New to fall hunting...

[suzukigs750ez]

Hey guys. I'll be going out in a few days for my first fall hunt. I just bought a crystal pot call and it sounds great! While sitting in my blind, what calls should i use to bring in turkey? It will be a "blind" call as i've seen the turkeys on cam but don't know where they come from or what part of their journey my current blind spot is. I also just bought a jake/hen decoy set and hoping it gets here by the time i want to go out. I plan to setup while it's still dark out in the morning. I'll be hunting with a bow... if that matters. I'll try to keep the decoys within 30 yards. Also, how should i set them up and should i put them both out or...? Thanks! Trying to have a successful or at least learning experience on this trip out.

Also, how often do you call out and do you do say a yelp, then cutt, then purr or....? Do you call continuous until you get a reply? a few times an hour, etc etc

[ChesterCopperpot]

I'm not trying to sound like an a$$, but this sounds like a recipe for disaster. Tends to be a lot harder hunt in the fall. Why are you wanting to use a bow? If you've got a really steady, predictable pattern with a good food plot and birds coming in every day I think the blind could work, but otherwise I'd ditch the blind and try to just get on the group assuming you've got space to roam. If you don't have space to roam and are tied down to a single spot, again, if it's not a super predictable and everyday pattern it's going to prove a very difficult hunt. They'll be grouped up. You could try to bust them up and set up as they come back together, but I'd suggest finding the group (they're loud in the woods right now since they're all together; get to good vantages and listen for scratching), pushing tight, and challenging the dominant hen with cuts and yelps. She's going to want to keep everyone together and another hen challenging that direction of travel can often get that dominant hen, and any following toms or jakes, into range.


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[suzukigs750ez]

I have a bow to hunt with and am proficient with it and I like the challenge. I don't own a shotgun. I honestly know little about the birds on this plot. It's 90 acres and they've come through this spot many times, but where they roost, I dunno. Is the blind really a waste of time? Decoys a waste?

[ChesterCopperpot]

I have a bow to hunt with and am proficient with it and I like the challenge. I don't own a shotgun. I honestly know little about the birds on this plot. It's 90 acres and they've come through this spot many times, but where they roost, I dunno. Is the blonde really a waste of time? Decoys a waste?

If you're dead set on the bow then I think the blind is helpful if for no other reason than that it will conceal the draw. I tend to prefer not being tied down to a location. Mobility is one of the best tools of a turkey hunter unless you're just in a place where the patterns are dead set. I'd personally want the ability to track the group down. Fall hunts are an all or nothing scenario so often because they're grouped up into winter flocks. All the birds will likely be together. Since you're pretty set on the blind and the bow, I'd run a hen decoy and again try to piss off the dominant hen in the group. She's the one running the show. She's the one dictating direction of travel. Challenge her and get her pissed off and you're likely to get her to you, and if she comes she may very well bring the whole group. Cuts, yelps, and fighting purrs would be the way to challenge her. The second she starts talking back, copy the sounds she's making, and cut her off mid sentence. If you're not confident in your calling, though, silence kills a pile of turkeys. If you're in a place they're frequenting daily use the set up to kill them rather than the calling. I'd do one of the two, get really aggressive and challenge the dominant hen or go silent and try to get the set up right.


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[ChesterCopperpot]

Can't stress enough how helpful I think those Lovett Williams recordings would be in helping to familiarize  yourself with the sounds turkeys make at different points in the year and how they're using those calls.


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[crow]

Shorten your learning curve and get the Denny Gulvas Fall turkey hunting dvd

[suzukigs750ez]

Tomorrow is the day. If i have no luck, which i'm hoping i have plenty of luck, as long as i learn something for the next outing i'll be happy. I've been listening to the NWTF sound files and trying them out on my slate. I learned Kee Kee and Kee Kee Run last night. I was about 75% success, had a few weird sounding ones. Realized i was loosening my grip.

[ChesterCopperpot]

Tomorrow is the day. If i have no luck, which i'm hoping i have plenty of luck, as long as i learn something for the next outing i'll be happy. I've been listening to the NWTF sound files and trying them out on my slate. I learned Kee Kee and Kee Kee Run last night. I was about 75% success, had a few weird sounding ones. Realized i was loosening my grip.

Keekees are lost calls and real good if you're covering ground trying to locate birds or have busted birds apart and trying to pull them back together. Don't know how it will fair from a stationary position, but I was thinking with your decoys you might jake yelp / gobbler yelp some. That can be a hell of a good call this time of year. Put super simply, think a slowed down, lengthened note yelp. Instead of the yop-yop-yop quick hen yelp, it's more a yawmp—yawmp—yawmp. Some good tutorials on gobbler yelping on YouTube but that could be good with your decoy set up of jake and hen. Best of luck. Worst case, if the blind gets tiresome hop out and cover some ground. Get to good vantages and listen for scratching. Winter flocks with the leaves down are a loud procession moving through the woods.


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[suzukigs750ez]

Sounds like a plan! I'll probably stay in 5-11 or 5-12 and cover ground for a few hours. I can do the jake/gobbler yelp, it's easy enough!

[suzukigs750ez]

I got my first Turkey this morning. Called them in from behind me and got a hen. Mimicked her and some strutters followed too.

[ChesterCopperpot]

I got my first Turkey this morning. Called them in from behind me and got a burn. Mimicked her and some strutters followed too.

That's awesome! Post a pic if you get a chance. Congrats!


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[lacire]

Congratulations, my grandson shot his first this spring with his bow.

[eggshell]

congrats, you know this going to become addicting too, don't you

[suzukigs750ez]

As soon as I packed out I wanted to go back in. It is addicting! After an hour of calling and hearing them around me they came in. At first I was mimicking the dominant hen, then she started to mimic me. It was funny. Arrow made it through both breast and into a dead branch, also nicked the left leg an inch or so in. She came down leading a pack of six other birds. Two fanned out at one point. I had one shot, literally between short saplings on the ground between leaves. Maybe 6" hole to shoot through. She didn't go ten yards. I have it on video but it's a 5 minute video. In the Video you can see the arrow come by the camera, through the opening and hit the Turkey. Very pumped.

[suzukigs750ez]

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