Anyone do any practiceing calling

[crooketarrow]

   I use'lly start mid MARCH calling (practiceing).  I know you've been taught to never call up gobblers early exspecially places where your going hunt. Nothing could be father from the truth.

You just have to do one simple thing. After you've called him up ,let him walk away unspooked.
  How mqny times do you think a gobbler go's looking for a calling hen never to find her. Your not only getting practice on a real gobbler. Your finding out if your set up works. I hunt farm land so I can use set ups over exspecially if I already know the set up has aready worked. work.

  I've been going early practiceing ever year since I was a little kid. Granddday his whole life before me. And he gobbler hunted 88 springs in a row. He killed 312 gobblers with a shotgun.

 Besides how much practice to you get person each seaon. Stop practiceing on your family and start with reall gobblers.

  On the 16 th I heard my first gobble of the spring. The next morning I had 5 jakes fighting 25 yards. Yesterday morning I called up my first birds. 3 Hens not what I invisioned.

  It's getting warm. I love to bow hunt gobblers. Have for 25 years. Looking for # 16 with a selfbow.

  I think I love gobbler hunting a tad more than buck hunting. I'm sure it's the warmer weather that leans me toward gobbler hunting. It might be because I grew up liveing gobblers with granddady.

 

[PAHunter]

Sounds like good advice to me.  I'm counting down the days till season this year!

[PEARL DRUMS]

I always get jealous of you this time of year Roy. I wish I had the free time in the mornings you do. I get, if Im lucky, 2 Saturday mornings a month to do my thing. Sunday mornings we go to church.

[JW_Halverson]

I used to have a place out of city limits where the turkeys came thru the yard several times a day.  Some days I would be walking THROUGH the flock to retrieve arrows from the straw bales I was shooting!!!

They were very used to seeing me and absolutely sure I was nothing to concern themselves over. They taught me about the soft flock calls that they use in everyday conversation. I use far less yelping and such these days.

Some places may consider calling turkeys outside of season as "harassment of game", though.  Check your local laws!

[Andrea S]

Thanks for starting this post - I'm excited to go turkey hunting for the first time this spring! Season here in Montana starts April 11, and one of my friends who is crazy for turkey hunting told me to go scout my spots at night or in the very early morning to see if I could get a response or even a "shock gobble" out of them to locate where they are roosting.

Crooketarrow, are you using box calls, diaphragm calls, or just your voice when you're practicing?

[crooketarrow]

   I'll use the box call in the late mornings to crank out those loud yelps to cover ground. Box calls sound the most natural of calls when you need to be loud at a distance.. I like to bring them up closer with a mouth call. When there close enough I use my voice for the small talk again small talking your voise sounds the most naturalest. of all calls.

  Heres some avise granddady gave me when I was 13 or 14. He said you want to kill turkeys do what turkeys do. Perty simple use the KISS method. I still follow flocks or a single bird or 2 every chance I get just studying them. Call up hens and jakes every chance I get. Just to do it. Practice HAV'NT KILLED A JAKE SINCE THE EARLY 90'S.

  Heres another thing he told me once. Small talk kills way more gobblers than those loud yelps there burned out on by the second week. On hunted places others hunt with me, after I locate I switch to my voice. 75 % Of the time I wait the mornings, I take in the mornings, catch up on my journal I do my best knaping on those warm spring mornings. I just wait and let gobblers gobble on there own.

 When one dose gobble I'll move to him if I need to. You know he's already looking. Exspecially if it's later in the morning say 10:00 or after. A gobblers finished with his hens for the mornings. He's along and looking EASY GOBBLER. Water is good to call from late mornings.

 THOSE 2 YEAR OLD GET A TASTE AND LOSE THEIR MINES. Every gobbler hunter should incounter a 2 year old.

 
     Here's one of the best peices of advice graddday told me. It's also perty simple. If your set up calling if your already the direction a gobblers already going. Your calling just went from adverage to great.

SIMPLE JUST GET IN HIS WAY, HE ALREADY GOING THAT WAY. HE COME TO YOUR CALLLING TWICE AS EASY TWICE AS FAST. If you do your part. I'm always thinking the gobblers been pressured YELPED TO DEATH.

 Again when he's close enough I use my voice. This is were scouting really comes into play.

 One last thing ANDREA you don't scout in the dark. You lesson at roost areas when they fly up he'll gobble uselly once or trice to let his hens know wherre he's at come morning. You can yelp a time or two or owl to intice a gobbler to gobble. Personally I don't do a thing. Same with mornings I usely stay quit let the morning unfold NATURALLY.
 Just lesson at day break he uselly gobble a time or 20 telling his hens where he's at.
l
 YOU DON'T ONLY NEED TO BLEND IN (CAMO) NOT OT BE SEEN. But you can blend in naturally In what you do and when you do it.

 SORRY I GO CRAZY EVERY TIME.

[JW_Halverson]

If you don't lose your mind when these birds start talking back to you, then you are in the WRONG GAME!

If you have not been utter humiliated and had your butt handed to you on a silver platter by a bird with a brain the size of a half a shelled walnut, then you are NEW TO THE GAME.

If you decide at 1:00 a.m. that there is just no way you are going to fall asleep in your bed comfortable and warm, so you get up, dress for the weather, pack a sammich and an apple, and head for the woods to sleep under a tree near a favored roost site (and consequently run into your hunting buddy), then you are TRULY IN THE GAME!

This morning the crew at the National Guard Camp were practicing small arms fire.  Every time the firing line opened up fresh, a flock of gobblers would beller their heads off like their butts were on fire!  Made my head throb, my knees weak, and my mouth water.....aw man!

[crooketarrow]

 It warmer up 2 weeks ago I started calling. Called up 4 jakes (at once) had 2 incounters where the gobbler hung up. Last week I called up 2 long beards together, came pass me 12 yards. Again I had one gobbler came in but stayed 35 yards to my right. Easy shot gun shot.

  But this week it turned cold,rainy,windy I listen 2 times for the truck and once from a pop-up. Where 2 weeks ago I saw over 50 birds 17 were long beards.

  Hav'nt heard a peep all week.