RE: beginner in need of advice
Well is there any particular subject you would like advice on? Calling? Camo? Guns/loads? Tactics? If you are just looking for some general advice I would say get one or two basic calls and get to where you are very comfortable with them. learn the basic hen vocalizations (the yelp, purr and cluck). Then make sure you have a good set of camo, including a hat, face mask and gloves. Then figure out what you are going to hunt with, turkey hunting with bows has become popular of late but for a beginner I would suggest using a shotgun first. Nearly any 20 or 12 gauge shotgun will do, with a full or specialty turkey hunting choke, and a good turkey load. Make sure you pattern your shotgun to make sure you can get the center of the pattern in the turkey's head and neck area out to about 30-35 yards (with some tinkering with gun/load/choke combos and practice you might be able to stretch the yardage out farther, but 30-35 yards is a good starting point). Turkeys are tough birds so you will want to put several pellets in the brain/spinal cord to ensure a clean kill (there are great targets online that you can download and print). As for some basic tactics, try to figure out where the birds roost at night because they will generally return their every evening. Try to set up at first light about 100 yards from their roost so as soon as they fly down you can try to call them in. Pay attention to terrian, turkeys are generally hard to call downhill they are much easier to call when you are above them (not sure why, they just are) and try to eliminate any barriers between them and you (fenses, streams, thickets, etc) as they will often cause the birds to hang up. Finally make sure you stay very still when the birds are coming in as they have wonderful eyesight. Once you are sure they are coming in it is usually a good idea to stop calling, or at least cut back on the calling...there is such thing as calling too much. That is just some basic things to keep in mind, if you have any questions feel free to ask. As helpful as it is talking to people here and getting advice the best thing you can do is just to go out and hunt. Those birds are going to teach you more about turkey hunting in one season then you'd learn in a hundred years online. But the trial and error is all part of it and I'm sure you'll be wacking those gobblin' fools in no time. Good Luck!