Deer and Turkey Hunting Tips

Archive for the ‘Turkey Hunting’ Category

As the turkey season concludes, we would like to thank our visitors for stopping by and reading our selections of turkey hunting articles. We hope that the information on our site has at least been somewhat helpful. Read the rest of this entry »

Ever run across those so called hunters that have nothing positive to say about their turkey hunting experiences. They are irritated, frustrated, or down right mad at the world because they have not harvested anything. They are envious of other hunters who have found success. Read the rest of this entry »

I had been turkey hunting for several years and had been some what successful. My cousin had just started turkey hunting and asked if I would go with him. We met at our property at daybreak. I had been monitoring a roosting area near the swamp edge.

As we arrived in the woods, I let out a few soft yelps to see if a turkey was near by. There was a very loud response just across the swamp. The swamp was full of water and deep. From previous experience hunting on this section of our property, most of the time the turkeys would circle around the swamp instead of flying over it.

We decided to be quiet and circle around the swamp in a shallow location. Upon making our way across, I again let out a few soft yelps with a diaphragm call followed by a slate call. The explosive gobble response let us know we were on the right path. The gobbler was heading towards us and fast. I told my cousin to move ahead about forty yards while I stayed back.

I continued to soft yelp while my cousin put a decoy out and found a tree to  lean against. Actually I didn’t think we needed the decoy since the gobbler was only about 100 yards out. As I watched nervously, I hoped my cousin would get situated before it was too late. I stopped yelping and began only purring on the slate call. With each purr, the gobbler would respond with a loud gobble.

As I watched my cousin, my heart started pounding as I knew the gobbler was just out of sight. My cousin raised his gun to his knee. I purred again and another explosive gobble answered. I saw the barrel of my cousins shotgun began to move as his knees began to shake. One more purr, one more gobble, bang!

My cousin jumped up and ran out of sight. He started yelling “I got him”. As I walked over to him I could see he was still shaking. He had a big smile on his face. He shook my hand and thanked me. We both knew that he was a turkey hunter for life now. As we left the woods he couldn’t stop talking about the morning hunt. It was truly a successful turkey hunting experience for both of us. 18 pounds, 10 inch beard, 1 inch spurs.

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It is very easy to take things for granted, especially in this fast paced, I need it now world we live in. We get caught up in day to day stresses and often forget about our blessings. What does any of this have to do with hunting? Well, because of our daily issues, we often forget to enjoy our hunting trips.

I have found myself falling into this situation in the past. Hunting is supposed to be something that takes your mind away from problems and allows you to relax. I know for me at least, I use my time in the woods to clear my mind and rejuvenate my spirits. I use hunting to de-stress. For me, hunting has very little to do with the taking of game animals. Although I have been very successful over the years, I pass up many more shots than I take.

Instead, I use my time hunting to enjoy nature and all that comes with it. There is nothing like the feeling of sitting high up in an oak tree when the sun rises. Watching the rays slowly lighten up the woods with all its beauty. Breathing the crisp air of the fall or watching acorns drop from mighty oaks. I enjoy observing the many creatures that wander through my field of view.

It is very easy to forget about these wonderful aspects of nature. Just the other day I was talking with several hunters prior to the opening day of turkey season. As I walked away it struck me that for the most part, all I heard was wining and complaining. Not hunters looking forward to a new hunting season. For me, I couldn’t wait to get back out there and enjoy nature, hunting, and the real joys of life.

So remember, try and put everything else aside for a while and enjoy your hunting trips.

After a long morning of dealing with chilly, damp conditions and no luck, I had stopped on the side of a ridge to reevaluate the situation. The area I was turkey hunting was known for having an abundance of  turkeys. I had hunted there in years past with regular success. Today however was not going as I had planned.

As I stood there, I took out an old mouth call and began softly clucking just to remind myself of its sound. As luck would have it, apparently I was loud enough to be heard. A gobbler answered from a distance. Actually he answered rather aggressively with three gobbles. I was excited for the first time all morning.

I pulled my face mask down and found a nice spot to lean against a tree. There was a little bit of under growth to help aid in my set up. I began my calling again and again was greeted with several more gobbles. The gobbler appeared to have gained ground and was headed my way. After several minutes the gobbler had made his way within about seventy five yards. I could not however see the turkey.

For the next forty five minutes, the gobbler zig zagged from side to side in front of me. Moving up a little closer, then moving back away. Apparently I had located a wise old gobbler that wasn’t quite ready to show himself. Then, the gobbler went quiet on me. I changed the tone and frequency of the mouth call and once again the dance was on.

This time the gobbles were more consistent and the gobbler was moving in on me rapidly. About the time I thought I should be seeing the gobbler, silence once again returned to the equation. A long silence. I sat there expecting a head to pop out at any second, but it didn’t happen. I made a couple more soft clucks with no response.

Suddenly, as it happens so many times, the gobbler popped out of no where. I was looking directly at him. My heart rate increased rapidly. I made a minor adjustment in my position and let loose with an accurate shot. I was able to successfully take a nice twenty pound gobbler with an eleven inch beard and inch and a half spurs.

This just goes to show you how quickly a bad day can turn good. The thing about turkey hunting is nothing is ever the same. No matter how many times you go into the woods, always be ready for the unexpected. There have been many a successful turkey hunts made on the last set up of the day after not even having heard a bird all morning long.

On most mornings, the average person wakes up to another work day. This can be a good feeling or a not so good feeling depending on whether or not you enjoy your work. But this time of year is one of the more anticipated times if you happen to be a wild turkey hunter.

The spring mornings early rise before day light provides excitement about the possibilities of encountering the first gobbler of the season. The sounds of the woods coming alive with the all important gobble from afar is experienced by many turkey hunters. Their faces filled with pleasure and dreams of success can be spotted from a distance.

The collections of box calls, slate calls, and diaphragm mouth calls will be in every turkey hunter’s backpack. The hill tops, ridges, flat lands, fields, and every where in between will be saturated by many a turkey hunter. There will be spotting, lots of walking, calling, and listening. All this activity with the hopes of taking the elusive wild turkey.

Some days, when all the situations and conditions are right, turkey hunting can seem somewhat easy. You stop at your first location which you had been watching for several weeks. You walk to a predetermined spot. You take out your favorite turkey call. You fire up a couple of clucks and yelps and boom. The woods come alive with the thundering sound of that old tom turkey.

You get excited, the turkey gets excited, and the next thing you know, there the turkey is. He has come running in on top of you as if on a string. Your heart is pounding. Your breathing becomes harder and harder. You suddenly develop a case of the shakes. The closer the gobbler comes to you the worse off your conditions are. You try to compose yourself with little success.

Finally, you regain your senses just as the old tom makes his way within range. You take a deep breath, focus, and make a successful shot on one of natures most famous creatures. Then, as if a switch was turned on, all those emotions come rushing back in again. But this time, the feelings are of relief and happiness. You have accomplished what so many hunters only dream of.

Now us turkey hunters know that it doesn’t work out like this very often, but it sure does feel good when it does. It makes up for all those hours spent in the field with no luck. But hey, that is ok to. You could be at work. Think about that with a smile.

We made our way to the location just before daylight. We made very little noise and set up just as planned. As the sun came up, we were about fifty yards from where we had seen the gobbler the evening before.

We glanced up into the trees with our binoculars and sure enough, there the gobbler was just a roosting away. We made a couple of soft yelps from the old mouth call just to let the gobbler know that we were there. The gobbler responded with several gobbles. Everything was just fine, or so we thought.

The sun kept rising, we kept yelping, the turkey kept gobbling. Still sitting in the tree. 7:00 am, 7:30 am, 8:00 am, soft yelps, gobble-gobble, still on the roost. 8:30 am, 9:00 am, still in the tree. Although we managed to find humor in the situation, we were both a little dumbfounded.

I decided to crawl away from the turkey, thinking the gobbler might fly down after the yelping started to leave him. I moved about seventy five yards away, still in the tree. One hundred yards away, still in the tree. One hundred fifty yards away, still in the tree.

By this time its 10:00 am and I made my way back to where my brother was. He is pretty much in tears from laughing so hard. He whispers over to me, “apparently Mr. Tom ain’t coming off the roost today.” Of course now we are both laughing.

Now 12:00 noon is the close of the day where we were hunting and now its 10:45 am, so we need a new plan. My brother is going to circle around the turkey and approach from behind. I’m going to maintain my position but crawl in a little closer.

I get within thirty yards of the turkey and stop. Meanwhile, my brother is taking a long slow approach from behind. He gets within thirty yards of the gobbler and stops. Now we are both well within shotgun range of the gobbler but we don’t shoot turkeys off the roost.

At 11:30 am, I stand up and slowly walk towards the gobbler. Finally the gobbler flies down, just over the head of my brother. Just as the gobblers feet hit the ground, my brother ended the hunt.

Now this turned out to be one of those strange but extremely funny days in the turkey woods. We have never known a turkey to stay on the roost that long before or since. 19 pounds, 10 inch beard, 1 inch spurs.

Suddenly, the dominate hen jumped up, started flapping her wings, and began kicking at one of the other hen turkeys. Then the fight was on. Back and forth they went, leaves and feathers flying. I tried to capture some of the footage on my cell phone. The visual didn’t turn out to good but the audio was awesome.

Although I never saw a gobbler, I did have a great learning experience with the hens. The fight lasted about two minutes and the losing hen walked away with a distinguished limp.

About thirty minutes after the sun came up, I heard something walking in my direction. As I looked in the direction of the sound, I noticed movement about forty yards out. At first I thought it was a dog, although I hadn’t ever seen a dog in the area before. As the animal came closer, I realized that I was looking at a coyote.

Now this was my first time of ever seeing a coyote in the wild. I had seen pictures before in magazines and on TV but never in the wild. As a matter of fact, I had never heard of anyone else having seen these creatures in the area. But there he or she was. To my amazement, the coyote passed by me within twenty yards and then went out of sight.

After the morning hunt, in which I didn’t see any turkeys, I drove over to a nearby wildlife station. I hunt three hundred acres of private land that adjoins a large acreage of state game land. I met with one of the wildlife officers. At first I felt a little funny in telling my story. I told the officer that I had seen something unusual that I had never seen before.

Before I could even say what I had seen, the officer smiled and said, “you saw a coyote didn’t you.” I laughed, almost in relief, and said yes. He then told me that the wildlife division had released several coyotes onto the game land the previous year. Apparently this was an experiment that was kept somewhat quiet. The officer advised that there was a press release issued on the state website but that the specific locations were not given at the time. After speaking with the officer, I did remember hearing something about it.

As I went home and told my hunting buddies about the sighting, of course I had to here the jokes about seeing something that wasn’t in our area. They wouldn’t let me live that one down for several months until another sighting was reported. There was also another press release issued on a local scale.

About an hour later, I noticed a hen turkey pop out into the field about seventy five yards away. Then a second hen, a third, and before long there was a total of twenty hens feeding out in front of me. I thought surely there would be a gobbler in the field at any time.

This was perfect, live decoys walking around. Thankfully, I had sat down just inside the woods near some thick undergrowth that gave me ideal camouflage. The hens never saw me as I watched them for an hour.

I never made a sound as I had the real things just talking away. Eventually, three gobblers made their way into the flock. Strutting around, looking all pretty, just out of shotgun range. I tried to call them closer but they weren’t buying into it.

It was nice to just sit and watch and gather information about the turkeys. The different sounds they make. The body languages and such. Even though I didn’t harvest anything, I truly enjoyed the entire morning.