Quote Originally Posted by BB30 View Post
Ill throw my 2 cents in. Some good advice above...

Turkeys act and react-they aren't smart and can't reason(they don't have the ability to put two and two together). If you mess a bird up don't be afraid to try him again the next day. I have missed birds that I killed the next day. Some are just more instinctual than others.

Doesn't matter how your calling sounds. More importantly listen to live hens on youtube or some other form of media and mimic the cadence and rhythm of a live hen. As stated above, there are some atrocious sounding hens but they all have a fairly similar cadence and rhythm.

Another thing with calling that has landed me quite a few birds early in the year is don't be afraid to get in a shouting match with the dominant hen. If you hear a hen cutting and yelping, cut and yelp back at her. Piss her the hell off and she will come check you out usually bringing a gobbler right behind her. Remember we are trying to reverse nature. Usually a tom gobbles and the hens come to him, you are trying to get him to come to you. If he has hens it becomes exponentially tougher to call him off so call to the hens and get them to come. The boss or dominant hen is usually extremely aggressive and easily irritated any "hen" challenging her she will usually come and check out.

The single most important thing IMO is being a woodsman. Learning when you can and can't move on a bird. Where and how to setup. You want the turkey to feel as comfortable as he can with as little structure in between you and him. Turkeys have a knack for hanging up out of range from something as small as a blow down or creek that is 1' wide. Not saying they won't come around it or over it but they will hang up on just about anything in between you and him. Knowing the ground that you are hunting like the back of your hand.

Good luck and enjoy the disease. The best way to learn is get out there and screw it up a bunch and believe me you will. You will learn something new every single hunt. I have been hunting them for 23 years now(killed my first when I was 5) and I still learn something new every single time I am in the woods with them. We can tell you all sorts of stuff and very little of it will make sense until you actually get in the game and make your own decisions/mistakes.

As for things you can immediately do.. Get out and listen before season. Focus on what hens need -food, water, and cover to nest. As season progresses hens will leave the gobbler to nest and often times you can catch gobblers checking thicker cover or transition areas(pines to hardwoods) searching for nesting hens middle of the morning.
If you think turkeys arent smart and cant put 2 and 2 together, and think that it dont matter how your calling sounds, you aint hunting the same birds I am haha