Hal you know the man in fixing to reference and you know what he does each spring! I have a friend that does it quite often, especially on new pieces of ground, or ones he doesn't have much time to scout. Now he doesn't set out with the intentions of calling a bird up before the season but if he doesn't hear a bird responding to crows and or owls he will call to try and get a response. He said he usually will just do same plain yelping and or cutt a few times and that's it. If he doesn't get a response he goes down the road a piece and tries it again. I don't think he is harming every single bird in that area, nor do I think he's harming a bird that might gobble at his calling. This guy kills limits in GA and AL each year plus kentucky and where ever else he goes. Now he does NOT intentionally call up birds before season, if he gets a response that's good enough for him. How many times in a hunting situation have you called to a bird, he gobbles, and eventually walks away gobbling? I'm sure more than a few, what's the difference there? That bird isn't spooked beyond killing. Or maybe he has hens and is just giving a courteousy gobble, to me it's the same deal. Again I don't do it, i don't want to educate them more than I have to but if a man calls just enough to get a gobble on a piece of property he doesn't have much time to scout, gets his response and then eases back out, I don't see much damage if any.

The reason I asked this question is because some of the better Killas i know do call a lil before the season, and each year the same guys tag out. A few of them have enough birds for all of us to tag out with so I guess their theory is if I educate one I'll still have plenty( just like a cutt-n-runner). But the majority don't have tons of land with tons of birds, they have just enough for themselves. I don't normally ask folks if they do call before the season, I always just assumed that was an unspoken rule, and that you DONT!! But I have been surprised over the last few years to hear of the guys I know that wear them out each spring that do call before the season, that's why I asked.

Nope will not do it. Learned the lesson the hard way many moons ago. Although it is one of the ways I learned how to hunt.

And my lesson was more from my dad's wrath to not call turkeys before season than it was actually hunting call shy birds when season opened.

if you leave before the bird comes in there is no harm/no foul. Just the act of calling isn't going to spook a bird. Calling him up and letting him see you is a different story...

Yep, nothing makes them smarter than cutting and cackling like hell at em then scaring the chit out of them when they see you.

Damn right

Exactly.

What about the silent birds that slip up on you like ghosts, the ones that you never knew we're in the area? Lots of birds like that on public lands.

I don't call before the season so silent birds aren't a problem for me...

The guy I'm talking about hides and doesn't let them see him. So, he never spooks them. And he calls just like a live hen. I am not exaggerating to say that he averages better than 1 bird every 2 times out hunting. So, it apparently works very well for him.

I don't like to go into the areas I'm planning on to hunt before the season. I live too far from them to do that much anyway. I don't typically like them to have any idea humans are around until I squeeze the trigger come time to hunt. Human activity is not good if the idea is have the turkeys be at ease, IMO. But sometimes I need to know if there are any birds around. So I will call before the season if the need is right, which is not very often.

I call more before season than I do during.

Hal I just don't know if his theory really works,you know as well as I do that a turkey may be on fire ready to die one morning and the next henned up or just not in the mood,there are different factors everyday that may affect the birds behavior and killability like the weather may suck or predators in the area may have them tight lipped or skiddish or he may get separated from his hens and may run over you looking for them,you just never know,then theres birds that'll gobble a 100 times and not come to you and then there's birds that will gobble 10 but come on in,so his Theory on calling them to "guage" if they are killable or not don't make sense to me just because the slightest change in something will make them act different from day to day

Yeah that's a good post. Some days they are hard headed and some days they get suicidal. Sometimes the ones that gobble the best are the hardest ones to kill too.
If I blow any kinda turkey call to him my intention is to kill him

Funny but so very true!

Fred...not to go all 49er on you but please explain to the common folk on here what the following means regarding "disturbing, harrying and worrying", would that not be the same as harassing?

HUNTING DEFINED
Hunting includes pursuing, shooting, killing, capturing and trapping wild animals, wild birds, and all lesser acts, such as disturbing, harrying or worrying, or placing, setting, drawing or using any device used to take wild animals, wild birds, whether they result in taking or not, and includes every act of assistance to any person in taking or attempting to take wild animals or wild birds.

All true.

But he does it. He believes a birds personality and spot on the pecking order is the biggest dterming factor. But he's a bird brain. He's got a degree in wildlife biology and has a permit to raise wild birds for the past 30 years, so he's always around them and watching them. I think he's right though about the pecking order though. And I think if a hunter hunted according to his theory about it he'd be a better vhunter. I bought into it and it changed my approach in the woods. Rightly or wrongly.

I don't like for folks to spook birds and tromp around in the woods. So I don't think anyone ought to be encouraged to do that before the season.

I think there's a lot more downside to doing it. I used to go call to some inside city limits just for fun.