I have spoken with literally thousands of hunters over the years and I am still surprised by the number of hunters who do not turkey hunt. Some have legitimate reasons, usually due to not having a turkey season or nowhere to hunt turkeys. But the overwhelming number of hunters who don’t hunt turkeys tell me the same thing when I ask why they don’t. They don’t have anyone to take them and they are a little intimidated by the calling process to go on their own. I am about to change that for you. If you are a turkey hunter already, you are probably yelling at me to stop! Turkey hunters can be a greedy lot and many love the fact that few people turkey hunt. I compare it to some bowhunters who like the fact that there are fewer people in the woods during bow season. However, the more turkey hunters we have, the better the sport will be, Period.

Now, there is already an article in this magazine this month (by Duane Taylor) with some great information on Turkey hunting for beginners. I am just going to add to that here so be sure to read his article as well.

Why should you turkey hunt?

I was solely a diehard deer hunter for many, many years before a friend took me turkey hunting. Shooting a big bird did not seem near as exciting to me as deer hunting and along with the fact that turkey season in Alabama can be very hot and buggy, it didn’t interest me. Then I went….

Turkey hunting is extremely exciting. If you are “Running & Gunning” (I will explain that a little later) as I do most of the time, you are actively hunting an animal, not waiting for it to just walk by. I love deer hunting but sometimes my A.D.D kicks in and it is hard to sit in one spot, for hours at a time, waiting on a deer to decide to walk by me. With turkey hunting, you are not a sniper, you are a predator. You are on the ground, on his turf, and you are at the disadvantage. You are trying to get close to an animal, who has eagle like vision, without getting spotted. You are trying to act like a hen and call him even closer when he is expecting the hens to come to him. Now, to make it even more heart pounding, he is gobbling his head off, letting you know he is the boss of the woods, and you can’t tell if he is getting further away or just gobbling facing away from you. To me, turkey hunting is deer hunting on steroids. I was always warned by other turkey hunters that if I ever got started I would be hooked for life. They were right. If I had to choose between turkey hunting or deer hunting, and thankfully I don’t, I would land on the side of the turkey. Most deer hunters can’t understand that unless they are deer AND turkey hunters. So, if you don’t want to turkey hunt, you can’t use “it’s just not very exciting” as an excuse anymore.

Turkey Calling

While there are many different types of turkey calls and many variations of those types, it’s really not as hard as people make it out to be. Turkey hunting is 70% patience, 20% experience and 10% calling. Calling is a part of it but it doesn’t have to be mastered to turkey hunt. Years ago, I was on our lease in Alabama turkey hunting. I was easing down an old logging road, trying to get a gobbler to talk to me, when I heard a fellow hunter making the absolutely worst turkey calling I had ever heard. His yelping sounded like it came from a diseased crow. Now, I was a little upset because I had signed this area of our club out for myself and there wasn’t supposed to be anyone else there. On the the other hand, I felt pretty good because my calling was better than his and I wasn't very good to start with. I didn’t want to take a chance on getting shot so I eased out. I told myself when I got back to the camp, someone was getting cussed out for not signing out and maybe even given a few lessons on turkey calling. I arrived at camp to find out I was the only one in the woods that day. What I had heard was an actual hen and not a hunter. I have often thought about that experience and it has made me more confident in my calling. Since then I have heard some of the nastiest turkey calls come directly from the mouth of a live hen. I have also heard more than one champion turkey caller tell me that if a real hen turkey ever entered a turkey calling contest, she would lose. In fact, she would probably come in dead last.

So, what does this mean? This means you don’t have to be as good at calling as you think you do. I recommend starting with a one sided slate call. Straight Creek Calls has a Walnut Slate call for around $35 and it comes with a striker (click here). I would buy this (they make the very best calls) and start practicing with it. Here are the calls I would start with. A yelp, a purr and a cluck. Very easy, very basic and very deadly. I have killed more birds with a cluck than any other sound. You can hear those sounds by clicking here.

Lets Go Hunting!

The best way to give you a 1,2,3 list of how to turkey hunt is to tell you how I generally do it. There are a lot of ways and styles, many of them depending on your property and how your turkeys act, but this will get you started.

Here is what to take with you on your maiden turkey hunting voyage. Remember, you may be doing some fast walking, crawling or creeping so go as light weight as possible.

• Turkey vest or fanny pack. I chose the pack because it is cooler in our hot climate. You need something to carry stuff in that is easy and quick to retrieve items from
• 12 guage shotgun. I shoot 3 ½ inch magnum #5 shot but this is up to you. I would try to use #4 or #5 if possible. The difference between  a 2 ¾ inch shell and a 3 ½ inch shell is range. Don’t shoot over 30 yards with a 2 ¾ inch shell and stay under 45 yards with a 3 ½ in shell. This can vary gun to gun but is a good starting point. My recommendation is to shoot the biggest shell your shotgun allows in a #5 shot.
• One Sided Friction “Slate” call and a couple of different strikers for different pitches.
• A “scrubber” for the call to keep the slate fresh.
• An owl hoot call and a crow call.
• A Thermacell or some form of insect repellant
• Camo from hair to toe but something you can easily walk in. You may have to cover some ground turkey hunting.
• A fold up, very light weight turkey chair is a nice thing to have but not necessary.
• A single, light weight, foam hen decoy (if allowed in your area).
• A small pair of pruning shears.
• Any basic survival or food supplies you want to bring.
• Binoculars

This will get you started. Just like deer hunting, you will add to this list. Then, just like deer hunting, when it gets to be too much, you will start taking things off the list.

The Hunt

Turkeys like to roost in tall trees at night and if they can find a place where the trees are over water (creek, pond, river) they like that even more. They generally fly down within an hour or so after light but I have seen them stay on the roost as late as 10 AM. If I have done no scouting and don’t know where to go, I try to find a high place, close to water, tall trees and some bare areas (roads, fields, clearings) to start from. I arrive at my starting point at least 30 minutes before day even cracks. If this place is a 30 minute walk from the truck then leave plenty of time to arrive there well before light.

DO NOT USE A FLASHLIGHT OF ANY KIND WALKING IN. I give myself about 10 minutes of extra time to allow my eyes to adjust to the darkness once I have left the truck. I just stand there, listening to the night, and let my eyes adjust. You will be surprised how well you can see without a light. Those birds are high in trees and may see that flashlight a long way away. You definitely don’t need to let them know you are coming.

Once I arrive at my starting point, I wait patiently for light to start fading in. I try to stay still and quiet. Your ears are your main sensory input for turkey hunting. Another reason for still and quiet is you never know where the birds are. I have slipped in to my starting point and sat down only to realize an hour later the birds were roosting in the tree I was leaning up against.

As soon as it is light enough to see my hand in front of my face clearly, I do some owl hoots on my owl call. Owls and turkeys are not good neighbors and more times than not, a turkey will gobble if he is nearby. If you have already heard a turkey gobble close by, there is no need to owl hoot. This is only to make a turkey gobble so that you will know the general direction he is located. If I have not heard a turkey gobble after my first owl call, I will try again in about 5 minutes. If it gets good and light and I still have heard nothing, I will try a loud Yelp on my slate call. If still nothing, find a new place to try. I usually walk a few hundred yards at a time and either yelp a few times or try the crow call. I usually don’t use the owl call after good light.

If and when you do get one to gobble, that’s when the hard part comes in. Turkey hunting is all about decisions and you will make a lot of wrong ones. So when you do, don’t worry about it. Like my granddaddy used to say “if it was easy, everyone would be doing it”. Now that you have heard him gobble, you want to cut the distance between you and him as much as you can without getting busted. That’s a hard thing to decide. I do it like this.. if it’s a loud gobble, I find a place right where I am and get ready. If it’s a long way off, I head there quickly and find a place to setup. I call every now and then on the way there just to keep him gobbling. It’s better to be setup too far away then get too close and get busted.

I try to find a place where I have a tree to sit back against, a good view of where I think he will come from and some brushy cover around me. If I have time, I will setup a hen decoy about 20 yards out in front of me in a clear shooting lane. I usually use my pruners and cut some small brush to build a blind directly in front of me. The more cover you have the less chance you have of getting seen. Once I am settled in, I usually start with a few soft yelps. If he gobbles, I stop. It is better to call too little than too much. The BIGGEST mistake a new turkey hunter makes is calling too much. Our natural instinct is to call a lot to make him hurry. Gobblers are rarely in any kind of hurry so don’t worry about it. Once he hears you and gobbles at you, he knows exactly where you are. Now he just has to decide if he wants to come find out why you aren’t coming to him.

Patience here is the key. I like to make a cluck and purr every 5 minutes or so at this point but you will just have to experiment with this on your own as birds react differently depending on the area. I am not an aggressive caller once I am setup and have their attention. Now is the time to be still and watchful. More often than not, that gobbler will come to you and never make a sound. This is more common in areas with lots of predators. Humans are not the only things that like to eat turkeys, so very often they will get quiet once they are on the ground. I killed 3 turkeys last year and only one of them came to me gobbling. Also, if there is a big dominant turkey in the area, the smaller gobblers will come in quiet to keep from getting their butt kicked by that older bird.

If I can definitely tell that he is getting further away, I will either try to get ahead of him or closer to his rear. The best way is if you can figure out where he might be going and beat him there in a round about way. This tactic is called “Run & Gun” and you will do a lot more run than gun. To me, this is a much more rewarding and exciting tactic than sitting in a blind and blind calling for hours (ambush style).

Now the typical cycle of the tom turkey’s day will go something like this. Don’t hold me to the times, but in my area its pretty typical.

1. Just before daylight and early daylight – He will gobble while on the roost to let all his hens know where he is.
2. 1 to 2 hours after visible daylight - Fly down from the roost. Many times the hens will fly down first and he will fly down among them.
3. First few hours on the ground – He will be breeding his hens or at least be attempting to breed them.
4. After that, the hens will leave him to go make nests or sit on nests
5. Mid morning to early afternoon – The gobbler is wandering around, feeding and looking for that stray hen he may have missed.
6. Mid to late afternoon – the hens are out feeding and the gobbler has usually met back up with them. They will move and feed until time to go back to roost.

Tips and tricks

• Turkeys are creatures of habit. Very often if you see a gobbler in a field at 2 PM today, he will be there at 2 PM tomorrow unless disturbed.
• Turkeys don’t hide or bed during the day. They are out there somewhere walking around. I have killed many birds around noon by just setting up in a place where I know turkeys are in the area. I will set out a few decoys and cluck and purr once or twice every 15 minutes. They will come in quiet but if they are around, they will come in.
• Too much calling can scare off a gobbler
• Be patient. Getting up too soon because you think the bird isn’t coming has caused more busted hunts than anything else. When you think it is time to move, make yourself stay another 30 minutes.
• If undisturbed, turkeys will roost in or around the same area as they did the previous night. This means you can setup an ambush around their roosting area in the evening if you haven’t chased them all over the place that day.
• Turkeys don’t generally gobble a lot after the morning is over. Be on the lookout for quiet birds.
• It is almost impossable to call a turkey down off of a hill but can easily be called up a hill.
  
• Younger toms won’t gobble a lot at all if there is a big dominant tom in the area.
• Leaves on the trees later in spring make a turkey sound farther away than he really is. One of the things that kept getting me busted when I first started turkey hunting was thinking the gobbler was 300 yards away only to find out he was 60 yards away. It can be very difficult to tell how far away he is because they are not as loud as you may think. Also, if he gobbles into the side of a hill or turns his head and gobbles in the opposite direction, it may sound like he is a mile away. To me, this is the most difficult thing to learn and I still struggle with it myself.
• Just because you didn’t see a turkey that day doesn’t mean you didn’t get close to one. When spooked, they don’t run off with a white flag of a tail bouncing through the air and they don’t sit back 80 yards away blowing at you. One wrong movement on your part and that bird will just turn around and ease away. You will have never known he was even there.
• Be still and be quiet. Once you have settled on the ground, have your shotgun on your shoulder with the barrel resting on your knee. You won’t have the time or ability to move once he steps into sight.

I could go on and on about this subject but this thing called turkey hunting cannot be taught from an article, nor can it be experienced from the couch. Turkey hunting is the most exciting hunting I have ever done and I want you, the reader, to know that you can do it too. Get out there and give it a shot. If you can find someone to take you, that’s great but if you can’t, don’t wait on it. Get out there by yourself and learn. Are you going to go out your first year and max out? Probably not. But if you ever get close, if you ever get that bird almost in range and he is slamming your chest with his gobbles, you will never be the same after that. But I warn you… it is addicting and there is no rehab.

By Robert Householder

Robert was introduced to hunting by his uncle, Jeff Hendricks, at a very young age. He grew up in the outdoors, hunting and fishing at every opportunity. He started, as most boys do, with hunting squirrels and rabbits but was soon deer hunting with his uncle and thus started a true love for deer hunting. Jeff and Robert were two of a kind and stayed in the woods or on the water as much as possible until his uncles death in 2007.

Robert was introduced to turkey hunting by a close friend, Jerry Golden, and soon developed a passion for hunting this elusive bird. It remains one of his favorite game to hunt.

Robert has branched out of just hunting in Alabama to include states like Iowa, Mississippi and Georgia. He hopes to continue to hunt game in other states in the future. Robert is a veteran of the first Gulf war and served in the USAF for a total of 7 years, including assignments in Germany, Nebraska, Texas and Illinois.

Robert is the owner of an IT Managed Services company (www.gtinow.com) in Greenville, Alabama and is the founder of TalkHunting. He has been married to his wonderful wife, Annette, since 1985 and has 3 grown children, 2 sons and a daughter. He also has one grand daughter, (Katie) and one Grandson (Jake). Robert is also a hobbyist beekeeper.

God, Family and the outdoors are his life.....

Comments(6):

1. still learning

   I'm not wet under the ears anymore when it comes to turkey hunting. But I still have alot to learn. We are two weeks away from our season opening and this was a great refresher for me. It helps get my mind planning and preparing. Like any good machine, my gears need greasing before the run.

   Sunday, March 06, 2011 Brent

2. turkey hunting step by step

   excellent review and reminders here robert. picked up a couple of new tips and none of us are ever to old to learn something new out there.

   Sunday, March 06, 2011 brad

3. Good tips, thanks!

   I am as new as they get when it comes to turkey hunting and I have enjoyed this issue! Some really good tips! Thanks! Hopefully I get a chance to use some of them this spring.

   Monday, March 07, 2011 Anthony

4. Great info...

   A lot of good tactics and tips. I'll be reading it again before season opener!

   Wednesday, March 09, 2011 Duane

5. Great Info on Turk Hunting

   Great article and info for first time turkey hunter and the experienced hunter, I agree totally that you don't have to be an expert caller and patience is the most important issue also movement...must keep still.. just great info for all.....

   Saturday, March 12, 2011 David

6. Very Well Decribed

   Robert this was a very informative artical for the new turkey hunters out there. Patience is one thing that cannot be stressed enough about turkey huntin. Great Article!!!!

   Wednesday, March 23, 2011 Zach