|
Post by eshoremd on Apr 15, 2005 4:28:09 GMT -5
im going tonight to where im hunting with my 11 yr old buddy michael on sat. linkwood wma. i was thinking 5pm-ish. should i try to find the birds roosting by hitting the crow call? i wanted to be there this morning but i got to deliver some carpet i sold at 9am up this way. should i just do a little calling or what? my buddy from work has givin me direction to an area there where he has consistantly taken birds over the last few years. should i sit and wait to see if the birds are vocal then call? call lightly, hard? or just start calling when i get there. can you guys give me a little help. im getting nervous. i took michael shooting yesterday with the 20g and he did great. we tried 3 different shells and 3 different chokes but we found the remington full choke with the remington hevy-shot 3" #4 did the best. i let him shoot at 30yrds at paper turkey targets then put him againt a tree with his face mask on and let him shoot full coke cans at 30 yrds. he shoots better than me so im not worried about him not making a good hit just getting him some birds in is the problem. ive only been turkey hunting twice and both times were with rick and he did all the work.
|
|
|
Post by freedomrules3 on Apr 15, 2005 9:13:46 GMT -5
not an expert here at all, but i wouldnt call at all. go to your area and just before it gets dark you will hear the birds fly up. believe me you should hear them if they are nearby. maybe a crow call or owl call, just to get a shock gobble maybe but i would stay away from any turkey calls. Hat knows turkeys and so does Bill, they should be able to answer ya better than me. rick
|
|
|
Post by hatracked on Apr 15, 2005 10:07:56 GMT -5
5 pm is way to early to hear a tom gobble on the roost. try being near where you think they are roosting by 730 and sitting still and listening. You can hear a bird fly up 150 yards away easilly. At darkthirty 815 or so an owl call might yank a gobble or two but dont be suprised if it doesnt. Roosting gobbling toms works on tv but not in the woods everytime. Id say it works 20 % of the time here. Northern toms seem far more apt to shock gobbling after roosting
What id be doing at 530 is sitting near a strut zone ( fields open glade in the woods, shelfs on ridges basically anywhere a tom can display in safety and be seen from long distances. Watch for birds to linger loaf gather then head toward roost around 730. Glassing fields is a worthwhile time expenditure in the evenings. Knowing where the birds are in the am is half the battle. Every chance you get you need to be in the woods in the morning listening before the days you intend to hunt. The info you will gain prior to hunting will shorten the amount of time it takes to patern and position for a kill.
Calling isnt all bad . If the birds ar gobbling the hens are making noise as well. You adding to the pot or putting your name in the hat so to speak aint going to hurt. Dont overcall maybe 30 seconds of yelping and clucking every ten minutes or soduring the morning hunt mid day i back it off to the half hours and if I get incredibly bored Ill just cluck and purr to keep myself from figeting.Biggest thing is dont call so much he doesnt think he needs to come look for you and dont out call the rest of the birds in the woods. If the hens are quiet you should be pretty quiet as well. I try and fit in for the most part unless being just a little more excited than the average hen is what its going to take to break a tom down.Thats a question you will ask yourself everytime you call for the rest of your turkey hunting carreer. Far as your skills at calling all I can say is Ive seen plenty of dead turkeys in the hands of guys with push pull calls so sounding good isnt an absolute nesscessity.
Good luck hope this helps your boy nail his tom.
|
|
|
Post by eshoremd on Apr 15, 2005 22:00:19 GMT -5
thanks guys. i didnt get there till 7:30pm cause i sat in traffic on rt. 50 for an hour and a half. i hate traffic! the hole time i kept thinking, "dont these people know i got a gun in here, get out of the way!" anyway i didnt see any sign of birds but im still going to try tomorrow. i did see 10 million deer and actually saw my first piebald. that was pretty cool. oh well, i got nothing to lose. thanks again for the advice.
|
|