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Old 12-22-2010, 09:23 AM
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turkey guide
Fork Horn
 
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Eagleville Missouri
Posts: 338
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You should find everything you want to know here. If you already have a good place and a shotgun, you're getting there fast. If you're seeing turkeys there during deer season, you'll need to scout there during the early spring, a week or two before turkey season, because they may roost different places in the spring and may strut in a different field than you see them in the fall. Spend a few mornings watching the sun come up and listening and watching for your bird. There are a ton of calls to choose from and decoys too, and every one of them may or may not work for you. Start simple with a call you can use, even if it's limited in sounds it can make. I started out in 1982 with a Lynches world champion box call and still use it today. If it works don't fix it. My first turkey calling experience was practicing on caged birds at a farm. I simply made different sounds until I got the gobbler stirred up, and trying to tear the wire down. Then I went to the woods and got the same reaction from wild birds. I spent a lot of time watching birds on the roost and imitating their calls, noticing which sounds calm them when they're scared and which calls make them nervous. Don't worry about defining the call's you make, just call, if it works use it again, if not don't. I also learned to move in and out of roosting areas without spooking them while learning to call them. Plan on spending a lot of time learning and don't plan on your first bird for a few years. If you get one right away great! But don't give up too soon if you don't. I shot my first turkeys by walking them out of ditches and wing shooting them like quail in the fall season. It took time to really learn to call them, although I got lucky my second year and called one in, in spring. I didn't use decoys for years but I do now sometimes, but my average turkey hunt has gone from hours or days hunting to 20-30 minutes out of the truck, it's almost not fun anymore. I spend way more time now teaching kids and first time hunters, than hunting for myself.
My favorite season now is fall, where I go for a nice long walk until I see turkeys, follow them and keep tabs on them until late evening when they go into trees. Then I walk in among them and shoot them on the fly. Legal where I live and a lot of fun, but not even close to easy. The whole month of Oct. is turkey season here and it can take a lot of days hunting to get the two shots you need to tag two turkeys this way. Whatever method you use keep it legal and have fun doing it and don't take anyone serious who says you're doing it wrong, if it works for you, and it's legal, then you're doing it right, so enjoy it!
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