Question:
alright- I've taken one turkey 2 years ago-I'm relatively new to the
sport but am an avid outdoorsman and hunter-does anyone agree that all
the calls/techniques/expos/ are a little too much- after all the wild
turkey may have great instinctive skills at avoiding predators-but they
are not nearly as intelligent as whitetail deer-i agree that there is
nothing more exciting than hearing that tom gobble at dawn but can
anyone give really good advice on finding birds and getting them to come
in -some use aggressive calling and moving towards birds, but others
suggest that soft calling and staying put is the key-any opinions?
Answer:
totally depends upon the particular circumstances and upon the patterns of
the birds involved. At times, when gobblers are particularly aggressive, it is
generally better to stay put. The reason being that they are probably on their
way toward the calling hunter. If you go charging off through the woods, you'll
get busted. At other times you need to be more aggressive and get as quickly as
possible in the vicinity of less active toms. Getting ahead of moving toms and
ambushing them is usually one of the best ways to get a shot at timid or
uninterested birds. Of course this is always the more difficult method.
Hunt a lot, learn to spot patterns, and don't give up. With practice and
familiarity with your hunting ground, turkeys can be fairly predictable. I have
never seen any evidence in the woods that turkeys are all that smart, but they
do hear pretty well and of course their eyesight is without equal.
My best example of the lack of turkey intelligence is the fact that I actually
watched my cousin grab a jake that had run into a woven wire fence and kept
trying to poke his head through. That bird simply could not grasp the fact that
just because his head would go through, his body wouldn't.
