Are You Ready For Turkey Hunting Season?

© By Othmar Vohringer

All winter long we have been sitting indoors waiting for the spring turkey hunting season. Now it is almost here and the question is; Are we ready? Here are a few tips to prepare for turkey hunting.

Getting in physical shape

There is no doubt that most of us gained a few pounds during the winter months and only moved when we had too. Turkey hunting is a very active undertaking that often involves long hikes, even short sprints to get ahead of a turkey flock. Getting back into shape by exercising regularly is important. For me this means going hiking around our home and it usually starts right around after Christmas. That is also the time when I start scouting for turkeys and do some shed antler hunting. Being in good physical shape will go a long way to make the hunting season more enjoyable and getting to places where other hunters don’t go, or can’t go. A few years ago a hunting buddy and I had to hike a fairly steep hillside to get away from the other hunters and to where they turkeys had moved to evade hunting pressure. Having had a good regime of physical training for weeks before the hunting season I had no problems climbing that steep hill side. For my hunting partner it was a different story. More than ones we had to stop in order for him to catch his breath again. When we finally reached the top of the hill the turkeys had moved off to the next ridge, this meant another long hike. We finally caught up to them but my partner was completely exhausted and ended up with blisters on his feet. In other words; it was not an enjoyable day for him and he stayed in camp the next day to nurse his sore leg muscles and blisters.

Practice your turkey calling

The way I look at it turkey calling is like playing a musical instrument. You only can maintain the required quality of calling by regularly practicing. As the spring turkey season approaches I make a point of making every day at least a half hour time to practice with all my calls. You will be surprised how fast you lose good calling form when the calls stay boxed up from one to the next season. This is also the time when I check all my calls for flaws, wear and tear. There is nothing worse than taking a call on a hunt and then realizing it needs to be tuned or fixed. Often times the difference of getting a big mature gobbler is the difference of sounding like a turkey, or just like almost a turkey. A mature tom that has survived a few hunting seasons can tell the difference, it’s what kept him alive for so long.

Getting you and your gun into shooting shape

Spending sufficient time on the shooting range to pattern your shotgun will pay off when the time of truth comes. Make sure your gun is patterned well and that you practice shooting in various situations you would encounter in the turkey woods. DetailingYour Turkey Shotgun is an article I wrote for the Western Sportsman Magazine. This article explains in detail how to turn any shotgun into a gobbler harvester and provides information of a useful practicing schedule to shoot like a turkey hunter.

Using A Push-Button Call To Entice A Gobbler To Take The Last Few Steps

© By Othmar Vohringer

A mouth diaphragm turkey call is a great way to get a gobbler to take the last few steps to come within shooting range. However, if you are like me, suffering from a rare allergy to Latex that prevents you from keeping a diaphragm call for a extended time in your mouth, or simply have not the time to learn to use such calls, here is a trick that use with great success.

Mount a push-button call onto your shotgun barrel. With a few minor modifications this is a great way to call to a tom with the gun shouldered and ready to shoot. Attach a string, about two to three feet long, to the push beg of the call. Next glue a strip of Velcro® around the body of the call with a few inches standing free on either side to wrap around the shotgun barrel. That is all that is needed.

When you arrive at your setup and get ready to hunt simply fasten the push-button call onto the shotgun barrel. Make sure you run the Velcro strip between barrel and rib, not over the rib (see image). When the turkey approaches your setup hold the string between two fingers of the hand that supports the fore end (forestock) of the gun and start calling using the string. This lets you call without any noticeable movement while having the gun at the ready. It takes a bit of practise using a push button call in reverse, instead of pushing the button you pulling it, but you very soon will get the hang of it.

Push-button calls are ideal for close in calling, they produce perfect soft yelps, clucks and purrs. Mounted onto your shotgun they a deadly. Try it out and let me know how it worked for you.

Turkey Calls

Turkeys are, like most birds, very vocal creatures. Like humans use their language to communicate with each other so do turkeys. They make a variety of sounds to relate messages to each other or “show” emotions. A smart turkey hunter knows what these sounds are and their meaning.

To become a successful turkey hunter it is imperative to learn how to imitate turkey calls on a turkey call. The most common turkey calls that every hunter should use are:



Friction Calls:
These calls are easy to learn even for a beginner and produce an authentic turkey sound.

Friction calls come in different models. The slate call is a wooden or plastic dish covered with slate, glass or aluminum. The sound is produced with a stick, called striker. Strikers are made of wood, plastic or fiberglass.

Another friction call that works very well and should be in every turkey hunters gadget box is the paddle box cal. This is the father of all turkey calls. The paddle box is made of wood. A hollow box, the sound chamber and attached at the open end is the paddle. By moving the paddle over the lips of the box the sound is produced.

There are more friction calls but the slate and box calls are the simplest and most effective to use and learn.

Mouth diaphragms:

These calls are placed in the mouth; exhaling air trough the mouth produces the sound. These calls are extremely difficult to learn. The positive side of these calls is that they free up the hands and no movement is needed to produce the sound. The mouth diaphragms are especially good for close work as an incoming turkey looks for movement.

Below I listed most of the common sounds a turkey makes.

Peeping
A turkey poult makes its first sound before it hatches.

Hatching Yelp
The hen answers the poults peeping with the Hatching Yelp. This helps bond the hen and the chicks together and helps the hen recognize each of her chicks.

Predator Alarm
When a predator is flying over or nearby the nest, the hen will utter a guttural, segmented call to warn the poults who will then duck under the hens body.

Plain Yelp
The yelp is a multi-purpose, rhythmic, 3 to 15 note series used to locate other turkeys during the day. The turkey yelp does follow a certain cadence but if you listen to wild turkeys call, they often have skips and half-beats in their series of calls and the number of yelps varies tremendously. Yelping also varies in volume and intensity. Some series of yelps stay about the same volume throughout while others start low, rise in volume and then tail off towards the end. Try and vary your yelping and you'll have much more success calling turkeys.

The yelp is sometimes referred to as the "love call' of the hen and is the one call every hunter should master. This call is used by both hens and gobblers. The gobbler yelp is slower and more deep throated than the hen.

Lost Yelp
A long series of yelps (10 to 20+) used by turkeys when they are lost and trying to call other turkeys to them. This can be used at random in the spring to attract long distance gobblers.

Tree Yelp
The tree yelp is a softer, shorter version of the standard yelp. Turkeys of both sexes tree yelp each morning. This call lets the other birds know that all is well after they wake up in the morning.

Cluck
A soft to loud staccato call used to locate and communicate with other turkeys. It basically is saying "I am here, where are you?". This call is used by both hens and gobblers. Turkeys cluck all of the time and it is by far their most used call.

Cutt
Cutting is a fast irregular series of clucks used by lost or lonely hens who are searching for other turkeys. It is an especially effective call for the hunter in the spring because hens use cutting to announce to gobblers they are ready to mate. They are usually loud and aggressive and last anywhere from 5 to 15 seconds in duration.

Cackle
This is a call most often used by hens when flying up or down from their roosts. It is a 5 to 20+ note call that is also used when flying over clear openings, water ,etc. A cackle is comprised of fast, irregular clucks and yelps. It is followed up with more subtle clucks when the turkey hits the ground. This call varies quite a bit and I've included several samples of fly down cackles.

Purr
A purr is a soft, fluttering or trilling call that is used by both hens and gobblers. It has several meanings and is most commonly thought of as a call used to communicate contentment and relaxation when the flock is together. It is also used by birds while they are feeding and in this case it is more of a "spacing" call where the birds purr to tell the other birds "I'm feeding here, give me some room." This is a very good call to coax the gobbler in the last few yards. There is often a cluck before and sometimes after a purr.

Aggravated or Fighting Purr
This is the loud aggressive purr emitted by gobblers and jakes as they posture to fight for dominance and the right to breed. Hens will also purr aggressively when they are upset and looking for a fight.

Get a couple of push-pull turkey calls and give the fighting purrs a try this spring. Turkeys love a good fight and you'll sometimes be stampeded by a group running up to get in on the fun. It is also a great call for the fall since turkeys are very actively fighting and establishing pecking orders during this season.

Gobble
Toms gobble for two main reasons - 1) To attract hens and 2) to proclaim their dominance over subordinate males. They will, however, shock gobble to just about any loud noise. The typical gobble lasts about 2-3 seconds. Most gobblers can control the intensity of their gobbling and generally older toms will have much deeper, full-throated gobbles. But don't let the gobbling fool you. Hens have been known to gobble and have a try at strutting also.

Spitting and Drumming
A two note pffffft, duuuuuuuummmmmm vocalization forced from a gobblers chest. He drums for the same reason he gobbles---to attract hens. He can drum softly or loudly depending on the location of the hens. On clear, calm days, drumming can be heard as far away as 100 yards. Simulating spitting and drumming is a very effective way to call in turkeys.

Since it is such a low-pitched sound it is very difficult to hear and/or record this sound. Once you've heard it though, you'll never forget it and I've often located turkeys but stopping and listening very carefully for the Spit 'n Drum.

Putt
The putt is a loud, sharp alarm call used when a turkey senses danger or when they see something that seems out of place. Essentially, it is a very loud cluck but with a different meaning. This is one you don't want to hear since it usually means you've been spotted and that the turkey is getting out of there in a hurry.

Kee-Kee
This is the 3-note whistle made by young turkeys when they are lost. It's a very good call for the fall to call in scattered turkeys. I've always found it interesting they call it a kee-kee when a more appropriate name would be kee-kee-kee.

Kee-Kee Run
This is the lost call of the young consisting of several whistles followed by 2 or three yelps like this kee-kee-kee-yelp-yelp. Use this in the spring sporadically with your other yelping. Occasionally, a jake will respond to the call with yelping of his own.

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