Newbie, and Turkey hunting

[fishinggunny]

Hey everybody, I am new to the site, just joined yesterday. As I explained in my first post, when it comes to fishing stripers are my favorite followed by fly fishing. But I like to hunt too. I killed my first Alabama buck on 30 December, and nice sized five pointer in the Skyline WMA. I also am going to try my hand at turkey hunting this year in the same WMA. Anybody out there turkey hunt? If so, what advise could you give a new turkey hunter in terms of types of calls to use (I am not good at calling yet) and areas to hunt. Look forward to hearing from you. Ron emoScratch

 

[Bprice]

Re: Turkey hunting

Hit up Spurhunter and Mallardecho... Welcome to CFF!

 

[AThornton]

Re: Turkey hunting

Hey Ron, go pick you up a slate call and a few mouth calls and just practice. I used to walk around the house all weekend with a mouth call in.....that is until my wife almost shot me. It will be annoying as crap, but thats the best way to learn. Another thing I did to learn how to call both turkeys and ducks is get some instructional cds and listen to them in the truck on the way to and from work and practice calling with the cds. There are some really great instructional cds for both turkeys and ducks, and this is one great way to learn the different cadences that they make

Turkey hunting can be a lot of fun, but like any other kind of hunting, it can be frustrating. A turkey's eyesight is flat out unreal, so camo yourself well and have your gun up and ready to shoot BEFORE the bird is anywhere close to you. The best method is to go in and locate their roosting areas, then get in plenty before daylight and wait til they fly down. I was hooked on turkey hunting after the first time I went. I actually killed a big Tom on my first trip, but it was after a 30 minute staredown match and TONS of patience waiting for them to get into range.

Like I said, get you some calls and just start practicing. And seriously, look into getting some of those cds. They will help you TONS

 

[mallardecho]

Re: Turkey hunting

Get Ol' Bent Rod to take you on a adventure in the Turkey Woods. Take a change of clothes and Boots with you.


All joking aside, as a begginner in the turkey woods keep it simple. Get you a box call and a slate call right now and start praticing with them. Get a CD to help you learn the basic calls, and practice until your wife threatens you with bodily harm. There are 2 basic tatics for chasing the elusive turkey; 1st is the sit and wait method, find a area where you have seen birds and there is plenty of sign, sit and wait calling occasionally. The 2nd method is to run and gun, which is a more active method of moving around and locating birds and trying to either get in front of them or call them to you. This requires more calling (sometimes). The best thing I can tell you is just get out there and start experincing the diffrent aspects of chasing these birds. While in the woods less is usually more, do not overcall, move slowly and methodically be aware of your surrondings and listen to what the turkeys are telling you. But above all be safe esp. on public ground, be 100% sure of your target and beyond, and be careful of other hunters hen calls.

There are some really good hunters on this forum and they will probably chime in. I am not in that club by any means. Good Luck

 

[booche']

RE: Turkey hunting

fishinggunny,

Go and pickup a Knight and Hale Ole' Yeller or Primos Freak slate call. They are probably the two easiest slates to learn on. Also don't rule out push button calls, as they too can be user friendly. When it comes to mouthcalls, I have found that you just have to buy alot and try them out. Trust me, there is about 18 million different reeds to choose from. Starting now is a good choice. Practice makes perfect.

 

[SpurHunter]

Re: Turkey hunting

You have already recived some of the best info you can get to get started huting those emoBadLanguage birds! LOL </p>

I also hope if your married, or have a girlfriend, she is VERY understanding about your "free" time. Turkey hunting will absolutly CONSUME you if you let it....the most addictive sport I know of. Good luck.</p>

 

[slo-ride]

RE: Turkey hunting

welcome to the site, Gunny....good to see you onboard!

 

[fishinggunny]

Guys, Thanks for the info. It will no doubt be very helpful. From what I have seen today in terms of responses, this will be a very useful sight as I garner info that will undoubtedly cause my divorce one day, lol.

 

[2cleanron]

emoWelcome

 

[ditchdoc666]

emoWelcome emoWelcome

 

[bhscdavis]

emoWelcome emoAngler

 

[churly]

We talk turkey! Best advice I can give is dont over call and take your time. I've killed several nice gobblers by just sitiing still and scratching in the leaves every few minutes. Good Luck and welcome aboard!

 

[weims]

emoWelcome