from: guesswho on June 21, 2020, 06:59:14 PM
A lot of hunters are afraid of the turkeys. Not physically, but mentally. Afraid to move, call, walk away etc. They tilt the odds in the turkeys favor as soon as they step out of the truck by thinking they're probably not going to kill one today.
I definitely did this this last year. Would rather err on the side of seeing a turkey that I spooked than call where there are no birds to hunt.
I hunted timidly for 11 hours one day. They're not whitetail deer, where there's one every quarter mile.
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Quote from: guesswho on June 21, 2020, 06:59:14 PM
A lot of hunters are afraid of the turkeys. Not physically, but mentally. Afraid to move, call, walk away etc. They tilt the odds in the turkeys favor as soon as they step out of the truck by thinking they're probably not going to kill one today.
Wasn't a problem on my last hunt of the season. Stepped out of the truck before daylight and he was gobbling hard to the left of the truck about 60 yards. Spoke to my buddy who said he'd gobbled 21 times before I got there. Walked to the front bumper of his Tahoe and set up using it as a blind so-to-speak. 3 yelps later he was flopping on the ground.
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As for mistakes, Ronnie's pretty much spot on. People shoot themselves in the foot soon as they enter the woods. Personally, I don't get dressed up to play games anymore. If I'm going out feeling like the odds aren't in my favor, I'd just as soon stay home. If I'm out there, I'm there with a purpose. That purpose is to put a bird in the freezer.
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One that is easily over looked is your set up. When setting up I try to put the sun to my back and I pick a place where I will be tucked away in the shadows. A lot of guys plop down and they are out in the open with the sun shinning on them. You stick out like a sore thumb. I love to use shade and dark places whenever possible. I even figure where the sun will be in the next hour and where the shade will be casted at that time. In my opinion it is harder for the bird to outline you and pick up any slight movements.
Quote from: Spitten and drummen on June 21, 2020, 08:15:59 PM
One that is easily over looked is your set up. When setting up I try to put the sun to my back and I pick a place where I will be tucked away in the shadows. A lot of guys plop down and they are out in the open with the sun shinning on them. You stick out like a sore thumb. I love to use shade and dark places whenever possible. I even figure where the sun will be in the next hour and where the shade will be casted at that time. In my opinion it is harder for the bird to outline you and pick up any slight movements.
Amen X2! Also check your body, clothing, gun, sling, everything for things that may put off a glare or reflection that will give you away as well.
Always expect the unexpected
I have a small area I have permission to hunt on. It's about 270 acres, real skinny, about a mile long. It has a housing development on one side. Across the highway on the other side is a highway. I have hunted it for maybe 10 years now. It has taught me a very valuable lesson. "Don't blow through all the woods you have to just get to the end". This property has taught a run and gunner patience. Have have called up a pile of turkeys in this little patch of woods. I hunt it very slow and quiet.
If you see turkey sign and know they are there, take your time.
Quote from: guesswho on June 21, 2020, 06:59:14 PM
A lot of hunters are afraid of the turkeys. Not physically, but mentally. Afraid to move, call, walk away etc. They tilt the odds in the turkeys favor as soon as they step out of the truck by thinking they're probably not going to kill one today.
This, coupled with poor woodsmanship. Another thing is I guide a lot of people who will wave their gun barely two foot above their head while they try to keep everything else low. Never figured that out.
Quote from: WV Flopper on June 21, 2020, 08:58:11 PM
I have a small area I have permission to hunt on. It's about 270 acres, real skinny, about a mile long. It has a housing development on one side. Across the highway on the other side is a highway. I have hunted it for maybe 10 years now. It has taught me a very valuable lesson. "Don't blow through all the woods you have to just get to the end". This property has taught a run and gunner patience. Have have called up a pile of turkeys in this little patch of woods. I hunt it very slow and quiet.
If you see turkey sign and know they are there, take your time.
This if you don't have back up places a-z just slow down..Firm believer in moving but moving slow.
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Quote from: Spitten and drummen on June 21, 2020, 08:15:59 PM
One that is easily over looked is your set up. When setting up I try to put the sun to my back and I pick a place where I will be tucked away in the shadows. A lot of guys plop down and they are out in the open with the sun shinning on them. You stick out like a sore thumb. I love to use shade and dark places whenever possible. I even figure where the sun will be in the next hour and where the shade will be casted at that time. In my opinion it is harder for the bird to outline you and pick up any slight movements.
X2. If at all possible get the sun behind you. It will go a long way to putting you in the shadows .
First one I ever called in was gobbling hot and heavy all the way in from at least three hundred yards away, he went silent and even though I knew I should not do it I looked over my left shoulder behind me which is where he was coming from. Bye bye turkey.
Quote from: guesswho on June 21, 2020, 06:59:14 PM
A lot of hunters are afraid of the turkeys. Not physically, but mentally. Afraid to move, call, walk away etc. They tilt the odds in the turkeys favor as soon as they step out of the truck by thinking they're probably not going to kill one today.
THIS! I'm mentoring a buddy who is new to hunting. While I've called in his first kill last year, and this year he's called birds close-ish, he just got so down when he's not hearing them. He's only confident hunting solo on that specific piece of ground where I called birds in for him the year before, even though there are turkeys on all parcels we hunt. I agree that mistakes on your setup is probably the most common, but the mental game is a close second.
Another thing I've noticed with new and even some experienced hunters is time. A lot of hunters think if you haven't killed one within the first hour after sunrise your odds go to almost zero. When in fact your still very much in the game and many times in a better position to kill one.
Quote from: guesswho on June 22, 2020, 08:18:42 AM
Another thing I've noticed with new and even some experienced hunters is time. A lot of hunters think if you haven't killed one within the first hour after sunrise your odds go to almost zero. When in fact your still very much in the game and many times in a better position to kill one.
Yeah, I love that mid to late morning, especially once the hens are starting to go to nest. I'd much rather one fire up at 10am when they've left the old boy lonesome than try to coax one hammering on the limb away from hens he can see.
My biggest piece of advice is don't quit. I have always said it's never over until you give up. Hunt as long as is legal and you have time to. I dont know how many times it goes from dead silence to a dead gobbler in a span of minutes. Things can and sometimes will change quickly, be there to take advantage of it.
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Quote from: guesswho on June 22, 2020, 08:18:42 AM
Another thing I've noticed with new and even some experienced hunters is time. A lot of hunters think if you haven't killed one within the first hour after sunrise your odds go to almost zero. When in fact your still very much in the game and many times in a better position to kill one.
All of the points made in this thread are on target. When all is said and done (and with all other factors being equal),...that is, hunters knowing the basics of how to hunt and call turkeys, the time element is THE most critical element. This applies not only to Ronnie's point above, but also to the amount of time dedicated to being in the woods day after day.
Consistently successful turkey hunters are the ones that stick with it and dedicate the time needed to eventually put themselves in the right set of circumstances to kill a gobbler. I would bet everybody here know those guys that are reasonably competent turkey hunters that end up not killing a gobbler just because they don't dedicate the time and effort needed (the private-land, honey-hole hunters being the possible exception).
The very first thing I tell new hunters that are thinking about getting into spring gobbler hunting is "go big,..or go home", so to speak. That is, if you want to be consistently successful at this, you better plan on dedicating some serious time and effort to it. If you just want to "weekend warrior" it a couple of times a season, save yourself the frustration,...and take up golf. :)
Quote from: guesswho on June 22, 2020, 08:18:42 AM
Another thing I've noticed with new and even some experienced hunters is time. A lot of hunters think if you haven't killed one within the first hour after sunrise your odds go to almost zero. When in fact your still very much in the game and many times in a better position to kill one.
We probably all know guys who can spend 4-5 hours at least in a deer stand but get absolutely fidgety if they they`ve not called in a bird within 45 minutes. There is hard evidence ( Dr. Mike Chamberlain ) using gps on turkeys and hunters that birds " remember" locations of hunters (hens) following conversations. They will return, sometimes hours later, to an EXACT spot where they heard a " hen " hours before. Staying put worked for me this season. Bird returned after about an hour and a half after getting dumped by his hens, I think. PATIENCE will kill turkeys. Besides, I`ve always felt I`d probably scare off more birds than I`d be successful with by running around through the woods!!
Quote from: Happy on June 22, 2020, 08:42:15 AM
My biggest piece of advice is don't quit. I have always said it's never over until you give up. Hunt as long as is legal and you have time to. I dont know how many times it goes from dead silence to a dead gobbler in a span of minutes. Things can and sometimes will change quickly, be there to take advantage of it.
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Yep, I was always told it can go from horse turds to rose buds In a minute. Or visa-versa.
Great thread. This advice helps all of us for sure. My input is hunt slow, deliberate, and with the upmost confidence that a gobbler is close by. When I am "trolling" for Tom's, I try and walk real slow, pausing every 50 yards or so. The one thing I learned that each time you stop to call and listen, make sure you have a great tree, blowdown, or sufficient backdrop to set up against. Too many times, a gobbler can sound-off within 70 yards, and you are caught trying to hide against a 3 inch sapling, with the sun in your eyes. Another thing I learned that has helped me is sometimes I will purr, or cluck as I walk through the woods. Adds realism that a hen is on the move. We can easily overlook the fact that a windy day shuts them down. This is not true, yes, their movement may be more limited, but they are out there ready to come to a hen. Louder calling may be needed to fire them up, but windy days can be rewarding. Hides our movements too. Great thread, keep these great thoughts coming....
Quote from: Tom007 on June 22, 2020, 10:07:55 AM
The one thing I learned that each time you stop to call and listen, make sure you have a great tree, blowdown, or sufficient backdrop to set up against. Too many times, a gobbler can sound-off within 70 yards, and you are caught trying to hide against a 3 inch sapling, with the sun in your eyes.
I learn this and relearn it EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. The way I put it is never call unless you're prepared to setup. What inevitably happens though is on a really slow morning, or a really slow morning at the end of a really slow week, you just start calling and have zero expectation of hearing an answer. Then BAM! He's right there and coming and you're standing there like a scarecrow. I've had it happen a hundred times and every year I still wind up making that mistake once or twice. I guess I'm a slow learner :TooFunny:
Amen my friend, we all had that big Tom catch us with our pants down.....Just when you think it is dead, BOOM, he sounds off 50 yards away.....Gives us the chills. That's why we love it....be well.....
For beginners, I feel like there is 2 general mistakes, both on opposite ends of the spectrum. The first is to sit down and call at the first sound of the gobble that could be 300 yards away and a turkey that has no interest whatsoever of coming that far or to that location. The other being the hunter who rushes in the direction gobble without knowing where that turkey is, and inevitably bumps it. I feel beginners hunt the sound rather than the bird making it. You can read and watch all the tips you want, but pinpointing a gobbler, and maneuvering to a setup that might work takes experience in the woods.
Fidgeting and moving at the wrong time is also a big one. The biggest mistake any hunter, regardless of experience, can make is giving up too early. IMO persistence kills more turkeys than anything else. You're learning as you persevere through the slow days, and even those who may lack experience or the skills that come with it can luck into the right bird if they keep pushing.
A turkey hunting mentor of mine told me early on. "A man loses a lot of sleep hunting turkey birds". The longer I've been hunting them the more it rings true. 1) You should be spending more time scouting to find birds long before you hunt them and know where they want to be and why and carefully insert yourself in their comfort zone.2) Yes it sucks to get up long before the sun rises but there is a lot to be learned in those hours.3) Hunt all the legal hours you are allowed (In NY you can only hunt till 12pm. This season killed one at 10:30am and one at 11:35am and those days both early mornings were boring as if there weren't any gobblers around but scouting prepared me to remain patient). I have hunted in Texas where I flew there in the morning and hunted the first afternoon and tagged a bird at 3pm
4) Patience kills a lot of turkeys. Turkeys are on "turkey time" not your time. Many amateur hunters figure if the gobbler doesn't run over the top of them after a series of yelps they're not coming. It's often 1-4 hours later he comes sneaking in silent and if you packed up and went elsewhere you'd never know. I began to kill turkeys consistently when I realized many times if he gobbles and knows my location with a heavy dose of patience I will have an opportunity.
I don't know if I would call these overlooked or not, but here are 3 that immediately come to mind as common mistakes. As someone who has been hunting turkeys hard now for 4 years, these are 3 things I needed to focus on cleaning up in the first few years. I wouldn't even say I didn't make all of these mistakes this year, but I was aware of them and had a pretty decent year.
1. Pick the right tree. Be able to make a quick decision, but also realize that unless he is sprinting or flying your way, you have more time than you think.
2. Tying into #1, you have more time than you think. So aside from just picking the right tree, you may have him hammering and respond to calling, only to have him slipping in 5-10 mins later silently. Sometimes they come in hot and heavy. Sometimes they take longer than you think. Every time I think about getting up and moving after he goes silent, I tell myself wait 5 more mins.
3. Woodsmanship kills more turkeys than calling
If you don't know the ground, they'll beat you every time.
Ain't that the truth :turkey2:
Great thread my dad taught me a long time ago that you can't kill one if you aren't out there. I will also add A little bit of something that I do is to not just listen for gobbles. I listen for all turkey sounds like wings, scratching, drumming, soft purrs and yelps. I try to call in every Turkey I can hen or gobbler. I always try to have my gun in the ready position at all times. That was the hardest thing for me when taking my kids and I knew a bird was coming in and there they sit with their gun low and in their lap. I would always be trying to tell them to get their gun up. I know everyone gets tired having their knee up and resting their gun on it but when you finally cave and put your gun down that's when one will show up and surprise you.
Quote from: Chris O on June 22, 2020, 09:25:51 PM
Great thread my dad taught me a long time ago that you can't kill one if you aren't out there. I will also add A little bit of something that I do is to not just listen for gobbles. I listen for all turkey sounds like wings, scratching, drumming, soft purrs and yelps. I try to call in every Turkey I can hen or gobbler. I always try to have my gun in the ready position at all times. That was the hardest thing for me when taking my kids and I knew a bird was coming in and there they sit with their gun low and in their lap. I would always be trying to tell them to get their gun up. I know everyone gets tired having their knee up and resting their gun on it but when you finally cave and put your gun down that's when one will show up and surprise you.
My preferred style is more of a set up and wait as opposed to run and gun. I usually sit for quite a while, so gun support in a ready position for periods of time is very important. Enter the Knight and Hale Universal Hands Free System . Works great and keeps my gun at my shoulder with my hands free and my knee comfortable .
Not putting your time in. I have seen friends all jacked up to turkey hunt. A year or 2 later their coming over to the house giving me their wares after they found out how hard the sport is. got a lot of nice calls and decoys handed down to me. Now about that shotgun.......LOL
Quote from: wvmntnhick on June 21, 2020, 08:05:25 PM
As for mistakes, Ronnie's pretty much spot on. People shoot themselves in the foot soon as they enter the woods. Personally, I don't get dressed up to play games anymore. If I'm going out feeling like the odds aren't in my favor, I'd just as soon stay home. If I'm out there, I'm there with a purpose. That purpose is to put a bird in the freezer.
Yeah, i agree. If I'm out there, I'm usually serious about it.Ive gotten good at it, by working at it.
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Tom Kelly-"You have to pay for every bird you kill and the coin you use to pay for them is time." Too often we are rushing about due to our time constraints. Turkeys are on turkey time. There is a time to move, but think twice before moving. Things that drive me nuts when taking folks out are hunters who have a motor head. It's ok to move just nice and slow. Head jerking has cost a lot of hunters. The other thing is not having the gun up with the off shoulder pointed in the direction of the bird. Mounting a gun when the bird steps in range can get ugly. Lots of good advice in this thread!
Quote from: guesswho on June 21, 2020, 06:59:14 PM
A lot of hunters are afraid of the turkeys. Not physically, but mentally. Afraid to move, call, walk away etc. They tilt the odds in the turkeys favor as soon as they step out of the truck by thinking they're probably not going to kill one today.
Guilty. I've heard more then once, that turkey hunting is mental
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Quote from: paboxcall on June 22, 2020, 07:24:55 PM
If you don't know the ground, they'll beat you every time.
I'll disagree with that one. 4 out of 5 birds this spring were on ground I'd never hunted.
Quote from: AndyN on June 24, 2020, 12:40:47 PM
Quote from: paboxcall on June 22, 2020, 07:24:55 PM
If you don't know the ground, they'll beat you every time.
I'll disagree with that one. 4 out of 5 birds this spring were on ground I'd never hunted.
I agree somewhat with both comments. I would modify the first premise by saying that being familiar with the area you are hunting and the habits of the turkeys there will definitely up your odds of success. However, a hunter with solid turkey hunting skills will often find a way to kill gobblers on unfamiliar ground, assuming there are turkeys there to be found.
Lots already covered here but #1 I see is moving, specifically when set up and calling.
I hunt with a few new folks each season, tag along and guide a bit for them on places I've never stepped foot on. I am always amazed at the lack of attention and thought given to going in and out of the woods. Turkeys can't reason but it doesn't take long for them to pattern a fumbling hunter driving to close, using a flash light, rushing from one set up to the next like a bull moose.
I hunt aggressive where there are plenty of turkeys and a little more carefully where they are thin. Yvmv
Quote from: GobbleNut on June 24, 2020, 12:58:35 PM
Quote from: AndyN on June 24, 2020, 12:40:47 PM
Quote from: paboxcall on June 22, 2020, 07:24:55 PM
If you don't know the ground, they'll beat you every time.
I'll disagree with that one. 4 out of 5 birds this spring were on ground I'd never hunted.
I agree somewhat with both comments. I would modify the first premise by saying that being familiar with the area you are hunting and the habits of the turkeys there will definitely up your odds of success. However, a hunter with solid turkey hunting skills will often find a way to kill gobblers on unfamiliar ground, assuming there are turkeys there to be found.
Its more specific - not knowing there's a blow down on the bench below you, or the presence of a fence, a small creek, or not knowing where they want to go after fly down. Be where they want to go, you'll be successful.
Sometimes luck can happen 80% of the time when everything comes together despite our lack of knowledge or ability to control the variables in play.
Quote from: paboxcall on June 24, 2020, 01:16:00 PM
Quote from: GobbleNut on June 24, 2020, 12:58:35 PM
Quote from: AndyN on June 24, 2020, 12:40:47 PM
Quote from: paboxcall on June 22, 2020, 07:24:55 PM
If you don't know the ground, they'll beat you every time.
I'll disagree with that one. 4 out of 5 birds this spring were on ground I'd never hunted.
I agree somewhat with both comments. I would modify the first premise by saying that being familiar with the area you are hunting and the habits of the turkeys there will definitely up your odds of success. However, a hunter with solid turkey hunting skills will often find a way to kill gobblers on unfamiliar ground, assuming there are turkeys there to be found.
Its more specific - not knowing there's a blow down on the bench below you, or the presence of a fence, a small creek, or not knowing where they want to go after fly down. Be where they want to go, you'll be successful.
Sometimes luck can happen 80% of the time when everything comes together despite our lack of knowledge or ability to control the variables in play.
A good example of what you're saying, I took my wife to a spot this season. I was familiar with the farm but not the specific set up where my buddy told me they'd been roosting. We get up there and they're hammering. We get as close as we can and set up in a blowdown. I'm anticipating the birds coming in from the left and I set her up that direction. I get behind her ten yards or so to call. Call four in but they come in straight on us. I'm watching them and wondering why she ain't shooting and wondering why she ain't shooting and she never shoots and eventually they work off. When they're gone I ask her why and she'd never even seen them. I'd set her up where she had clear lanes in the direction I anticipated their approach but she couldn't see a thing straight ahead of her. A few weeks later me and my buddy walk that place out and I realize how it opened and funneled their movement. If I'd known that tiny patch of woods I'd have known how they'd approach and would have set her up entirely differently.
You cant kill turkeys if they dont live there. Gotta do some pre season scouting, means park your truck and walk a bunch. I will walk miles of dirt roads trying to cut some tracks. Just because you saw birds last season in a spot doesnt mean they will be there again. But also know how the change roosting spots as the season goes on. Here when season opens the birds are mostly on the bigger creeks. As the season pushes on and they split up they start roosting on feeder creeks. I dont waste early season on feeder creeks anymore since I know it will be a few weeks until they start roosting there, but I still walk those trails and roads passed them just incase they moved early. You also dont have to look like a tv hunter to kill birds, go have fun and enjoy the woods, stay hidden the best you can, you dont need all that fancy stuff.
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Not loading the gun!
When someone asked my uncle the secret of his deer hunting success he said, "First of all, you have to hunt where the deer are."
Calling too much!
Commonly overlooked mistake? Marrying a woman that complains you hunt too much. Put em through at least 4 springs before putting a ring on it.
Turn off your cellphone.. A buddy of mine bought some land full of turkeys, so I took him one morning. He had never hunted turkey before. Birds were gobbling everywhere and then his wife called to tell him good luck.. well, you can guess the rest of the story, not another peep. Luckily he owned the land, and we had success on a later date.
Quote from: Ranman on July 07, 2020, 07:53:26 PM
Turn off your cellphone.. A buddy of mine bought some land full of turkeys, so I took him one morning. He had never hunted turkey before. Birds were gobbling everywhere and then his wife called to tell him good luck.. well, you can guess the rest of the story, not another peep. Luckily he owned the land, and we had success on a later date.
. Forgot to put mine on silent one morning this spring and got a danged Amber Alert while trying to close in on a gobbling Tom. :funnyturkey:
Quote from: 3bailey3 on June 21, 2020, 07:10:42 PM
bad set up..
This was my first thought, the second a bird gobbles people often sit down and try and force to bird to come to them right there. No thought where he's going, what's in between them, what your view is from current location what his view will be as he approaches.
I also don't want to encourage people to bump a lot of birds but I see so many people who are afraid to move on turkeys or even push in close. You can hear them a long way especially early season and so many folks are content on if you can hear each other its time to set up. If you primary sit back 3-400yds it's going to be a lot harder to consistently kill birds because so much can happen as you try and drag them that kind of distance.
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Quote from: guesswho on June 21, 2020, 06:59:14 PM
A lot of hunters are afraid of the turkeys. Not physically, but mentally. Afraid to move, call, walk away etc. They tilt the odds in the turkeys favor as soon as they step out of the truck by thinking they're probably not going to kill one today.
I agree 100%. I have taught myself to think on the positive side and consider I'm getting a chance to kill every bird I set up on. I've even heard a bird open up and literally said out loud, "old boy you just set yourself up to have a very bad day, shoulda kept your mouth shut". Of course that works out to be true some and wishful thinking some. If you ever hunt with me you may think I'm nuts, but you'll never make the mistake of thinking I'm afraid to move, call or take bold chances on a bird.