Turkey Hunting Seminar

[hobbes]

Our church has an annual sportsman's banquet. The agenda is typically a wild game dinner followed by a half hour to an hour guest presentation on some hunting topic then typically a guest preacher that speaks for half an hour.

The guy that is in charge of putting this together is a turkey hunter. After the banquet in 2014 he asked if I'd be interested in talking about turkey hunting but I laughed it off and said "who wants to hear about turkeys in MT". After the 2015 banquet he kind of laughed and said "your talking turkey hunting next year" and I sort of laughed and said "sure why not". I assumed (maybe hoped) that had been forgoten, but that isn't the case.

Unless something changes, I'm supposed to give a talk on turkey hunting early in March. There is usually around 100 people. I think typically there aren't many of them that are turkey hunters. There is some advertisement, so that could possibly draw a few more turkey hunters.

It will be easy enought to spit out the standard newbie turkey info, but I'd like for guys to walk away interested in turkey hunting. Big game rules in MT and a lot of big game guys have no interest in turkeys.

I'd like some input on how to structure the presentation considering the following:

1. I suspect the majority of these guys will not be turkey hunters and may not care about turkey hunting at this point. I'd like for them to walk away interested in turkey hunting.

2. Considering this is MT, the turkey hunters that show up are likely to be inexperienced.

3. I may be sharing time with another topic so 30 minutes may be max.

4. While I'll have to do some calling, I won't be presenting a straight up calling seminar. I'm a sufficient caller but by no means a competition caller (I can't purr on a mouth call to save my life )

[gblrsrst]

Show your Passion and the rest will come easy!

Have Fun and Run With It!

[guesswho]

Can you show a short video clip. If so at the end I'd run a 3-4 minute compilation of actual hunts. What comes to mind would be some of the ones Cove has posted, if he doesn't object. His videos seem to capture the reality and excitement of the hunt itself. Pick out short segments and put into one short videos.

[hobbes]

Guesswho, you know what they say about great minds.
I was considering contacting Cove about showing a couple of his clips. He does a great job of capturing the excitement without all the product plugs

[Tail Feathers]

Begin by saying it's a lot like elk hunting the rut. That will get their attention and they can relate.
Calling, bulging (gobbling), walking...they have similarities.

[Cove]

Absolutely have at the videos!

I was going to say alot of what is already said. Compare it to something they know or perhaps present it as a challenge. Guys like to be challenged at times. Tell it how it is. . . they are pursuing a bird with a walnut sized brain that has an incredible survival instinct. Do they have what it takes to walk into the home of an already nervous bird and pretend to be one of his own well enough to fool him?

[Gobbler]

I think Joe Slaton may be a good source. He has done things like this.

[hobbes]

I believe you are correct. He may chime in but I'll probably send him a PM for some pointers.

[xarcher]

Begin by saying it's a lot like elk hunting the rut. That will get their attention and they can relate.
Calling, bulging (gobbling), walking...they have similarities.

The comparisons with elk and turkey are endlesss. Think about it. They both might run in or sneak in, they could come in loud or quiet, they can come straight in or circle around you, you can sweet talk them with mews or purrs or aggravate them with bugles or gobbles, they both hang up just outside of bow or shotgun range when they don't see any females, you can use decoys or not, they both have bedding areas/feeding areas, they both have awesome hearing (don't dare step on a twig in the elk woods or the turkey woods), they both sometimes appear to your off-hand side and pin you down, they will not leave the females no matter what your calling skills are, can use a reed call for both (actually if you contort your mouth just right, you can make most any reed call cross over from elk to turkey or the other way around), they both shut up to avoid predators, they both instigate an adrenaline rush.....
Some other suggestions is to talk about typical roosting sites (points, ridges, pine/hardwood transitions) and typical nesting sites, how to score a gobbler, weapon and ammunition choices.

I bet the NWTF website can trigger other ideas as well. What about the turkey population explosion or how their range has spread over the past 50 years.

You will have no problem talking for an hour. Good luck. And those videos by Dave are awesome in how they capture "the game".

[TRKYHTR]

Thats awesome Hobbes. I wouldn't get to deep with the turkey info because it sounds like there is not going to be many turkey hunters. Keep it exciting. I hate when guys are doing a seminar and you want to fall asleep because they are so boring. Get excited about what you love about turkey hunting. Short stories, for me, usually shows my passion about turkey hunting. Good luck and if I can help just shoot me a PM.

Joe

[GobbleNut]

I have put on probably close to 100 spring turkey hunting seminars over the last thirty five years or so. You really can't teach anybody how to hunt spring gobblers in a thirty minute presentation. In that amount of time, you can only try to convey the idea of why spring gobbler hunting is so exciting,...calling in gobbling and strutting toms,...and encourage those in your crowd that hunt to go out and try it by using a few basic tactics. A quick review of locator tactics, setting up on roosted birds, basic calling (yelping with simple calling devices), and a summary of safety and turkey hunting ethics is about all you can fit into a thirty minute talk. The comparison with elk hunting is a good one, but your enthusiasm in insuring your group that spring gobbler hunting can be just as exciting, or more so, is the real key.

If there is enough enthusiasm from some of the attendees, you might offer to put on a more thorough seminar at a later time. We have found that you need at least two hours to go over the basics with novice hunters, and a lot of that time will involve answering questions from your audience about things that you would take for granted. One thing you don't want (or need) to do is try to is overload them with a bunch of different calls and calling devices. Keep it simple. You can always teach the ones that get interested more at a later time.

[Rockhound]

I'd start out with how boring turkey hunting is, and how you only do it to kill pesty birds that are ruining everyones deer and elk hunting. Then I would proceed with a notebook passed around to eager landowners who need those nuisance birds removed, tell them to write a permission slip in the notebook and sign their name

[RussM311]

Rockhound is a very smart man!!!

The reality is, you're mission is to instill a desire to hunt turkeys into a group of new hunters. Start with a montage of hunting clips..... some successful... some not...and some funny.... keep this short 3 minutes max. A display of turkey hunting equipment.... guns... ammunition...vests... seats... calls.... everything that a turkey hunter might need in the field. Show some calls and how to use them.... keep it basic... Show where the local hunters can hunt turkeys and population densities in those areas. And.... without a doubt.... turkey hunting ethics and courtesies. End with question and answers as your videos show behind you...

Best wishes....