My 10yr old son and I are going to start hunting and fishing,and one of the things he wants to hunt is turkeys.I have never hunted anything but deer,and it has been at least 18years since I did that.We both love to shoot and do so as often as we can.What advice can you give us on what type of calls we may need,what type of gear we will need(other than shotguns),and anything else you think we should know about how to go about hunting for turkeys.I already have somewhere to hunt them and have seen upwards of 50-100 at one time in the fields there.Thanks in advance.

I think the easiest kind of call to learn on is a box call. You can pick one of them up at just about any store that sells hunting equipment. Make sure that you are completely camoflauged, including your face and hands, and do not move at all. They see everything. Watch some hunting movies, to watch how they call. Also, make sure you don't overcall. It is better to call too little than to call too much. When you shoot them, aim for the base of the neck. I'm sure if you look around, there is a lot of threads that could help you. Good luck.

Use at least a full choke. Pattern your guns to see where they hit and to determine your maximum effective range. They say that 80-100 pellets in a 10 inch circle, and at least 10-12 hits in the head/neck is about the minimum you should have to consider shooting at a bird.

Box calls are pretty easy to learn. You may want to get one that works in the rain if that's your only call. If you try mouth calls, get single or double reed. They are easier to learn on than multiple reed calls.

Keep it pretty simple to start. Call every 10 minutes or so, and call from one spot for at least an hour. Even longer is better. Often, birds come in silent and many guys move too quickly. If you get a bird gobbling, don't keep calling to him. Do some light calling then just wait him out. Sometimes, a bird will respond but head in the opposite direction. Generally he's going to a strut zone. Try to pinpoint that area by sound, and set up near that area next time you hunt or even later in the day.

Don't get discouraged if birds don't come in. And don't chase after them when they're heading to a strut zone. If you do move, it's betterto make a large circular swing to get ahead of them.

Try to set up in a spot where you can only see to your maximum range. Birds will get closer to you if they can't see a long ways, and when you do see one, you know he's in range.

Have fun and try to learn more about your turkeys each time out.

Thanks for the tips/advice and keep um coming.We bought a combo pack of calls this morning before I had read this.It had a crow call,owl call,slate and a diaphram call.We spent the afternoon practicing with these.I guess we will get a box call next and a couple of decoys.

Use a Push Button Yelper. Great sounding call and extremely easy to use.

I personally use it everytime I go hunting. Its good for soft purrs and clucks that drives the old gobblers crazy.

Good advice Uncle. Also, always carry a little piece of sand paper with you to rough up your slate and striker. In areas with large numbers of turkeys, I have had better luck with ambushing the turkeys, rather than calling.

Godd advice uncle, here's mine. Personally My father and I like to got to them instead of wait them out. Another thing is get a small blind, not like an ameristep but the ones that make like a shortwall around you, for two reasons A: they are easliy put up and taken down and B: Ameristeps are expensive!Bring snacks and water along on the hunt. If you hear one on the roost get set up on him the best you can but don't get to close. In the morning Try to get to onahill or powerline or something so you can listen for gobbles on the roost. Flydown is a little past daybreak so if you dont hear anything early just go st up somewhere and call and then go from there. If you get on one try tonot to get a fence, stream, or a thicketect. bewtween you and him, Turkeys are very lazy. Oh also Decoys can be very helpful. try to buy a hen or two to put out. It takes all the attention of you and he's going to be foucused on them. Never shoot a turkey in a strut. Once he's in range and you fell comfortable to shoot just make like a little chicken cluck with your mouth, if it sounds somewhat like a turkey,and shoot him with his head running straight up. If you can't well eventually he will. AlsoAn adult has a full gobble, a juvinile or "jake" has like a half gobble.juvinile's are legal and fun to kill (mainly because they are stupid and just come running up to a call) But always shoot an adult over a jake if they are together in range. You know braggin rights.

Now a nice bird weighs in IL i would have to gues is 22-28 pounds but I have no idea about IL. Spurs determine age of one. 1/2 inch stubs: jake, 7/8's inch spurs or someting not quite an inch" 2 yr old, : 1in-1' 1/43 yr old, 1' 1/2 and up 4 yr old. Killing a four year old is special because they are hard tom harvest. A beard on a turkey cant tell the age other than this, I short stub od a beard that is just juttin' out of him means he's a jake. from about7 1/2in and up means he;s an adult. But generaly ifnothing is wrong, beard rot, bad winter and part of it got frozen off, bad genetics, the longer the beard the older the bird.But the best depiction is his fan. On ajake's fan the two tip feathers are shorter than therest and the top middle4 are taller than the rest. And as I've previously stated his gobble.There is an age of 1 1/2. Those have a full gobble usually and almost a full fan( the tips ar eusually not quitegrown). They have slightly longer spurs and likea 6 in beard. and weigh about 16 17 pounds, atleast down here in TN. So there you go , and remember have fun!

In my opinion, and based on the fact that I have 3 kids that hunt (ages 8, 9, and 13), THE most important piece of equipment you can buy to put yourself in the game when it comes to turkey hunting is a pop-up blind. My favs are the Double Bull blinds but there are tons of lesser priced blinds that woud work fine.

As far as calls go, a simple box call and a push button call are going to be your best best unless you have a lot more time to learn one and practice on.

Decoys can be very inexpensive and I would suggest 2, a Hen and a Jake would bring nearly any bird within range of your blind and should provide you and your son plenty of hunting enjoyment.

Good luck and good huntin, and THANKS for taking the time to take a kid huntin' !!!

dekes -the easiest is defintely 2 hens and one jake.
calls- easiest is push/pull next is box and then slate

since you know there are birds in the area i wouldnt worry about callin alot. just enought o get him goin and once he starts to come in STOP CALLIN.
it took me awhile to realize this. i love to see em gobble their heads off but not if they dont come in ranage.

know your guns effective range and try to be able to estimate that yardage in the field. I.E. if you know your dekes are 15 yards away then take the distance from you to your dekes and use that as a guide.

We are going to invest in a good blind,not sure if it will be the tent type pr the half blind.We have also been looking at decoys too.I did trade for him a youth modelRemington 870 20ga today,so he now has a shotgun(he doesn't know it yet).These tips have been great and I appreciate everyones input.Thanks