Getting Ready for Turkey Season the Right Way

Getting Ready for Turkey Season the Right Way

Years ago, my turkey preparation regiment was well-defined and carefully executed, with one glaring error – I started way too soon.  That may seem a conflicting lead-in given that this is an article aimed at properly prepping you for the upcoming season, but my issue was that it drove me crazy.  I’d get to the point where I was more than ready to hunt birds, but there were piles of snow on the ground and it would be months before any seasons opened.  Still, those years of overzealous rituals and long nights waiting did a good job of laying the groundwork for successful seasons.  So much so, that I’ve been able to condense that prep-work into a few short steps.  Here’s what I’ve learned. 

Landowner Permission – Asking permission early is far easier than doing it later when warm-weather activities make you more of a pest than a partner.  90% or more of the upper Midwest turkey hunting is done on private land, so getting good at this aspect of your game is a very important part of your hunt.  Birds continually migrate throughout different parts of ridges and valleys, and also move through stages of the breeding cycle with regional irregularity.  Having 2 or more parcels with good bird activity ensures that if property “A” birds are in a funk and henned-up, the Property “B” birds may be willing to play.

Gear – Now is the time to figure out you need new gloves, not when you have to head-out bare-handed opening morning.  Gear junkies love heading into the woods with weighted down turkey vests, but focus first on fixing, replacing parts, or simply testing the critical gear, and then focus on getting a goodie or two that may increase your chances of success.  This part is the fun part, but beware the tendency to over-do it.  All the knick-knacks in the world won’t help if you can’t quietly slip down a logging road, cross a barbed-wire fence, or belly crawl under some pines.  Focus on a lightweight addition or two that stows nicely and try on your gear.

Calls – A good deal is written on calls and calling, but the most important part of it is first and foremost actually practicing, but a close second is claimed by practicing like you play.  It matters not if you can yelp like a live hen after you get warmed up for 15 minutes.  Progress your practice by starting small and just working on a few vocalizations, but eventually get to the point where you can pick up a call, and make concise noises, at the cadence of your choice, with few to no screw-ups.  After all, that’s what you need to do in the woods.

Remote Scouting – Drive backroads now and find the segregated gobbler groups, knowing that they will use natural cover and other landscape corridors to disperse.  Birds will become increasingly more active as days warm and the sun-angle increases melting on certain slopes.  Look for birds here that are picking at soybean stubble, corn stalks, and other grain waste. 

Sometimes, some Google Earth scouting, combined with simple gravel-travel in the area you hunt can give you clues and cues to some new and overlooked possibilities either for more ground, or different ways to hunt the ground you already have.  Recently, for Minnesota I’ve been using LiDAR elevation data, which offers a hyper-accurate accounting of the land’s surface here - http://arcgis.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/mntopo/

Gun – This continues to be one of the most overlooked parts of our turkey hunting experience.  Good, consistent patterns lead to more confident shots, and effective kills.  The only way to know how your gun performs is to shoot it at 40 yards, and count pellets in a 10” circle.  Somewhere in that 100 pellet range, provided there are no gaps and holes in your coverage, is where you want to be to cleanly kill at that same distance.  If you don’t have anything close to that, limit the ranges you shoot at birds to under that mark.  This year I’ll be trying the new TSS loads in my constant quest to put as many pellets in that kill zone as possible.  I’m a big fan of smaller shot sizes in general, provided they’ve got the down-range energy to perform.  Lastly, don’t ignore your sights either, as most shooters tend to shoot over the top of a turkey in an actual hunting situation when using just a plain bead. 

Journaling – Writing, studying, and ultimately re-living your turkey hunting experiences is not only fun, it’s incredibly effective at helping you to hit the ground running.  I start each season relatively green, forgetting the swing of things until I’m a few days in.  My journals offer keys to forgotten bits of my brain that inform current plans based on the experiences I’ve amassed.  Every turkey is different, but just like poker, you want to play the odds and make the move that gives you the best percentage of success each time you do it.  Few hunts are as decision-dependent as a turkey hunt, and using a journal as a playbook to storyboard each decision in the turkey woods, ensures that more often than not you’ll be in the right mindset to exploit behaviors of the past that play out in the future. 

10 Tips From 10 Turkey Hunting Experts

Turkey-chasers nationwide are getting ready to break out the old calls, go through their camo, and make plans for the spring hunt.  No matter what gear, states, or schedules they prepare however, experience and advice can make or break the hunt of a lifetime, or even just a pre-work hunt off the roost.  This article challenged some of the best turkey hunters in America, as boiling down their many years of hard-won expertise is a task in-and-of itself.  Their tips are gathered here, and can’t help but make you a better turkey hunter.       

Will Primos – Primos Hunting - Perhaps the most influential turkey hunter of our time, Will Primos has been doing it longer and arguably better than anyone before him.  He shares turkey hunting advice through TV, video, and countless articles over the years, and is annually one of the most sought-after names in all turkey circles.  His number one tip revolves around setting up on hill-country gobblers, and specifically why it’s best to set up higher above them in elevation.  Will offers, “it is basic instinctive survival for a turkey, as any gobbler coming to another turkey knows that predators close-by could be listening too.  A turkey headed downhill towards a predator would have to run uphill, gain ground, then turn left or right to jump and put air under its wings to fly away.”  Will continues, “If you are above a turkey he will more readily come to you because he knows that if he sees danger he has to simply turn downhill, catapult into the air and sail to safety.”  For anyone who has seen how quickly a tom can scoot and coast downhill, you know how sound this last tip really is. 

Dick Alford – With many 100’s of gobblers, 43 turkey seasons, and 6 books under his belt, along with more seminar gigs than you can shake a tail-feather at, the 78-year old Alford has more years of experience than anyone on our star-studded panel.  To stay consistent over the years, Alford credits the 4-P’s.  “PASSION for the hunt including knowledge and wisdom, PLANNING long before the adventure begins, PATIENCE while on the trail, and PERSISTENCE allowing preparation to meet with opportunity.”

Aaron Warbritton – The Hunting Public – Aaron has emerged as one of the nation’s premier turkey authorities, publishing thousands of hours of great YouTube instructional and informational turkey hunting content.  Each week during the turkey season, people live vicariously through Aaron’s video work and many travels throughout turkey country.  He emphasizes listening and the finer details that most people overlook when scouting for birds. When filming hunts, he starts at high points during the first 30 minutes of daylight when birds are most vocal.  Aaron notes, “no wind is ideal, but if it's gusting try to listen downwind of where you anticipate the turkeys to be so the wind is actually carrying the sound towards your location.”  Gobbling isn’t the only thing he’s listening for either, and says that “Turkeys can give their position away with a variety of sounds.  We killed a tom with 1 1/2 inch spurs last year on public land because he gave his position away in the tree with a quiet gobbler yelp.  We setup and called him straight in without hearing a single gobble.”       

Jeff Fredrick – Champion’s Choice Calls -  12-time Wisconsin State Turkey Calling Champion Jeff Frederick sounds more like a turkey than your average hen, and has long made high-end custom calls for those that both compete and hunt.  I like Jeff’s calls and use them often, but what he can get out of them compared to what I can just isn’t fair.    Jeff’s number one tip is to be wary of falling into the rut of letting past experiences dictate your current hunting plans.  Frederick says, “turkeys will rarely do the exact same thing from day to day, as any prey species won’t survive well if predators pattern them.”  Similarly, avoid becoming complacent and letting your shotgunning suffer.  “I’ve been witness to plenty of ‘1st-time’ misses,” says Frederick with a grin.

Steve Huettl – Gamehide Hunting Clothing - As general manager at Gamehide Hunting Clothing, Steve totes his bow across the Midwest, continually testing gear and challenging gobblers with a stick and string.  Annually, he’s taking down several gobblers in multiple states, and knows more about bow-hunting for turkeys than most will even learn about turkeys in general.  His number one tip centers around shot placement.  Steve says, “Many people have the tendency to rush the shot and not take the extra time needed to settle the pin on the small vital area a turkey provides.  Once that long-beard commits and is in bow range he usually sticks around to check out your decoys.  Take that extra time to relax, settle the pin and let the arrow fly.”

Billy Yargus – NWTF Grand National Calling Champion - As a guide and upper-echelon competitor on turkey calling’s biggest-stages, the name “Billy Yargus” makes both turkeys and fellow callers get a touch nervous.  I’ve had the opportunity to hunt with Billy, and the guy doesn’t just sound like a turkey, he sounds like a flock of turkeys.  That morning, Billy called in two toms with a flock of hens, a coyote, than another group of 3 bruiser toms, all in the span of an hour.  He did it with absolute non-stop chatter from a mouth call and box call.  So I asked him with all the advice on not over-calling, why he would call louder and longer than anyone I’d heard before?  Billy’s answer was simple, yet stuck as a great tip I’ve taken with me.  Yargus explained, “if you’re not confident on a turkey call, then sparingly calling and keeping the bird guessing just may-be your best bet.  If you sound good on a call however, let the local birds on that morning tell you what to do.”  I have to admit, the hens around us were incredibly vocal, and the toms were eating it up.  Billy was blending in, and standing out all at the same time.

Guy Cunningham - Guide - I’ve written about Guy before, a local friend and former turkey hunting guide that’s been chasing toms beginning in the early 1970’s in Southern Illinois, and all over the country after them ever since.  Few have seen as much in-the-field experience as he has, and fewer yet will be able to translate that into hunting success.  As someone who I’ve learned more from than any amount of books, videos, or articles combined, I felt obliged to include one of his best tips that I’ve used on many occasions.  “Leaf scratching is the best call you’ve got,” says Cunningham, “cagey old birds that’ve been messed with by all the neighbor kids won’t gobble, but they’ll come in quiet to some soft yelps and lots of scratching.”  In Oklahoma a few years ago, we tag-teamed a particularly bad bird as I listened to Guy move around behind me, quietly yelping, scratching, and occasionally flapping a hat like a turkey rising up and stretching its wings.  I was convinced not one, but several hens had slipped in amongst our setup and pinned us down.  We’ve shared many hunts like that over the years, including ones where turkeys gobble from the roost immediately after not yelping or cutting, but simple leaf scratching. 

Travis Frank – Ron Schara Productions - Chances are you’ve seen Travis Frank’s work on TV and video, even when he’s not being featured on camera.  Travis grew up hunting turkeys, calling them nothing less than “addictive,” but now is often faced with the challenge of getting birds to cooperate on camera for several TV shows he produces such as Outdoor Bound and Due North Outdoors.  With tight time schedules and expensive camera time, Frank is a master at getting after birds and making it happen.  He cites overall scouting as his number one tip, mentioning “I prefer to scout birds from as far away as possible with optics, while still being able to see small details like exactly which fencepost they’re coming past to enter an ag field, or what birds (hens, jakes, or toms) come to openings and when.”  When out on foot, Frank says that “tracks in a field tell the story, especially large amounts of them.”  To get birds to close and put on a show, Frank relies on a hen and jake combo to provide maximum appeal without the risk of spooking less dominant toms.  “Adult gobbler decoys have really come on strong in recent years, but I don’t want to limit the amount of birds I’m hunting to only one or two dominant birds in the area.”  Travis stakes down the hen, and positions the jake in a manner to the hen that looks like he’s “pushing” her around.  This method works great, especially early in the season where competition for hens is heavy.        

Ernie Calandrelli – Quaker Boy Game Calls - Ern’ has been hunting gobblers across the globe for decades on TV, videos, and in game call product development roles.  An incredible gobbler-getter, and great guy, Ernie’s tip is a really good one.  “My number one tip would be to persevere.” says Calandrelli.  Keeping a good attitude is key, as he says, “the one thing that is in your favor spring gobbler hunting is that every morning is opening morning. I have seen the same gobbler seem impossible to kill for days then run to the call like it was the first time he ever heard one.”  Take it from someone who’s killed some crafty birds in his time, as that’s advice you can take to the taxidermist.

Lake Pickle – Primos’ “The Truth” Videographer - Lake gets a ring-side seat to some of the best turkey hunts on the planet, and works for true legends in the industry at Primos Hunting.  In chasing some great gobblers over the past few years, he offers “the best tip I can give anyone who wants to become a better turkey hunter is to become the best woodsman that you can be.”  He cites observational skills, reading terrain, and moving about without spooking as key traits to successful hunts.  He states it best by saying, “decent calling and excellent woodsmanship will kill more turkeys than excellent calling and subpar woodsmanship every time.”

Work the Bird, Don't Let the Bird Work You

The bird hunts you as much as you hunt it!

The title is a well-traveled phrase created by turkey legend David Hale of Knight and Hale Game Calls, which highlights so succinctly a common calling blunder in the turkey woods.  It’s a study in human nature, and mother-nature, all wrapped up in an often-repeated scenario that happens every spring.  Turkey hunter calls and gets a response from a gobbler.  With glee, turkey hunter pours on the calling, delighted with the response and more often, enthralled in the sound of his or her own yelps, clucks, and purrs.  The bird approaches, but more cautiously, as incessant yelping becomes both louder and prouder, thus pinpointing the location of said turkey hunter.  The gobbler, now quiet, finds the most open and visible spot to strut and display just out of range.  This lasts for only so long, and eventually the tom retreats to whatever it was he was doing before. 

To better understand the interaction, think in terms of turkey radar.  The tom is up on some ridge (a.k.a – his backyard) minding his own business, when a hen sounds off.  Immediately he responds with excitement, thinking the entire time, “Now where is she at – sounds like the corner of the field edge where I eat clover about 200 yards from here?”  While I doubt that toms understand yardage the way we do, I know from watching them approach so many times that they have a pre-determined spot in mind. 

This location could be the actual spot you’re calling from, or an area that they’re used to hearing from and intercepting hens, but one thing is for certain, the more you call, the more they KNOW where you’re at.  An old gobbler’s radar works like a series of rapidly closing concentric circles, with him tightening the noose each time he hears from you.  After your first series, he’s got you pinned down to a 50 yard area.  By the time your box call is smoking your you’ve got a blood blister on your striker hand, that bird knows you down to the tree.  That’s a blow-by-blow account on how the bird “works you.”

Now that we’ve identified the problem, here’s a heavy dose of solutions.  The first being to call more patiently, and more to attract him, rather than to scratch the natural itch we all have to plainly do anything it takes to hear him gobble one more time.  So often we call to elicit a gobble, rather than to punch a tag.  We grow nervous after not hearing from him in 5 minutes, so we “check-call” hoping to get an update on his progress as he makes his way nearby.  This check calling is effective and often required, especially if you’re in a bad setup, covering a large expanse, or otherwise exposed.  The trick is to do it quietly, rarely, and variably.

Speaking of varying your calls, this most often means steering the direction of your calling.  This can be tough with a box call, easier with a slate, and easiest of all with a mouth call.  With a diaphragm, you can throw the sound, and many times I’ve steered a tom around obstacles or more towards my position effectively by throwing my calls the direction I’d like him to come.  Don’t think you can get a tom to zig zag his way through the woods on command?  I didn’t see it captured in video form until Denny Gulvas did it on his DVD – “Challenging Pressured Gobblers,” where Denny demonstrates the technique quite well.  You can even turn around, pointing your calls the other direction, mimicking a hen that’s tired of the waiting game and is leaving town, ready or not.  This trick works best in a blind where you have free range of motion without being seen, and is a phenomenal way of breaking loose a hung-up tom.

Another trick is to call more quietly, or switch to non-verbals like leaf scratching.  While scratching can be easily pinpointed, a bird often needs to be within range to hear it well.  Just like it’s easy to find your buddy when he’s honking the horn on the truck, turkeys can more easily pinpoint your location when the sounds you’re making are loud.  Quiet down and match the tone and noise of the woods you’re hunting to more effectively get those birds to close.

In my mind, the best way to work a bird then is to keep him guessing, never letting him know your exact location.  Of course there’s always outliers.  I’ve spoken at length and hunted with guides and championship callers that never shut up.  They blow a call constantly and it only improves their success.  That said, they can sound like a flock of turkeys, yelping more convincingly than the real thing and projecting the symphony across a wide-range of vocalizations.  They do so with mouth calls and throw the sound around the woods.  If you can work a call to their level of proficiency, the more power to you.  For most of the rest of us however, fewer, well-placed calls that pique a tom’s curiosity into having them close the distance, leaves you more likely this spring to work the bird, rather than having him work you.

Of Toughness and Turkeys

On a recent youth hunt in Wisconsin with my son Isaac, I was yet again reminded of the overall toughness of the wild turkey.  His bird came to the call as one of a group of five, looking and acting no different than the others.  Well after the shot, high-fives, and congratulations, came the revelation that its breast-bone was completely split in two.  Though a head shot, the chest area of the tom looked like it had been through a meat grinder.  The breast-bone itself was rough and ground down, and there were many colors, clotting, and other signs of infection.  Whether by a car or other accident, this bird was surely on its last leg, though it didn’t act as if it had a scratch.  Not that I needed a reminder of their tenacity, but I’m always amazed at the will of nature and resiliency I see in these critters. 

My first encounter with a wounded gobbler was only a few years into my introduction to turkey hunting.  I was nestled under some flowering cherry trees along a small field edge that butted up against an oak ridge the birds loved to roost on.  All-night thunderstorms gave way to a sunny morning, and the birds above and behind me were eager to greet the day.  First a few hens pitched over my head and down into the field below me about 100 yards away, and then 3 toms eventually touched down, coasting into the field after completing a “J”-shaped flight to properly survey their landing zone.  From the moment those toms hit the ground, there was no doubt who was boss.

The lead tom stayed tight to an old scratchy-throated hen that wouldn’t stay quiet.  The two subordinate birds were not allowed to strut, and each time they pushed the group, the boss gobbler turned around and grabbed them by the neck skin.  His punishment was visible at that distance, and sure looked painful!  Eventually the loudmouth hen had to saunter over to teach the sharp jenny I was trying so hard to be, a good lesson.  Big tom followed, and went down at 25 yards.

His spurs were over 1 ½”es, and his beard was the longest I’ve taken at 11 ¾”, but his body was destroyed and a gaunt 19lbs.  His tail feathers were shredded from someone who obviously shot him in the rear end while in full strut, and the back half of the bird was literally green with infection.  How this tom had the vigor to repeatedly fight off two different suitors to protect his right to breed, all while being mortally wounded was my first lesson in how stout a turkey can be.

Though there are many more gun hunters in the woods, I’ve seen as many or more turkeys suffer the effects of a poorly placed arrow.  While I’ve never seen an arrow sticking out of an alive, wild bird, I’ve been witness to a broadhead recovered from the breastbone of a turkey harvested long after the initial wound.  I’ve also encountered a dying turkey with an arrow wound from nearly a month prior.  I’ve even had to grab a shotgun to take down a bird I personally put an arrow up from its hip through the chest area.  Countless other times I’ve been witness to birds that were completely pin-wheeled, shot through the center to never be recovered.

Turkeys can take a lot of heat.  Gun or bow, it’s amazing what they can survive, and even thrive through.  That said, my aim in writing this is to implore everyone to take very seriously the responsibility that comes in purchasing a tag.  I’m a big proponent of increased opportunity in terms of season length, weapon choice, and overall flexibility, but I often wonder if this increased convenience allows us to be a bit too lazy or unprepared? 

For gun hunters, the ability to walk up and buy a tag should a free weekend and plentiful turkeys present themselves, might mean that you don’t make the time to pattern your gun to check for performance past 30 yards.  For archery hunters, perhaps increased opportunity to hunt multiple zones or time periods draws former gun-hunters and those less proficient with a bow towards that archery opportunity?  These are a few real scenarios that I’ve seen take place just this year, but I stop short of trying to characterize this as common or the norm among turkey hunters, no matter their weapon of choice.

Still, in looking back at all the tough-turkey experiences I’ve had over the years, I can’t help but highlight the importance of practicing with your weapon of choice.  For a gun hunter, leftover pheasant load and a full choke doesn’t always work past 25 yards, and for an archery hunter, deer accuracy plain doesn’t cut it.  Not to mention, turkeys move their body constantly, which at times can be overcome by the speed of lead shot, but certainly cannot at distance by an arrow.  Just as important is the shot choice itself, as turkeys deserve the best you can give them.

Usually it’s the middle of winter when the wind is howling and the temperature dips that I think about the coming spring’s tom clutching to a tree limb for dear life.  They endure, and can live through a whole lot more than you might think.  Nature can be tough on them, which is why they demand your respect and “A”-game when you hit the woods this spring.    

Turkey Blinds – When to Stay, and When to Go

It happens at least twice every hunt if you’re after turkeys with the aid of a blind.  Whether it’s a piece of painted burlap across a log, or the latest pop-up blind with all the bells and whistles, you have to get there and eventually have to go.  Leaving is of course the tricky part.  Leave too soon, and you bust the birds that were taking their sweet time in heading your direction.  Head out too late and you’re that much further behind the group you’re trying to contact.  Here are a few experiences that have shaped my decision making process when it comes to abandoning the blind for greener strut zones.

Even the best mornings eventually see a lull, and if you haven’t yet seen the birds that have been gobbling around you all morning, the temptation during that time can be too much to take.  That can be at 9AM, or sometimes it can be as early has a half-hour after sunrise.  No matter when it happens, keep your watch handy and do your best to put things in perspective.  The thing to remember is that this quiet-time is often when birds are doing exactly what you want them to. 

One such morning I was hunting solo with the blind set up in an open alfalfa field when I left too soon.  A bird up the hill that was previously cutting-off everything I had to say started to eventually lose interest, gobbling only occasionally and then not at all.  It was 6:30AM, but he was my only lead of the day so far and I didn’t want to lose him.  Suspecting a hen had shown up and started to lead him away, I looked both ways before leaving the blind and exited the rear.  As I came around the blind to start towards the woodline and up the hill I caught some red about 200 yards above me on the ridge.  I froze, slowly backed a few steps around the back of the blind and climbed into safety.  Somehow he didn’t spot me, probably because I stayed pretty close to the blind, and eventually he was in the field with me.  I took that tom with a great deal of luck knowing that had I left minutes or maybe seconds earlier, I would’ve been caught out in the open alfalfa field without anywhere to retreat.    

When setup on a strut zone or a well-traveled path to food, often the only game is to wait.  Heading out with kids or other inexperienced hunters is yet another reason you may be anchored to the blind.  Even if you’re not required to stay, there are plenty of situations where you should.  The primary one being when you have birds that have recently gobbled (last 30 minutes or so) in multiple directions.  In this scenario there’s just too many pairs of eyes to beat, all of them looking for that sultry hen that just minutes ago was spouting off from your very location. 

Too often we forget about the group that sounded off like mad a mere 10 or 20 minutes ago with the hopes of pursuing birds in another direction.  “Hunt like you’re being hunted,” I reminded the camera-man just before stepping out of the blind on a MN hunt a few years ago.  No sooner did we get our gear gathered and ready to move on the birds banging away, did we hear alarm putts directly behind us.  A bit more patience on our part would’ve seen a nice pair of toms that decided to come in the last 100 yards quietly.

We’ve covered some reasons and instances on when to stay put, but when and why to go?  The first case is something that happens more often than many like to admit in birds that react poorly to your blind, decoys, and general setup.  The vast majority of turkeys are not blind-shy, to the point where you might argue that it doesn’t really exist.  I have however encountered situations when you start by removing decoys, and eventually become accepting of the fact that the blind itself is causing birds to skirt your position or flat be alarmed.  This is usually in high pressure areas, and almost always when something is out of place.  This can be a blind bag hanging out away from the blind or even leafy or other loose material flapping in the wind.  Sometimes it’s faded material from them sitting in the sun too long.  Whatever the reason, listen to the birds and what they’re telling you.  Ditch the blind and set out on foot.

Another reason to head out is when all of the gobbling group(s) move off in the same direction with purpose, as if every bird in the woods gameplanned it that way the night before.  Birds on a mission require chase, especially if they leave slowly, beckoning you to come join the party.  Birds that gobble out in an opening or strut zone then leave are extremely vulnerable if you can get to the exact spot they hammered away in waiting.  By showing up quickly and firing right back at them, you’re a lonesome hen that’s doing her part to find a tom.  I venture to say that this tactic alone has been responsible for nearly half of the birds I’ve been a part of taking.  It plain works.

If you’re still in the blind by mid-morning and you’re hunting into mid-season, this is about the time that hens will leave their morning groups to nest.  This marks another key point of vulnerability for gobblers.  If you’ve got a bird within earshot that starts up on his own mid-day and continues to gobble, get there fast.  If you can get within 100 yards without him detecting you and be the first hen to the party, the tom will usually play ball. 

Blind hunting can be deadly, but also debilitating.  Know when to stick it out and also when to shed it as the truest fact in the turkey woods and fields is that you can’t kill turkeys where turkeys are not.