Bo Pitman's Second Secret to Consistently Taking Turkeys

Editor's Note: Bo Pitman, the lodge manager at White Oak Plantation near Tuskegee, Alabama, has hunted for most of his life. Today Pitman lives with his family -- his wife and two children -- at White Oak and pursues a career he loves. Hunters almost everywhere have heard of his turkey-hunting expertise and the often unusual tactics he uses to bag gobblers.

Question: What's your No. 2 secret to consistently taking turkeys?

Answer: Once you find a turkey, the easiest way to bag a tom is to figure out his routine. Remember, his routine may not be what you think turkeys are supposed to do, but they have routines for where they roost, where they feed, what they'll do during midday and where they go to loaf.

Question: Bo, everybody knows a turkey usually gobbles from the roost. Then he flies down to meet his hens, goes to a site to feed or water, moves to a spot to dust and next goes somewhere to loaf. But one thing you've learned and the second most-important thing about learning a daily routine is that turkeys don't all do the same thing.

Answer: Right, and you can't always predict what turkeys will do. A turkey doesn't look at a watch and say, "The time is 8:30 a.m. I'm supposed to gobble because I haven't gobbled in an hour."

Question: Turkeys have their own time, and they don't run on the same schedules we do, right? If you hear one gobble at 8:00 a.m. in the morning, that doesn't mean you can watch the time and know that he'll gobble at 8:00 a.m. the next morning.

Answer: That's right.

Question: But are there some consistencies in what turkeys do?

Answer: Yes. A turkey is just making a day, doing the same things. On the other hand, if you try to hunt a loner, a wanderer or a 2-year-old that doesn't have a home, then you can't predict what that gobbler will do.

Question: Those kinds of birds are the toughest ones, aren't they?

Answer: Yes. Sometimes these wandering, lonely turkeys may make you feel like you're doing something right because they're lonesome and wanting to assemble. They may come running up to you, which will make you feel good about your calling ability. But often if certain turkeys don't have homes and think they've run into a flock, they'll move on because they'll be afraid they're about to get whipped by the boss gobbler.

Question: Are those roaming gobblers the toughest ones to take?

Answer: Sometimes they are. But at other times, they want to assemble for some reason -- perhaps because they're lost. You just never know with a turkey what will happen for sure.

Question: But you have to learn a turkey's routine, even if he's a wanderer?

Answer: Yes, but you may want to leave a wandering turkey alone.

Question: A wandering turkey can ruin a season, can't he?

Answer: Oh, yes. A wandering turkey will run off and get across the property line if you let him.

Question: So you need to recognize when you've got turkeys you can pattern and when you're fooling with a turkey you can't pattern?

Answer: That's right if you want to be successful.

Question: One of the secrets when you've got a roaming turkey is knowing that if you try to spend the whole season on him, you still may not kill that bird, right?

Answer: That's true.

Question: So, you best back off from a roaming turkey and find some dumb turkeys to hunt that will do everything you expect.

Answer: Well, whether you decide to not hunt a roaming turkey all depends on what you want to do. Some people are gluttons for punishment and just have to hunt those kinds of birds. At White Oak, we mainly host folks who want to go home with turkeys. In that kind of situation, you need to find one you can kill, which is the turkey that stays in the same place.

For more information about White Oak Plantation's deer and turkey hunting, call or write White Oak Plantation, 5215 County Road 10, Tuskegee, Al 36083, (334) 727-9258.

To learn more about turkey hunting, go to Hunting Books at www.nighthawkpublications.com, or write or call Night Hawk Publications, 4112 Camp Horner Road, Birmingham, AL 35243, (800) 627-4295 to order by check or credit card. John E. Phillips has three fine turkey books full of how-to tactics for the novice as well as the expert still in print, including "Outdoor Life's Complete Turkey Hunting," "Masters' Secrets of Turkey Hunting" and "Turkey Tactics."

Tomorrow: Bo Pitman's Third Secret to Consistently Taking Turkeys

Check back each day this week for more about Bo Pitman's Secrets To Consistently Taking Turkeys ...

Day 1 -Bo Pitman's No. 1 Secret to Consistently Taking Turkeys
Day 2 -Bo Pitman's Second Secret to Consistently Taking Turkeys
Day 3 - : Bo Pitman's Third Secret to Consistently Taking Turkeys
Day 4 - Bo Pitman's Fourth Secret to Consistently Taking Turkeys
Day 5 -Bo Pitman's Fifth Secret to Consistently Taking Turkeys

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