Ray Eye's Opinions

[StruttinGobbler3]

I usually pass this time of year by reading a few turkey hunting books, and I've just finished the Turkey Hunters Bible written by Ray Eye. In this book he provides insight into his personal hunting tactics throughout the season. Eye places an extremely heavy emphasis on calling in this book, and contends that calling is by far the most important aspect of turkey hunting. He uses some rather radical tactics as far as roosting birds and setting up extremely tight on the roost. He also advocates for very aggressive calling tactics, scorning soft and infrequent calling. He made some points but some of his theories seem a little out there for me. However, I find it hard to argue with someone of his accomplishment in the sport. What are everyones thoughts on his opinions? I have my own, just thought I'd stir the pot a little. 

[mikejd]

I have not read his book. But by the sound of it I think I would enjoy it. I sometimes myself feel like I am pretty agressive. And I to set up so close I can see a beard swinging from a branch. At times I feel as if I am to close. I feel there are times for both syles but evwrytime I am timid and do not suceed I feel as if I should have pushed harder. There are times when I know I got a bird in because I pissed him off.

[lonnie sneed jr.]

I have not read his book, and I will say I think Ray is a very good Turkey hunter. I have talked to him years ago and he makes alot of good points. I however do not think calling is the most important thing to killing turkeys. To me and this is just my way of thinking, knowing the nature of turkeys, and setup when calling is more important, with calling be the third most important. Filling a gobbler out and seeing how he reacts to my calling first, depends on how I continue to call to him.  I even do this on a Fall busted flocks. I do think having good calls, and being a good caller will help alot. I think if you have good calls and can call good, that you will call in (some) turkeys that an avg. caller will not call in. My Grand Dad killed many, many gobblers and he knew the nature of a wild turkey as good as anyone I ever known. He was not a great caller but a good caller. He killed turkeys because he knew were the setup on them. So to me it's knowing the nature of the wild turkey, setup, and thin calling. I do try to get as close as I can when a gobbler is on the roost. Sometimes I get to close, but I will take chances on them and most of the time it pays off. I am not saying I am right, but for me its right. DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU 

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

The average turkey hunter can't  sound like ray eye and therefore I disagree with his advice.  It's inappropriate considering their limited capabilities.

Too many turkey hunters these days think thru are ray eye and too many turkey's lives are saved because of it.

[GobbleNut]

When discussing calling, there are two different aspects to it.  The first is the ability of the guy using the call to make realistic turkey sounds, and the other is the ability of the guy to know when to make those sounds when calling to a turkey.  I suspect Ray Eye is talking mostly about the second aspect, rather than the first, when he talks about the importance of calling. 

With the quality of the turkey calls that are available to todays turkey hunters, there is no reason for any hunter to go into the woods not being able to sound like a real turkey.  Knowing what sounds to make, and when to make them, is the real point, I believe, to Eye's argument that calling is the most important ingredient. 

Unfortunately, knowing what to say to a gobbler at a particular moment in time is basically a function of turkey hunting experience more than anything else.  Anybody that goes into the turkey woods and thinks that they are going to kill more turkeys strictly because they are better callers than everyone else is in for a rude awakening,...unless they have the hunting experience to go with it. 

[guesswho]

Everyone has their opinions.  I agree with some of Ray Eye's but not all.   What he should have mentioned is that your calling style and tactics should change with the properties your hunting.  One spot, aggressive calling may be the ticket.  Five miles down the road and aggressive calling may make for a boring day in the turkey woods. 

[Rio Fan]

Everyone has their opinions.  I agree with some of Ray Eye's but not all.   What he should have mentioned is that your calling style and tactics should change with the properties your hunting.  One spot, aggressive calling may be the ticket.  Five miles down the road and aggressive calling may make for a boring day in the turkey woods.

I totally agree with you.

[drenalinld]

I tend to be aggressive with calling and getting REALLY close to birds when hunting alone, and from time to time if a bird cuts me off I will call constantly until I pull the trigger. I do not agree that calling is the most important part. I can kill plenty of long beards without making a call. Eye also readily admits that one of his most productive tactics in guiding and personal hunts is to sit in a blind and call and wait?

[ryanva88]

Calling is important, but knowing when to call is even more. After a bird hears your call and is coming, silence is the real killer. The ability get set up well and stay motionless also rank higher than calling.

Calls are funny, its all in the eye of the bird...late in the season a call that sounds ridiculous in the hunters eyes could score a response because the gobblers have heard all the "good calls".

[fallhnt]

I bowhunt turkey and get really close on roost hunts and call alot when setting up after daylight.I also use decoys,spring and fall.  It works most of the time where I hunt.You have to hunt to learn "your" style.I also stopped scaring birds off in the fall and trying to call them back.In my opinion that is a poor gun tactic at best.

[mudhen]

I agree with much of what Ray has to say, but of course, I would guess some of his beliefs come from hunting prime properties and unpressured birds.

When I'm in the wide open spaces of the midwest, I call call call 

I've called them gobbling right up to the shot, and I've had birds walk 400 yards in silence, with only their head changing colors as they approached and got shot.

What a great bird to hunt 

mudhen

[turkey_slayer]

One thing I've learned over the years is there are so many different ways to kill a turkey. Just because you used aggressive calling and killed a bird doesn't mean that same bird wouldn't have died to subtle calling and vice versa. A turkey isn't very hard to kill but people tend to over think and make things harder on themselves. Ray deff has killed a bunch and is a good caller but I dont agree with some of what he said. There's guys I know and that are on this board that would prob kill more birds than the pros if they had the time and hunted the same properties the "pros" do. I dont believe calling is the most important thing but the more real you sound cant hurt and prob does help to some extent on certain birds. Heck just listen to most of the guys on TV. They sound terrible!

[Tom Dooley]

Heck just listen to most of the guys on TV. They sound terrible!

Totally agree. Heard a guy on tv the other night with a box call. Sounded like some raking their finger nails across a chalk board. Got a big gobbler though.

[Eric Gregg]

I haven't read anythng by Ray Eye but plan to in the future.
I tend to lean with Tom Kelly's approach that focuses more on the time of the season in which you find yourself hunting. Competition calling is great but not practical in the woods. Calling is important, but how many times have you heard it said that they heard what they thought was the most horrible caller in the woods and found it to be an old hen.

What kills a lot of gobblers is being lonely, and finding yourself in the right place at the right time has a lot more to do with being successful than being the best caller in the world.

[Neill_Prater]

I've always thought hunting tactics are primarily an extension of the hunter's personality. If you are a laid back sort of guy, not very aggressive, but patient and persistent, you will likely be successful, and might come to think that your tactics are "the way to go". The same can be said for the run and gun hunter who calls loudly and incessantly, and pushes the envelope on every hunt. If he is successful, he will come to think his methods are the best.

In my opinion, there are times to utilize both types of hunting. I'm not an assertive person by nature, and I tend to hunt very conservatively, seldom crowding a bird or over-calling, and I've killed multiple birds in this mode. By the same token, I've been in situations where the season or my time on a trip is nearly done, and have killed birds by getting close and hammering the calls. On some birds, either tactic would probably result in a kill and with others, one tactic might work when another won't.

I think we tend to think of birds as, well, bird-brained, but I have no doubt that like every other warm-blooded creature on earth, they each have their own, well, for want of a better word, personality. Some are dumb and reckless, and you could scrape two limbs together and call them to the gun. Others would frustrate a champion caller with their disinterest.

I've never considered myself more than a mediocre caller at best, and I've hunted with guys that were worse than me, but I've killed lots of birds, and I've seen those terrible callers kill birds as well. I've always said patience will kill more birds than any other attribute, and I still stand by that, but flexibility is a close second. The hunter that doesn't rely on one particular strategy in all situations, but is willing to change things up will likely bag more birds over the years.