Tryin To Talk Turkey

Hoping I could ask a few questions about turkey from the forum. I'm totally new to turkey hunting and a friend (new too) and I were looking to try our hand this spring, going after OTC turkey in New Mexico. I've done some reading but it seems there's more than one way to go about it. I'm not too interested in the buying blinds and decoys and sitting shin-dig. I did run across an article of spot and stock hunting for turkey out west that looked right up my alley (unfortunately I can't seem to find it again).

I guess my questions are this:
1. Is spot and stalk for turkey in New Mexico totally crazy?
2. Should I pick up a few calls to bring in birds when we get close?
3. Any recommendation on call type? i.e. slate/box/diaphragm/locator (also what brand would you recommend)
diaphragm calls seem appealing due to their small size, any hope of being decant as a beginner?

Thanks for any advise. I'm sure I left out something, I'm all ears.

1) Look for National Wild Turkey Chapter near you. May be one, may not. If is, email an officer and they can give specific info for your area. Two, seek out the F&G bio for your area. That said, the WA and MO turkey seasons span the "rut" so I use a call to locate. Once in a while will notice a turkey though if is windy or thick underbrush then hard to spot without a gobble. The crow call can sometimes get a gobbler to call even if a hen call does not.
2) Calling is very important for gobblers that are not pressured. You can call one into your lap. If lots of hunting pressure then gobblers get smart and will respond to calls by silently, slowly walking up to you or they might ignore you. Hunting gobblers that have not been pressured is amazing. The box call is easiest to use and is just about the best option in "big country" that has wide expanses. The "slate" or pot call is good but takes a bit more skill. The "mouth" call is fantastic for close-in calling with soft calling sounds for the last 100 feet or so as wait for gobbler to get in shotgun range since can use without moving your hands so can hold the shotgun. Youtube has great videos to learn to use the box, slate and mouth style calls. So, to recap, usually you do not stalk a gobbler but instead locate with a call or just set up partially hidden by tree trunk, bush, a bit of camo netting to sit behind or pop-up blind. I wear a camo net head covering if not inside a blind. I try to get within 200 yards then set up. A turkey can see about 270 degrees and eyes move independently so if you move they will notice even if are partially facing away from you as you reach for the shotgun or work the box or slate call. Gobblers sometimes gobble and you then look to your right and there he is 10 yards away. I will sometimes wait 15 minutes after making my "last call" before move. Do not call every 30 seconds, etc. Call, wait, call, etc. I have made an almost inaudible hen sound on a windless morning and had one or more gobblers immediately gobble 50 or more yards away. My favorite situation is having two gobblers heading in "hot" from two directions pissing each other off while I make soft purrs and putts and clucks. A gobbler may take 30 minutes to move 100 yards while gobbling and might take 3 minutes. Do not call unless are set up ready to shoot. In MO we would "roost" gobblers by making a crow call at sunset then return to set up 100 yards from the roosting trees at sun break. I once was deer hunting whitetails in MO in a tree blind at eade of cornfield in November and just at first light a pair of gobblers flew down from a limb 30 feet above me. My walking up with headlamp on, climbing a creaky ladder and then sitting in same tree in the cold did not bother them until first light and I had no idea they were in the tree...I was looking for movement below so as they flapped their wings I though a helicopter was landing on my head. I have unexpectedly flushed quail, pheasant and grouse but nothing was a sound as those wing flaps out of nowhere.

3. I carry all three styles you mention. I got a turkey vest that has a cushion to sit on. The vest has pockets for calls, ammo, gps, candy bar, etc. A "big" box call is more awkward to carry but usually provides loudest sound that carries the furthest. The slate call has a higher pitch of call that can be "louder". The mouth call is for quieter, close-in work and can make call sounds much more robust and varied than a box call or slate. I prefer the mini-dome style of mouth call but just my preference. One of my brothers never got comfortable using a mouth call and the other likes the flat style mouth calls so they are not that expensive so get a few and see what works. May take a few minutes to get a sound from the mouth call but say "pluck, pluck, pluck" in bursts of air from deep in belly and should get a sound quickly. Then can shift your jaw and tongue to get more sounds. Do not worry what the sounds are just so you get sounds. You eventually will make a "turkey" sound and can then repeat. Can use a cupped hand near mouth to make it sound like more than one turkey spread out near you. You can combine the box call and mouth call to make it sound like lots of different hens waiting on the gobbler. There is a gobbler call that can be effective but I avoid on public lands as worry a hunter with cataracts might open up in my direction. There is also a wingbone call but I only use it for fall seasons which is more like "pattern and set up an ambush the next day" type of hunting. Spring hunting to me is more like archery hunting elk in the rut where you locate a bugle/gobble then close the distance and set up to call in the bull/gobbler the last 100 or 200 yards.

You can call em up or crawl em up, whatever works. Honestly, though, turkey hunting is a grand game. Don’t cheapen the experience by trying to stalk them. The fun and challenge of turkey hunting is having a conversation with the Tom.

When I hunt restricted access land, I will use decoys that include jakes and/or toms, but on heavily hunted public lands I have decided that only hen decoys will be used. And when I set up the decoys, I make certain that there is a long line of sight beyond the decoys (either sex) to make sure someone isn't going to shoot my decoy with me as a backstop for a load of pellets (and some states don't limit turkey hunting to shotgun/archery gear, but allow long rifle use) so I'm talking two hundred yards or more of clear view.

That said, in a Kansas long turkey season, I have observed extreme call shyness and decoy avoidance develop as the season progresses. Too many of their buddies have gone home in trucks by listening to seductive hen talk over there along the cut corn field edge. So I have to turn to patterning and ambush, or as a last resort getting my ninja on and pulling off a miracle sneak.

On public land, I know that ninja sneaking is increasing the opportunity for a hunter safety failure to occur, if some knucklehead were to shoot at something moving in the underbrush. So I never call or make any turkey like noises (scratching/feeding, wing beating, fighting commotions) while moving. And you can be sure that I make absolutely certain that the "tom" at full strut is indeed a live bird, and not an ultra realistic decoy, with movable fan, and even a movable base to simulate natural movement.

I have a box call on me, but I feel much more confident with a slate in my hand. I think my mouth calling is pretty good, my public land strutters are not so certain about that.

Much like whitetail deer, turkeys will occupy an amazing range of terrain. My birds are agriculturally focused river bottom roosting creatures. I imagine New Mexico birds would be lost at first as how to thrive in such a different environment, but being turkeys, would adapt and procreate and eventually thrive.

I wish you many starlit mornings walking in to turkey territory, to be a witness to all of nature waking to the new dawn. And I hope you get to experiance awesome displays of turkey behavior as they once again establish their pecking order, spread out to feed, and maybe a tom or two will feel amorous enough to come over to where you are laying in wait to check out that cute sounding hen who is sounding so hot and ready.

PS: I have taken my share of turkeys home with me. As much as I have tried to make it happen like you see on the 30 minute infomercials for someone's turkeys calls, it is a rare day when we have taken a turkey within minutes of fly down. I will set up close to a roost, only to have the lead hen pull the flock in another direction. Now its decision time......be patient, or pull stakes and reset?

Eventually the hens will drift away from the boys to go lay their next egg, and around mid morning he gets to feeling quite lonely. That might be the moment when you score your first bird.

I use spot and stalk in NE and love it. I've found that they love a box call out there(not sure about NM). Start practicing with a mouth call. I carry a box, slate, and mouth calls. A regular ol' Lynch Fool Proof one sided box call is all you need.

Heck, I've been wanting to hunt NM, I'll just come out there and show you if you have the birds. Lol

I have hunted unit 10 in NM many times and usually killed my bird first morning. Those birds are nuts for the old Lynch box call and they will run a mile in a couple of minutes. I use a mouth call for the last little strut. Have fun.

Wow! Thanks for the wealth of info guys. I think I'll start with contacting the local NWTF chapter then look maybe picking up a box call and a mouth call? I guess I should clarify the method of the spot and stalk article...I think it was in west texas, they would locate turkeys in the canyon bottoms, sneak down, get close and use a call to bring them with in range.

2TRKYS, what was your method when you were hunting in Nebraska?

Again, Thanks for the info y'all!

CuttersAndRakers said:

Wow! Thanks for the wealth of info guys. I think I'll start with contacting the local NWTF chapter then look maybe picking up a box call and a mouth call? I guess I should clarify the method of the spot and stalk article...I think it was in west texas, they would locate turkeys in the canyon bottoms, sneak down, get close and use a call to bring them with in range.

2TRKYS, what was your method when you were hunting in Nebraska?

Again, Thanks for the info y'all!

Click to expand...

I would hunt them off the roost at first light like normal. If I killed one or not(in States where legal) I would spot and stalk after they flew down. I would spot them and try to get close to call them in. Works pretty well.

I shore enuf wouldn't recommend spot and stalk on public land........ever. The decoys today are so very realistic you might mistake one for a bird and either interrupt a hunters hunt or worse yet fire an errant shot and hurt someone or worse. The story of a calling episode with a bird that could take hours or days is much more enjoyable to share with friend. Learning the vocabulary of the birds and habits and exercising good woodsman-ship are the 3 basics you need to learn. You'll make mistakes I hope. That's how you learn. It is a fine sport to acquire the ability to exercise patience. Patience kills gobblers. Today there is so much information available to arm yourself with related to the do's and don't's, why not take a some initiative and learn about the bird. He's worth it.

Get the CDs from http://lovettwilliams.com so you're learning to sound like a real turkey. Diaphragms are great because you can learn to use one while driving. Once you think you sound good, start recording yourself and playing it back. Compare that to the turkeys on the CDs. Preston Pittman and Scott Ellis have some good instructional videos on youtube.

I wouldn't bother with a decoy. If you set up where the turkey has to come within range of your position to see the source of the sound, then it doesn't matter if there is a decoy or not.

It is much easier to get some help from an experienced turkey hunter if you have turkeys located.