Turkey hunting

mommabear

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This will be my first year and am very excited about it. Just wondering how much "coverage" is actually needed for the hunt?

I took the course last year.. keep your back covered for sure.. do I need full camo?
 
kishman said:
Full camo in definitly a good idea, Turkeys see better than we do.
Interesting.. so they survive by sight? where as alot of critters survive from sense of smell.. or hearing?
 
Yup dont matter what you stink like. What they are really good at is noticing movement. You definately only want to move , ie bring up the gun" when they are not looking your way. Good camo cloths are a neccesity and a good blind, natural or other is a deffinate plus. Thats the nice thing about turkeys, you can enjoy your mornig cup of timmies and a bagle without worrying about getting scented.

Good luck.

Oh and they are the best tasting gamebird in my opinion.
 
mommabear said:
This will be my first year and am very excited about it. Just wondering how much "coverage" is actually needed for the hunt?

I took the course last year.. keep your back covered for sure.. do I need full camo?

I have always been told full camo, don't have any white skin showing. Hat, mask, & gloves mandatory. Also make sure your weapon is camo or at least a matte finish. Turkey's will be suspicious of anything shiny. As the other posters pointed out, movement is the killer. You must remain perfectly still when the turkey is looking in your direction.

I was out scouting yesterday & saw 5 toms at my Uncle's place. They flew off when I got within 100 yards. Here is a neat pic of a mark in the snow where one landed.
WildturkeylandingspotUncleDietersfa.jpg
 
Friend of mine last year that I was calling for tried to bring his gun up to shoot as the turkey was coming in, That was a big mistake for him but not for the turkey.
 
Turkeys have better vision than us and unlike a lot of animals it's color vision. They also have incredible hearing. To boot they are ultra parnoid. If they could smell they would be unhuntable.
 
As the instructor that ran the course I did said " A 20 pound turkey is 10 lbs of eyesight and 10 lbs of hearing but he couldn't smell an ammonia factory if he walked through it!" Keep that in mind when you're out there and you'll do fine! Happy hunting!
 
dont want to shoot you down, but 1st seascon is gonna be hard to bag one, but u ll definetly learn a ton about those birds..

you will probably be 10y from deer passing by!
 
mrefaat said:
dont want to shoot you down, but 1st seascon is gonna be hard to bag one, but u ll definetly learn a ton about those birds..

you will probably be 10y from deer passing by!
I appreciate your honesty... and just to be out there in the field with all the critters will be awesome! Still gonna keep my positive attitude and hopes to get one or 10 ! LOL ;)
 
mrefaat said:
dont want to shoot you down, but 1st seascon is gonna be hard to bag one, but u ll definetly learn a ton about those birds..

you will probably be 10y from deer passing by!

depends where you hunt. My first hunting season was over in two hours!!!!!
 
Turkey hunting with a blind is the way to go. It gives you more freedom to move around without being spotted, plus it keeps you dry and blocks out the wind. Decoys set at 20-30 yards from the blind, and hopefully you can get those turkeys called in.
 
a blind definetly improves the odds.

I ususally set a hen decoy further out highly visible to coming Toms (if you now where they ll be coming from), then a jake closer to me 20y max.
usually the Tom will see the hen, come closer, then go right away to the jake to challenge it.

And make sure you dont shoot the decoys!

you might wanna be ready with a coyote tag in case one shows up!
Also know where the closest check station, I hear we will be able to check the turkeys online this year :)
 
I went turkey hunting last spring for the first time, was alittle annoying because the only turkey that came when I was calling them was a hen so I didn't get at turkey last year. :(

Anyways I was behind the treeline, it couldn't see me and it was in range for a while, camoflauge or not it wouldn't have noticed me, I don't think, only part that was visible to the turkey because of where I was in the tree line would have been my head and I wasn't wearing one of thouse funny masks. :p

Dimitri
 
Dimitri said:
I went turkey hunting last spring for the first time, was alittle annoying because the only turkey that came when I was calling them was a hen so I didn't get at turkey last year. :(

Anyways I was behind the treeline, it couldn't see me and it was in range for a while, camoflauge or not it wouldn't have noticed me, I don't think, only part that was visible to the turkey because of where I was in the tree line would have been my head and I wasn't wearing one of thouse funny masks. :p

Dimitri


Dont forget camoflauge is also there to hide you from hunters who might think your a bird!!!:wave:
 
cdngunner said:
Dont forget camoflauge is also there to hide you from hunters who might think your a bird!!!:wave:

I'm on private property, if someone came up near me I'd be getting up and giving them a word or 2. ;)

Dimitri
 
mommabear, I reckon you should ask chilly willy and BIGREDD about their experiences. I am sure there are other folks here who also have a ton of experience with turkeys, but both those guys are very willing to share info with new turkey hunters.

As for camo, nope, you are better off sitting out there naked as the day you were born, just like all the other critters in the forest and you will blend right in.

Where did you say you were hunting, by the way??? I might come out to watch...:p

Doug
 
Doug said:
mommabear, I reckon you should ask chilly willy and BIGREDD about their experiences. I am sure there are other folks here who also have a ton of experience with turkeys, but both those guys are very willing to share info with new turkey hunters.

As for camo, nope, you are better off sitting out there naked as the day you were born, just like all the other critters in the forest and you will blend right in.

Where did you say you were hunting, by the way??? I might come out to watch...:p

Doug

I agree totally with Doug on this one. "Naked as the day you were born" I've got the batteries charging for the vid cam. As we speak. We wouldn't want to take a chance in missing any "In the field" action. Would we Doug!

Dave.
 
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