[craigepo]

Killing turkeys in a crowd is pretty tough. I am blessed with living in the middle of some of the best turkey ground in the country. Here are some of the rules that have helped me:

1. Remember, hens go to toms. Toms don't go to hens. What you are doing is out of the ordinary for turkeys, so you have to make it easy for the tom. Otherwise, he either won't come, or a real hen will get there first.

2. I kill most of my turkeys laying on my belly. Usually, I have crawled at least 50 yards to get to the spot. Seldom do I get a gobbler that just decides to come over on his own accord, and when I do, its often because I am set up near a field the gobblers like to strut in.

3. Turkeys are perfect sentries. Awesome eyesight and hearing. Full camo, including face, hands and gun.

4. I have never really had luck with decoys. My experience has been that when the toms see the decoy, they instantly stop and strut, and before they get close enough for a shot, another hen shows up (remember, we have a lot of turkeys in Missouri). If you are going to use one, try to set it up so the tom will come closer, not stop out of range.

5. Use a locator call-I grew up turkey hunting, and can do a really good owl call with my mouth. Owl, crow, or woodpecker all work well. Gobble calls work, but be careful using them in the woods with unknown hunters.

6. Stalking---By far the best way to kill one, as long as you aren't inadvertantly crawling up to another hunter. If you can stalk, do it. Remember that, at your first call, the tom has heard you and knows where you are to about 20 meters of accuracy, so get as close as you can without spooking the bird before hitting your call.

7. Terrain---here in southern Missouri, gobblers will come to a call uphill, but seldom down. I have never figured it out, but I'm sure it makes good sense to turkeys.

8. Calling---I have best luck with a raspy, high pitched call. But it is handy to have at least two calls, each with different tones. Just like a 21 year old guy, toms are more likely to come around if there are more than one chick. Also, call sparingly. Additionally, dont worry so much about sounding perfect. Hens don't sound perfect. A good combination is a good sounding mouth call and a really raspy peg-and-slate call. On tough birds, start with the mouth call, then join in with the peg-and-slate.

9. The hunt-once a tom answers you, he is interested. Doesn't mean he will come in. Normally, his gobble would cause the hen to come to him. Call sparingly. Carefully change angles if he doesn't come.

10. If you are hunting deciduous timber, the leaves on the forest floor make a bunch of noise (oak, hickory, etc). Turkeys are used to hearing that noise; its natural. Use it to your advantage. If a turkey is getting close, slow down on the calling, and start scratching the leaves aggressively (like a turkey scratching for acorns). The bird will hear it from a long distance, and it works really, really well. Additionally, when birds have hung up on me, I have had a friend stay in a spot, gotten up and walked away loudly, kicking leaves and calling as I walked away. Sometimes (not always) the toms have come running.

11. Again, hunting pressured birds is tough. Even here, where we have tons of turkeys (I hear 3-4 from my front porch during spring) hunters will scare gobblers and "educate" them. Hunting a smart bird like this is really tough, and it happens a lot more when you have a high hunter density. Personally, the only luck I have had on the smart birds is stalking. Some become so call-shy they will shut up and go away after only a couple of calls.

12. Late birds--often, toms will find a hen early, go breed, then come come back about 9-10 o'clock or later and look for another hen. If you have time, and the birds shut up, hang out for an hour or two. These late gobblers are more aggressive, easier to kill, and many hunters have left the woods.

Hope this helps.