Turkey advice

Nothing better than a bunch of roosted thunder chickens waiting on you in the morning. No such luck here, I’m hunting a wheat field with no birds roosting on it but I see them here throughout the day. My question is if I’m settled in here for the long haul today waiting on the birds, how often should I blind call? How aggressively? Any other advice for this more patient type of turkey scenario when I can’t go running and gunning looking for a talker.

Call little and call softer then you think you need to if you get loud and aggressive they might expect your coming to them so play kind of interested rather then full blown excited. No need to reply to every gobble skip a few replies before you reply as he gets closer call softer so he thinks your walking off.

Soft Purrs and whines drive a hot gobbler nuts and remember everyone yelps a lot so they hear that a lot mix it up yelp less as you get into it.

About once every half hour

If they are in the fields during the day they are roosting close enough to gobble in the morning They might not be because it’s so dang cold here in Ky each morning Hottest bird I every seen was after lunch after a rain and sun popped out They’re like mushrooms then popping up everywhere
Big thing is don’t let them see you coming in It’s not always the best to get in before they fly down

Thanks for the replies. I heard them roosted and a hen on the ground this morning, across the road a 1/2 mile or maybe a little closer on a different landowner. Then they shut up, and I have seen one hen since, she was by herself crossing the field maybe an hour after sunrise. I have not heard any gobbling since they flew down. I was calling every fifteen minutes, but have started waiting thirty or so. Hopefully they come cruising over to check out my decoys eventually. Thanks again for the advice

This^. Follow this to a T. I would also add in some ground scratching to act as though you would rather eat than pay him any attention. When they go into their strut zone and you stay where you can hear the gobbler but don't go towards him, it frustrates the snot out of him. If he starts walking away, give some yelps and a few cuts to bring him back. Then go to soft clucks and feeding sounds.

Be the flirty little school girl.

What they said.

Are you using a decoy? Is it legal. One trick that is gospel about gobblers that go silent around here. IF the stop gobbling when they hit the ground they are with a hen. Set up in your spot and yelp call like he's coming to you. Then stop. If he is with a hen when he breeds her you are next in line. They know where you are and will be along sometime. Might be an hour , might be 3 hours . But follow the calling advice given . You will be ok

And be very watchfully as they might come in silent.

Got one strutting and gobbling about 250 yards out but not getting closer. Time to start purring lol

Best of luck to ya. I know roosting birds and calling the next morning works well but I have had tremendous luck in the evenings especially if I know the general area they are roasting and the closest water source.

Of course, they dryer it is, the better this works out.

My dad preached call softly and less than i think i need to. I read comments on here and other articles saying dont call too often. Someone needs to tell some of the hens ive come across who wont shut up that theyll never find a mate as loud as they are if all these things are true. I am a fairly aggressive caller. As the bird responds and i can hear it getting closer or its at least talking with me, i either go quiet or go real soft and subtle. But to elicit an initial response, i would call for a short time-5-6 yelps, but i go pretty loud and aggressive. And i call somewhat seldom-whenever i wake up. I want it to carry a ways and i want to sound like im down for whatever. These turkeys arent always looking for a nice girl to take to mom. Toss the mouth call in the trash. Ur hands can be free to hanner on a slate or box till that bird is somewhat close. At that point-shut up he’ll find u.

*Notice he just said hes stuck in a field they may or may not come through-seems they hang on the perimeter of the permission he has. Some response seems to be geared toward working a bird as its coming in. In your case id stay loud and infrequent. If you have a silent bird come in then so be it. Glass everything you can before you hammer out some sweet sweet love music each time. You could have a strutter in a depression in the earth and just pick out a rotating fan tip u wont notice with thr naked eye. THEN id work in some purrs and subtle clucks. But u arent benefiting from not reaching out to birds that are out a long ways. Ive called two birds within range i watched come from a half mile and the other maybe pushing a mile. Both birds crossed a gravel road and a fence in each ditch. You think those were coming in initially to soft yelps??

Congrats

yesssssss

It was perfect the last 60/70 yards he was so mad I quit yelping back to him, I’d just purr and scratch the ground, and he’s gobbling like “can’t you hear me!” Thanks for the advice. This was an awesome hunt

Nice going! Season opens tomorrow for me. Hope my buddy wacks one first, the thrill aint in the shootin its in every single second up until the triggers pulled.

Dwc that’s the truth, it’s a rush for sure

What i love about turkey hunting is there is so much you are doing. And the hunts can go so many different ways, you can call them off the roost and they’re very vocal, you can talk to the hen and drags them in, or

you can go to a 80 acre wheat field where you’ve seen birds before, and set up with your decoys in a crick running through the property before sunup, hear them calling in the roost west of you and spend all morning looking that way before you hear a faint gobble behind you to the east about mid morning, move over to that side of the crick without decoys and start working a gobbler 200 yards across a wheat field to you. I learned a lot this morning, I cut and yelped while he was way off then softer as he got closer then just purred and scratched to seal the deal.

Nice looking spurs.

good bird for sure!

Did a Miranda turkey video years back with Ike Ashby and Bud Jones 2 greatly different calling styles. Bud called often Ike took longer rests between calling runs and both killed birds. I say try something until it works you never know what will click on any day all advice is conditional some days you sit and wait then some days to try to cut the distance it depends on the conditions your dealing with and the style of hunting you like. So many things come into play.

The worst calling I ever heard came from turkeys themselves so don’t sweat the perfection of your calling it’s more about the rhythm then matching the actual call itself.

Congrats! It's so addicting!!!

Yes nice bird

Good Advice

Thanks. He’s one of the biggest toms I’ve ever shot, not saying much(I have a bit of a reputation as a Jake shooter from my younger days).

Now for the second hunt of every turkey outing.....hunting for ticks.

Not a hen alive that would win a calling contest judged by humans.

Tomorrows wind chill is 12 degrees. I bet i wont have much tick pickin to do.

Probly not many gobbles either !!!

Well good luck. Let us know if you get one or your buddy gets one

Had bird in the park over a hill I would not get any closer to because it sounded so bad I thought if it was a human calling that bad he might be a idiot. LOL

Congratulations on the nice Tom.

He wimped out. The “feels like” is now 9. 60’s starting wednesday sounding better. So this is postponed. What is that side by side in the pic?

I understand postponing, turkey hunting is not supposed to be done in the same gear you wear for rifle deer season.


Stoeger, 12 gauge, not sure the model (longfowler?) modified and full choke. I won it in a Ducks Unlimited banquet raffle when I was probably 12, had $20 dollars in tickets. Been going for years and that’s the only time I’ve ever won a gun.

I’ve shot a lot of birds with it over the last 20 years or so. Dove, pheasant, quail, turkey, ducks, geese, it’s my go to shotgun

Good Deal...congrats

Well my dad was disappointed he didn’t take off of work to hunt with me yesterday so this morning we went to a different field where he had roosted the turkeys last night and I called in a hen first thing, she wandered around by the decoys for 15 minutes then the toms showed up, there were two big toms strutting and when they saw the two hen and a Jake decoys they raced in and started strutting at 30yards. Dad had an easy shot, and made it count. It was a fun morning and turkey season.

Dads Tom from this morning



And one more of my bird from yesterday