First time turkey hunter w/ fowler: advice?

[Homesteader]

I've loved shooting for a long time, but have frankly hunted just a few critters. Deer, of course, and squirrel and rabbit. Some predators, and once even successfully. :wink: The only bird hunt I was ever on flushed some quail but the semi-auto shotgunners I was with filled the air with so much lead I thought I was watching WWII flak gunners! :shocked2:

That's my background, but I'd like to try my hand at turkey this year. I've got a fantastic Roy Stroh 14 bore trade gun / fowler with a tapered 48" barrel (great job Charlie) that puts enough #4 shot in the head/neck area of a target at 35 yards that I feel confident of a clean kill.

If I can get a shot. But I'm a novice at turkey hunting. My land has turkey, of that I'm sure. So far I haven't been able to find where they're roosting. A month or so ago I had about an acre cleared, and I'm beginning to wonder if I may have scared them off. Of my 12 thickly wooded acres I've only got about 1-1/2 to 2 cleared.

I've read books and talked to (modern) turkey hunters, but would sure appreciate any info or advice y'all here on the forum would care to pass on. Nothing is too basic.

Thanks very much.

 

[bucktales]

I'll start. :haha:
Concealment is everything.
I picked up one of THESE . and it works like a charm for turkeys, deer and yotes. Easy to carry and to set up. 15 bucks well spent, IMHO.
Get a basic box call (I like a Lynch Box) and a basic slate and practice.
You already know they are in your area, so fool around with your calls before the season. Know when and where to call, and when not to call.

Here's one I was fooling with in my mother's yard last year during pre-season practice.

 

[bucktales]

I'll add, I use a Hen and Jake decoy, the collapsable types at Cabelas. Fits nicely in a backpack and makes a huge difference.

 

[John Wasmuth]

Well, Find Turkey, kill turkey. Cant get simpler than that. Have fun, thump turkey, eat good.

 

[roundball]

From what little experience I have, I am a strong believer in the advice that turkeys are smart and can get call shy very quickly...if I was going to do any 'live call' practicing I would not do it where I was actually planning to hunt.

 

[Ron LaClair]

A month or so ago I had about an acre cleared, and I'm beginning to wonder if I may have scared them off. Of my 12 thickly wooded acres I've only got about 1-1/2 to 2 cleared.

By "cleared" I'm assuming you mean timbered off. Turkeys like to roost in the tallest trees in the area so if you've taken out those tall trees you may have taken away their roosting area.

The best way to locate where they are roosting is to be in the woods before daylight and listen. Turkeys will gobble in the roost before light just before they fly down. Another good time is when they go to roost at night. Use an owl call or a gobble call to get them to give away their location. If you have hay fields nearby that would be a good place to set up before daylight along the edge of the field. A blind with a couple decoys set out in front and a box call and you're all set. Don't over call, especially if you've got a bird coming in. Gobblers that have hens with them are hard to call in but don't get discouraged.

 

[XXX]

Springtime: The game is all about gobblers and hens are not legal. Watch for your state's opening day and make a point of scouting for birds in the weeks before that. You can drive back roads and look for turkeys to get an idea where they are, but you really need to get out and scout on foot too. Make sure you know the difference between hens and gobblers and practice trying to identify the sex of the bird when you see a distant flock while driving around. Instead of counting the birds in a flock I try to determine if it is a mixed flock, all hens, or a jake band, etc. I also look for beards, which is how most states determine a legal spring bird. what you are looking for in your scouting is an area that seems to have regular turkey traffic( turkey sign or frequent bird sightings), is accessable, and is either big enough for multiple hunters or otherwise away from the competition. The flocks that are obvious in the open fields all winter are obvious to everyone else too and the last thing you want is to show up at 5AM May 1st and find 5 trucks already parked in "your" spot and no alternate spots available.
As Spring progresses, the gobbler flocks generally break up and the individulal birds start staking out breeding territory. This can often happen in the same locations year after year if the area is unchanged. Your scouting now should be done in pre-dawn to listen for actuall gobbling. If you are lucky and have scouted an area with adequate birds you should be able to hear one or more gobblers going at it while roosted while the woods are still dark. You should have a rough idea from your scouting as to approximately where the gobblers are. It may take a few mornings (every morning before work if possible) to determine if they gobble from the same places each morning and where they head after flydown. Chances are it is a field, forest road, clearcut, powerline, or some other semi-open area where they will strut and expect the hens to show up. If you can find these things out and other hunters do not have designs on the same birds you are way ahead of the game.

OpenSeason: Get there early! Be first and expect others enter the woods even if you are there first. If you feel like trying some hen calling, get one now and practice while sitting around the house. Listen to and watch video's/tapes to learn the different hen calls and thier meanings. In practice, I find that calling is overdone and in the last 3-4 years I have observed that almost all of the hen calling I have heard in the spring season has been other hunters and not turkeys! I now avoid hen calling at all myself unless I can see a gobbler and he is moving away and I never move in the direction of hen calling. I do stalk gobbler calling despite dire warnings about this being dangerous. I think I can tell the difference between the real gobbling and a call and most hunters do not gobble call in the spring anyway. I try to get close and ambush them after flydown. I travel light and don't bother with big, heavy fixed blinds, vests, comfy seats, and elaborate decoy spreads. Other do, and blinds especially will increase your odds as they will bust you more often than not in the open.

Fall Season: Different game entirely. Some other time.

Good Luck

 

[Tom Black]

If hunting with a flintlock has taught me anything it's patience, especially when it comes to turkey's.
Tom Black
Cantucky

 

[Homesteader]

Excellent info and advice; thank you all. I'm excited about this, but have to admit I feel pretty inadequate. Please keep the advice coming, if y'all want to. I really do appreciate it.

 

[wtilenw]

From what little experience I have, I am a strong believer in the advice that turkeys are smart and can get call shy very quickly...if I was going to do any 'live call' practicing I would not do it where I was actually planning to hunt.

I agree. You can use locater calls to get a Tom to sound off or "shock gobble". A crow call is a good locater call, as is a coyote howler, a goose call, a pileated woodpecker or peacock call. If you use turkey sounds to locate Toms, you run the risk of having a bird spot you and associate that sound or that place as a bad place or sound. The best thing to do, as others have suggested, is to look and listen early and late in the day for gobbles or any turkey sounds, even wing beats, that tell you where they are and where they like to go. Learn the area and find good spots to call ahead of time. Make sure you can get to these places easily in the dark and have an exact place to sit, with any vegetation trimmed out of the way of your shooting lane ahead of time.

 

[fort fireman]

Listen real hard if there is a thunder storm coming in. Alot of time they wil gobble at the thunder to. Turkeys aren't really smart(any bird that will sit on a branch and freeze to it and die isn't really smart) they are just really wary and see every d--n thing. practice your calling over the winter months when there isn't anything else to do. When in the woods call when you need to but if a bird gobbles right back , from my experience, he knows you're there. Let him com to you . Sit back and enjoy listening to him come in. I used to get really excited(still do) and I would end up over calling. That can actually turn them off. If he is doing alot of gobbling and not much moving hes probably got hens with him. Hes gonna be tough to get but not impossible. Sometimes just a little move up the ridge or out the vally is all it takes to spur his interest. Just make sure he isn't close enough to see hear or anything like that. If he sees or hears anything he doesn't like your done. Go somewhere else and try on a different bird. Most importantly have fun. You will screw up on way more turkeys than you will ever kill and you'll never be an expert cause its always different. If your a beer drinker get a fresh case for when you get home. Those things will drive you to drink your sorrows away at some point :grin: :rotf: :thumbsup: :hatsoff:

 

[bucktales]

One of the biggest mistakes a hunter makes is over calling.
Don't worry, if you get a return gobble, he knows you are there.
As said, he may be with hens and he'll never leave them.
There are other Toms and jakes around without this "problem".
At times, I'll have a Tom come right in making all the noise he could announcing his grand entrance.
Other times, he'll try to sneak in the side door without any noise.
Last year's birds did exactly that.
One came in strutting, giving me the show, while another came in quietly.

Sometimes it'll take 15 min for one to come in from 1/2 mile away ,while another will take 2 hours.

It's a learning curve, but get out and enjoy it. Nice time of the year {sometimes), and not as cold as it is right now.

 

[KyFlintlock]

I have places that you wont see a turkey all winter, then around march they show up and game on= for season.

I can't wait for spring turkey either, I am STOKED to go, 2months and counting.

Get a slate call now and practice until your wife files for divorce, then you are getting close.
They are pretty easy to use and are turkey killa's.

About mid-march start getting out there before daylight to listen, to see if you hear any gobblers. You'll start getting an idea of where they like to roost.

Good luck and take some pics.

Wess