If you had a mentor...

[tree_ghost]

This was the best advice I got early on

"When you were in high school which girls drove you the craziest, the fast easy ones or the shy hard to get types?....."

 

[Stumpsitter]

If you ain't learning something every time you step in the turkey woods, then your back'n up.

 

[Bucks & Beards]

...or someone who helped you learn to turkey hunt, what guidance do you recall to this very day?

For me, "Son...you call too much and you call too loud."

"You can't say he's your's till you've got both hands around his neck!" - My uncle Fred

 

[woodsman04]

Don't scare them and you got a chance

 

[Spurhunter]

"Learn what drumming sounds like."

I don't hear well anyway and my ears don't pick up that frequency. Too many times I've been hunting with someone else and they'll whisper "I hear a turkey drumming". Soon after we'll see him, but I never hear him. Good ears are a blessing in turkey hunting.

 

[tnanh]

"Just spread all your turkey calls out and start playing with them and if he hears you he's gonna come." He always hunted where there were a lot of turkeys and not many hunters. He still tells me this even though he is too old to hunt anymore. Once I learned in hunting and fishing do the opposite of a lot of stuff he told me I started killing a bird every now and then and catching a lot more fish.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Get as tight as you can to him before making the first call.

That right there is #1, IMO.

 

[Gravey]

I didn't start until in college when I saw one while deer hunting and didn't really have a mentor per se. Peeked my interest so me and tndeer's own Coker headed to my great grandparents land. We ended up roosting one and got in early the next morning. He gobbled and flew down then Coker called him in and I killed him. From then on I've been hooked. Somebody told me patience kills turkeys and that's what I tell people. Hunting a 40 acre cattle farm years ago helped me with that since I couldn't roam far. I also think over calling is a mistake many make.

 

[deerfever]

Patience and set up is key!

 

[Harold Money jr]

When moving keep land in between you and the bird. They can see through brush and leaves, they can't see through dirt. That's what learned and pass it on.

 

[clwg97]

If you had him fired up on the limb and he has flown down, and you think you want to call, wait. if you again think you want to call, wait some more. On the third time you think you may want to call go ahead and scratch some leaves he will most likely gobble. Don't move anything but your eyes and listen for him. He will be there soon. Now soon may be 15 minutes or 5 hours. But he will get there eventually.

 

[th88]

"You didn't hear a thing"

 

[deerfever]

th88 that is a wise mentor! I have not heard a bird in 40 years now while turkey hunting. Lol , great advice.

 

[timberjack86]

I went one time with a buddy of my Grandpa's, he said this is how's it done. Find some turkeys build a big blind preferably outta cedars and sit tight calling once every 15 minutes. I have killed a few with that method minus the blind

 

[CBU93]

If you like to crappie fish in the spring, don't start turkey hunting.

 

[dgolden]

762hunter has taught me a ton of things. Don't call too much, don't forget to hit record when you're on camera duty, and "use my gun it shoots further" lol

 

[fairchaser]

Find a comfortable spot in the woods where turkeys live, Sit and listen before you do anything. Take a nap if necessary. Once you hear turkeys make your plan. Learn what the turkeys want. Make him curious. He knows you're there. If a pretty girl walks into a large room full of people, every guy in the room knows it. Learn his habits to know where he's going and why. Be there when he gets there. Position yourself so he has to be exposed before he sees you. Know your equipment. Don't miss.

 

[Andy S.]

Protect your ears throughout life and listen, always. Listen for that very faint tail end of a gobble in the distance. I am always listening and cannot stand for any interruptions, not even my own breathing to hinder my ability to listen in the turkey woods.

 

[RobDooley]

Learn to be still

 

[Hunt 365]

...or someone who helped you learn to turkey hunt, what guidance do you recall to this very day?

For me, "Son...you call too much and you call too loud."

He can see you way before you can see him. Sit down and wait a while. Then wait 5 more minutes