moturkeytamer hit it on the head,if you follow this board the next few months you will learn more info on turkey hunting tactics and the gear to hunt them that you might not find in any book or video.i credit the people on this board that made my first hunt last year a success.read books,watch videos,practice your calls,sight your gun,if your lucky you might get one shot,very important.i chose to be self taught,im hardheaded that way.what i did was hunt on private land self guided so i had no hunting pressure and put myself in land with a good turkey population so i could hunt and learn without distractions.good luck and hunt safe.

Ont thing about turkey hunting is that it will teach you humility and patience. Time is going to be your best teacher. You will find that on some days, NOBODY could get that bird to come in and on the next day (maybe), he will come running to just about any ol squawk. You'll NEVER figure these birds out completely! But you're gonna have the time of your life trying. Hang in there! If a turkey can find a way to make a fool of you, he probably will. There is a book called "the Flaming Turkey" by Robert Hitt-Neill that is a must read for turkey hubters. It is NOT meant to be instructional, but Bob has eloquently put into words what ALL of us go through in our pursuit of these magnificent creatures.

I don't know where you're hunting, but start scouting about a month before your season. DO NOT CALL TO ANY TURKEY DURING THIS TIME!!! In fact it would be best to LEAVE YOUR CALLS AT HOME while you're out scouting. Get there before daylight and listen for gobbling and the flydown. DON'T BUMP THEM! Be patient and try to figure out where they roost, where he likes to fly down (this may not be the same direction every day, but he'll probably have his 'druthers' on where he flies down). Determine the best route to get to him. Locate SEVERAL birds in different areas. Break in your boots! Do some walking and look for tracks, dusting areas, scratches, feathers, and the birds themselves. Try to figure out their travel patterns. Be a ghost while scouting. Be VERY careful not to bump a bird if you can possibly avoid it. Also know that their behavior will change throughout the spring. They are almost a completely diffirent animal during deer season

On hunting day, get there early and try to set up about 75 to 100 yards away from him. Since you're brand new, I'd advise you to call painfully little. And keep them basic. Use soft clucks and purrs mostly with an occaisional yelp thrown in. They can hear better than you think. You'll have to 'take his temperature' and figure out how much calling he wants. It is much easier to build uo to this than to undo too aggressive calling too early. Remember that you're going against nature. Normally the hen goes to the Tom. You have to get his hormonal blood boiling and get him to do something stupid like come to you. Expect the unexpected. They will gobble constantly on the limb and shut up when they fly down and come in silent. They will gobble their danged fool heads off and not budge beyond a particular spot, frustrating you to no end (if you listen closely, you can hear them laughing at you). They may come in silent and then gobble right behind you and give you a heart attack! They'll circle. They'll peek out from behind a tree, peek up over a bush or a ridge. They are diabolical little critters that will go to the ends of the earth to make a fool out of you!! Never forget that!! They are God's way of teaching you to laugh at yourself.

The best advice I ever got, and I've been hunting these critters for close to 25 years, is to hunt with as many different people as you can who have killed turkeys. Pay attention and learn something from each one of them. There's no way that we can tell you everything here, but you have enough to get started, now. The one thing you NEVER want to forget to do, however, is to have fun! These birds will frustrate you to no end, and if it ain't fun, it ain't worth doin'!

i am not familar with your neck of the country,but i will give you some basics.
1] scout the area for scratchings,droppings,feathers and dusting areas.
2]look in areas where there is water for roosts trees[creeks,bottom etc.
3]when you think you know where they sleep and travel ,you are ready
4]a few days prior to the spring season,get to a high point before daylight and listen for gobbling.they will gobble on the roost before flying down.
5]make a mental note of travel route and obstructions such as fences,thickets,river,creek etc.
6]do not call to the birds!
7]once you have done your homework,get in place within 200 yards of the roosting birds before daylight preferably,on east side of roost.
8]when it begins to get light, the birds will begin to talk,use simple soft yelp to let them know where you are.gobbler should begin to sound off when other birds start talking
9]have total camo including face and hands and gun in position to get on the bird when they fly down
10]use mouth call or push pin yelper when bird can be seen so as not to be seen moving your hands while calling
11]practice with different calls prior to the season opener.i would recommend a box call and push pin yelper for a beginner.get an instructioal tape and learn the basics and don't try to be an expert on your first hunt.PATIENCE is the most important factor with no movenent when you can see the gobbler.
good luck!
http://www.vaturkey.com/sounds.htm

Welcome to the turkey woods!! I am not an expert by any means but will tell you a few things that have helped me. I started hunting them back about 1985 and had no clue what I was doing out there. I made alot of mistakes and the birds never seemed to appear when I was calling. I'm more of a run & gun type but am learning to be more patient and sit longer...especially after calling. I've called from one spot and then decided to move only to have a gobbler spook that was coming in silent. So, when you call from a spot, wait at 20 to 30 minutes before moving on as a gobbler may come in silent. Also, I've killed alot more birds with clucks and purrs than yelps. Example-I saw two gobblers strutting in a pasture and so I snuck around a bluff, down a logging road on the backside, and got into the pasture. I poked up over a rise slowly to see the top of one fanned out about 50 yards from me. I backed off, got my vest off, and crawled up with a slate in hand and my gun. I yelped on the slate and got a response so I got the gun up. There was only about 2" of grass in that pasture so I had to be ready if he came over the hill. Nothing came so I yelped again and he gobbled in the same place. I did this a few times but no change in position. So then I switched to a few soft clucks and a purr. Suddenly he gobbled closer so I got the gun up. He came over the hill and I shot him at about 8 paces. Another bird in Wisconsin did the same thing...yelps would make him answer but he wouldn't come any closer. Then I clucked softly and he came in.
Forget that calling you see on TV. They keep yelping to get the birds to gobble for the camera but in reality, I don't think you need to call nearly that much. Once a bird knows you are there, he won't forget. Even if he goes off to mate with a hen he may still show up later in the morning. Staying put for a whole morning and having the patience to do so can pay off for you too. If your lease isn't that big then I'd suggest building a blind in a good location (Where they strut or near water source) and setting up there. If you have limited amounts of land you don't want to go kicking the birds off the property by moving around too much. One tip that I can give about using decoys that worked for me was to put the jake right on top of the hen to make it look as if he is ready to mount her. Last spring, I took a buckwing jake decoy and put it over a hen. I took the stake out of her and put her right on the ground which is natural when they are ready to mate. That gobbler will jump up on her back when she is sitting down on the ground, step on her repeatedly, and then they mate. So anyway, I had a gobbler come in from the side of the jake, walk up, and stomp on my jake. His next stop was the dinner table. Also, remember that you don't necessarily have to use decoys to kill turkeys. It helps to divert their attention away from you but it can also make a gobbler hang up on you. I've had that happen more often than not as where I hunt they get alot of pressure. I've killed more birds without decoys than with them and I think it's more of a challenge to do so since that bird is looking for you and you have to get the gun up without them seeing you. Well, I'm rambling so hope this make at least some sense...

Turn back while you still aren't too far gone!! This stuff is contagious as siphlis.

- patience
- dress warm so you don't fidget because of being cold -- very minimal movement
- camo to the max, all over
- patience
- ask questions
- know what your gun will do and not do and act accordingly
- patience
- practice your technique
- patience

Your best learning turkey talk from the masters. Go to www.treetopturkeys.com under "Basic Turkey Calls"

Take a look at http://www.hunting101.com/smallgame/...dTurkey001.htm

Quite a bit of reading there, hold ya over for a little while.