I want to hit turkey hard this spring, so I'm going to try and get going on everything now. I know even turkey loads ammo is going to be easy to find. I'm not new to hunting, just new to turkey hunting.

I already have:
A camo blind
a chair
Remington 887 28"
probably whatever clothes I need
I believe a good spot picked out.

What I think I need
Box call? Diaphram call? Both?
What load should I use?
What choke should I use?

What's the go to call? Is there anything else I am forgetting?

Oh decoy too. Do I need an expansive one, or will a $40 decoy work fine enough?

You need to pattern your gun for your load and choke used. I read an article and saw a Youtube on a Kick's choke in a Benelli. The Benelli factory choke tubes outperformed the aftermarket. Get a diaphragm call and practice for the next 3.5 months.

I use Winchester XR 3.5" #6 and they pattern awesome out of my Benelli. They shoot better than 4 different HeavyShot loads I tested.

Decoys are unneccessary. I would ditch the chair and the blind. Get a good vest with a seat. Running and gunning is way more fun than sitting in a blind.

Works for me, thanks!

I'll look into the vest and seat. The spot I have picked out is my buddies back yard. I think he's on about 10 acres backed up to a swampy public land, but I don't see a lot of moving around. I've seen lot's of turkeys walk through his place in the past though.

I've been planning on going out for the past few years, but life always got in the way someway or another. I had always planned on using my shotgun. The current ammo situation has got me re-thinking the bow now, but I really hope I can get enough ammo to pattern a bit.

Ditch the blind, ditch the chair.

Full camo. Head to toe, including a face mask and gloves, and for gods sake don’t let your white socks show when your pants ride up as you’re snuggled next to an oak tree waiting for Tom to come in.

Get a turkey vest with a built in seat cushion. I like the cabelas higher end vests.

Get a box call and a slate call. Practice. Mouth calls don’t work for me.

Get some camo tape or a camo sleeve for your shotgun.

Get out there an hour before official sunrise and go to your listening post. Wait for that first gobble and figure out how you’re going to set up on him. Set up 80-100 yards out. Don’t hammer him with calling. Less is more. He’ll fly down after gobbling on the roost for anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour. Hope there’s no hens in between you and him.

He might come in silent, and he might circle around you and come in from behind.

Don’t shoot too early. You’ll have one chance, don’t fuck it up. My closest kill was something like 7 yards, my farthest 42 yards, but most between 20 and 30 yards.

And have fun.

DSC_5312-Turkey SBS by FredMan, on Flickr

I love using a decoy. My preferred is the Avian-x brand. An upright hen. About $100

Don’t use cheap foam decoys. I don’t like anything other than a single hen but other folks have success with a hen and gobbler or a hen and Jake.

Ammo wise I like #5 shot in a Federal flite control wad offering. I shoot that with modified.

Here’s some post season vid I shot a few years back with that decoy. He figures it out at the very end.

He was way down at the bottom of the field, maybe 200 yards out and gobbling, ran to the house and set up the camera and decoy, and gave a few calls with a slate, and left the area.

@FredMan That is a sweet Benelli setup. How does that thing pattern out to 45-50yds with that shorty on it?

I agree with the Cabelas vest. I think I have the "Tactical Tater 2" or something like that. It's a great vest.

@Berger24
Haven’t actually patterned it out that far, but I’ve never not made the kill with modified choke and Fed Flite Control shells. I’m shooting 3” 1-5/16 oz No. 5 copper plated lead in 20 ga.

Farthest with that gun was something like 30 yards.

Flite Control wads are magic.

Thank you for the information! This really helps. I'm very excited to get out and give it a try.

What distance do you pattern?

For locating turkeys, should I start going out right away in the morning and see if I can get some shock gobbles?

I thought I had a few spots lined up, but everyone is suddenly telling me it's been a quite a while since they have seen turkeys. There are a few public spots that I'm thinking I'll try out now.

Solid advice. @FredMan has the beards to prove it.
I use mostly slate calls. Slate, ceramic and aluminum. Wood strikers, carbon strikers and metal.
Have a couple of box calls also. Haven't had much luck with mouth calls either.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying patterning is worthless, but I do think it’s over emphasized a bit.

Truly, any brand name load in 5 or 6 shot, buffered, is probably going to be ok. I don’t put much stock into super secret squirrel exotic turkey loads, an expensive solution in search of a problem.

That being said 99% of your shots are going to be at  20-30 yards, so check your choke and load at those ranges.

As for locating, hopefully you’ve done some pre season scouting. Look for their scratching in the woods, leaves and litter will be all scratched up.

On day of hunt, I like to get to a listening post either near where I think they may roost, or more or less in the middle of a property a full hour before official sunrise. They’ll gobble on the roost for 15 minutes to over an hour, but usually about a half hour. That gives you time to go set up, I try for about 100 yards out, in a spot that looks good. Hard to describe, but you’ll know it when you see it.

If you’ve got them gobbling but won’t come in they’re likely henned up. Nothing you can do about that but go have breakfast, take a nap, and try again in a few hours or mid day after hens have bred and/or gone to sit on their nest.

A really good way to locate them, if you’ve got the patience, is to try to roost them the night before. Go out to your tract maybe an hour before sunset and don’t do a thing but just sit and listen. They won’t always gobble in the evening, but if they do it’ll be in that time between sunset and full dark. If you do roost one you need to sneak out as quietly as possible and return the next morning WAY early and get set up before he even thinks about gobbling. 80-100 yards out. Let him do his thing at daybreak, maybe give him 10-15 minutes of roost gobbling before you try some nice soft yelps, clucks, and purrs.

When he flies down I like to hit him with some louder yelps and clucks, just one set of calling, and wait for him to show up. Might be 30 seconds, might be 90 minutes.

You WILL fuck it up. You WILL reach up to scratch your nose and watch that Tom that snuck in silent from the side go running off. You WILL bust him off the roost when you walk under his tree and didn’t even know he was there.

You WILL try every trick in your book for 5 hours only to have him decide to be elsewhere.

You WILL have him strutting a drumming, coming in all hot and heavy, thinking this is it! when he'll step behind a blade of grass and flat out VANISH.

You WILL have mornings like I had today with virtually no gobbling at dawn, you’ll walk 400 acres for 6 hours and think they’re extinct, andthen at 12:03 pm, 3 minutes after shooting hours are over, have three of the motherfuckers start gobbling like they’ve never gobbled before, just over the rise in the field your set up in, 80 yards away.

But then, every once in a while, you’ll be in the right place at the right time doing the right things and Fortune will smile at you and you’ll tag your bird. My hit rate is about 20%. Each gobbler I’ve shot represents 30-40 hours of unsuccessful hunting.

But if it was easy it wouldn’t be fun, and there’s nothing as pulse-pounding, heart attack inducing, hands shaking exciting as watching that big ol Tom come strutting in to your decoy and dropping the hammer.

I remember the moments leading up to every kill as clear as day and they’re some of my fondest memories.

And this folks, sums it's all right up.

VERY well said.

This year in Maine has been beyond frustrating.

Put in countless hours.

Multiple chess matches with Tom's and Jake's getting henned up before getting I to my kill box.

Then today, when I've almost given up, no gobbles, no action, no sighting, a Jake gobbles 7 yards behind me at a Crow and stand thier stupidly and let's me nuke him.

It's one of the most interesting animals to hunt, my second favorite after Black Bear.

Attached File

Well the OP does not list where he is hunting....

I know where I hunt a thermacell is a big deal.

I do love my Browning Strutter Chair - it allows me to back up to any palmetto clump and sit and face where I want - keeps my A$$ off of the wet ground - the planted pines will hold water between the rows and not very comfortable to lean up against.

I also use the Sawer Clothing spray for taking care of the ticks....

If the birds are not calling...pick your spot and call ever 15 to 30 mins and just be quite and do not move....

There are all sorts of calls - get some cheap ones to play with....get a couple of high end ones to chearris...

I love the work by Pat Strausser.

Long time ago - my stepmother gave me two calls by Lamar Williams (he is local)  His box calls sell for 300 and up - he is about ready to retire - would love to get anther box call from him to put the one that that I have been using - it sounds sweet....

the second call that I have from Lamar is a box turtle slate - that one I will not take into the woods - looking for a box turtle shell to build my own....

Get ready to have fun and schooled by a dinosaur....

LOL

Red