Turkey Hunting Tips - by TR Michels

1. Spend extra time and effort scouting turkeys before the season. Do not rely on just one tom or flock to hunt, have backup birds to work.

2. Pattern the birds. Know where they roost, feed and strut, and the travel routes they use, so you know where to find them on a regular basis.

3. "Put a tom to bed" on the roost the night before the hunt. Then setup before daylight in an area where you have patterned the birds.

4. Toms roosted with hens often refuse to answer a call. When this happens scatter the birds off the roost in the evening. The birds will usually roost separately and be more likely to respond to calls the next morning.

5. Take precautions to conceal yourself while hunting. Use vegetation, terrain, shadow and natural or artificial blinds to keep birds from seeing you or any movement you make.

6. Use appropriate color and pattern camouflage on yourself and all hunting equipment, turkeys see color. Do not wear red, white or blue, you may be mistaken for a turkey.

7. Choose an open setup site where birds can be seen at a comfortable shooting distance. Place your decoys close so that when a tom hangs up beyond the decoys it may still be in range.

8. Use soft tree yelps when calling to roosted birds. Use loud, aggressive calls as a last resort. If you are unsure that a tom is still roosted use a crow, owl or Pileated woodpecker call to get a "shock gobble" response.

9. Use loud, high pitched calls to attract far away birds, softer calls as the birds get close. When the birds are out of sight use hand operated calls, close up birds should be worked with mouth calls.

10. Use a gobble sparingly when you are hunting turkeys. Other hunters may begin a stalk thinking you are a real bird

11. Decoys can be used to attract the birds and provide the needed visual stimulus to bring them in close. Decoys can also be used to distract the attention of the bird from you, and give you an opportunity to shoot.

12. Use a jake decoy to position the tom in a "shooting lane" for a clear shot. Dominant toms often attack a jake before approaching the hens.

13. When you can see that a bird is moving away from you in a predictable direction move quickly around the bird in a wide arc. Then, setup, change to a different call, or use a different calling style, and wait for the bird to come in.

14. When a tom responds, but hangs up, move away from it and keep calling so it thinks it is losing you. Then, stop calling and move back toward the bird. It may come running toward you believing that have you left.

15. When a tom repeatedly moves in and moves away, wait until it moves away, then call and quietly run 40 to 50 yards toward it, stop and wait. The bird may be approaching by the time you stop.

16. Pattern your gun with different loads to determine which ones are effective to thirty-five yards. Check the point of impact of each load at different distances, your gun may shoot high or low with different loads.