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Spring Wild Turkey Hunting is one of the greatest challenges available to the hunter today. These wary birds have eyesight that is 3 to 4 times that of a human and hearing that is almost as great. It has been said that if the Wild Turkey had the sense of smell that the Whitetail does no hunter would ever kill one.
If you are going to hunt trophy spring gobblers there are many things to take into consideration before stepping foot in the field.
Physical conditioning:
The hunt starts with you. Wild turkey hunting can be physically demanding. Often there is a great deal of walking and sometimes even running when you are trying to outflank a gobbler that is on the move. Also there will be long periods of standing, kneeling, leaning or sitting when you must be entirely motionless. All of this requires a modest amount of physical conditioning to achieve.
You can start by walking or jogging as an exercise regime at least a couple of weeks before the hunt. If you are out of shape anything you can do to remedy this is helpful and will make your hunts much more enjoyable.
Practice your calling:
A Wild Turkey’s hearing is almost as good as their eyesight. They can recognize each other from their calls, can tell a male from a female by voice and can hear well at great distances. When you are calling wild turkey you had better have your ducks in a row (ha-ha).
The best teacher for calling is the video tape. This is because you not only can hear what the calls are supposed to sound like but you can also see how the sound is achieved on each type of call. When trying to learn on a slate call if you can’t see the circles that the teacher is drawing on the slate to make the sound then you will have a hard time imitating the sound. The same is true of mouth calls because with a video you can see the expression on the face of the caller and get an idea of what is going on in the callers mouth to get the proper sound.
Audio tapes are good to practice with after you know how the sounds are produced on the call you are using.
There are many kinds of Wild Turkey calls that will produce the sounds needed to bring in a Gobbler. My favorite is the mouth call for the simple reason that it is an almost motionless call. You don’t have to make any movement to produce the sound. You can use a mouth call even when a Wild Turkey is looking right at you.
The mouth call is rather difficult to learn and takes a good amount of practice to master but is well worth the effort.
The easiest call to learn is the box call. There are several different kind of box call and they will all produce good sound when used properly. Some can even be mounted on your gun and operated by a string making them almost motionless as well.
Slate calls are very popular because they produce good sound and are also easy to learn and master. They also can be used in a low motion manner by hiding them behind you leg or a tree branch. There are many kinds of slate calls that produce many different tones. Try a few to see which ones work best for your situation.
Shooting Accuracy:
Wild Turkey hunting is difficult under the best conditions and that is seldom the case so when you do get a quality shot at that big Tom Gobbler you don’t want any screw-ups. It is very important that you know the abilities and limitations of the weapon you are using.
When bow hunting you must know the proper shot placement and be able to consistently make the shot. Know what your personal bow range is. If you are only accurate up to 15 yards don’t take a 30 yard shot. It is very important to break the back of the turkey if possible. If you don’t have this shot presented to you then the only other viable shot is into the vitals without going through a lot of non-vitals. A clean kill is always the desired result.
When shotgun hunting you should always pattern your gun with the choke and load you will be hunting with. You can buy turkey targets at most hunting supply stores and you should pattern your gun by shooting at these targets at different distances. This will help you learn the range in which you are able to make a clean kill. In shotgun hunting you should always be aiming for the head and neck. This is far superior to shooting the body because of the density of the wild turkey’s feathers and the relatively small vitals area.
Full shotgun chokes are always desired to put as much of the load as possible to the target area. You can even buy super full turkey chokes for most shotguns. I use a shell that is specifically made for turkey hunting. These shells will work well with the full and super full chokes and deliver good knock down power.
Gear Needed:
One thing that is necessary when turkey hunting is full and complete camouflage. You will need: a mask or head net, gloves, neck gaiter or bandana, long sleeved shirt or jacket, pants and also brown or dark green socks. The only part of your body that you want uncovered is your eyes and you will want to have a camo cap with a brim that you can lower to cover them also. Any part of you that is not in camo increases your chance of being made by the turkey’s super sharp eyesight. If the Gobbler does make you out he will be gone in a flash and there goes your hunt.
Another thing you will want to have is some kind of padding for when you are on stand. There are often long periods of sitting or kneeling on rocky and uneven ground or leaning against a gnarled tree trunk. It will be very uncomfortable unless you are prepared. I have found that if you tie two camo pads around your waist you can then sit with one under your butt and one flipped up for you back as you lean against a tree.
If you like to kneel you can sew pockets into the inside of your hunting pants and slide some pads into the pockets so that is is always there when you need it.
This is by no means a complete list of hunting preparations but it may help to get you off on the right foot. Please read the article on turkey hunting safety. It might just save your life.
Jeff Seley
Webmaster www.SmartHunter.com
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