I am glad to see I am not the only one planning their first turkey hunt this year, and I have all the same types of questions about gear and technique, watching all kinds of videos daily in anticipation of opening season. Here in Quebec it only opens on April 30th, so still a while to go. What I find funny is that, if you had asked me 1 year ago about turkey hunting I would have just shrugged it off. A couple of months ago I joined this forum, and after reading various posts it started to get me interested. I then took the hunting wild turkey course, and feel like I am already addicted to it despite never even trying it yet.
Originally I thought to get a blind, comfy chair, etc... but the weight really adds up. Not sure about everywhere else, but here the hunting day starts 30 mins before sunrise and ends at noon, so the day is relatively short. I decided instead to just camo up and sit against a tree on the border between the forest and open field. I may also stick some branches in the ground in front of me to add a bit of cover. At least, that's the plan... who knows what will happen in reality. I think maybe a shooting stick may help, to keep the shotgun on the ready and mitigate too much movement that might scare the birds.
This may be a silly question, but I have to ask... I have a pump action, new gun, it's loud as hell. Do I actually chamber a round as soon as I get setup and just keep the safety on until a bird is within my shot? I am guessing I do but none of the videos really talk about it.
The fun thing about turkey hunting is you get a lot of chances at it. Its not like those once in a life time trophy elk hunts where you forget a piece of kit and you are screwed.
My first year, my first day, me and buddy went out with back packs and basic guns and a single decoy, picked a good tree in the middle of a wood lot, waited until we were legal hunting time and started screeching like drunken sailors on our pot calls until the birds answered. Didnt see anythibg or get a shot but heard and say lots of birds and it was a great day in the woods.
We realized there were a few basic tools we were missing, and some basic techniques on the call we needed to learn. Stopped into cabelas on the way home, spent the afternoon on youtube and were right at it the next morning filling our first tags.
All your easy mistakes are more fun to make with a friend, so my one piece of advice is try to find a partner. Doesnt matter if they are even newer than you are.
As for your specific question regarding when to load, intario you must be fully cased up until its legal to hunt at -30min before sunrise. I google official sunrise for my location on the day of the hunt. At T-60ish I am already in my hide and settled, so at T-30 I uncase, which takes max 20 seconds, and immediatly chamber a round, safety on, and fill the magazine tube. I try to do this somewhat quietly but most just quickly and get it overwith to minimize movement
Ive had birds fly down on decoys while I am still uncasing and the noise doesnt seem to be as big a deal as movement.
Safety doesnt come off until I have confirmed its the bird I want, I have a good sight picture and have decided to take the shot.
In general, If I am in the woods hunting, and its legal to shoot, I have a round in the chamber with the safety on.
