How Do You Turkey Hunt?

[greencop01]

First off no judgements, second this is only about how you hunt. I'll start with me. I hunt no decoy, no blind. I go scout the night before. Then the next morning try to call the bird in. I hunt this way because it is the way my friend taught me. He's hunted this way since the early 70's. I started turkey hunting with him in the mid to late nineties. And I hunt mainly forest but some field hunting too. I'm no expert and consider myself a journeyman still learning and sometimes still making dumb mistakes. If your're not having fun turkey hunting time to quit. How about your style of turkey hunting? By the way I live in Massachusetts and find turkeys on mostly public land.

[guesswho]

No dekes or blinds, locate a bird the morning of the hunt either by sound or get a visual.  I'm in no hurry and may not make a call until 2 or 3 hours into the hunt.   I usually don't call until I think I have found what I think is the killing spot.   I don't try to force the issue by constantly calling.   I figure if I don't kill him today I'll kill him tomorrow, so no need to let him hear every sound I can make on every call I have.  I hear enough of that from other hunters.  When I do kill him I treat him with as much respect as you can after killing something.  I don't high five, dance around, jump up and down and yell like a little leaguer who just hit his first home run.  I like to sit a few minutes and just take it all in, in case that's the last time I get to experience it.

[Greg Massey]

I just enjoy turkey hunting. No need to explain myself to anyone how i hunt. Just get out and enjoy the great outdoors and gods blessing. Those sunrises and hearing a gobbler at daybreak is awesome in my opinion.

[Tom007]

I just enjoy turkey hunting. No need to explain myself to anyone how i hunt. Just get out and enjoy the great outdoors and gods blessing. Those sunrises and hearing a gobbler at daybreak is awesome in my opinion.

X10, this is what it's all about for me.

[paboxcall]

No dekes or blinds, locate a bird the morning of the hunt either by sound or get a visual.  I'm in no hurry and may not make a call until 2 or 3 hours into the hunt.   I usually don't call until I think I have found what I think is the killing spot.   I don't try to force the issue by constantly calling.   I figure if I don't kill him today I'll kill him tomorrow, so no need to let him hear every sound I can make on every call I have.  I hear enough of that from other hunters.  When I do kill him I treat him with as much respect as you can after killing something.  I don't high five, dance around, jump up and down and yell like a little leaguer who just hit his first home run.  I like to sit a few minutes and just take it all in, in case that's the last time I get to experience it.

Exactly how I approach each spring day.

[turkeyfool]

I don't use decoys but when I was hunting in the prairie unit of South Dakota I did and it worked well. Two things I do that I think aren't necessarily common. If there's a river system in an area I'm hunting, I almost always try to float that area in a kayak. Sometimes it'll come back to bite you in the  because you may not have even needed to be on the yak and it wasted too much time, but overall I do well on it when I can use it. The other thing I do is I rarely seem to roost a bird in the afternoon. I'm just not good at it. I usually bank on hearing them when they first start going on the limb and I slowly take my time to get as close as I absolutely can. It usually just so happens they've already flown down at this point. But I try to get as close as possible to the point where I've bumped a few over the past few years. Seems to work out though

[hotspur]

If the weather is sunny and calm I'll cover ground to hear a gobbler. If the weather is bad or windy I'll  stand hunt scouted areas

[ChesterCopperpot]

I usually fire up the drone three hours before daylight. It's got a heat register and I look to see which way the birds are facing anticipating the direction they'll pitch. I crawl in with a bag full of decoys on my back and a full fan hat on my head to my Redneck blind—I'd like to thank my sponsor Redneck Blinds. I set my decoys—four full strutters, a half strutter, a posturing jake on an R/C truck, seven feeding hens, two breeder hens, and a funky chicken bearded hen with fishing line tied to her tail—102yds from the blind because my choke and load don't open up till about 97yds. When they get to gobbling on the limb I hit a fly down cackle on a batwing cut diaphragm through an elk bugle tube. I've had them fly down in Vs like Canada geese from a good three mile to get into the setup and at that point it's raining hellfire with the Keltec KSG and 4oz of TSS #16s. If that don't work I move to shooting them off the limb of an evening.


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[grayfox]

I just enjoy turkey hunting. No need to explain myself to anyone how i hunt. Just get out and enjoy the great outdoors and gods blessing. Those sunrises and hearing a gobbler at daybreak is awesome in my opinion.

   I don't think most hunters will fully understand this until you reach older age.

[Sir-diealot]

Right now I am in a blind, I am hoping some day I can get back out under a tree, I miss it. Sometimes I use decoys, the last 2 years I have been using them less and less though, no real reason, just seem to be going that way. If I have had them out 15 times the last two seasons total I would be surprised. Strange as this may sound right now I want to get one strutting with my camera more than I do with my gun.

[Here turkey turkey turkey]

I have killed 100% of my turkeys on land open to others. I tag out almost always and have killed at least 1 turkey a year for the last 11 years. I have had a hard time some years though. I put in a lot of time if that's what it takes, I am a very determined individual. What I lack in skill I can try and make up in determination.

I hunt with a 870 synthetic stock shotgun with open sights, it's beat up and has some bad spots due to neglect, ha. I did add a trigger spring to it though. No decoys, no reaping, no 10 dollar shells, no optics, no blinds. That is how I learned to hunt and it has worked so no need to change any of it. I have stalked them as well but call almost all of them in. I kill over 90% of turkeys in the Appalachian timber. I have killed more than a few of them with cheap mouth calls that are less than 7 dollars a piece and that's being generous.

[Here turkey turkey turkey]

I usually fire up the drone three hours before daylight. It's got a heat register and I look to see which way the birds are facing anticipating the direction they'll pitch. I crawl in with a bag full of decoys on my back and a full fan hat on my head to my Redneck blind—I'd like to thank my sponsor Redneck Blinds. I set my decoys—four full strutters, a half strutter, a posturing jake on an R/C truck, seven feeding hens, two breeder hens, and a funky chicken bearded hen with fishing line tied to her tail—102yds from the blind because my choke and load don't open up till about 97yds. When they get to gobbling on the limb I hit a fly down cackle on a batwing cut diaphragm through an elk bugle tube. I've had them fly down in Vs like Canada geese from a good three mile to get into the setup and at that point it's raining hellfire with the Keltec KSG and 4oz of TSS #16s. If that don't work I move to shooting them off the limb of an evening.


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Nothing wrong with fair chase in my book. Hehe

[wvmntnhick]

Depends. If back home, I'm in the woods. If where I'm currently living, it's mostly fields. Gun depends on my mood. Often times I'll carry a rifle which goes against the purist theme but I couldn't possibly care less. If one's careful, shooting with a rifle is no more dangerous than a shotgun. Hitting one in the head at 40 with a 17 hmr is just as challenging as doing it with a shotgun. Having said that, the past few years, I've been going the scattergun route much more often and do find it to be slightly more enjoyable. Calls vary depending on the bird and weather conditions. Almost always pair up a Yingling pot with a Gooserbat diaphragm. Got a couple new boxes from Spring Creek recently and I'm pretty certain they'll take some birds in the near future.  With the shotgun, I've switched to tss for the killer patterns they throw. Decoys...take it or leave it. Just depends on my mood. Leave them at home or in the truck most days. They might help but I'm just not interested in packing them around often enough to get excited about them. Shame too because I feel like I've wasted money on them when I see them laying in the basement.


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[Sixes]

I hunt 90% of the time by myself, the rest with my Dad.  I hunt for myself and I'll typically be there before daybreak and stay until either I've been successful or I am just ready to quit for that hunt. I might quit for the day or head back in and hunt the evening.

I rarely use decoys, but I am not against them, if I am hunting a field bird that is acting like a jackass, then I will figure out where he is roosting or leaving the field and if I need to put out a decoy, I will.


I put my 75 year old, getting in bad shape Dad in a blind with decoys this past spring, set up close by and was with him when he killed a double that morning and I was more happy with his birds than any that I killed. They may very well be the last birds that he kills due to his health failing rapidly.

To each his own is what I go by

[owlhoot]

I usually fire up the drone three hours before daylight. It's got a heat register and I look to see which way the birds are facing anticipating the direction they'll pitch. I crawl in with a bag full of decoys on my back and a full fan hat on my head to my Redneck blind—I'd like to thank my sponsor Redneck Blinds. I set my decoys—four full strutters, a half strutter, a posturing jake on an R/C truck, seven feeding hens, two breeder hens, and a funky chicken bearded hen with fishing line tied to her tail—102yds from the blind because my choke and load don't open up till about 97yds. When they get to gobbling on the limb I hit a fly down cackle on a batwing cut diaphragm through an elk bugle tube. I've had them fly down in Vs like Canada geese from a good three mile to get into the setup and at that point it's raining hellfire with the Keltec KSG and 4oz of TSS #16s. If that don't work I move to shooting them off the limb of an evening.


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Whole lot of bullhockey right there. TOO  MUCH STUFF   
Just use the attack drone , Don't matter which way their facing, unless checking beard and spur length 
If you choose the shotgun go with the new hell turkey loads Tss with resin encapsulated charge- proximity detonated.
(TREC-PD) loads. lethal out to 250 yards.