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John's Journal...
Entry
76, Day 1
The Biggest Mistake Turkey Hunters Make
EDITOR'S
NOTE: Eddie Salter of Evergreen, Alabama, makes his living as a professional
hunter, caller and seminar speaker. He's a longtime, personal friend and
has helped me learn how to hunt turkeys more effectively. Salter works
with Hunter's Specialties.
Question: Eddie, what's the biggest mistake most
turkey hunters make when they go in the woods and hear a turkey gobbling
in the morning?
Answer: A lot of times turkey hunters call too much to a bird on
a roost and get the bird all worked-up. Then that tom will sit up there
waiting on the hen to come to him. I always suggest you do a little bit
of tree calling and wait for the tom to hit the ground before you feed
him a lot of cutting. That's when I get excited. I think some of my success
when turkey hunting has come because I always wait until the bird hits
the ground before I try to pump him up and get him excited.
Question:
So, one of the mistakes that turkey hunters make is calling to a tom too
much when he's on the roost gobbling, right?
Answer: That is correct.
Question: Now the other thing that happens if
you're hunting on public lands is you sometimes call in other hunters
if you make a tom on the roost gobble a lot, don't you?
Answer:
You do, and I always try to stress that when I'm doing seminars. But,
if, you've got a bird gobbling, especially on public grounds, I think
in early season you need to be aggressive. What I mean by aggressive is
if you start calling that bird and he cuts your call off, then that bird
is telling you he's very killable. So many times hunters will sit and
call and call, instead of being aggressive and perhaps using a crow call
to make that tom gobble and then move on that bird. After 25-30 minutes
if he's cutting your call off before you complete it, he'll end up gobbling
up another hunter or a hen. Then you'll be sitting there and thinking
you've messed-up because you've called too much or maybe think your call
wasn't good. Actually, that didn't have anything to do with the fact that
the turkey didn't come. He simply gobbled up a hen or another hunter because
you sat there and made him gobble.
Tomorrow: How Many Calls Do You Need for Turkey Hunting
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