Thought I'd offer my opening day story as encouragement for the other noobies...

This was going to be my first turkey season this year. I spent all winter watching videos (over and over and over and over and over...to the point of the kids crying because Daddy won't let them have the TV and wife threatening to break the DVDs )...reading everything I could get my hands on...weeks and weeks of practicing calling in the car to and from work...for the first few weeks making only the most god-awful sounds, like cats being tortured.

Went out for MO opening day yesterday...it was UNBELIEVABLE, after watching so many videos and shows, I got in a couple of different situations yesterday and it all felt so familiar, I had so much confidence and felt like I knew exactly what to do.

First setup, shortly after flydown, I got two gobblers just over a hilltop, out of sight...they were between me and 3-4 NOISY hens who wanted them to come their way and not head toward me. I worked the gobblers for 45 minutes or so, they kept going back and forth, like they couldn't make up their minds which way to go. Then I worked the hens for a while, got them talking, but they finally decided to head the opposite way and the gobblers followed them.

Second setup, at about 10:00, after the hens had gone to nest, I got a lonely gobbler gobbling probably 200 yards away or so. I crept in a little ways and then set up. Used some really aggressive calling to get him fired up, then shut up except for some purring and scratching the leaves. He came in to about 75 yards out, I could seehim, he was strutting, gobbling, putting on quite a show. He stayed put for a while; I then started calling fairly aggressively again, but throwing the calls back over my shoulder behind me to make it sound like the hen was heading out. He started in again, came in to about 45 yards, but I couldn't get a shot b/c of all the brush in the way (probably my bad choice of setup location). He continued to strut & gobble, looking for a clear path to follow the hen he thought he was chasing. Finally, he circled way around to the side of me and then behind me in a clearing 40 yards back or so...when he didn't see his hen there I think he gave up and headed out.

So, I didn't get one but came thisclose, and had a blast. More importantly, for all the other noobies, I really felt like I had as much of a handle on what was happening as you could without having actually been after them before. So, morale of the story: read, read, read; practice, practice, practice; and watch DVDs, watch DVDs, watch DVDs.

Headed back out on Friday...going to be the longest three day workweek of my life!

I have been wondering about the calling thing. Like you,I'm a noobie andit's practice, practice, practice the whole time I'm in the car and I think I've got a pretty good handle on it but then of course what else am I going to tell myself? So I'm thinking I need someone elses opinion, like maybe someone who knows what it should sound like. Did you try your calling out on someone for an opinion? I am NOT trying to imply that your calling isn't up to par so please don't take it that way. I just think it a good question and wonder if you or anyone else might have had the same thought.

I did get a little feedback from my father in law, who has hunted turkeys some.

Mostly, though, it was practicing with either a CD (in the car) or along with DVDs at home. Lots and lots of listen to the CD, pause it, try to copy what I just heard. Repeat, over and over.

In particular, I got the "Real Strut Talk" DVD/CD set from Hunters Specialty. Almost the entire thing is recordings of turkeys in the wild, divided by type of call (yelp, cutting, cluck, etc.). Since it's almost 45 minutes of nothing but real turkeys, it helped a lot to do the listen, pause, copy, listen, pause, copy routine.

It was a lot of long hours of work, and drove the wife/kids crazy, but let me tell you, when I finally got out in the woods yesterday and first thing in the morning, got into a 45 back and forth session with two gobblers, both just hammering almost every time I called, it was all worth it...

The only opinion that really matters is that of the gobbler. The best way to find out how well you sound is to try it on the live thing. And I promise, you don't have to be a pro to call in a bird.

Yeah, I'm definitely anything but a pro. That was kind of what I was trying to say in my original post. As a beginner, don't feel like you can't go out and have results right away. Get a good handle on the basics and, like me, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the result!

Long story short....went out after work just to sit in the woods with my son. Blind was set up next to Honda Rancher, jake and hen decoys were about fifteen feet away from both. We were just wasting time while I was playing with my calls I'm still learning to use, not putting much effort into the hunt. He came running, peeked out from behind the weeds and then walked straight in stopping a little here and there while I clucked and purred on my Knight & Hale slate call. He came to about twenty-five feet and I wasn't waiting any longer. I took him with a Mossberg Maverick 88 shotgun with a True-glo Gobble Stopper choke and Remington #6 shot, he dropped on the spot. It's a jake, beard about 4.5" and nubs for spurs. But we are fresh out of the box when it comes to hunting period, we're saltwater fishermen just learning the ways of the woods. It was a good feeling to clean him knowing that we learned everything from asking questions, watching shows and reading stuff on the internet. If we don't get another turkey this year, we won't mind and I'll guarantee no other will taste and juicy and sweet as this one.

Im new to all this too...lol so it should be interesting to say the least...I'm going to do it with the bow...After a all the money I've put into this I better at least get a shot off haha..I have spend so many hours practicing calls and watching videos and reading up on it. I got some good properties so lets hope it all works out!!! I'll keep everyone posted! haha

MossyOak, I'm sitting out there with my bow on the toe of my boot also and I've got about27 more daysleft (we're lucky tohave a decently long season compared to most). The one call that really concerns me is my yelps. It just doesn't sound right to me and I can't seem to change it with the diaphram. I want to use the mouth call exclusively to be hands free. Well, congrats to those who've scored and good luck to all the rest of us rookies.