Time...
The more of it you dedicate to being outdoors hunting turkeys the more successful you'll be. My brother can't figure out why I get so "lucky" but it's because I dedicate twice the amount of time to hunting than he does. Turkey hunting doesn't end at 9am.
It does when you have shot your bird by 5 minutes after sunrise...
Anyways stats are 23.3 pds, 1 " spurs , 11" beard.
Now when you guys are posting these weights, is that as shot, after cleaned, or what?
I don't carry a scale into the field, and I clean them right there. I have only ever brought home a gutted bird, and of the three that I have shot, they weighed between 14-18 lbs. How much does anyone figure those weighed alive? Feathers can't weigh much but what do you figure the guts
Also, 11" beard, holy crap. Never seen anything anywhere near that long, and all my birds were within a hair of 1" spurs. Are there regional differences in spur to beard length?
So today, I called in my very first wild turkey using a pot call... I heard it clucking and purring at one point then it
went completely silent to my subsequent calls.
Decided about 20 minutes later to stretch and possibly change locations... Guess what was less than 5 meters away from my decoys lurking in some grass?
On the flip side, I saw where they were roosting on my entry to the lot... so hopefully the next time out I can find success...
Hey there, Sorry for the novel, but I just filled my second tag and my wife just won't indulge my need to gush a little.
so I am by no means an expert. This is just my second season. But I have shot some birds.
Right away I see two mistakes. Lessons that I have also learned the hard way.
Lesson 1. You can make up for bad calling by doing less of it. Once the bird knows where you are, put the call away. If he is coming in, nothing you do with the call can improve that result, but it doesn't take much to make him think twice. Every time I have had my decoys attacked by birds, its when I've been silent. Every time I have had one hang up, and leave, its when I have been trying to hen call them in like a ####o, yeah, come on, yeah come on, yeah come on. Every time the Tom had bailed like "what's this slut's problem?" Its mating season. As soon as he knows you are there, you have his attention. If you are his first hen for the day he may come in hot. If he has already been servicing other hens, he will probably saunter. Either way he's probably going to close in.
Lesson 2. Every single time I have stood up within 30 minutes of seeing or hearing action, I have flushed birds, including after I just shot a bird. Say to yourself, just five more minutes. Unless you really have to be somewhere, or you haven't seen or heard anything in 45 min+, wait it out and take a good long look/listen before moving. And when you stand up, do it slowly, in case the added height helps you see something you couldn't from the ground, you can slowly sit back down. Unless I am recovering game. I also do a slow move to kneeling, take a look for a minute, then slowly to crouching then standing for at least another minute, then relax and do what I got to do. My partner did this once and it got him his bird. We were at the 60+ minute mark since hearing our last gobble. He gives the sign for "lets move". I agree. He takes the knee, gets about half way to a squat and then slowly back down to knee eyes laser focused on something I couldn't see.
Finding the roost is half the battle.
Quick question, right now I only have two decoys. A hen and a Tom. Should I put out both or just the hen? What would be the more interesting setup?
Thanks
Well if you are still learning like I am, you should be experimenting with different stuff. I don't think its complicated, but you should be trying to tailor your set up to what is going on around you. Also don't feel like you can't change your set up mid day.
I have a low lying hen, and a simple Jake Decoy. No struts. Last year I heard two toms gobbling back and forth on either side of my set up, which was the Jake right up behind the hen. For whatever reason they never came in, and I suspect the decoys lack of response had something to do with it. After 15 minutes of silence, I snuck out and took down the Jake leaving just the hen, did another cluck and within ten minutes the two were pushing each other off of my decoy trying to see who would get to drive the bang bus.
Just this morning I was in a mixed wood/field property, with a decent crest line over looking the next 3 properties. I put the Hen right on the ridge, with the Jake about 10 M below her, but still very visible, and looking sheepishly (more imagined than real) away from the hen as opposed to looking ready to mount.
From before legal hunting it was non stop gobbles from three different directions. I spotted one bird in the next field 250 yards out, where he could see the hen but not the Jake. One cluck from me and he was inbound. I could see him coming for days. Took him almost 15 minutes to make the trip. (Remember that when you get impatient, gobbles travel a long ways turkey don't usually move that fast) As soon as he got to where he could see the Jake, about 100m out it was a quick footed full strut and non stop gobble to try and get in between the the hen and Jake before the other Jake could close the deal.
Moral of the story is don't just drop your decoys. Stage a scene. Don't over think it. The birds are skittish, but not particularly sophisticated. Try to tailor your calls to match the scene. A hen with a Jake 2 m away is not likely to be letting out full volume cuts, and probably won't even be making any noise at all. The only risk to spreading out the decoys is that it will usually increase the likelihood of a longer shot, and might be harder to find an ideal spot that can see both decoys well, cause you never know which one the live bird is going to attack.
And if it doesn't work, try something else. If it does work, put it in the bag of tricks and try something else.
But, remember, if you have a bird who you KNOW has heard you, and can see your decoys, shut the F up. All these you tube stars and turkey calling championship winners that can sing and yodel with those mouth calls are impressive, but my dad always told me that good turkey hunters aren't good because they can make good calls, they are good cause they know when not to.
