Calling VS Experience/Woodsmanship

[shaman]

Short answer: Woodsmanship.

Long answer:  I've been at this over 40 years. I make my own calls.  I pro-staffed for a call company. I'll be the first to tell you that calling is the least of my considerations. 

The only reason fellows seem to get wound up over calling is the same reason they get wound up over shotgun patterns.  You can do these things without an open season. 

BTW: I want to compliment you guys. I've been a lot places over the years where there was an argument when this topic was brought up-- not just one over the other, but the very definition of woodsmanship.  Me?  I see woodsmanship as anything you do in the field that isn't calling.


One thing I think gets left out. I'll leave it to y'all to put a name to it.  For 15 years, I've been going into the woods well before season starts and recording the birds.  I was inspired by the Spittin' Feathers series.  I make a few podcasts every year with the results of these recordings.

If you're interested, they're here: Podcasts

I considered myself a fair turkey hunter when I started.  I was already a pro-staffer.  However, I feel my education really started when I began making those podcasts.  Being out with the turkeys gave me a visceral understanding of them.  It is not something I can express.  It is something I've tried to write about and failed.  I certainly cannot teach it.

[eggshell]

I agree Shaman, I sit here at the house or work out in the garden and listen to turkey talk off and on all year long. I too have thought about how to descriptively explain a lot in writing and it's just a different language. Experience is the best teacher.

[silvestris]

I was extremely lucky to be mentored by two men.  One could not call that well, but was very good in navigating the forest.  He killed a lot of turkeys and chastised me severely when I snapped a twig while walking.  He taught me woodmanship.  The other was a master caller.  I only hunted with him on one occasion, but I spent oh so many nights with him and he taught me to call.

Woodmanship became a habit; something I rarely had to contemplate.  Now calling is a different animal.  What to say, when to say it, and the volume used to say it requires much contemplation, so for me, calling is everything. 

[nso123]

I hunt a mix of private agricultural land and some public WMA land. On the WMA it can be tough to spot the birds and pattern them enough to set up and wait on them to make a mistake, so good calling can be helpful. On the ag land it is very different. These birds can be patterned to a degree, but they don't respond much, if at all, to calling when they get in the fields. This is where woodsmanship seems to be a greater advantage to me. If I can only have one of the two, woodsmanship would be my choice, but I'm glad I don't have to choose between the two exclusively.

[Turkeyman]

A consistently successful turkey hunter will possess "turkey woodsmanship", and will also be a good caller. Perhaps not "contest quality", but at least good. Have that guy go out with the worst sounding call in his arsenal  and he's still going to kill turkeys.

[KYTurkey07]

The success I've had comes from picking a place turkeys tend to travel, setting up wisely, knowing when to use a handful of different calls for different situations and sounding realistic. The sounding realistic part come from practicing year round and knowing what to say when. I'd say woodsmanship is slightly more important than calling ability. We don't need to call fancy, just sound like a turkey and let curiosity get the best of them.

[Davyalabama]

Yeah Gobblenut, so much goes into turkey hunting --- wow, it would take a book, or a series to tell it all. 

Woodsmanship, I rank up near the top ---- knowing when to move ---- Yep, you're right, making the sounds are pretty easy, it's knowing when to say them, how loud to say it, when to not say anything -- whew.   

My blood is boiling just thinking of it.

[YoungGobbler]

making the sounds are pretty easy, it's knowing when to say them, how loud to say it, when to not say anything -- whew. 

I don't mean to quote YOU on this, I'm sure many guys would say the same... But then again, When, what, how... In my mind, it does not matter that much, meaning, if you set-up right, like on his usual trail, or around his strutting zone, you can say a quack or two too loud and it won't matter, he will still come to sneak you out. And if you're setup is not right, like when you're "running and gunning" and you just hear a gobble over there and now you're like trying to call him somewhere random... You can call whatever you think is right and you won't succeed in calling him out... Unless HE really is down to it...

[Yoder409]

You can call whatever you think is right and you won't succeed in calling him out... Unless HE really is down to it...

I'm a firm believer that a good or better caller can convince a gobbler "he really is down to it" at times where a poor or average caller just isn't gonna change his mind.

[Bowguy]

This is a common sense thing that new guys never seem to understand. Ive always said the best caller can't call one in that never hears him because the bird ain't within earshot. Many guys see birds deer season and figure they gotta be exactly there. That ain't necessarily so. Find the birds during hunt season, where they are going and you're mostly there already.
Heck if you're the right spot you prob don't even need to call many times. As Gobblenut said that's not why many do it. If it wasn't for interaction it might lose appeal but I can call to nothing in my family room.
If the biggest thing newer hunters wonder what take away from the forum this year this is prob it.

[GobbleNut]

I would emphasize again that, with the tools (calls, calling instruction videos, YouTubers, etc.) available today, there is no reason for anybody not knowing how to sound like a real turkey. My five-year-old grandson picked up one of my box calls and within five minutes was yelping on it well enough to call gobblers.

Knowing how to make turkey sounds does not equate to knowing when to apply them in the turkey woods. That comes only from time and experience in those woods. Those experiences should include trying all sorts of tactics to sort out what works when, and under all kinds of circumstances, situations, and conditions. "Pidgeon holing" yourself by sticking to a single set of tactics and calling is a sure-fire way to kill fewer gobblers than you would by being a bit more "experimental" in your approach. Sure, you don't want to get away from some level of "natural-ness" in how turkeys sound and behave, but that can vary a lot more than it seems some people believe it does.

Given enough time and experience...and dedication...in pursuing gobblers, pretty much everybody can learn how to "get'er dun"...assuming they are hunting in a place where there are turkeys to begin with.

A prime example: Back to those dreaded YouTubers. There is a zillion of them now trying to get a piece of the pie, and they run the gambit of how they call, what they sound like, and what sorts of tactics they use wherever they might be hunting. Watch a few of them and you will quickly see there are lots of ways to CALL and kill gobblers...even some of them that probably shouldn't.   

[Bowguy]

I would emphasize again that, with the tools (calls, calling instruction videos, YouTubers, etc.) available today, there is no reason for anybody not knowing how to sound like a real turkey. My five-year-old grandson picked up one of my box calls and within five minutes was yelping on it well enough to call gobblers.

Knowing how to make turkey sounds does not equate to knowing when to apply them in the turkey woods. That comes only from time and experience in those woods. Those experiences should include trying all sorts of tactics to sort out what works when, and under all kinds of circumstances, situations, and conditions. "Pidgeon holing" yourself by sticking to a single set of tactics and calling is a sure-fire way to kill fewer gobblers than you would by being a bit more "experimental" in your approach. Sure, you don't want to get away from some level of "natural-ness" in how turkeys sound and behave, but that can vary a lot more than it seems some people believe it does.

Given enough time and experience...and dedication...in pursuing gobblers, pretty much everybody can learn how to "get'er dun"...assuming they are hunting in a place where there are turkeys to begin with.

A prime example: Back to those dreaded YouTubers. There is a zillion of them now trying to get a piece of the pie, and they run the gambit of how they call, what they sound like, and what sorts of tactics they use wherever they might be hunting. Watch a few of them and you will quickly see there are lots of ways to CALL and kill gobblers...even some of them that probably shouldn't.   

Thats a fact. Sometimes when bored I'll put a you tube on. Not to sound funny, but some of these guys are so bad, they don't even sound close to a turkey. Yet the birds come in, they even post how great the call is. Hmmm I just switch to another video where I don't need perfection but at least close to realism.
Great topic Gobblenut