Don’t Do These Turkey Hunting “Didn’ts”

Don’t Do These Turkey Hunting “Didn’ts”

By Gary Parsons

Geesh what a mouth full of a title huh? Hopefully I can make sense of it for you. In the world of turkey hunting we all know that you have to do many things right in order to be successful. So if you shoot a Tom you must of “DID” something or many things right. So what happens when the turkeys are the victors and we are left with tag soup? Chances are you DIDN’T do something correctly. So for this article I want to flip the script and talk about things we “DIDN’T” do that might lead to an unsuccessful turkey season. Okay with that out of the way let’s get on with what you didn’t do.

Didn’t Scout
Read pretty much any turkey hunting article and you are bound to find something about how important it is to scout. This article will be no different, in fact we are going to lead off with scouting. However, we won’t touch too much on it because hopefully by now it is known that if you don’t preseason scout the turkeys you are going to hunt you will instantly lower your odds. Makes sense, if you know where turkeys like to roost, where they like to fly down to, where they feed in the morning, strutting zones, evening feeding areas, etc. you have all of that ammo to use against a wily Tom. Scout early and scout often if you can.

Didn’t Practice Calling
I will be honest I have heard a guy call in a turkey that sounded more like a sick chicken than it did a turkey. The truth is any call can work, but not all calls will work. What am I trying to say? Sometimes novice or poor callers will get lucky and call in a lovesick Tom. However, if you want birds to come into your setup consistently you have to practice your calling and hone your skills. Paying attention on sounding like the real thing is the key and being able to reproduce all of the sounds a turkey makes. The better you are at calling the more beards you will collect.

Didn’t Pattern Your Gun
Back in my early days of turkey hunting I was guilty of this topic. I thought turkey hunting was just grab a shotgun shell with a little more power and load it into my pheasant gun and I was good to go. Well I did just that and to my surprise I somehow found a Tom in front of me at 30 yards the second day of my first year hunting. Done deal, pull the trigger and put a tag on a turkey. Nothing to this sport. You can probably guess what happened next. I put the bead right where the ugly meets the pretty just like I was told, pulled the trigger, and instead of a flopping bird I saw a few ruffled feathers and then the rear end of the Tom moving fast directly away from me.

What happened? That bird should have been pounded with lead. The light bulb finally went on and I decided to see how my gun was shooting. Turns out my pattern was completely off. A few pellets would hit the breast but most of them were falling short and to the right.

Moral of the topic is make sure you pattern your gun every year. If a load doesn’t shoot well from that gun, find a load that does. This is one of the easiest things to prevent if we just take the time to do it.

Didn’t Pack Everything
The most avoidable “didn’t” on the list! Never leave home without going through a checklist of items you know you need. Heck if you have to make a checklist for your checklist. The last thing you want to do is get out to your hunting spot and find out that you left your go to decoy at home, or worse you left your hunting license on the counter. Forgetting is human nature, but it can be avoided by organizing your gear into one spot a few days before your hunt. Then double checking your gear to make sure you have everything you need.

Didn’t Stop Calling
Everyone wants to be the best caller in the world, so much so that some will call constantly to birds in the spring because they believe they will eventually get that Tom to come in. This is a mistake. No matter if you are the best in the world or a beginner, calling too much could actually be sending the Tom in the other direction. Constant hen chatter over and over again isn’t natural. Even if you have a fired up Tom less is more. The goal is for him to come to your calls, laying on the calls only makes the Tom believe you will be coming to him.

Didn’t Know The Lay Of The Land
Turkeys are actually habitual creatures, meaning they go through the day in a pattern. As hunters it is our job to intercept this pattern. Sometimes to intercept this pattern we have to move locations. The problem with moving is the possibility of busting a bird over the next hill you didn’t know was there. The best course of action is to know every inch of the property like it is your backyard. Keying in on access points across the property that will give you the best bet to get from Points A, B, C….Z and back again all while being undetected by birds. To wander around aimlessly with no plan of travel is a sure fire way to scatter birds off of your property.

Didn’t Locate Roost
The roost, or where turkeys take cover for the night in a tree, is the key to turkey hunting. It all starts and ends here and that is why it is so important. If you don’t locate possible roost trees you are starting and ending the day blind. Your goal for each day other than shooting a bird should be to find the roost for the next day. Doing this sets you up for a potentially good day tomorrow. It is no secret that one of the best times to shoot a bird is when they fly down from the roost and start feeding in the morning. Well if you are not in that roosting area you have no chance to shoot a “fly down” Tom. Know the roosting locations in your area to maximize your early morning success.

Didn’t Have A Good Set Up
A good set up will go a long way in a successful hunt. Where are you going to set up your blind? What tree are you going to sit next to? Are there any obstacles in a turkey’s path? How many decoys am I going to use? What position should they be in? How close do I need to be to the roost? Which way are the turkeys going to travel? These questions and many more should be going through your mind before you setup. Simply plopping down anywhere isn’t the worst thing you can do, but if you plan things out and ask yourself questions and more importantly answer those questions nine times out of ten you will put yourself in a better position to shoot a turkey.

Didn’t Use Multiple Calls
Turkeys have a lot of different sounds they make and variations of each one. A yelp can be calm, casual, aggressive, excited, or nervous. Each sound has a meaning and each variation of the sound has meaning. That is why as hunters we need to be well versed in the turkey language and more importantly be able to reproduce each call ourselves.

If a Tom isn’t responding to your yelp on your mouth call what do you do? Give them an excited yelp on the slate, or bust out some cuts on a box call. The more firepower you have in your arsenal the better. Learn what the Tom wants to talk about and start the discussion.

Again the best callers learn from the real thing. How often do your hear a hen chatter in the wild? What cadence is she using? What sounds are she producing? Take notes from the real thing and use that info to your advantage. You have to sound real for optimal results.

Didn’t Sit Long Enough or Didn’t Move
One thing is for sure, in the world of turkey hunting there is no guarantee on when to relocate. Sometimes you need to get out and find the birds or what we turkey hunters call run and gun. Then others times it is wise to wait them out and sit that extra hour. It is a guessing game and comes down to personal preference, or should I say comes down to the information you have at hand. What does your information tell you to do? Take all that info and do what you think is right.

Didn’t Stay Awake.
Let me be the first to say that there is nothing better than resting your eyes out in the timber on a warm spring morning or afternoon. There is just something about it that I can’t quite explain…let’s face it they are simply great!
The problem is we are supposed to be hunting and not snoozing. One of my close friends who is the type of guy you would expect this to happen to, took a nap sitting next to a tree one year and low and behold he woke up with two jakes 30 yards in front of him. Obviously not in a good shooting position after waking up from a slumber he had no chance at all and he was left with a humiliating story. One to this day I am not sure why he told. Try and fight the urge to take a nap in the timber, you never know when a turkey will appear and you can’t shoot one when your eyes are shut.

There you have it, possible reasons you “Didn’t” harvest a bird in years past or this year (hopefully not the case). Anyone of these can lead to a lost or failed opportunity in the turkey woods, but the best thing about these topics is they are all avoidable. Remember to gather all the info you can, use it to your advantage and plan wisely. Never stop thinking when hunting turkeys!