How 'bout a TradGang Turkey Tutorial?

[Pokerdaddy]

OK, I'll fess up.  I have YET to attempt turkey hunting.  Until now.  Michigan's Spring Turkey opens April 23rd, I've got 160 wooded, private acres with a few birds hanging around, and no excuses not to learn how to get after gobblers.

So, I'm asking the Gang to educate me (Cliff Notes style) on the finer points of bagging me a thunder chicken.

Topic #1:  Calls and calling.  Help me wade through the myriad options.  Diaphrams, box calls, round thinga ma jiggers with strikers.  What do I want in my pack on the first go round?  What sounds am I attempting to make?  Gobbles, yelps, mews, snort wheezes?  What chord or impulse am I trying to strike in the toms?

Topic #2:  Decoys.  Though I know there are lots of personal strategies regarding deployment, what are some simple basics in placing a decoy?  Do I set up a lone tom, or hen, or some elaborate menage?  With calling and decoys, what's my goal?  To instigate a response to jealousy, rage, lust?

Topic #3:  Time to Hunt.  What hours of the day do you find most productive for calling/seeing birds?  What times are devoid of activity?

These are three areas where I feel I know next to nothing.  Any input ya'll could give would be greatly appreciated.  I'm sure there are others who are intrigued by turkey hunting who have questions as well.  Feel free to add questions to the thread.  Or, if your a turkey hunting veteran and would like to share your thoughts for our education PLEASE DO!!!

[Skipmaster1]

I'm not an expert as i've only really focused on birds the past few years but I've taken 15 or so with the bow. I hunt private land with little to no pressure.

I have all sorts of calls and always carry a few different boxes and slate/glass/aluminum calls. That way I can give them the sounds they want on a particular day. I have not yet mastered the diaphragm. I do 99% of my calling with a Primos Jackpot slate call.

I usually stick to soft cutts and yelps for the most part, but if he has hens with them I try to mimic them only louder and cut them off. Many times I have really worked them into a frenzy and pissed them off and had them come in looking for a fight, even attacking my decoys. If the toms are with them they will follow. There are a ton of sites out there that will help teach you what the different calls sound like, how to make them and when to use them

I have used every combination under the sun when it comes to decoys. I've had all of them spook Toms at one point or another except  for a lone hen or a pair of hens. The areas I hunt have lots of birds and some toms don't want to fight other toms and groups of jakes will sometimes beat up a tom. I know it works but I've had better luck with just hens. I use inflatable decoys from cherokee and the past few years livened them up with Turkey Skinz. The feathers really move great in the slightest breeze. I set the hen facing parallel to my blind, away from where I think the birds will come from, at 5yds. I've killed them in between me and the decoy and if he hangs up, chances are he'll still be in range. I like to set up alongside wood roads between where they are an where they are headed, brings them right to me anyway.

We can't hunt in NY or Ct after 12 noon. I have my best luck right after daybreak and again closer to 10 or 11. The Toms may find a hen right out of the gate and then get bored and start looking for another girlfriend(you) that he heard earlier in the morning.

Don't over call! It;s cool to get him gobbling every time you make a sound but if thinks the hen is really hot, he may just hang up and wait for her. I had one hang up at 80yds strutting for 3 hours in one spot. Remember in nature the hen goes to him. Call just enough to keep his interest. He knows where you are. If I don't have a bird gobbling I just make a few soft calls every 15 minutes or so. They may come in silent or show up gobbling later in the morning.

If you use the search button you can find hours worth of reading from a ton of guys with a ton of experience with turkeys. Search some of Gurus posts. He does quite well on thunder chickens.

[Dodger]

In case you haven't seen it, shot placement can be found here -  http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=084174
All the very best!

[Kyle Patterson]

#1 - They each have a time and place, but i found the slate to be the easiest to master when i started. (thats the round thinga ma jiggers with the striker).

#2 - As for decoys, i normally set up 2 hens and a jake, about 5 yards away, kinda scattered/natural looking, But facing me. I always find the tom will come in so that he is face to face with the decoys, which means you will have an easy draw when he is faced away from you.

#3 - Im mainly a morning hunter when it comes to turkeys. Try to find where the roost the night before and come back and set up before daylight. I would say 90% of my successful hunts were over by 7:15 am.

Hope that helps a bit!

[Rob W.]

#1 - I like to pack light. If you master a mouth call you can make every turkey sound(even a gobble) with no movement and little space taken up in the pack. Purrs and cuts are the most effective for me. Maybe some muffled tree yelps before fly down. Most times you just want to peak his intrest. Less is usually more.

#2 - Most of the time I hunt large woods and only use a single hen or nothing. 10 yrds or so facing me. In field areas I sometimes add another hen and jake but thats not very often. If you plan on shooting a jake sometimes the jake decoy will spook others and even non dominate mature birds.

#3 - First light is good and if gobbling you will know where they are. Around noon is also usually good. Don't let your guard down anytime though. Many times a bird will sneak in silent. Most times I don't roost birds. For me the old saying " A roosted bird is not a roasted bird" always holds true for some reason. I kill more between 11 and 1.


Things change a bit when you hunt large fields and farm land.

I still have a week and a half to wait.    

Rob

[Terry Green]

I'm not a turkey hunter...but can tell you if you 'hunt' the search feature for the word Turkey, you will find a TON of info.

   

[Bowwild]

I dearly love to hunt turkey with a bow. My first turkey with a bow was more intense than my first deer.

The spring season finds me terribly distracted with work so i usually can't make myself go more than 3-4 times because I have a big event on my mind every early May.

If I am able to hunt this year (last week of the season) I intend to call less than I have been calling -- no more than once series (yelps or cutts) per 15 minutes.  My favorite call is the slate because I can vary the volume better with it.

I've had more bad luck with dekes than not. However, these beasts are so unpredictable who knows what would have happened without the decoys?

I don't aim for the wing butt - too small and area for the vitals. I like the center of the back on rear shot best. Next I like broadside aiming for just above the thigh.

Maybe after lots of bowkilled turkeys I'll get out of the blind but hunting from a blind, at least for Easterns has increased the number of unspooked birds I see. I reckon I moved to much in the days before blinds?

I use the same gear as for deer hunting.

[Bowwild]

Finding birds.

Interestingly, in the 1970's where I lived finding birds was trick #1 -- populations were newly restored and sparse. I was in Indiana then but many eastern states followed the same pattern of restoration.  We'd go out about an hour or so before dark and listen on ridge tops for birds to roost. If you could find where they roosted and set up within 150 yards of that spot in the AM Dark, your chances were much improved.

Now days there are so many birds and so thoroughly distributed that roosting isn't practiced near as much. Of course it still works.  If you are mobile and some  blind hunters aren't, you can get out and listen in the AM about an hour before light. Owl calls can be used to entice a gobble from roosted birds. Then you can get set up within 100-150 yards or so.  

These birds in the east are preyed upon by Great Horned owls when young and coyotes throughout their lives, bobcats too.  They tend to stay away from heavy brush (if they can) because their eyesight and lack of curiosity is their best defense.  They strive to be in position to see a predator coming in time to vacate the premises.

[Ray Lyon]

Terry Green is correct above. Do a search and you'll find oodles of good stuff here from previous posts.  Also, if you're close to a store that carries TradArchers World magazine, Curt Cabrera (Guru here on Tradgang) wrote an excellent article that covers all the basics for the hunting archer.  

Good luck! My season starts the 23rd up north here as well and I'm hoping the birds are in a cooperative mood.  

One thing I'd suggest for your setup is to scout from a distance and pattern the birds (follow their calls and use binoculars from far off-the eyesite is incredible). It sounds like you've got a fairly big piece to hunt on and if you setup a ground blind in a place the birds want to get to and are patient (may have to sit till noon) and don't overcall, you'll more than likely have an opportunity present itself.

[Pokerdaddy]

Thanks guys.  Sorry I didn't do a proper search beforehand.  I got all fired up on learning bout turkeys that I got ahead of myself.  Thanks for all the great information.  Ray, I'll definitely pick up a copy of TradArchers World!

Was planning on doing some scouting today, but my daughter is sick and the weather is not cooperating, so may have to wait until later in the week.