Gobblers

You need to use your sneakyness.

I would suggest a blind. You really need to study up on turkey anatomy because shot placement is critical. I would suggest that you not take any shot over twenty yards and under 15 would be better. There is a lot to learn about hunting turkey that only experience can cure so get out and spend a lot of time in the woods.

For starters I would suggest a box call because they are the eaisest to use and it is hard not to produce a good sound. Practice shooting sitting down and from inside a blind or it could haunt you at go time.

Find some birds and keep your distance and watch where they roost. Try and set up along daily travel paths or within site of the roost.

By calling a turkey in by sound or site to decoys is against his nature because he is used to the hens comming to his gobble. Jake or strutted decoys can be effective along with your hen decoys but it is that experience that tells you when and where to use them.

Off the roost if the Tom has hens they will take their man away from your invites so sometimes it is better to not start your calling until after fly down or even later when the hens have left the toms to lay eggs.

There is just soooo much to learn again just get out there and start.

You can make a lot of comparrisons to elk hunting with turkey hunting.

Good Luck!

not sure about turkeys out there but here in nc, once we get one to gobble twice at our calls we stop calling all together, then every 15mins or so we do about 5 yelps, a cluck or two and a short purr, you prolly will need a blind. Good luck to ya

I'm new to stickin' gobblers, too, but I hate blinds. So I've ramped my draw down to 55 lbs and set the let off to 75% which should enable me to hold at full draw indefinitely. Maybe I'm goofy, but that's my plan.

Good luck on get'n drawed without a blind, a turkey can see you flinch at 1/4 mile. If you're gonna try doing this, the best time would be to wait until he's in full strut and facing away from ya before you draw, then shoot him right up the butt(IT WILL KILL THE BIRD),,,ohh btw, my bow is 57lbs draw weight and trust me you wont be able to hold it back for no longer than 2mins or so(I PRACTICE LIKE THAT)

Yes, you will be better off with the blind. It takes an awful lot of movement to get to full draw. A Double Bull 360 is a great choice. It's quiet and you can shoot in a 360 radius.

A tom will approach a hen decoy from behind (for obvious reasons). He will approach a jake from the front looking for a fight. You'll want to keep that in mind when you set up. And set those decoys close to the blind. ten yards is not too close. You want the birds to be close! And turkeys don't care about the blind at all.

Face the hen away from you and you'll have a shot from behind. Place it left to right and you'll have a broadside shot. The best shot, in my opinion, is where the top of the leg (drumstick area) meets the middle of the body if he's broadside. Break the legs and they can't fly.

If he's facing away in full strut, put the arrow where the feathers meet in the middle of the fan (Texas heart shot). That may destroy the fan, but he's not gonna go far. If he's facing away from you but not in strut, come in low in the middle of his back. A spine shot will drop him quick. If he's facing you, aim for the beard.

Keep in mind where the vitals are on a bird. They're not where you might think. They're lower and further back than most realize. Do a google search and you'll find some good anatomy photos.

I think the ultimate head for turkeys is the gobbler guillotine. They're pricey, and you need to be close and a pretty good shot. The good thing about that head is if you connect with a head shot, the turkey loses his head. If you hit the body the turkey walks away. Google that head and you'll find some awesome video of turkey's losing their heads.

As far as methods go, you'll just have to spend time hunting them to learn that. My best advice is to put a tom to bed and set up close to him the next morning well before sunrise. I try to get within 75 to 100 yards of a roosted bird. I don't call until they fly down. If they're really close I just give a few clucks when they hit the ground.

I hope that helps.