Andy - I canglean from your poststhat you're a pretty good turkey hunter. So can we all at least agree that a skilled caller - a guy with a lot of experience in the spring woods - is much more likely to be successful if he hunts "aggressively?" (as compared to a novice, who may be not quite hitting the right notes or giving a bird what he wants to hear all the time?)

I think when we talk about "aggressive" callers - we're all picturing some hack who just bought a boxcall at Gander Mountain the night before - and he's wearing the damn boatpaddleout in one day.Compare that toan experiencedturkey hunter, whocan be equally effective sitting tight or slinking around and being a little more sassy with the calls (because he's got the skills to do it). It boils down to what the hunter prefers - some guys are content to wait. Others want to cover more ground.

I can say this: If you're not a great caller - you're always better off sitting still and keeping the calling to a minimum.

That said - anyone with half a brain and a few vacation days can kill a big tom without ever puttinga call in their mouth or pegging theglass. It's just as simple as waiting one out. But that requires patience that most people don't have. It's not rocket science, really.

Remember what the French use to do with Kings they did not like Fran what is your neckmeasurments, I already know what your heads, LOL XL

Aw crap! Don't tell me I share a birthday with that twit![:-] [&:]

Belated Happy Birthday, Dan.

Experienced is more like it Fran.... Just means I've screwed up a lot and learned from it.

My old man maintains (and I agree) that a man could fart into an empty beer can and call in a turkey.... just so long as its not too loud and he hits the right cadence and doesn't over do it. In my opinion, the worst sounding caller (to my human ear) is a real hen turkey... I've heard some that just sounded rotten... of course, ain't nothing like the real thing. In my eyes, its less about being good, and more about knowing when to hold'em and when to fold'em. Calling turkeys is not difficult like calling ducks and geese can be..... the two are related... and I make the connections all the time... but you have to pitch and tone and cadence perfect with ducks... with turkeys so long as you are cadence decent (not too fast), you should be fine.

I remember my best friend telling me a story about his hunt last year on opening day. He went to a WMA too close to a large VA city. 30 minutes before it even started to get light, a ford truck came riding down the road. He turned his lights off... rolled down the window, emitted three sharp CROW calls...listed a moment, window up... lights on... drove down a few hundred yards... repeated the process.... so yes... it is easy to confuse agressive with flat out retarded sometimes.

I totally agree that keeping calling to min never hurts anyone. My Dad is a perfect example of that. The man has killed every turkey on his license as long as I have been alive... he owns one slate, one box and two mouth calls... I think he still has a fighting purr too.... I bought him a bucklick creek turkey vest.. one with the frame you don't have to be up againest a tree to use for xmas a few years back.... says its the best turkey killing device he has ever seen or heard of... you can deduct which school of thought he follows.

Most of the old timers I talk to, or should I say listen to....because I try and soak up as much information from old turkey hunters as I possibly can... are of the same school of thought....just like everything else in life, there are the compound guys and the traditional shooters..... the longboarders and the shortboarders (and even the fun boarders who can't make up their mind).....the crotch rockets and the harleys.....the republicans and the democrats....and in this case..... the patient and the bold. However as I have found in life, those who are most often successful and most often enlightened are a good mix of both. I'm sure you still break out the Stewart longboard or the fish when its waste high but smooth..... but when its head high or better.... you ever try to duck dive a longboard under an 8' wave? Break out the Flyer II....

Well said Fran. What it requires in addition to patience is a bit of woodsense. It is a learned through experience trait, and might not even be learned but just something you are born with that you have to polish. I know a few OLD (65+) turkey hunters thathad been at it when Lynch boxes were cutting edge technology.... some of those guys just know turkeys so well... I can't explain it... its like a sixth sense... some people can read other people that way... some people are like that with big bucks... just comes from a lot of springs/falls in the woods I guess. Most people don't have to patience or the frame of mind to take in what they are seeing. A lot of hunters now just try and go hell for leather on turkeys... everyone else can kiss it and who cares what the hunting is like tomorrow... I think in a lot of ways that turkey hunting is the new duck hunting... just whats in style....

What no questions Jeff?

Happy birthday to you as well, Arthur!

Care to let us know how old you turned?

(I had to ask! You called me a twit! [8D])

Wow! Quite a lot of differing opinions in this thread. I'll give you my thoughts, take them or leave them. Since it seems you gotta qualify yourself on this one, LOL, I have been successfully hunting turks for over 20 years now, and don't know how many I have killed.

The only reason there is or should be a difference in gun hunting and bow hunting is laziness or the desire to not turkey huntin its most enjoyable fashion, which is finding a workable bird and calling him in. We have enough turkeys that if you sat in a blind without ever calling or ever moving for a couple days max, you will have birds in range for sure. No funin that for me though. For the last couple years, I have been lazy and sat in the blind for mindless hours upon hours mostly due to the extra hassle of camera equipment. No more for me. I have sat and told my camerman that I know we could kill this or that bird were were hearing if we folded up and went and got him...but yet we sat and played the patience game. Not this year. I will be on the move this season enjoying it again. If I was hunting alone, no cameraman, I would bowhunt on the fly, no blind.Might take a few blunders first, but who cares, there is always another bird around the corner to give a try. My very best bowhunts have been when I moved when I needed to move. The neatest hunt ever ended up with 3 gobblers at 15 yards after 3 solid hours of hunting them, and on the 4th blind set up. The last time I popped the blind open, I knew I was within 60 yards of them but knew I had to do it. They gobbled at the blind dragging the leaves on the set up and we barely got inside before they showed up...that my friends is what turkey HUNTING is all about. Playing the game and figuring them out...

No matter the weapon or set up, I ALWAYS let the bird I am set up on dictate how aggressive to call, what turkey sounds to use, volume, pace, and even the particular call to use. I can think of many, many times that I killed a bird because I finally figured out what sound he wanted to hear, from which one of the calls in my pack. I have killed some that only responded to cutts, some that only wanted yelps, some just purrs, and some that wouldn't come until I shut up and waited them out.

Where we hunt, if you aren't within a 100 yards of a gobbling bird, you probably won't kill him by sitting there passively calling. A live hen WILL cut you off.You snooze, you loose, and that is a fact. Maybe not like that in places with lower populations, but here in MO, you always have competition from live hens. If he is far away, you better run to close in on him before the opportunity passes.

Another thing to consider, the same bird is going to react differently day by day, and heck, even hour by hour in the same morning. There is no right or wrong answer that is hard and fast for every situation. I pay no mind toif a bird is dominant orwhatever...again our high population comes into play, causethere isplenty of tail foreveryone, and if agobbler is alone and in the mood, heis gonna come get some. The last bird I killedwas on a horriblewindy morning in which only one bird was heard at daylight (asopposed to the normal 15-25).Finally heard agobble 3/4 a mile away. Jogged thru the woods a half mile, heard him again, moved another couple hundred yards, called and got an answer. sawhim coming across the field, sat down, called and got nothing. Seen him stoppedin the fieldstrutting. Hammered him with some cuts, watchhim fold and march right in,evenflyingacross a ditch to get tous to find a face full of number 5's.First morning in 3 yearsoutwith a gun, and I could've killed him with a bow, even without a blind. 26.5 lbs, 15/8 spurs...yeah, a"dominant" bird can bekilled with aggressive methods.That bird is the reason I won't be lazy cause of the blind anymore. I am with Kyle...I can set it up in 30 seconds or less, and be hunting in 2 minutes or less...why not?

Bowhunting turkeys for 30 years. Thatwould beimpressive !! 10 years ago you rarely heard of anyone bowhunting turkeys. Seems like it's reallypicked up in the last 5 years. Has the guy bowhunted all 30 years ??

Tim

I don't disagree with the bold portion at all.....and it's a good point.

Good for you. I questioned no one's experience. I was only trying to relegate responses to bowhunting spring gobblers. That's all I do.....hence my thread/interest.

Good stuff, Dink. Thanks.

Teej......AGAIN....respect. Thanks.

Thanks, Chris. Great stuff.

SC.....that was good.

Sounds like gobbler gospel, to me. Thanks, Fran.

Only since 1988.

Reading this whole thread has taken a big chunk of my morning but I believe it to be time well spent. I think I may have learned a few things.