Most common overlooked mistakes

[Tom007]

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Ain’t that the truth

[Chris O]

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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.

[Turkeytider]

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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 .

[Old Timer]

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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

[High plains drifter]

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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.
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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[PalmettoRon]

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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!

[Mossberg90MN]

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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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[AndyN]

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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.

[GobbleNut]

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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.   

[THattaway]

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 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

[paboxcall]

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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.

[ChesterCopperpot]

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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.

[roberthyman14]

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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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[Hook hanger]

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Not loading the gun!

[idgobble]

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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."