How many calls to you carry?
- Thread starter mdcrossbow
- Start date
BuzzH
Well-known member
GilaMonster,
I enjoy hunting turkeys.
I found a flock of several hundred a few years ago while deer hunting in NE Wyoming. Pretty smart critters...used a 28 gauge with 3/4 ounce of #6's...maybe this year I'll take a 410.
I called them in with a truck ignition call and a grain bucket rattle.
I enjoy hunting turkeys.
I found a flock of several hundred a few years ago while deer hunting in NE Wyoming. Pretty smart critters...used a 28 gauge with 3/4 ounce of #6's...maybe this year I'll take a 410.
I called them in with a truck ignition call and a grain bucket rattle.
GilaMonster
New member
That's not something a turkey hunter would say... sorry, but shooting a turkey out of the roost is not "TURKEY HUNTING" Bud.... That's turkey killing and not sporting at all. That sort of thing is no different that spotlighting a deer in the headlights as far as I'm concerned...
Anyone ever shot one out of the air? I had an either sex tag in my pocket a couple of years ago during the Fall in North Idaho while I was pheasant hunting. I pushed some brush and out come a few turkeys. I regretted it all afternoon as I hiked around with that big old bird in my vest.
Sorry Gila, it may not be "turkey hunting" to you, but I was hunting and killed a turkey.
Sorry Gila, it may not be "turkey hunting" to you, but I was hunting and killed a turkey.
I have some friends that almost always fill their fall tags by wing shooting them. They kind of just stumble into them in the woods and if they fly overhead they get shot at. Seems as sporting as shooting a pheasant. I've done spot and stalk before and it was a kick, really challenging IMO where I was. If i'm going to call them I maybe take 3 calls.
BuzzH
Well-known member
GilaMonster,
Looks like I hooked a sucker...
Looks like I hooked a sucker...
MarvB
Well-known member
Buzz...nice brace o' birds...and MUCH better on the hat
mdcrossbow
Well-known member
GM, I hunted with a friend in SC for my 1st bird and he told me that is a bird gobbles after 12 he's a dead bird. I ask why and he said because he is on the search after he finished with the hen he found in the morning. We hunted his roosting area and sure enough we had 3 big Tom answer to the call and from over 250 yards out in the swamps and 30 minutes later the 1st 2 to come in were ran off by the Boss. We didn't have to say anything more he strutted right past me at 20 passes.
I also use to hunt birds on the Potomac river and float down hooting and sometimes I would float under a bird and have to go a 100 yards or so down river and get out and try to work the bird. Never had any success on my own. I needed to hunt with someone who knew the score. Now I'm building my collection.
I have talked with some guys that just carry a paddle call a glass and slate pot call and a few mouth calls and other who carry everything but the kitchen sink. The ones who carry everything seem to be advanced Turkey hunters who just like to play with the birds or who realized there is always something that will do the trick if they can just put it together. I've always been of the mind set that lesser is more but maybe not for turkey hunting. I've only killed 2 birds on my own and called in another for my son last year. Next week I'll be hunting a semi guided hunt on the reservation tribal lands in SD with a friend how is a good turkey hunter. I hope that the pot, paddle, scratch and one of the mouth calls will do the trick.
I also use to hunt birds on the Potomac river and float down hooting and sometimes I would float under a bird and have to go a 100 yards or so down river and get out and try to work the bird. Never had any success on my own. I needed to hunt with someone who knew the score. Now I'm building my collection.
I have talked with some guys that just carry a paddle call a glass and slate pot call and a few mouth calls and other who carry everything but the kitchen sink. The ones who carry everything seem to be advanced Turkey hunters who just like to play with the birds or who realized there is always something that will do the trick if they can just put it together. I've always been of the mind set that lesser is more but maybe not for turkey hunting. I've only killed 2 birds on my own and called in another for my son last year. Next week I'll be hunting a semi guided hunt on the reservation tribal lands in SD with a friend how is a good turkey hunter. I hope that the pot, paddle, scratch and one of the mouth calls will do the trick.
GilaMonster
New member
The thing about mouth diaphram calls is that no two sound the same. You can get several that are identical and each one will have a little different pitch to it. The latex might be stretched a little tighter or just the way each one fits into the roof of your mouth although most of us "fit" the call to our individual tastes. You never know what will get one going. A few years ago, I took a guy out that had never gone before. I even loaned him one of my turkey guns. We went out for two days to my favorite spot that I have never seen another human in. I used my favorite call the first day. It sounded good too, but it was one of those days when I never heard a gooble. I never heard anythiing at all. The next morning, we were back in there trying to get one roosted in the dark and right when it started getting light but never got one to answer any of my locator calls either. I knew the birds were in there, but they wouldn't talk. I started using different mouth calls that I had confidence in but never got a reply from a gobbler until I made a mistake and picked out the wrong call. I thought it was one of the calls I had used erlier as it was the same color and had the same looking reeds but it wasn't. This one sounded bad. I mean, really bad, not like any turkey I ever heard. It was low pitched and so raspy it almost sounded like I was trying to spit instead of yelp. Strange thing was, I got a gobbler to answer it immediately from across the canyon. I yelped again and then realized that it wasn't one gobble I heard but several gobblers all gobbling at once. I continued this as they came closer. All of the sudden another one gobbled behind us. This one came in really fast and gobbled every time I yelped on that nasty sounding call. The guy I took with me killed that gobbler in full strutt at about ten feet. As I was shaking his hand, the other gobblers gobbled at us one more time really close, so I yelped with that nasty call again a few times and here they came.. there were five or six gobblers and all came in at one time. The dead bird started flopping around at that same time and the other gobblers almost ran over the top of me trying to see what was going on. I guess they thought the flopping was that other gobbler mating a hen and wanted to check it out. I killed one of those while they were at it. It was one of the coolest times I ever had during a turkey hunt and if I hadn't made a huge mistake and got the "wrong" call", I don't think we would have gotten anything. It also proved that what I thought sounded good wasn't what the gobblers thought sounded good. The call was a "raspy old hen" call. I tried that call many times since then and never again got a gobbler to answer it. Strange, but that's how it works and why so many of us bring so many different calls with us. That doesn't mean that we'll be smart enough or lucky enough to pick the one that'll do the best, but we try.
mdcrossbow
Well-known member
Great story GL Thanks for sharing it. That's what seems to be so great about turkey hunting. When you think you have the games figured out something seems to let you know you don't.
TOM IN TENNESSEE
New member
Thirtyfive yds max while watching them strut in! Anything else is NOT Turkey hunting!!!
mdcrossbow
Well-known member
Tom I can see your point, I shot my rio at 40 yards skirting our set up. It was not as exciting as having a bird struting right in.
