Turkey Hunting >> Turkey Hunting Tips

When you are setting up for wild turkey hunts before the daylight you shouldn’t get too close to a roost. Regarding the distance that hunters should keep it varies from hunter to hunter but as a general rule, you should try and get within a range of 100 up to 150 yards if you can. With other words, you need to get as close as possible to the roost without scaring it off. The closer you will get, the fewer the obstacles that the bird will have to come around to get to you.

Many of the wild turkey hunters have experienced a tom that hangs up which basically means he stops out of range at about 60 yards or even more, is still gobbling and refuses to come close enough for a deadly shot. He may be hung up for some reasons, one of these reasons might be that he could be behind some obstacles like a creek or a fence or he could be in his favorite strutting area or another possibility would be that he has some hens with him. The stubbornness of the bird is also a possibility, for example you call the turkey a long period of time but the bird will just simply stay there, waiting for the “hen” to approach him.

When this situation occurs, you should try using very soft “purrs” and “clucks” to entice the bird that last 20 yards. Another way would be to lightly scratch the leaves with your own hand, imitating the sounds made by a turkey that is scratching the ground. If none of these methods work, we recommend that you stop calling and wait for the turkey. As most of you know, wild turkeys have their own sense of time and it is nothing unusual for a gobbler to stand and strut for approximately 60 minutes in the exact same spot before they finally becoem curious and walk the remaining distance.

If the turkey is still at a big distance or he is hidden enough so that you can move around just a little bit, we recommend switching to calls. The last and most risky option would be changing the calling location by moving approximately 50 yards back and start calling again so that the gobbler will think that the hen is moving away. If you have located a gobbler that is situated on a hillside you should try and climb the hill and call from a location above the tom or if you can’t, at least at the same level.

If you will be conducting the turkey hunts in a windy state, you should learn how to use the wind in your advantage. The strong winds will increase the difficulty of the hunts because neither you or the turkey will hear as well as you do in a non-windy situation. What you must do is try to find areas that are out of the wind but if you don’t find a location like this you should use very loud, high-pitched box calls and glass/aluminum friction calls that can be heard even in windy situations. We advise you to attempt setting up and calling in an upwind position of where you think that there might be some birds so that when you make the sound, it will go downwind to them.

We advise you not to attempt shooting a strutting gobbler. If you have the possibility, wait for the moment when the gobbler will come out of the strut and extend his neck. If this won’t happen you should give him 1-2 “clucks” which in most cases is enough for the turkey to come out of strut and raise his head in a curious way to see who is there. When the bird extends his neck, a shotgun pattern is most efficient in this situation.

One of the most overlooked aspects regarding wild turkey hunting is patience because not many hunters have the ability to sit still and wait out a turkey. When you can’t stand anymore in the same position and you consider that is time to move to a different location, try standing there for another 15 minutes, you never know what might happen.

A valuable piece of advice: when you observe a hunter that is approaching you, never make any turkey sounds or move. What you must do is call out his name ( if you know it ) or just say “hello”. The voice of a human will safely alert the incoming hunter that other hunters are in that area.

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