Turkey Hunt starts Monday!

Well, my hunt will finally be here on Monday. I've never hunted them before, and I'm gonna make it all the more interesting by hunting them with my bow, and I'll probably have my 5 year old in tow Monday afternoon (first chance I'll have to hunt). The setup will be a pop-up blind facing north, nestled in a little strip of woods, facing a larger section of woods over a small clearing (think of the woods making a U shape and the blind overlooking the middle of the U.

Hopefully I can stick one! I'll be happy with a jake, so keep your fingers crossed for me. Any good advice would be hot. Thanks!

Good luck!

Hunting them with a gun is hard enough but with a bow...

good luck your gonna need it!

You been scouting any?

Scouting? Um... no, not really

We pretty much know where they travel and I see birds in this little cut all the time. If we see turkeys or deer, I'll be happy... it's more to get my boy out than anything else. The woods on the farm are pretty small, so if they're in the woods, and feel like coming to my call, they will, I suppose...

Well as you have probably already read I'm not much for advice

But since I used to be an member of archerytalk I will still give my expert opinion.

Take a gun, don't over call, use decoys. I'm not a very good caller, so I dont try to do things I dont feel comfortable with.

oh and dont be afraid to set the blind up in the middle of the field.

when I had my shot I was set-up in the middle of a cow pasture.

good luck man, ours ended on the 27th of April....i didn't get to go one time.

I've heard that about calling too much, so I'll be sure to not do that. I'm gonna take my bow initially, and then if in a couple weeks I don't have one (due to range or whatever) I'll tote the 20 ga out. I still need to get decoys. I just figured a hen and jake or something and set em up at about 12-15 yards.

Illustrator wrote:I've heard that about calling too much, so I'll be sure to not do that. I'm gonna take my bow initially, and then if in a couple weeks I don't have one (due to range or whatever) I'll tote the 20 ga out. I still need to get decoys. I just figured a hen and jake or something and set em up at about 12-15 yards.

yup...setup the jake facing you as the tom will come in and stand in front of him, giving you a nice fan to draw your bow...

and yes, don't call too much, what will happen is that the tom will "hang up" and expcet the hen (you) to go and find him instead.

good luck!

Illustrator wrote:I've heard that about calling too much, so I'll be sure to not do that. I'm gonna take my bow initially, and then if in a couple weeks I don't have one (due to range or whatever) I'll tote the 20 ga out. I still need to get decoys. I just figured a hen and jake or something and set em up at about 12-15 yards.

eyah thats what I did. Guess what? the bird was actually too close.

Last year I went out and had the decoy out at 40, bird hung up about 80...no shot

Decoys only work if they are interested or fired up. I believe yelps, clucks and purrs are the easiest calls to make and use effectively. The gobbler I called in last week I only called to it about 3 different times. All were very short yelps, with some purring on a glass call.

the over calling will cause them to gobble and hang up. I try not too fight with the other hens because once again I'm not that good of a caller. The way I understand it, the gobbler gobbles and the hens cluck and all that then the hens come to the gobbler. Thats what makes turkey hunting so hard.

When they answer your call quickly, or cut you off. put down the call and get the bow ready, its showtime.

Good luck Stephen.

Thanks guys... We'll see how things go!

git ya some!

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Man, I'm pumped for it. If I just see birds, I'll be happy!

here's my ringtone!

http://www.western-rivers.com/downloads/Turkey%20Toms.mp3

Illustrator wrote:Man, I'm pumped for it. If I just see birds, I'll be happy!

Its cool just to hear them gobble! Im jinxed this year...first day had a nice bird about 45yds out. I did everything just right, he answered my calls a couple times and I shut up. He gobbled more trying to get me to answer but I didnt...silence for about 15min and next thing you know I see him feeding my way. I had the gun off safety and all...I could of taken the shot but I was waiting for the easy crusher. Then out of nowhere the bird bolts to my left. I was like wtf and then 10sec later some clueless dipshit loser comes stubling through my hunt. ...if I wasnt trespassing, I would of broke his gun across a tree.

Been a couple more times but no hot birds...

Sry to ventjack...Id suggest carrying the shotgun along as well. If your blind isnt in in the right spot, you might want to cover some ground and try to find one that wants to gobble. Then you gotta set up quick...sometimes they'll bust you if your trying to go to him or set up a decoy and the whole time he's running in to you...had that happen too. Turkey hunting can be very frustrating...ita an evil learning curve when you dont have a ton of turkeys to talk to.

Illustrator wrote:Any good advice would be hot. Thanks!

oh, seeing how nobody said it yet...aim for da-face!

...lower left beak to be specific

Good luck to you today man!!! Let us know how you turn out!!! And loke cordwood said N DA FACE SHOT!!!!!

No shotgun... Where I'm hunting, I have a 20-30 yard shot max anyway, so why not just use the bow... if in a couple weeks I haven't whacked one (and it's due to the bird being a tad too far,) I might take the 20 gauge. I don't have a "turkey gun" anyway, so I might as well be challenged. Judging by the deer sign around my blind, I'll hopefully see some deer as well, which would be awesome!

Illustrator wrote:No shotgun... Where I'm hunting, I have a 20-30 yard shot max anyway, so why not just use the bow... if in a couple weeks I haven't whacked one (and it's due to the bird being a tad too far,) I might take the 20 gauge. I don't have a "turkey gun" anyway, so I might as well be challenged. Judging by the deer sign around my blind, I'll hopefully see some deer as well, which would be awesome!

20 guage....LMAO...you would do better with your bow!!!!! The turkey might laugh at you with a 20 guage!!

Illustrator wrote:No shotgun... Where I'm hunting, I have a 20-30 yard shot max anyway, so why not just use the bow... if in a couple weeks I haven't whacked one (and it's due to the bird being a tad too far,) I might take the 20 gauge. I don't have a "turkey gun" anyway, so I might as well be challenged. Judging by the deer sign around my blind, I'll hopefully see some deer as well, which would be awesome!

You dont need a turkey gun.

Just throw some quail shot or something in there, that'll work.

I usually hunt Pheasants with #5 shot, so I'd use the same, but I think I'd like to try to drop one with the Nova first

Illustrator wrote:I usually hunt Pheasants with #5 shot, so I'd use the same, but I think I'd like to try to drop one with the Nova first

Is Nova made by PSE???????

Yes, I have a PSE Nova... my first bow

Illustrator wrote:Yes, I have a PSE Nova...

....AKA the spoiler that we will use for the truck ride down to NM next Feb.

Hardee Har Har


At least I'm upgrading, right?

Illustrator wrote:Hardee Har Har


At least I'm upgrading, right?

Depends to what bow???

Illustrator wrote:At least I'm upgrading, right?

I'll just ignore the hardee-har-harr comment for now...

J/K...the DXT will make a fine bow.