What do you rely on most in helping you kill a gobbler? Is it your gun, choke, shells, cell phone hunting app, camo or your ability to practice and become a better caller? I think we all agree you have to have turkey's to hunt. Do you feel more satisfy in calling your gobbler within 20 yards or less or killing him at 40 plus yards just because you have a gun capable of making that kind of shot? Myself i like to call them in as close as possible, it's just more satisfying knowing that all my year long practicing has paid off in fooling that gobbler. We all know, scouting, learning the land and were turkey's like to hang out all play a part. Could the answer to this post be everything above and more in trying to be successful.... do you practice with your calls year round or at least some during the year or do you decide few weeks before season opens to find you turkey hunting gear and just go turkey hunting without much prep work? What's your reason for turkey hunting? This should be a fun post.
It's my steel trap of a mind. In other words experience has taught me a lot more than I can buy. Now the flip side is I have no issues adding any thing that helps... Turkey specific gun and shells, or the best camo, knowing my calls, and the all important butt cushion.
For me I've alwaysturkey hunted to get me through to deer season. Deer hunting is my true passion. I have to admit after joining this forum and buying a few custom calls I'm more excited about this turkey season than I have been in a long time. I don't think making turkey calls is the most important thing. It's more of knowing what to say and when to say it. Moving when you need to move. The most important to me is being where the turkeys are.
Woodsmanship, a bum shoulder has forced me to stop but I only hunted turkeys with a bow trad and coMpound for about 10yrs without a blind. I learned more about turkeys in that time that I would have in 100yrs of doing the norm.
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Rely on the most to help kill a turkey. Honestly I'm going with woodsmanship. Can't kill much without it! :turkey2:
Experience,
I have been at it a long time and have been fortunate enough to hunt them more than most people! All that goes a long way in making decisions in the moment without really thinking too much about it.
A PhD in Experience from the School of Hard Knocks.
This will be my 44th spring chasing these daffy birds. Knowing what to say to him, when to say it, saying it accurately and where to say it from........
I talk to the turkeys, and the turkeys talk to me. I sing this like the old band aid commercial jingle
" i am stuck on the band aid, and the band aids stuck on me" I made it up one day when hunting with my son when he was young. We were out all morning, he was getting bored, we had 0 turkey activity. We got up to leave, and this ditty just popped into my head, so i started to sing it as we were gathering up our stuff. He was laughing hard, and we started to walk and he suddenly stopped and said"Dad there's a turkey" Yep, turkey had slipped up on us while i was screwing around singing and hitting the tube call to punctuate the song. And the turkey immediately vacated the area. It is one his favorite hunting stories now that he is grown up. They had a box call engraved with the saying and gave it to me some years ago for my 50th b-day. Killed a fine gobbler with it too. So that is my secret weapon!
I'm going with woodsmanship and calling rythm.
I rely on my persistence and my willingness to work him. I'm not stuck on one technique or way of doing things. I usually chase one gobbler until I get him. I've only lost the game to a few...
All the things mentioned by OP will help you kill birds. I like calling them. I want to get inside that bird's head and bring him to me. The why is the challenge, nothing else you hunt do you interact with the quarry as you do a turkey. Or as Mallory said about the mountain, "Because it's there".
I agree with tal, I'm ALL about the calling. It's what I like about duck hunting too. It's why I'm not much of a deer or dove hunter. Woodmanship is probably the most important aspect for success but calling is at the heart of why I'm a turkey hunter.
mostly just dumb luck. A close second would be spending so much time in the woods, so that dumb luck has a better chance of finding me
Quote from: fmf on February 22, 2022, 01:01:04 PM
mostly just dumb luck. A close second would be spending so much time in the woods, so that dumb luck has a better chance of finding me
Best answer yet
Calling him to me is what does it for me. I also like calling ducks. Less about exact sound and lot more about the cadence, rhythm and timing. Turkey and duck have different sounds within their populations. Some of the ugliest calling I have heard has been by lonely hens of both varieties. I have a bunch of duck and turkey calls and probably use 3 of each 90+% of the time.
Like I told the boys I coached in football - "we are playing to have fun and I promise you it is more fun to win, but it is still fun to just try your best". Some of my most memorable hunts I have screwed up royally, been totally baffled as to what went wrong and just had a bird zig when I thought he would zag.
Woodsmanship, experience, practice all year round on the calls, and everything else mentioned. Then we still get outsmarted. And that's why we turkey hunt.
Knowledge of the public ground I hunt.
Practice shooting my bow.
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A turkey hunters best tools is his brain. That explains why so many of us are behind the 8 ball before we even get out of the truck!
Personally, I take great satisfaction in beating a gobbler at his own game. To call in a gobbler to 20 yards or less, without decoys, when he wants to strut, gobble and let the ladies come to him, takes woodsmanship, calling skills, plus knowledge of turkey behavior.
However, sometimes all of that is still not enough. When it isn't, then yes, I like having a setup that allows me to reach out and kill a hung up gobbler. And I'm not above using decoys, or crawling them up if that's what it takes.
And no, I don't care what the purists think about the way I hunt.
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I love calling but woodsmanship and patience patience and more patience is what kills birds. Thats one thing you cant buy.
I rely on reacting instead of thinking. Turkeys tend to do the same to survive.
Quote from: guesswho on February 22, 2022, 02:33:20 PM
I rely on reacting instead of thinking. Turkeys tend to do the same to survive.
I have found that spinning in circles and simple stupidity has killed more bird than a well developed plan. :TooFunny:
Woodsmanship, camo, calling ability, a shotgun and shotgun shells that will reach out to 40 yards give or take a few. Thats what I use to turkey hunt. I play the game utilizing the above tools and personally consider any full fanned gobbler called in and killed a success. I will happily loose the game before I lower my standards.
Quote from: Spurs on February 22, 2022, 02:45:40 PM
Quote from: guesswho on February 22, 2022, 02:33:20 PM
I rely on reacting instead of thinking. Turkeys tend to do the same to survive.
I have found that spinning in circles and simple stupidity has killed more bird than a well developed plan. :TooFunny:
:TooFunny: Pretty much my train of thought.
Woodsmanship/Set-up, because you gotta be looking where he "wants" to be. Because if you ain't, well it ain't gonna work!
Have a good one,
Ray
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Great post Greg. X10 here on the woodsman-ship. Over the years, I have learned to know the properties that I hunt like the back of my hand. My success rate has gone up significantly by finding and learning gobblers "Comfort zones". These are the areas where I hear the gobbling, see the scratching, dusting areas etc. year after year. Once I pattern these comfort zones, I select and log-in set-up spots where I harvest these birds. I analyze the patterns and terrain in these spots. They all have similarities. I always try to find their traveling paths of least resistance, strut areas, and hen feeding areas. Obviously this has taken years to learn. Coupling this with all the great tactics mentioned above; these are the things that I rely on to go to war with an Old Tom.....
To me Woodsmanship is the key and that encompasses many things, learning through experience, I'll break out the calls in Jan. each year.
Dad taught me to hunt, I taught Dad about turkey hunting and that has led me down this path. A big part of pre-season is teaching/seminars and such and that leads into the "Learn to Hunts", Youth Hunts, Charity Hunts, Taking out Friends, and some of the Newbies. I would tell you 2/3rds of the birds I have ever "taken" I never squeezed the trigger on.
That passion is also what got me into doing these displays I do, making those memories.
https://www.facebook.com/FanaticTurkeyDisplays
MK M GOBL
Being able to talk to the birds. It's the calling getting him to gobble having him come looking for me. Hunting fields so you can watch his reactions.
I practice my calling against some CD's of real turkeys every year. I scout my home turf as much as I can, going out just before the opener for a couple of mornings to see where they wake up and I dutifully check my guns site-in every year.
I think it's combination of preparations and experience.
These are great questions as to why each of us has developed such a passion for turkey hunting. As my screen name here implies, for me it is all about the gobble,...and more specifically, it is all about interacting with the creature that makes the gobble.
Having hunted spring gobblers for close to six decades now, I have gone through a number of phases:
The first was to just learn how to hunt them, which was accomplished mostly on my own through experimentation and quite honestly, took a number of years.
The second phase was honing the various skills involved in the hunt once I had figured out the basics.
The third was convincing myself that I could apply those learned skills successfully on my home turf and be consistently successful.
The next phase was to travel to places with different subspecies and conditions to see if the same skill set I had developed locally would apply in those new locales.
More recently, I have gotten to a point where I want to challenge myself by hunting places I have never set foot in to see if I am capable of finding gobblers there, and then be successful in calling and harvesting one of them. In doing that, it is more about the process than it is about the end result.
The prerequisite for all of the above for me is that the turkeys I hunt must be willing to gobble as part of the deal. Without that, as I have stated many times in the past, they can just stay in the woods as far as I am concerned. :toothy9:
Quote from: MK M GOBL on February 22, 2022, 08:49:29 PM
To me Woodsmanship is the key and that encompasses many things, learning through experience, I'll break out the calls in Jan. each year.
Dad taught me to hunt, I taught Dad about turkey hunting and that has led me down this path. A big part of pre-season is teaching/seminars and such and that leads into the "Learn to Hunts", Youth Hunts, Charity Hunts, Taking out Friends, and some of the Newbies. I would tell you 2/3rds of the birds I have ever "taken" I never squeezed the trigger on.
That passion is also what got me into doing these displays I do, making those memories.
https://www.facebook.com/FanaticTurkeyDisplays
MK M GOBL
AWESOME displays!
GobbleNut detailed my transformation as turkey hunter in his critique of himself quite nicely. My reasons for turkey hunting and how I go about it have changed over time. I'll leave this as an attempt at self discovery:
Most of my hunting is done in the woods. It's a rare occasion I get to see a Tom until crunch time. My ears tell me what's going on. I call out and he answers. He's not in sight but I can see him. He's magnificent strutting down there in that creek bottom. The sunrise glows like embers from his iridescence. Lesser tom's yield as he strutts by like a king, not with his robe trailing but held high for the world to see. The ruler of the roost pirouettes slightly, hops a creek bed, and crawls under a barbed wire fence. He's on his way and nothing is stopping him. How do I know? I can see him. He's right there!
I see him in my imagination. It's like the book always being better than the movie. I add special quirks to the story. Subtle traits that can only come from me, sometimes after the hunt.
When the argument comes up which style of hunting is the best, in my mind, how could it not be mine? Conveying this to non believers is a hearty task. They can't see what I've seen. It must be experienced.
I feel that's one of the big the pulls for me. I don't get that when I'm on the edge of a field. I feel naked. Everything is visible. There's not much left for my imagination and my mind starts to wander. I'm back in the woods sitting high upon a ridge. A thunderous gobble erupts from the creek bed below..........I can see him and he's magnificent!
Learning to capitalize on an opportunity is a hard lesson to learn as a new hunter. It can take a season or 2 to learn that on some occasions. Generally speaking woodsmanship comes with experience and experience comes with time spent in the field. However .... This is not always the case. Some folks are just wired different , I know 70 year old men who've spent their whole life turkey hunting and don't know anymore now than they do when they were 10 years old.
Patience and more patience. Knowing where they want to be is key.
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Woodsmanship , patience and calling is what kills birds. In other words spending as much time as possible in the woods with turkeys.
A absolute must is a comfortable butt cushion.
Quote from: Zobo on February 22, 2022, 11:06:42 PM
Quote from: MK M GOBL on February 22, 2022, 08:49:29 PM
To me Woodsmanship is the key and that encompasses many things, learning through experience, I'll break out the calls in Jan. each year.
Dad taught me to hunt, I taught Dad about turkey hunting and that has led me down this path. A big part of pre-season is teaching/seminars and such and that leads into the "Learn to Hunts", Youth Hunts, Charity Hunts, Taking out Friends, and some of the Newbies. I would tell you 2/3rds of the birds I have ever "taken" I never squeezed the trigger on.
That passion is also what got me into doing these displays I do, making those memories.
https://www.facebook.com/FanaticTurkeyDisplays
MK M GOBL
AWESOME displays!
Thanks for the "AWESOME" :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:
I put some time into what I do, always working on something new or custom!
MK M GOBL
I try to call them in as close as possible
I'm going to go with experience and luck. Most of the places I hunt ive gotten to know very well over the years and Im confidant in those places. But every year something unexpected happens. Last year one of my best spots had no turks at all.. no sign no gobbling nothing and I dont know why. This year I just looked it over and its torn up with scratching everywhere I look. So there again . Experience told me to go look but "luckily", they are there. I also have to agree with the good butt cushion answers. Dont leave home without it.
Earl Mickel said it best, a good place to hunt and PERSISTENCE
Woodmanship, patience, get where they want to be. And hunt them not kill them. Anybody can kill one but the hunters know what I mean.
Lucky underwear
Desire
I don't pride myself on my turkey calling ability whatsoever, I tend to think strategy and woodsmanship is the ticket. But as I type "strategy" I think, "what even is my strategy?" Sometimes I kill turkeys and think "what the hell did I just do, how did I pull that off?" and most of the time I don't kill a turkey that I was fortunate enough to play the game with I was under the impression I did everything right and still didn't kill that sucker. I don't think someone's camo matters, nor their hunting app. Sure Onx in my case helps me find land to hunt but 9 times out of 10 when I hear a gobble I'm not pulling out a topo map to see where he's at geographically. Logic goes out the window and I go into kill mode. So to sum it up: will power, and some strategy and the desire to look at a redhead down my gun barrel kills turkeys.
CORN ,,, piles and piles of corn ????.
Learning through experience is key, but the most important aspect of that is learning from each mistake you make and not making them a 2nd time.
What I rely on most - Time afield and patience..
I feel like calling is over rated.. I used to stress about my calling being perfect until I heard enough real hens and realized they sound terrible.. I call soft and scratch in the leaves 98% of the time.. If you are in the right place, it shouldn't take any more than that..
I try and set up to where when I can see the turkey, he is at or around 30yds.. I miss out on the excitement of watching them come from afar, but it cuts down on misses (nightmare fuel).. Also, a well maintained and patterned gun is a priority..
I usually get my calls out a month before season and run through them a time or two and that is it.. As stated before, calling is a tiny fraction of being successful in the turkey woods IMO.. I feel the physical ability to get in a better position in a timely manner is much more important..
Two things. 1. Ears 2. Not moving when I feel like I'm in the money and moving will do more harm than good. This one's a struggle but gets it done
Woodsmanship and patience are the keys to being successful hunting turkeys. Calling is very overrated for killing turkeys. Cadence is way more important that making the perfect sound.
Everything that's been said will surely help kill a turkey and I've killed my share. There ain't many days out of the year that I don't pick up a call and play it for a little while. They're on about every flat surface in the house. But if I'm being completely honest I get as much enjoyment out of being beaten by those birds as I do winning the game. That's what makes them such a fun quarry to me. I don't get that out of any other thing I hunt. Big bucks win all the time but when they do you rarely get to witness it; a lot of times you never even know they're there. But turkeys you usually know when they whoop you. They tend to rub your nose in it. I love that!
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Calling is everything; the other decisions, in time, should be automatic. As Charles Jordan said, "I have put my call in and the turkey understands it."