Using calls to move turkey

Been watching pinhoti project alot and these guys do a lot more than just hear a gobble move straight in sit down and call. They always look at map to find terrain and the higher ground they expect turkey to take. Almost like setting up for a buck based on wind. But they actively walk down call to make the turkey walk in front of their set up. I want to hear from the turkey gurus about using calls and terrain to make a Tom walk in front of you in a place more killable.

When I hear him gobble in the tree, I try to ease as close as possible and set up. I'll then do a few light tree yelps to let him know I'm in the area and try to entice him to fly down in my direction. May even do a fly down cackle if I'm not too close. Unfortunately, it only works about 10% of the time that is he flies down right in your lap and boom he's dead, done by 6:30. Contrary to what you see on TV at least for me anyways that rarely happens. The vast majority of the time, they fly down and start walking in the opposite direction. I back out and try to predict where he is going and try to get there before he does. I then try a few calls to get him within gun range.

If you tree call or cackle while he's still on the limb around here, he gone......lol.

Not meaning off the limb. I mean when the bird is working.

I used to hunt with a fella from Eutaw that would think and plan where to sit when he heard a bird on the limb. We might walk all the way around a bird to sit on the other side. He killed a lot of gobblers.

Did you get to the uphill side? May not even be hills in that area of the world.

low hills and swamp.

Is there any other way?

For gobblers at least. Not sure about Toms. I know a few Toms. I usually just text them instead of calling.

I thought the same. I always put a plan together before I go after them.

Where I hunt, if you pussy-foot around trying to find the perfect setup, odds are they’ll go quiet and you’ll never get in the game.

Until they figure out how to plug one man’s thinking into another’s with a SD card, the magic formula you’re asking for is only going to be found after a couple hundred days chasing turkeys in the spring woods.

The best thing you can do is get into the woods early, earlier than you think you need to be there and be where you think the gobbler is going to be before he gobbles. Pay attention to how the turkeys use the terrain and what they do each time they beat you and you can shorten the learning curve. What those guys are doing is applying past experience and knowledge to the conditions of the current setup -which are different every time. A great turkey hunter can kill more turkeys than a good one can without picking up a call.

Not like I'm an expert like some of the turkey killers on here, but I've heard it's easier to get a bird to come up a hill to you than to try to call him down the hill. I've also been told that it's so hard for hunters to figure out what they are going to do because turkeys are so dumb even they don't know what they are going to do 30 seconds from now. I just try to set up where I know they've gone in the past and hope they do it again. Usually they don't but that is why I enjoy killing them when I can get it right.

I have a plan that takes into account terrain, vegetation, history with the place if I have any etc... BUT usually this game plan is going on in my head while I’m on my horse headed his way. Too many times it’s over before I could ever get in the game.

I believe I’ve killed more turkeys by knowing what they like to do than anything else, and every turkey can be different. They usually roost in the same areas every year and they fly down and go this way 9 times out of ten, or they may roost over here and walk this road towards x food plot. There’s patterns to it but they can be very difficult.... especially with jealous hens. The terrain is one of the driving forces to how they move or what they like to do.

Anytime you call a turkey you are moving him , I reckon . Way I see it , if there's high ground, take the high ground and call him to it. I've only been hunting them serious for 4-5 years , my advisers tell me to set up in a place the turkey wants to come. One of them tells me if they'll come 100 yards , they'll come 200.

I’m always checking an aerial map when making a game plan on new property. I print one off to keep in my pocket if I don’t think I’ll have enough service throughout the day. A gobbler is a conceited bird, he wants to be where he can see and be seen. The height of the grass in certain areas/times of the season makes a difference in my setup choices too. He doesn’t want to wade through 2ft tall rye wet grass even if you’re on top of the prettiest hill.

There are as many ways to hunt turkeys as there are turkey hunters. There are the wait by a decoy crowd, move to them with a fan crowd and the yelp 3 times and wait crowd. The most fun you will have is calling and cutting the distance. It doesn't always work and you can and will get busted but when the plan comes together, it is nothing short of magical.

Trying to give a tutorial is useless. Everything depends on terrain, vegetation and the demeanor of the local turkeys. Generally calling a gobbler up a hill is more effective. As was explained to me years ago. If you are moving towards a turkey, don't do it in a straight line. Zigzag towards him, calling only on the edges and moving up only when safe. If you go towards him and call then he will sit and strut and wait for the hen to get to him.

Experience is the best teacher. Always remember that you only have to be right once, the gobbler has to be right every time.

Know the woods like the back of your hand. Call until he gobbles, then shut up, get ready and wait. He's coming, how long it takes him to get there, well that's a whole different story. Most people overcall and move around too much. When you think you need to move, don't. You'll kill way more turkeys after 9am than you ever will before 9, if you'll just stay in the woods.

I used to think like this, the first several years I hunted them. I especially did on hunts where I was against the clock (before work hunt) and my only real shot of getting one killed on that day would essentially be an off the roost hunt. I called up a bunch of turkeys that I had essentially ZERO chance of killing (and didn't) because my setup was so terrible. Every hunt and situation is different, but when it comes to my more local, on private land, not much chance of anybody killing him but me kinda turkeys....I will walk off and and head to work (for short hunts) or wait/maneuver/listen/scheme for hours (when I have plenty of time) before I will make a call from a horrible setup (turkeys will use mountainous terrain/thickets/rocks and make you look/feel like a damn fool around here). And there is a way higher probability of him dying these days as a result too. I dearly love being in the game too, but not at the expense of relegating myself to almost impossible odds of killing him if/when I call him up.

Turkey hunter ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I don’t have any trouble setting down in a killing spot, the tricky part is setting down in a killing spot that coincides with what that bird wants to do.

I agree. Completely. Point is you can overthink it...

Turkey killer^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

there's no one secret to judging how a birds going to repsond or how ones going to travel. I've had them walk through the thicket crap you can find in S AL, come up a hill, down a hill, around a ridge, drop down into a bottom and take the creek etc. etc. just being in an area hearing birds from the roost to how they move once on the ground or even if they shut up once their on the ground can give you all the info you need to put yourself in position to kill him. what you do once you're in that position is what determines if you're successful in my opinion

This, I haven't watched the videos but I thought that is just how turkey hunting was. Difference between me and my best turkey buddy is that I like to lead that turkey to the spot with my calling. He likes to get to the spot prior to calling using locators or waiting for the bird to gobble on his own. Both ways can be successful but mine can be more fun.

I don't get bent out of shape over the use of Tom. (Tom, longbeard, gobbler, SOB, and fatherless child can be used...I don't care)

When you mention how your buddy is so different it causes me to think about something similar. I have had the best luck when hunting with someone that offsets the way I hunt. I’m sometimes less aggressive than a few friends. And it seems we both benefit from the other when together.