Thought I would lend a little helpful advice here that comes from learning the hard way!Just watched a couple of videos and it amazes me to keep seeing turkey hunters make what i believe is a pretty common mistake in the turkey woods.A couple of fellas on the video hear a gobbler sound-off some distance away,they move in that general direction and upon getting to where they wanted to be,they pull out a turkey call to locate the bird!This is the mistake!The hunt ends up with the bird sounding off no more than 60 yards away and both hunters went into a mad scramble to hurry and set-up before the bird was on top of them!I' ve made this same mistake myself and have payed the price having the bird come in before I was ready or found myself in a situation where there was just no good place to set-up and now the gobblers got you pinned down in a position that well lets just say " sucks" !There' s alot of quality locators on the market nowadays to avoid this situation such as crow calls,pilleated woodpecker,goose flutes,coyote calls,etc!Birds will shock gobble at different sounds throughout the country and knowing what the birds respond to in your own neck of the woods can pay big dividends through the course of a season!If you use a turkey call to locate especially when moving in on a bird I would suggest setting up first!That way if he does respond close your not caught in a situation where your in a mad dash looking for a place to set-up!In fact your ready!!Hope it helps all!Bob
__________________
Monarch isn' t a butterfly it' s the King of the Spring!
Good advice Bob,,, The same thing happens to me , but I am aware of it now and try to call close to a good setup. It also helps to have a 3/4 Bandio just to pull up fast...BT
Bob, I agree 150%!!! Another thing by doing that is you never know if the bird is comming in silent!! Your standing there making turkey talk, and all of a sudden there he is and your busted!! I' ve been down that road before a time or two myself, and I' m like you, if I use a turkey call at all, I will be set up and ready!! Great post!!
Right, I @ least lean on a tree to some what conceal myself before using a turkey call to locate, last year I did the very thing,luckly the bird let me get my gun up @ 15 yds But the year before we did the same mistake only to see the ol' red head pop out of the brush @ 20yds and watched him run away[:' (]
This very thing happened to me this year. I knew better but the problem was I was doing a little running and gunning and I was confident birds were in the area but they simply would not respond to a crow or owl. As soon as I popped the mouth call in he was happy to gobble, but he was within 75 yards. Luckily, I just had sat down and hoped he would come where I needed him to and he did! 21 lbs. 6 oz. later and a 10.5 inch beard, we were going home. The whole thing took less than 3 minutes! You have a great point, but in some cases I really believe that people think if they get no response on a locator than birds aren' t present. Not true.
My cousin is a great turkey hunter and when I first started, this was one of the main points he drilled into my head. ALWAYS set up or at least kneel down by a good tree before you call. Good advice.
Common mistake
But the year before we did the same mistake only to see the ol' red head pop out of the brush @ 20yds and watched him run away[:' (]
