RE: turkey calling
A push/pull type of call is just about foolprooof, and one can do a range of calling on it. I prefer to use a diaphram call, and sooner or later you may need to learn to use one. Just take your time and practice at home, not in the field unless you are actually hunting. I don' t recommend any practice calling in the field, it will get the birds call-shy.
I don' t like to do any calling right off of the bat if I can keep from it. From hunting the same public and private places for years, and having my scouting down pat, I will go to a transfer area between the roost and the strutting area. I will just sit and listen. If I hear a gobbler withing a couple hundred yards of me, sound off the roost, I will call just loud enough for him to hear me with a series of yelps one time. That puts the idea in his head that he is planning on traveling the right way to begin with. Then I will sit and wait untill at least 9:30 if there is no action coming in. A tom, if he is in the mood to gobble, will gobble his head off just to hear his teeth rattle between the roost and his strutting area, trying to draw in hens. I f he isn' t, then you will have to be a deer hunter in the turkey woods for awhile, just keeping an eye out on any movement. By not calling, for me, I can get a fix on his location, whether he is coming towards me, or if he is going to a new strutting zone. This helps in the aid of scouting while hunting, without trekking through the woods. Plus, by not calling too much from the start, you narrow the chances of an old hen that may have roosted with him, dragging him off the other direction. Keeping the calling to a bare minimum, for me, keeps the birds focused on their main path from the start, which makes them semi-predictable if your scouting is correct. After 9:30 or 10:00 in the morning, if nothing has happened, then I will start getting in a mood to move on a bird, or do a little more calling for a satelite tom prowling the edges of a harem of hens. These birds are fairly easy to attract when located off of the remaining main flock of hens, and still can run in the 20+ pound range.
But if you try this to no success,,,,,,,I may not know what I am talking about...[8D]