Bo Pitman's Fifth 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: Tell me about the importance of patience when you hunt turkeys. How do you know when to sit and when to go? I realize that patience is determined by making a judgment call of when to stay seated and when to get up and move. I've seen you before move in a heartbeat, but I've also watched you sit in the same place for three hours.

Answer: You must be confident in your setup and in the fact that the turkey will come.

Question: What gives you that knowledge? What lets you know the turkey will come?

Answer: You must know that gobbler's routine.

Question: What else gives you the patience to wait out a slow bird?

Answer: If I'm tired anyway, then I'll certainly have the patience to sit still and wait out a turkey.

Question: One of your favorite tactics is to sleep in the woods, isn't it? What's the advantage of sleeping in the woods when you have a slow turkey?

Answer: When you're asleep, you're not moving, talking or worrying about what the turkey is doing.

Question: How many times have you awakened and seen a gobbler in front of you?

Answer: That's happened to me a bunch of times.

Question: How hard a time do you have getting your clients to sit still or go to sleep?

Answer: Often getting my clients to sit still or go to sleep depends on whether or not our hunt is the client's first or last day. You generally can't get clients to take naps on the first day, but this task isn't hard on the last day of someone's hunt since we have to get up so early to hunt turkeys.

Question: Why is napping on gobblers one of your favorite tactics?

Answer: I like to nap on gobblers because we're still out there in the woods. You're certainly not going to take one sleeping at the house, but you may while sleeping in the woods.

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."

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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