Going to the next level

[shaman]

I am looking at my 24th gobbler season this year. I am a passable caller. I can call a bird in under good conditions. In the past 5 years, any day I go out I either see a turkey or I'm within shooting range of one. Now that I have my own place, I can hunt a full week plus 3 weekends.

What's next? What would be a good next step between now and April to get my turkey hunting skills up a notch or two?

[shaman]

I was afraid you were going say something like that. It's been 24 years, but I dint say they were all good years. Oh well (sigh!)

Jedi mind skills, huh? You mean like sit out in the woods with a claw hammer and a hand full of cracked corn and will them in?

Here, turkey, turkey, turkey!


Ooops. I checked. KY won't allow the cracked corn. I guess I'll just have to go with just a hammer. Do I want a claw or a ball peen hammer? Does Quaker Boy offer a logoed camo version? If so, can I be part of the field staff?

[proturkeyhntr]

Ok I'll bite...I would say to practice your calling, Practice calls you dont think you are as strong at producing. Whether it be the cluck and purr or the fly down cackle..etc. As Paul said also learn this new place like the back of your hand. Another neat idea is possibly doing some videoing, It can add another dimension.....

scott

[shaman]

DaddyPaul: Great! Tell QB that I'm available for field testing.

Pro: OK. More of the same only slightly different. It's funny, but I seldom see products or services addressed to the journeyman turkey hunter. There are really good DVD's and CD's and such for the beginning turkey hunter. I've seen a couple of books on advanced techniques, but they usually are about finding turkeys, or turkey vs weather. I have turkeys already. The blank spots in my play book are:

1) What am I seeing when I see a change in flock behavior throughout the season? How do I respond?
2) How does what I see in pre-season scouting relate to my hunting during season?
3) I've got Gobbler X out on Knob Y. How do I best hunt him?

The few times I've managed to hook up with experienced turkey hunters have helped tremendously. However, there are few teachers out there. I've tried guides, but they are usually geared towards helping a guy get a turkey on their familiar ground, not mine. And most guides are not great at passing on their techniques.

One thing that attracted me to this sport was that it is so inscrutable that after 20 years, you can still be a novice. However, I'd like to think that there is some way to progress.

Deer hunting has been different for me. I can walk onto a piece of property and size up a herd in a day's scouting, plan an attack and walk off the field with venison pretty much at will now. My deer hunting is more limited by freezer space than anything else any more.

Turkey? If I am not 100% devoted to killing birds, and willing to do whatever it takes, I'll probably end the season without filling my tag. What's more, so much of what I experience is based on pure luck. Last season, I finally gave up one morning in despair, and sat down at the picnic table at our family campground. About a half-hour later, a gobbler came down the logging road and nearly scared me off my seat. I managed to get down behind a tree trunk and worked him for 45 minutes before he decided a few encroaching hens were more to his liking and walked off.

[proturkeyhntr]

1. The flock changing througout the season...Well that sometimes can mean nothing because a large majority of the birds you or myself or any other turkey hunter will bag will be subordinate gobblers that aren't involved with any flock and have been exiled from the flock...just keep that in mind...

here is your basic flock change throughout the season...In my opinion..

1. pecking orders are established, toms gather their harems of hens

2. gobblers are breeding hens throughout the day and its next to impossible to pull him from those hens. You may want to try challenging the boss hen with some agressive cutting and yelping. She will probably do one of two things, drag the gobbler completely out of the county from you or you might just tick her off and she will coming looking for a fight with the gobbler in tow...

3. hens begin nesting and then on to laying and sitting and leave the gobbler usually soon after fly down. Gobblers are on the move looking for love.....making them vunerable to calls...


this is just a basic breakdown and its sometimes hard to peg what part of the breeding cycle the birds are in when the season starts, it would take being in the woods alot and seeing what the birds are doing. Just remember these are dominate birds that have a harem of hens that are dictating most of their actions.....Your best bet is to find the satellite gobblers(subordintate) there always looking for love...

Pre-season scouting will hopefully put you in areas where there are birds...and hopefully learning the terrain will aid in your set ups. Also it will possibly help you pattern the birds and their rountines.... Where are they going after fly down, mid day, and roosting areas. But dont let your pre season scouting be to early, as in your seeing fall flocks and when the spring season arrives those birds are gone...(just a thought)

As for gobbler x on knob y too many variables to name, I would just start with the basics, locate him on the roost, slip to around 100 yds of him on the roost, either even with him or slightly above him,(if the knob has some sort of elevation) Then take his temperature and see what he wants to hear.....

In addition just read more into the biology of a wild turkey it will help to learn more about them in general...

hope this helps....

scott

[proturkeyhntr]

Is that better???

scott

[shaman]

Sorry, the knot came untied on the string going into the tin can. I haven't had internet access for two days here-- the green light just came back on.

Yes, I suppose it is. Thanks for the response. It sounds good, here at 12 F, with a couple inches of snow on the ground. I'll let you know after Opening Week.

:)

Ya know, as I sort myself out for the start of season, I suppose what's really needed is getting to the next level emotionally instead of tactically. Turkey hunting is a tremendous challenge.

It used to be that I would go to pray at the pegboard altar each Winter, looking for inspiration. Somewhere in each good sporting goods store is that great wellspring of spiritual redemption, the pegboard with the turkey calls.
Something new and exciting would always catch my eye, and give me the confidence to face the season ahead. Granted, it was a false confidence, but I would not fully give into the despair until after the end of the season.

I had both sons out today at Bass Pro. We met a work buddy of mine who's just getting started, and I pointed him to the right shotgun and the right calls, and then we replenished our own stash of calls and went home. The new puppy ate a bunch of mouth calls the other day. BTW: we bought all Quaker Boy calls.

Anyhow, I was on my way home with the kids, and I popped a new call in and realized that I'm pretty much in the groove for Spring already. What's starting to eat on me is that here I am, a turkey hunter of 24 years, I've got two young turkey hunters to mentor, and I still think of myself as a beginner.

The yearly fix at the great pegboard altar in the Turkey Section just ain't cutting it any more. This is a trial of the soul.

[proturkeyhntr]

Hey there buddy, just keep hammering away. Learn as much biologically about the birds and their flock behavior as you possibly can. Read any books you can on the birds not just turkey hunting magazine articles. There are several good books out there, by authors such as Lovett williams,Ray Eye..etc. Just do a quick google search. Once you understand their behavior you will be able to apply that knowledge to hunting situations...The rest will come with just trial and error. Just remember a good and sucessful turkey hunter will find the gobbler that will respond and come to a call. Its that simple. Know where there are multiple gobblers to hunt and you will reap the benefits. One of them is bound to be call receptive.....

scott

[PHammond91]

Practice your stalkin cause every year their rotation changes so you may have to sneak up to get a good shot. And don't forget they get new birds in the flock every year too so they might get hung up on more hens.

Good Luck

[proturkeyhntr]

Yeah good luck sneaking up on a turkey...LOL!!! What exactly is a rotation??????????? A spring flock usually consists of either a gobbler and his hens, a flock of jakes, or sometimes two of three mature brothers being flocked together...What exactly do you mean??? New birds in the flock every year???? More new hens???

scott

[BuckNBeard Hunter]

I've hunted in Missouri all my life and I've never heard of a rotation??????? And where do the new hens come from???????
I guess I don't know much about hunting after all.

[shaman]

This rotation thing is a new one on me too.

I'll say one thing: we've been having a lot of snow and cold weather these past few weeks in the Ohio River Valley. I've been really starting to dread what I'm going to find when I get back down to the turkeys this weekend and start my scouting. They seem to weather snow and cold up to a point. However, we also had a rather severe ice storm in the middle of it all. That's a deadly combination for turkeys, because it means they can't peck through the ice to get to food. I've been praying for them the past few days. I guess we'll see. The last time we had a bad ice storm, the grouse hunters told me they saw quite a few turkey carcasses late in the season.

I did take a step down the path last weekend to heading for the next level. I found a site that sells the material for making your own calls, and I got enough material for making a matched set of 3 scratch pots: a glass, an aluminum, and a slate over glass. I'll let y'all know how it turns out.

[shaman]

They're done. I got the fixings for three scratchpots, and got everything finished off over the weekend. I took them outside Sunday morning at first light and tried them out. No turkeys were around, but I had the crows, the jays, and the red shouldered hawks all honoring the calls and coming to pay me a visit.

Here's the rest of the story:

Genesis 9:2-4 Ministries-- The Shamanic Signature Series (http://blackholecoffeehouse.blogspot.com/2007/03/shamanic-signature-series-custom.html)

[proturkeyhntr]

Nice looking calls. Do you like the sound..


scott

[shaman]

Gosh yes!

I only had a short time to play with the surfaces before I glued them in. I realized the seating of the surface to the pot made huge difference, so I was worried that I might not get it right. However, the epoxy did an excellent job of mating them, producing a rich tone.

Five scratchers on three pots make for 15 possible combinations, but really it's much more since each section of the surface has a different sound. Some combinations that work for me:

Purple Heart on Aluminum -- awesome loud cutting
Hickory on Slate/Glass -- purrs and clucks
Lucite on Glass -- best for ultra-low tree calls.

I can't wait to get these out and try them on live birds.