When to Shut Up

The subject of calling at a wild turkey has been discussed extensively, and because it can be the most thrilling part of the hunt at times, I’m just as much a sucker for a different take on turkey calling as the next guy.  We obsess over different vocalizations, learning how to do everything from kee-kees to fly-down-cackles, while searching endlessly for a new sound or call that will make a tom turn on his heel and come running.  Through articles, TV, and video, we’ve been suckered into believing that the upcoming part of a conversation made between you, a fake hen, and him, a real tom, is more important than what you’ve said or haven’t said previously.  Forget about the crackling yelps or brash clucks you previously butchered, the thought is always, “Well what if I hit him next with a round of glorious cutting?”

The truth, I’ve learned the hard way over the years, is that calling in a turkey can be as much about what you don’t say, and when you don’t say it than any kind of fancy forlorn calling sequences.  Most close calls and successful hunts have a turning point; the part of the conversation where a bird comes near, but is still too far.  At that point, critical decisions are made that more often break the hunt than make it, and so often the offending party is your calling decisions.  Often they’re made too hastily, as a frantic last ditch effort that never had to be uttered. 

Ever hunted with a buddy as they’re questioning your calling?  “Hit him again” or “get on that box call” or “he’s walking away” are statements uttered as a matter of nervousness on the hunter’s part, more than they are as direct observations of what the turkey’s behavior is telling us. 

With a bird that’s out of sight, we rely primarily on our sense of hearing to inform us, making the waiting game that much more challenging.  Keep in mind that the bird often can’t see you either, and with each call he’s tightening your noose as a shrinking circle of certainty with which he has you pinned down.  When he knows exactly where you are audibly, he doesn’t need to confirm that fact visually, further strengthening my own personal rule of not calling to a bird that’s actively closing the distance.  So often, birds that “hang-up” are “hung-up” by hunters who call to a bird that’s walking right at them. 

For birds in field or other open situations, it gets even more difficult.  A traced path of any tom’s death march to the end of a gun barrel is full of jagged edges and zig-zags, especially if they’re strutting.  As they pirouette, gobble, and walk, toms rarely head straight to you, even with decoys clearly visible.  It gets almost too tempting to call at them when they’re spinning away from you, side-stepping, or otherwise not directly gobbling into your blind.  The trick here is to enjoy the show, and through time and some experience, learn to read key clues on when they’re actually coming or going. 

The double wing flip, observed as any turkey folds one wing back, and shortly thereafter another means one thing for certain, the bird will be taking a few steps.  Hasty double wing flips, followed by a sharp angle away from you is a harsh reaction to something, while that same body language in any direction quartering or directly at you is a really good thing.  Let the scene play-out, and realize that these birds may need some time to get comfortable with the thought of approaching.

If the best time to shut-up is when a bird is approaching, the next best time is when your calls continue to fall on deaf ears.  Birds that gobble actively, just not at you, are telling you something without saying a word.  They’re not liking something about your calling, whether it be cadence, tone, or frequency, or at the very least they don’t like the direction or area it’s coming from.  Try changing up your calls, your calling, or your location to see if you can’t elicit a better response.

Another great time to bite your mouth call, is when feeding birds are marching across an expanse with cool and calculated determination.  So often they’re heading to a hole in a fence or following a topographical feature like a natural drainage path.  This is valuable information too, and if you can sneak around and out of sight to the area they’re heading, you’ll be ahead of the game.  Even if you don’t get to their exact destination, the easiest turkey to call in is the one that already wants to be where you are.  You’ll be amazed at how much more receptive they can be when you’re nearby or just past their area of interest.

Of course, I don’t mean to take away the fun of calling, as it really is one of the joys of turkey hunting.  Learning to use it judiciously, and most importantly knowing when not to utter a sound, could be the best call you’ve got.     

Photo Credit - Ben Brettingen

Thoughts On a Ten

Scour any sporting-goods retail space for a 10-gauge shotgun, and you’d be hard-pressed to come up with even a trace of an old ten.  Say you did find a used Browning or an old SP-10 goose-getter, good luck finding ammo.  Special order options exist, but for a very short list of manufacturers, both in the case of shotshells and the shotguns themselves, but is the 10-gauge turkey gun a thing of the past?  Is it just a piece of nostalgia from turkey hunts gone by?  I hope not.

My introduction to 10-gauge shotguns was in a primitive turkey video by today’s standards.  Back then, pioneers of the sport like Will Primos, Harold Knight and David Hale, and Ben Lee were some of the first to film their hunts and bring it to a greater audience.  Several of them sported some mean looking scatterguns, as there were no other options that put as many pellets or as much powder into a turkey load.  Then, the 10-gauge was the true equalizer, in an era where hardened, buffered lead shot were the major ballistic innovations of that day and age.  Back in time decades further, the 10-gauge enjoyed widespread popularity and a wide array of load options for all kinds of hunting. 

The first one I’d ever seen in person is still owned today by a good friend and turkey mentor who has harvested literally hundreds of birds with his, a 1970’s New Richland Arms double-barreled version.  That gun was hand-painted in grey tree-bark, mostly worn now from carrying, and perpetually stained by the blood and mud of its last hunt.  That gun has seen better days, and has even been known to fire both barrels on occasion, though in seeing its successes over the many years there’s no doubt that this firearm has stoked my fascination for 10 gauges in general. 

Over the years, I’ve owned several dedicated turkey shotguns, nearly all of them 12-gauges.  I remember the introduction of the 12-gauge 3.5” round, and the 835 Ulti-mag that left a bruising (and lasting) impression.  From there I went to a semi-auto gas-operated gun, also in 12-gauge that handles 3.5” loads, and it has been the best patterning gun I’ve ever tested.  It’s lighter than any 10, carries shorter, punches less, and hits birds just as hard.  From a spec-sheet perspective, it wins in all categories.

Over time, hevi-type loads that were denser than lead brought forth a revolution in turkey patterning.  Smaller, denser shot that carried just as lethal a payload downrange was able to do it with many more pellets.  These were pellets that did not deform with all of the pressures and heat of a gun discharge, such that they didn’t “frisbee” to the sides and negatively affect pattern density.  More pellets that pattern better, with no penalty in terms of energy, simply means more lethality in the kill-zone.  As Tungsten Super Shot (TSS) rolls onto the scene this year, promising to deliver the same advances that hevi-loads did in their time, people are increasingly turning to 20’s and even .410 shotguns. 

Not this guy.  Not full-time anyway, though I really am a huge fan of the smaller bores, hevi-loads, and what TSS will bring in terms of efficiency for a whole new era of turkey nuts.  Call me old-timey or just plain out-of-touch, but I’ve put every rig imaginable up against an old break-action 10 gauge, and seen them at-best simply match the performance.  TSS is a new beast altogether, and I’ve seen the handloads, viewed the patterns.  We’re talking a whole new league of shot.  There’s no doubt TSS will be incredible, but so is the performance of the “has-been” 10.  I’ve seen too many birds, year after year, fall to all kinds of 10-gauge guns from the several friends that carry them.    

I now own one myself, a similar Richland Arms double, which I can’t seem to pattern worth a darn.  Pellet counts are a fraction of what my other guns can achieve, and at first it shot a few feet, yes feet, low at 40 yards.  I fixed that with an aftermarket sight, but I can’t find the ammo I’d like to shoot in a 10-gauge round, and there’s no modern choke tube system to tighten patterns of the less-than-preferable stuff that I can find.  Instead I get one full-choke barrel, the other modified.  It took some serious tweaking to have the confidence needed just to carry it in the woods. 

When I did hike it around last spring, I’ll admit, it was mostly for novelty’s sake.  Until the hunt unfolded.  I was tight on a roost group that sported a few toms and more hens than I’d like.  The toms flew down early within 100 yards and really gobbled hard as the hens awoke all around them.  When the hens did fly down, I had a hard time convincing them that I was good for the group, and they cut across the face of my position, further than I’d prefer to shoot a gun that didn’t throw the fiercest pattern.  When the last of 3 toms made his way at 47 yards, I repositioned that wagon-tongue of a gun, and squeezed the first of its two triggers.  It was still relatively un-lit under the dense maple canopy, so that gun threw sparks and tried jumping out of my hands on account of how I was braced shoulder-to-the-tree.  That tom didn’t flop for the first few minutes, and the load had really done its job.

I walked up to the old bird, a true limb-hanger that sported some serious spurs, and as I took a knee beside him, I was satisfied.  I thought about all the toms that gun’s brethren had taken over the last 50 years and beyond, with staying power and consistency we’ve not seen in many technologies we hunt with today.  It’s not an indictment against new arms and ammo, or even a preference for the 10 overall, but it’s somewhat comforting to know how well an old dog can still work.

Demand, or lack thereof, may continue to push it towards obsolescence, and I’ll probably carry it only rarely, as I understand the benefits of faster, smaller, and lighter.  Still, rather than push it aside for the latest and greatest, I’ll continue to celebrate it alongside our more modern advancements. 

The Lost Art of Flock Talk

My formative instruction on turkey calling was pretty scant.  Most of what I learned at the get-go, was fanciful instructions from cassette tapes that came with various calls, and lessons from the woods didn’t necessarily mimic what I was hearing out of the marketing materials.  Fast forward to today, and the same problem exists. There is a plethora of social content, video, and TV with hard charging birds that respond well to sharp cutting, excited yelps, and some sounds that I’ve never heard live hens ever make.

As my boys grow older, I find myself hunting earlier youth seasons at the front end of the turkey’s breeding phase.  Hens and toms are often in larger groups, and calling like they do in the videos can really be detrimental to your success.  That kind of talk can work early with isolated toms or bachelor groups, but get too competitive with a tight bunch of hens and their locked-down gobblers, and you’ve got birds that are far more willing to walk away than come closer. 

Flock-talk, in contrast, is a 180-degree approach to the aggressive-all-the-time approach we so often see in todays filmed hunts.  It’s less sexy for sure, and can often be ignored, but it’ll rarely lose you the game outright.  Instead, it allows you to converse with birds, staying close until time, mood, weather, or any other number of factors swing in your favor.  I find it to be the best approach, or at least the right start with most of the birds I work these days.  You can always ramp up the aggression, but it’s hard to put that genie back in the bottle.

Don’t get me wrong, I call and hunt more aggressively than most, sometimes to a fault.  Plain and simple, when it works its flat-out more fun.  That said, I’ve had to un-learn some bad habits to be more successful over time, and many of those old ways involve calling more quietly, while clucking and purring more than mixing in the fancy stuff. 

In your average early season field set-up, good scouting and prime ground means you will likely see birds sometime throughout the day.  Being able to see the bird visually that you are calling to is a real premium situation, and over the years, I have tried my best to be a real student in those scenarios.  I’ve learned that soft clucks, purrs, and occasional yelps will pique what little curiosity a hen has, and make no mistake about it, when a big flock is moving across the field, you’re calling to the hens.

This time of year, hens run the show 24/7.  Toms roost where they’re at, fly down and wait for them, then walk in their tracks until lead-hens are ready to breed.  Subordinate males that hang around the edges can be prime targets for some hard calling, but many of those birds are leery of coming in too loud and proud while the big boys are nearby.  If your play is on a large group of mixed birds, your best bet is to slow-play the entire flock. 

Imitate the sounds of a foraging flock, and pretend you’re feeding more than interested in breeding.  That could include some scratching, especially if in a blind sitting over decoys.  Often, the last thing you want to do at the outset is to appear threatening.  The good and bad of open-field setups is that you can readily see one another, meaning that live birds will often expect you to close at least some of the distance.

Your goal is to get the chatter going, and the animal world is similar to our very own human conversations.  Pleasantries, introductions, and simple greetings are exchanged before conducting any kind of discussion, and you have to be a better listener at times than talker.  Many groups are quiet and soft-spoken in nature, especially if pecking order is already settled and birds are in the heart of the breeding phase.  These birds are the hardest to convince, and your only play can be simply to keep from offending any members of the group in the hopes that a flock-tom or satellite gobbler will eventually sashay close enough for a shot.  Call too hard and too much, you may end the day before it even begins.  I’ve gotten too harsh on literally hundreds of occasions, and have watched far too many hens take their toms in the opposite direction. 

Other groups can be quite vocal, in which case, you are in luck.  More than anything, you’re trying to keep them talking.  Talkative hens will wander, especially the lead-hen.  She’ll typically sound raspier or louder than the rest of the group as she scolds the young jennies and heads up the pack.  She’s not always the lead bird, but she’ll stick out in most flocks that talk.  Be only as aggressive as she is, and do your best to keep her headed your direction.  If she veers, you may consider ramping up the discussion a bit and targeting her specifically.  If you’re towards the end of your hunt, let it all hang out, but if it’s early yet you may wish to hang back.  I’ve killed many birds over the years by letting them walk off, only to have another tom come from another direction, or have a bird on the edge of the flock re-consider and turn the whole group. 

Point-being, calling too much like the all-stars of the TV programs can ruin your eventual run-ins with birds, especially early season.  Don’t forget to make some small talk this year before you get into the heart of the conversation, you might be surprised at how well you can call in the whole flock. 

Getting Ready for Turkey Season the Right Way

Getting Ready for Turkey Season the Right Way

Years ago, my turkey preparation regiment was well-defined and carefully executed, with one glaring error – I started way too soon.  That may seem a conflicting lead-in given that this is an article aimed at properly prepping you for the upcoming season, but my issue was that it drove me crazy.  I’d get to the point where I was more than ready to hunt birds, but there were piles of snow on the ground and it would be months before any seasons opened.  Still, those years of overzealous rituals and long nights waiting did a good job of laying the groundwork for successful seasons.  So much so, that I’ve been able to condense that prep-work into a few short steps.  Here’s what I’ve learned. 

Landowner Permission – Asking permission early is far easier than doing it later when warm-weather activities make you more of a pest than a partner.  90% or more of the upper Midwest turkey hunting is done on private land, so getting good at this aspect of your game is a very important part of your hunt.  Birds continually migrate throughout different parts of ridges and valleys, and also move through stages of the breeding cycle with regional irregularity.  Having 2 or more parcels with good bird activity ensures that if property “A” birds are in a funk and henned-up, the Property “B” birds may be willing to play.

Gear – Now is the time to figure out you need new gloves, not when you have to head-out bare-handed opening morning.  Gear junkies love heading into the woods with weighted down turkey vests, but focus first on fixing, replacing parts, or simply testing the critical gear, and then focus on getting a goodie or two that may increase your chances of success.  This part is the fun part, but beware the tendency to over-do it.  All the knick-knacks in the world won’t help if you can’t quietly slip down a logging road, cross a barbed-wire fence, or belly crawl under some pines.  Focus on a lightweight addition or two that stows nicely and try on your gear.

Calls – A good deal is written on calls and calling, but the most important part of it is first and foremost actually practicing, but a close second is claimed by practicing like you play.  It matters not if you can yelp like a live hen after you get warmed up for 15 minutes.  Progress your practice by starting small and just working on a few vocalizations, but eventually get to the point where you can pick up a call, and make concise noises, at the cadence of your choice, with few to no screw-ups.  After all, that’s what you need to do in the woods.

Remote Scouting – Drive backroads now and find the segregated gobbler groups, knowing that they will use natural cover and other landscape corridors to disperse.  Birds will become increasingly more active as days warm and the sun-angle increases melting on certain slopes.  Look for birds here that are picking at soybean stubble, corn stalks, and other grain waste. 

Sometimes, some Google Earth scouting, combined with simple gravel-travel in the area you hunt can give you clues and cues to some new and overlooked possibilities either for more ground, or different ways to hunt the ground you already have.  Recently, for Minnesota I’ve been using LiDAR elevation data, which offers a hyper-accurate accounting of the land’s surface here - http://arcgis.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/mntopo/

Gun – This continues to be one of the most overlooked parts of our turkey hunting experience.  Good, consistent patterns lead to more confident shots, and effective kills.  The only way to know how your gun performs is to shoot it at 40 yards, and count pellets in a 10” circle.  Somewhere in that 100 pellet range, provided there are no gaps and holes in your coverage, is where you want to be to cleanly kill at that same distance.  If you don’t have anything close to that, limit the ranges you shoot at birds to under that mark.  This year I’ll be trying the new TSS loads in my constant quest to put as many pellets in that kill zone as possible.  I’m a big fan of smaller shot sizes in general, provided they’ve got the down-range energy to perform.  Lastly, don’t ignore your sights either, as most shooters tend to shoot over the top of a turkey in an actual hunting situation when using just a plain bead. 

Journaling – Writing, studying, and ultimately re-living your turkey hunting experiences is not only fun, it’s incredibly effective at helping you to hit the ground running.  I start each season relatively green, forgetting the swing of things until I’m a few days in.  My journals offer keys to forgotten bits of my brain that inform current plans based on the experiences I’ve amassed.  Every turkey is different, but just like poker, you want to play the odds and make the move that gives you the best percentage of success each time you do it.  Few hunts are as decision-dependent as a turkey hunt, and using a journal as a playbook to storyboard each decision in the turkey woods, ensures that more often than not you’ll be in the right mindset to exploit behaviors of the past that play out in the future. 

10 Tips From 10 Turkey Hunting Experts

Turkey-chasers nationwide are getting ready to break out the old calls, go through their camo, and make plans for the spring hunt.  No matter what gear, states, or schedules they prepare however, experience and advice can make or break the hunt of a lifetime, or even just a pre-work hunt off the roost.  This article challenged some of the best turkey hunters in America, as boiling down their many years of hard-won expertise is a task in-and-of itself.  Their tips are gathered here, and can’t help but make you a better turkey hunter.       

Will Primos – Primos Hunting - Perhaps the most influential turkey hunter of our time, Will Primos has been doing it longer and arguably better than anyone before him.  He shares turkey hunting advice through TV, video, and countless articles over the years, and is annually one of the most sought-after names in all turkey circles.  His number one tip revolves around setting up on hill-country gobblers, and specifically why it’s best to set up higher above them in elevation.  Will offers, “it is basic instinctive survival for a turkey, as any gobbler coming to another turkey knows that predators close-by could be listening too.  A turkey headed downhill towards a predator would have to run uphill, gain ground, then turn left or right to jump and put air under its wings to fly away.”  Will continues, “If you are above a turkey he will more readily come to you because he knows that if he sees danger he has to simply turn downhill, catapult into the air and sail to safety.”  For anyone who has seen how quickly a tom can scoot and coast downhill, you know how sound this last tip really is. 

Dick Alford – With many 100’s of gobblers, 43 turkey seasons, and 6 books under his belt, along with more seminar gigs than you can shake a tail-feather at, the 78-year old Alford has more years of experience than anyone on our star-studded panel.  To stay consistent over the years, Alford credits the 4-P’s.  “PASSION for the hunt including knowledge and wisdom, PLANNING long before the adventure begins, PATIENCE while on the trail, and PERSISTENCE allowing preparation to meet with opportunity.”

Aaron Warbritton – The Hunting Public – Aaron has emerged as one of the nation’s premier turkey authorities, publishing thousands of hours of great YouTube instructional and informational turkey hunting content.  Each week during the turkey season, people live vicariously through Aaron’s video work and many travels throughout turkey country.  He emphasizes listening and the finer details that most people overlook when scouting for birds. When filming hunts, he starts at high points during the first 30 minutes of daylight when birds are most vocal.  Aaron notes, “no wind is ideal, but if it's gusting try to listen downwind of where you anticipate the turkeys to be so the wind is actually carrying the sound towards your location.”  Gobbling isn’t the only thing he’s listening for either, and says that “Turkeys can give their position away with a variety of sounds.  We killed a tom with 1 1/2 inch spurs last year on public land because he gave his position away in the tree with a quiet gobbler yelp.  We setup and called him straight in without hearing a single gobble.”       

Jeff Fredrick – Champion’s Choice Calls -  12-time Wisconsin State Turkey Calling Champion Jeff Frederick sounds more like a turkey than your average hen, and has long made high-end custom calls for those that both compete and hunt.  I like Jeff’s calls and use them often, but what he can get out of them compared to what I can just isn’t fair.    Jeff’s number one tip is to be wary of falling into the rut of letting past experiences dictate your current hunting plans.  Frederick says, “turkeys will rarely do the exact same thing from day to day, as any prey species won’t survive well if predators pattern them.”  Similarly, avoid becoming complacent and letting your shotgunning suffer.  “I’ve been witness to plenty of ‘1st-time’ misses,” says Frederick with a grin.

Steve Huettl – Gamehide Hunting Clothing - As general manager at Gamehide Hunting Clothing, Steve totes his bow across the Midwest, continually testing gear and challenging gobblers with a stick and string.  Annually, he’s taking down several gobblers in multiple states, and knows more about bow-hunting for turkeys than most will even learn about turkeys in general.  His number one tip centers around shot placement.  Steve says, “Many people have the tendency to rush the shot and not take the extra time needed to settle the pin on the small vital area a turkey provides.  Once that long-beard commits and is in bow range he usually sticks around to check out your decoys.  Take that extra time to relax, settle the pin and let the arrow fly.”

Billy Yargus – NWTF Grand National Calling Champion - As a guide and upper-echelon competitor on turkey calling’s biggest-stages, the name “Billy Yargus” makes both turkeys and fellow callers get a touch nervous.  I’ve had the opportunity to hunt with Billy, and the guy doesn’t just sound like a turkey, he sounds like a flock of turkeys.  That morning, Billy called in two toms with a flock of hens, a coyote, than another group of 3 bruiser toms, all in the span of an hour.  He did it with absolute non-stop chatter from a mouth call and box call.  So I asked him with all the advice on not over-calling, why he would call louder and longer than anyone I’d heard before?  Billy’s answer was simple, yet stuck as a great tip I’ve taken with me.  Yargus explained, “if you’re not confident on a turkey call, then sparingly calling and keeping the bird guessing just may-be your best bet.  If you sound good on a call however, let the local birds on that morning tell you what to do.”  I have to admit, the hens around us were incredibly vocal, and the toms were eating it up.  Billy was blending in, and standing out all at the same time.

Guy Cunningham - Guide - I’ve written about Guy before, a local friend and former turkey hunting guide that’s been chasing toms beginning in the early 1970’s in Southern Illinois, and all over the country after them ever since.  Few have seen as much in-the-field experience as he has, and fewer yet will be able to translate that into hunting success.  As someone who I’ve learned more from than any amount of books, videos, or articles combined, I felt obliged to include one of his best tips that I’ve used on many occasions.  “Leaf scratching is the best call you’ve got,” says Cunningham, “cagey old birds that’ve been messed with by all the neighbor kids won’t gobble, but they’ll come in quiet to some soft yelps and lots of scratching.”  In Oklahoma a few years ago, we tag-teamed a particularly bad bird as I listened to Guy move around behind me, quietly yelping, scratching, and occasionally flapping a hat like a turkey rising up and stretching its wings.  I was convinced not one, but several hens had slipped in amongst our setup and pinned us down.  We’ve shared many hunts like that over the years, including ones where turkeys gobble from the roost immediately after not yelping or cutting, but simple leaf scratching. 

Travis Frank – Ron Schara Productions - Chances are you’ve seen Travis Frank’s work on TV and video, even when he’s not being featured on camera.  Travis grew up hunting turkeys, calling them nothing less than “addictive,” but now is often faced with the challenge of getting birds to cooperate on camera for several TV shows he produces such as Outdoor Bound and Due North Outdoors.  With tight time schedules and expensive camera time, Frank is a master at getting after birds and making it happen.  He cites overall scouting as his number one tip, mentioning “I prefer to scout birds from as far away as possible with optics, while still being able to see small details like exactly which fencepost they’re coming past to enter an ag field, or what birds (hens, jakes, or toms) come to openings and when.”  When out on foot, Frank says that “tracks in a field tell the story, especially large amounts of them.”  To get birds to close and put on a show, Frank relies on a hen and jake combo to provide maximum appeal without the risk of spooking less dominant toms.  “Adult gobbler decoys have really come on strong in recent years, but I don’t want to limit the amount of birds I’m hunting to only one or two dominant birds in the area.”  Travis stakes down the hen, and positions the jake in a manner to the hen that looks like he’s “pushing” her around.  This method works great, especially early in the season where competition for hens is heavy.        

Ernie Calandrelli – Quaker Boy Game Calls - Ern’ has been hunting gobblers across the globe for decades on TV, videos, and in game call product development roles.  An incredible gobbler-getter, and great guy, Ernie’s tip is a really good one.  “My number one tip would be to persevere.” says Calandrelli.  Keeping a good attitude is key, as he says, “the one thing that is in your favor spring gobbler hunting is that every morning is opening morning. I have seen the same gobbler seem impossible to kill for days then run to the call like it was the first time he ever heard one.”  Take it from someone who’s killed some crafty birds in his time, as that’s advice you can take to the taxidermist.

Lake Pickle – Primos’ “The Truth” Videographer - Lake gets a ring-side seat to some of the best turkey hunts on the planet, and works for true legends in the industry at Primos Hunting.  In chasing some great gobblers over the past few years, he offers “the best tip I can give anyone who wants to become a better turkey hunter is to become the best woodsman that you can be.”  He cites observational skills, reading terrain, and moving about without spooking as key traits to successful hunts.  He states it best by saying, “decent calling and excellent woodsmanship will kill more turkeys than excellent calling and subpar woodsmanship every time.”