Gonna try turkey hunting this spring.

I have never been turkey hunting. But watching some video's it seems interesting. However, I've never been and have no one to teach me so I'll be on my own. Any advice is helpful. I bought a dvd that came with some mouth reeds to help me learn to call. I sound like a very, very sick turkey! Thinking about switching to a box call. I also, purchased a turkey hen decoy and a camo stocking for my shotgun. I only have one shotgun to use so it will have to do. It's a double barrel smooth bore 20 guage. What size of shot should I use?

I'm planning on going to a public game reserve as that is the only place I know where there might be some turkeys. I've been watching a video of these guys who drive down the dirt road and every so often they will get out and call. No tom answeres they drive a little futher down the road and try it again. When they get a tom to answer them, they then run into the woods right fast, set up, and then finish calling him in for the shot. A form of roadhunting, which is legal so long as you don't carry a loaded shotgun and you have permission to hunt on the property your calling on. I'm gonna try the same thing on the public game reserve. Until I learn more about turkey hunting.

So any advice from you seasoned turkey hunters will be much appreciated. R.H. in Oklahoma

[big rockpile]

First off with your Shotgun you will have to be very close.And the first thing you need to do with it is to Pattern it,to see where your densest pattern is hitting.Will your Shotgun shoot 3" shells?,this will help.I would shoot Copper Plated #6 shot.

Go out to your hunting area before the season.Get out before daylight,just as it is starting to get light they should gobble,this will give you an idea where they are roosting.You can go out the day before the hunt about dark,they will gobble just before going to sleep.This is Roosting your bird.This will give you a place to go in the morning.

Get out just before light.Get about 75 yards from the roosted bird.I always let they fly down.Start soft Yelping.If he answers couple times.Get your Gun up pointed in his general direction.If he comes up there,make sure he is not strutting,when he has his Head out,shoot for the Head Neck area.

Now there is a number of things that can go wrong.Make sure you are well Camoed.As far as Calls,Slate Calls are easy,as well as Box.Oh and any movement has to be very,very slow.

With out coming down and showing you.This is about as good as I can do

big rockpile

[davaseco]

Was just talking to DH about this last night. This will be my first turkey hunt also. We've got plenty of turkeys walking our property...and they have been taunting me lately....gobbling right outside my bedroom window at 4:30 in the morning....and even snuck up and gobbled at me at the chicken coop last week. i turned around and there were about 30 of them! I think it's time for some pay back....
I've got an old Marlin 12 gauge that could use the cobwebs blown out of it.
Thanks for the walk-through Rock, that's gonna help me a bunch! What is your weapon of choice for hunting turkeys?

Good luck with your first turkey hunt RH. Can't wait to see some trophy pictures!

[Old Vet]

Go to the woods today and get used to the sounds and smells there. Any movent will scare away any wild life so be still. Camo is good but not nesesarely. Just wear blue jeans and a dull shirt and you will be alright. It is movent that scares away more game than anything else. Sit in a place and not move for anything for a while and you will have squirels climbing all over you. This is what hunting is about. The same thing will get turkeys all over you. The first thing is not to become excited when you seel them but wait until you have a shot at them.

[hunter63]

Congrats, you are gonna take on the smartest bird in the world, 15 min. at a time.
I've killed a tom, then had another come in to the same spot 15 min later, so if you spook one, sit still for a while, and see what happens.

Pattern your gun, what ever it is, need a 6" spot @ 40 yds w/20/50 pellets in it.

Camo everything.

They can hear a pin drop at a mile, see that pin, and if spooked can run 15 steps a second. If they could smell, you would never get close to one.
Second shots are rare.

Find a spot, your idea on public ground is as good as any as well as scouting the area as much as you can.

When you find your spot, sit still!
When your butt goes to sleep and you can't feel it anymore, it's about time for stuff to happen.

Listen to what is going on 1st thing, might hear the fly down, then hen yelping, etc.

When you call, try to call the same way as the turks, they all sound different as we do so don't worry about what you sound like to your buddies, just do as they do.
I don't try to win contests with my calling, I just need to sound sexy to a dumb tom.
I don't use the gobble too much, mostly yelps, but it helps to have a call with you.

If you get one comming in, and he gets quite, don't move, he may be sneaking in on you, even behind you.

If you can't get a sound after yelping for every 15 min or so, after about 1 hr, move and start over.

Spring hunts always seem to me that your getting away with something, and lots of stuff comming up, birds, small aminals every where.
Have fun!

[big rockpile]

davaseco I'm using mostly Muzzleloaders.This Inline is suppose to outshoot any Modern Gun.I don't know about that,but it sure has a tight pattern.

The Double is just fun.





big rockpile

[brownegg]

I realize first time hunters prolly don't have a portable turkey blind, however they have come down in price alot and it's the only way to hunt in my opinion. Cheap folding chair and 4 hours in one spot is a easy and comfortable hunt. I've shot lots of toms, usually the longer one sits the more the odds increase you will be successful.

Well I don't have a blind but I do have my own version of a gilly suit which I sometime use for deer hunting. It fools squirrels, coyotes, dogs, racoons, hawks, and deer so long as they don't wind me first. Can you imagine someone driving down the road in a gilly suit!

Not sure I'm gonna get to go on the first day (April 6th). It seems I'm gonna have a million things to do this coming easter weekend. But hopefully sometime next week I will be able to find time. I've heard the first week is when you want to be out there. After that the toms wisen up to the calls.

I will defenitly have to buy the slate or box call now. I layed my reed call down somewhere in this junky house and I can't find them now!

Thanks everyone for your input. R.H.

[big rockpile]

Need to get you a Big Grin Call. Buddy made this one for me.



big rockpile

[Old Vet]

REmember that motion is the thing that gives away your location quickest. I have been siting in a lawn chair with blue jeans and a dull shirt and had severial of them come my way. If you have a gillie suit and know how to make it work for you you will have fun hunting anything.