Begginer Turkey Hunter
 

Hey everyone! I recently checked my trail cam and had 4 or 5 hens and 3 Toms at my corn pile. In NC I know it's illegal to bait turkeys but there's a soy bean field that I know they're at due to a couple Toms walking up behind me. I already have a slate call but what else would y'all recommend? Camo, chokes, 12 gauge loads, etc.
Thanks

What I use and I know many others use as well load wise is something 3" 4 shot. I know guys are gunna praise one brand name over another and all that but in my experience between the 6-7 different loads that I've used is that they all drop them in their spot. I think the one I used for my last turkey was a Remington "Turkey Thug?" (may be wrong name but something similar) It did just as good of a job as any other i had used the previous years so IMO dont get hung up on what brand is better.

As far as camo goes and being a beginner you will more than likely want to conceal yourself to the max. Again camo brand isn't a big deal, but you will probably want to be out of a blind. Until you get the feel for just how jumpy turkeys really are you need to be hidden as much as possible. Turkeys have EXCELLENT vision and pick up on the absolute slightest movement so limit it and set yourself up so you have to move as little as possible.

That being said, good luck to you and hope your season ends with a bang! :D

slates are good, however learn to cluck on a mouth call, the simple cluck will put more birds over your shoulder than anything else.
camo..... nothing special, just whatever breaks up your outline, mix it up use brownleaf on the lowerbody to match the ground, and treebark or Greenleaf upper body, thereby doubly breaking up your outline.
ammo? whatever shoots best in your gun that you have confidance in I mostly shoot 6's
chokes are inda all the same just buy one around .665-667 and find ammo it likes... pattern your gun, know what your max range is.
tone the calling down the last 50 yards, if you can see him don't call he knows where your at, if he can't see you scratch the leaves, that will do way more than calling once he comes to check you out. You've aready made hen calls so he's looking for a hen, make sounds of a hen scratching and that just puts the icing on the cake, double the chance there is a hen there and he will drop his guard a bit more. good luck
RR

Excellent advice RR!

Thank you guys for the info! I currently have a Maverick 88 but am confused which choke to use? I haven't done much research due to NC being shutdown :D but was thinking it would just be the 500 choke? Also what about decoys? One more thing pop up blind or a uncovered turkey blind?

What choke do you have in the barrel right now? I assume it is threaded to take chokes of varying restriction. You'll want to look for one like RR stated that will fit your barrel and then start patterning some turkey loads to see how tight it patterns since you want a concentrated pattern to hit the head/neck of the turkey. That can only be done at the range on paper to see what the maximum distance is that you can keep quite a few shot in that area. I'm also partial to #6 loads due to the increased number of pellets you will be sending down range. You should have at least a full choke or a dedicated turkey choke with a restriction like RR mentioned to be able to shoot out to about 40 yards or possibly a little further. However, most people pattern their turkey gun/choke at 40 yards and feel you shouldn't shoot much past that. Get the proper equipment and practice to find out what that maximum distance is to put lots of pellets in that small head/neck area.

I shoot a Mossberg 500, basically the same gun you have. I've killed plenty of turkeys with the standard full choke. I'm going to an extra full this year, for a bit tighter pattern. I shoot Win 3" #6 loads. These have never failed to kill one yet.

I generally carry a couple slates (one a crystal surface and one slate), two box calls - one with a very high pitch, and a couple diaphram calls. You should have a way to call even in bad weather, so sometimes the mouth call is all that will work. Plus they are hands free.

Use whatever camo you have. I like to mix/match tops and bottoms actually. I try to set up with a good backdrop and a little screening vegetation/brush in front of me. The backdrop is very important as you will get spotted if you make a silhouette. A tree or stump that is wider than you are is good, but other objects work too. Also, some margin of safety is afforded by a solid backdrop, as the only knucklehead that could "mistakenly" shoot at you should be where you can see him first.

this is just me, I get behind something, crawl up under a downed treetop, lots of folks recommend sitting in front of a tree wider than you are, every one of the devils buzzards will see me settin in front of something. have never used a blind.
RR

Thanks guys! Uncle Norby I honestly don't know what's in mine. I bought it used but I can check. What are some good calls? What about a starter calling set? There's plenty of things to hide in front of. Also woods or in a field?

The easiest call to master is a box call followed by a slate or pot call.
I don't like taking shots over 20 yards. As of late it has been 10 to 15 yards......the closer the better.

But that is just me.
JW