Best advise

Turkey hunting tips & tricks that have worked & can help others.
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dirt road ninja
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Best advise

Post by dirt road ninja »

I was wondering, what's the best advise y'all gotten from a friend about turkey hunting? My dad never was big into hunting, but would take me when I asked. It was always the blind leading the blind until I started to learn things myself. Even though most of my friends deer hunt hardly any at all turkey hunt, so I rarely have anybody to talk to at the camp about it. Just about everything I learn about turkey hunting I learned through failure. A few years ago a ran into a older gentleman who told me "Russ, you can't kill a turkey a turkey has to kill himself." After thinking about it that's the best piece of advise anyone has ever giving me.
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guesswho
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Re: Best advise

Post by guesswho »

My family and I are pretty much self taught as well, starting in the mid 60's. Over the years two or three statements stick in my mind.

1. Respect his ears as much as his eyes.

2. Fool his eyes and ears and his brain will believe.

3. You probably ain't going to kill him where he don't want to be.
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HuntnMa
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Re: Best advise

Post by HuntnMa »

Go to the gobble...............just go man, goooooooooooooooo...

Amen Guesswho ;)
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Grover
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Re: Best advise

Post by Grover »

A very good friend told me 20 years ago, DON'T ever start turkey hunting, it'll getcha and it's bad.

I didn't listen to him then, and I'm glad I didn't, now I believe every word he tells me.

right on, guesswho
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ArkansasDon
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Re: Best advise

Post by ArkansasDon »

sit still
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Gobbler
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Re: Best advise

Post by Gobbler »

Turkey hunting. When you think you should move wait another 20 minutes.

I started to kill bigger and more deer when I asked for advise from a local guy that always killed alot of deer. I wanted some secret formula for sucess. He told me to "Quit thinking like a hunter and start thinking like the deer I wanted to kill".

Never had a problem after that.
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Turkey Talker
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Re: Best advise

Post by Turkey Talker »

Become a turkey
Know their patterns and food stuffs.
If you know where they love to go, you kill them
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vaturkey
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Re: Best advise

Post by vaturkey »

Dig in & play hard to get ! :struttin:
TRKYHTR
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Re: Best advise

Post by TRKYHTR »

Never walk away from a gobbling turkey.

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davisd9
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Re: Best advise

Post by davisd9 »

Never leave the spot you are in just because another is gobbling over the ridge.

Have been busted some many times for not being patient and thinking the bird on the next ridge was the only bird in the woods that day. Go to get up to go after him and "putt, putt" 30 yards away. (face palm)
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hawglips
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Re: Best advise

Post by hawglips »

1) "Learn to call softly."
2) "Call to the most subordinate in the pecking order."
3) "Get in his kitchen."

Those were the three things my mentor tried to teach me that really stuck with me.
savduck
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Re: Best advise

Post by savduck »

Im self taught, but my turkey hunting partner has 30 years and 160 gobblers under his belt. He has told me several times......You only kill em if you shoot.
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HuntnMa
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Re: Best advise

Post by HuntnMa »

All great advice :)
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Johndoe
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Re: Best advise

Post by Johndoe »

Soft calling. When I first started I hunted Nat. Forest. Lots of pressure. I think its easier to get louder and more aggressive than it is to quiet down.

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BrentM
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Re: Best advise

Post by BrentM »

I started turkey hunting hard about 20 years ago.......buddy of mine took me and we got on some turkeys mid-morning and called up two together and I killed one of them....didn't take ten minutes from the time we got on them. Went back again and he called up another turkey that I got nervous and shot at too far.
The next time I went hunting with him, we got out of the truck and said "I'll go this way and you go that way and I'll see you after while. The lessons are over you gotta figure the rest of it out yourself"
Took me the rest of that season and a whole other season to call up a turkey and kill him by myself. I had some near misses and no telling how many I ran off during that period because we had a bunch of turkeys back then.
The best thing I finally figured out though is this...........
1. If he's gobbling hard on his own and it seems like he's trying his best to get you to communicate back with him, you're in control of the situation. Once you relinquish control back to him, you're basically just starting all over again.
2. Do not EVER make a decision (move, call, go home, etc) based on a silent turkey. If you're fooling with a turkey and he shuts up, wait. If you sit there long enough, nine times out of ten he will let you know where he is and what he's doing and you can make your decision based on what he is actually doing instead of trying to guess what he is doing.
3. Anybody can call one up if they're in a place where he already wants to be anyway.
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BigHooks
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Re: Best advise

Post by BigHooks »

The best advise I have ever got was, you can't kill a turkey inless he want's to be killed. Think about it!!!!!!!!!
savduck
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Re: Best advise

Post by savduck »

You can't kill em sitting on the sofa.

You can't kill em if you don't squeeze the trigger
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redarrow
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Re: Best advise

Post by redarrow »

ArkansasDon wrote:sit still
I'm a figiter Which is why I prefer to hunt alone. I blow it for myself only.
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gobbler336
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Re: Best advise

Post by gobbler336 »

guy told me one time that i called to pretty, he said if you walk in a bar and are looking to score you don't pick the prettiest girl there you pick the one that looks like she is gonna put out, i needed learned to talk trashy, the very next morning a bird was in a thick swamp and i didn't think i could get in there without spooking him so i set up just outside, everytime i called the bird would gobble but stay in the same place, after a while i just started calling non stop, i could hear the bird gobbling like crazy over all my calling and within minutes hear came that white head, i only stopped calling so i could hold the gun still to shoot. i may over call at times but from my experiences i will play the odds and tell him things no self respecting hen would.
hobbes

Re: Best advise

Post by hobbes »

"A turkey has to kill himself" ??? "....unless he wants to be killed" ??? :D Is that the best advise you guys have been given? Who are you guys talking to? :D
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SnootSnapper
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Re: Best advise

Post by SnootSnapper »

Fella told me once that if you had a boss hen around, call to her not the gobbler. You piss her off and the gobbler will follow. That's worked for me on a couple of occasions since then and is one of my favorite tactics.

Another good one learned from a buddy... Never reveal anything on club land.

Several years ago on opening day, he had gotten into my honey hole before I did. I went elsewhere. Bout an hour later, I heard a shot from his direction. On the way out shortly after his shot, we saw him in the dirt road talking to another club member. They were looking at the jake that he had killed. "Man, I had 3 gobblers, 2 jakes, and 8 hens fly down and slowly moved in my direction. I never killed one before so I shot the first jake that came close enough." After I congratulated him, I asked him if the birds had took off after he shot. "No, they just ran to the other end of the field and started strutting again..." :shock: Guess where I went when I left him? He wasn't lying. When I got to the powerline field he was in, there were 3 gobblers, 1 jake, and 8 hens in the field. I smoked the two biggest birds after about 20 minutes of pissing off the hens. He still gives me a hard time about that one. Sorry bud. :D
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Jaybird
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Re: Best advise

Post by Jaybird »

Great advise, and I'm also mostly self taught. Setting up in the BEST spot is a secret, which requires a certain amount of scouting in most cases. I have hunted one piece of property 4 different seasons to finally find the honeyhole. I've killed Birds at 3 different locations there, but last year I found THE place increasing my odds greatly. Instead of hunting one group, I'm now in position to hunt 2.
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SCtrkyhntr
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Re: Best advise

Post by SCtrkyhntr »

Lie to anyone who ask you if you saw any turkeys or heard any turkeys. I believe Jesus considers it a sin to ask someone about the location of a wild turkey they are hunting and not so much of a sin to lie to someone who ask about the location of a wild turkey you are hunting. :angel4:

Take the time to learn about the animals you are hunting and it will make them much easier to kill. Know what they like to eat, what areas they frequent during the hunting seasons and why they are there. Spend more time in the woods learning for yourself and less time believing what people on TV say. I have often times seen people give advise on turkey hunting that had less experience than the person that asked the original question.

Lessons learned the hard way are never forgotten. I learned most of what I know by the hundreds of mistakes made in the past.
redleg06
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Re: Best advise

Post by redleg06 »

-Loose lips sink ships.... I never see or hear birds on any of the places I hunt.

- It's easy to call a turkey where he already wants to go.
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