Good to hear

and noted

Any one got an old aluminum slate call called the"aluminumator? they sucked.

But if you take that very slate call and purr with an ash striker ...........................

.......oxidation comes to play and if I coud just remember why that matters.....

Jim, were you drinking the blues tonight??![8D]

Nope.

I'm agressive until the TOM is commited to my set up. Many times I have had them on an all out run to get there. I agree some guys should be very passive with their calling. I get to laughing so hard sometimes when I hear new to calling hunters from their blinds. The calls resemble a turkey getting a hot poker shoved up is rear. It's like a middle eastern guy talking English, you know what he is saying but you can tell he's not from around here. Same goes with calling turkeys. The better you get at speaking their languageincreases the attention you will get from your Tom.

What most folks consider aggressive hunting is not making a move on a bird, but just simply prospecting. Being up and mobile rather than stationary and sneaky. Lots of people hit and run differnt spots trying to strike a hot bird.... that works if you have a lot of birds and little time (Kyle's situation)... but if you have a set 1000 acres to hunt over the course of 6 weeks.... you just can't hunt like that and expect the hunting to stay decent... it would be like doing man drives everyday of the deer season on your property.

Normal. But thats hard to do with a pop-up blind, bow, decoys etc in my expereince. If you have made a call to that bird, its not as easy as calling a time out.... I've shot quite a few longbeards that came in on the run hot trying to cut off the bird that was responding to the call... first come first serve you know... But as I learned from duck hunting... if there is a five minute window that you DON'T want the bird(s) to show up.... thats when they will be there... been caught with my waders down and my gun in my hands with my shotgun back in the blind more than once getting rid of morning Mt. Dew. Same goes for trying to move on turkeys.... I only try and move if I know a bird is hung up. Situation dictates. Once a bird is gobbling and you are in the game with him, I'm of the less is more school of thought, but I won't hesitate to move if I feel it necessary... but I'm not hasty either.

Simple. Think about when a turkey (a real hen) gets aggressive... the only hens I have ever heard yelping there heads off, and cutting excitingly (that weren't fighting amongest themselves like old women playing bridge) were usually in a full tilt run on the way to the gobbler. If you are trying to close with a bird and moving in on him, then you can get away with that sort of calling. A tom knows how far away you are. Their locational/directional hearing is flat out of this world. He knows if you are coming or going. How are you going to move on a bird in a ground blind? You need the bird to come to you.... so you need to be a bit more reserved (generally) with your calling... again, there are always exceptions... always.

That depends on a few things. I think we are probably agreeing it would make a good sandwich, even if I say tomayto and you say tomahtoe. Know what I mean?

As you turkey hunt more and more, you will quickly learn that having a decoy, and moving it ten yards closer, is rarely if ever a problem solver. Infact quite often, a decoy is more prone to make a smart bird hang up... or heck.. I've seen them come out at thirty yards... run to sixty yards.... and then go in to full strutt.... expecting the hen to come to them.... Honestly, I've done better putting the decoys further away from me and trying to orient myself between the gobbler and the decoys....imagine a bird coming in from the left... I'll put the decoys thirty to forty yards to my right and if he stops at 60..... then he is really only at 20.... hopefully you see where I'm coming from. And even then, were I so inclined (and i used to be) with a shotgun if he stopped at 60 and put his head up... it would be lights out. The first Rio I ever killed I rolled deader than innocence.. I've never seen a bird really not flap at all... I ranged him (laser) at 56 yards. That was the spring of 2003.

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I've tagged in all nine, though two of those states (NC and Fla.) it took two trips to do so.... two years of trying in NC and just two separate trips the same year in Fla. Granted, my homestate of VA where I cut my teeth turkey hunting.... it took me ten springs.... school of hard knocks. When it comes to patterning birds, as you turkey hunt more and more, I think you'll get more and more enjoyment out of it. I wouldn't hunt turkeys if they didnt' gobble, but you can in the right situation, show up on a piece of property you have never been on before and with nothing but a general outline of the property lines kill a turkey the same morning you arrive. I've done it on more than one occasion. But to truely understand a KNOW a bird, and pursue him all spring, or even over the course of a couple of springs, and have him respond, and show, and give you the slip, and have close calls.... that is the best of both worlds.

Respect!

ever been to MN?

Well I guess there is always more than one way to skin a cat. It sounds as if you've tried it all, and agree that all ways can be successful. I guess the reason I couldn't understand how people thought aggressive was so bad, is because they had a far worse definition of it.

Carrying around alot of stuff such as a pop up blind can be alot of work, which is why I usually have the blind set in a good area the night before with decoys and stools waiting inside. I show up, set out decoys, climb in and wait for daybreak. I only do this when I hunt the afternoon before though and have an idea of where the birds are. If the birds positions have changed, I climb from the blind and hunt on foot.

I realized something last spring about the enjoyment part though. Calling in a bird for someone else is just as thrilling for me as killing a bird I didnt call in. I called in a tom for my buddy last year, 22 lbs i think, 1 inch+ hooks, 10" beard. We hunted that particular bird for three days straight, nearly all day. Called him in to be blasted at a whole 9 yards on the last day of season. I honestly think I was more excited than he was. If all goes as planned this year, I hope to be calling in a tom for my dads first hunt.

Don't give props to easy.... it can be pretty simple to get off an airplane, check in with your outfitter, have him tell you what the birds are up to... call a few times and watch a Rio charge from 600 yards, over one fence, through another, and (no kidding) run UNDER a cow to lock up at 56 yards.... I HAD to shoot that one... just so I could put his fan on the wall and tell the story about how dedicated he was! Tagging in different states is only as hard as the property you hunt. Most of the places I travel out of state for are WORTH THE TROUBLE AND MONEY of traveling out of state for.... if you know what I mean. Only outfitted hunts in three of those nine states (Texas, Mississippi and won a hunt in SC after I'd already killed three there in two springs..two on public ground).

No, I have never been to MN... but I hear the size of the skeeters, and their fly in formation numbers would give South Carolina and Florida a good run for the money.

I haven't tried it all.... but I've tried just about everything I know of at some point. Before I finally killed my first bird....those ten long years.... I messed up birds everyway possible...what helped was that I was conscious enough to learn from it later and I still look back now and try not to make the same mistakes twice. I was stubborn as a mule when it came to turkey hunting.... I wouldn't let anyone help me in any way, no one is calling, no one is advising.... I had to do it alone.... and it took ten years.... but that first bird.... I doubt I'll ever taste anything sweeter than that victory/accomplishment.

I don't have to luxury anymore of living near my hunting grounds. 77 miles from my doorstep...although... this year I do have a farmhouse to stay in and I take advantage of that to the fullest. Our state only allows hunting afternoons the final two weeks of the season. Personally, I try and avoid being where I want to hunt the next morning the evening before... I might sit somewhere and listen for a late gobble or a flyup.... but usually I know where they SHOULD be or USUALLY are already.

I couldn't agree more. I honestly don't care if I ever shoot another one... just so long as I can go and work'em. I don't exactly feel the same way about ducks... although as long as its my dog thats picking them up I really don't care. But so far as turkeys go... I don't care if I even carry a gun.... infact I'd prefer not to.... less to tote.