Turkey Decoys & Calls

[Buchholz06]

With the season starting in a couple weeks here in Florida, I’m thinking about trying to bow hunt a turkey. Curious to see if anyone has a suggestion on decent affordable decoys? Is a hen a the best all around option?

Also, any advice on a simple beginner turkey call to get me started?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Autumnrider]

Cherokee decoys......light, compact and you blow them up like a balloon.


Early season. ..... I like to use a jake or tom decoy or both (1st week or 2) at 10 - 15 yards cause the Tom's are fighting and still setting the pecking order.....gobble call and fight callin is my favorites...... accomplish the fighting sounds with hard loud purs with a pot call (slate) and diaphragm calls.

After the first couple of weeks.....tom following hen....tom closest to me at 10 - 15 yards and hen on out at 25 - 30 yards Tom's will come to the tom decoy before hen decoy.....reason.....Tom's are looking for for love and hens are becoming interested....

Mid season....1 or 2 strutting toms (still closest) with 2 - 4 or more hen decoys....reason.....Tom's are henned up at this time... like to sound like multiple amount of turkeys... use multiple calls and some at the same time.

2/3 through season....one hen and Tom (strutt or follower) ..... reason.... hens are starting to nest but not all of them. On into the morning, 9 o'clock to 10:30 or so, I like trying to get a tom fired up by loud cuts and yelps

End of season....couple of gobblers and that's all....the hens are nesting and the Tom's are starting to group back up. Purs and raspy, longer, slow yelps like a tom or jake.

 

[Buchholz06]

Cherokee decoys......light, compact and you blow them up like a balloon.


Early season. ..... I like to use a jake or tom decoy or both (1st week or 2) at 10 - 15 yards cause the Tom's are fighting and still setting the pecking order.....gobble call and fight callin is my favorites...... accomplish the fighting sounds with hard loud purs with a pot call (slate) and diaphragm calls.

After the first couple of weeks.....tom following hen....tom closest to me at 10 - 15 yards and hen on out at 25 - 30 yards Tom's will come to the tom decoy before hen decoy.....reason.....Tom's are looking for for love and hens are becoming interested....

Mid season....1 or 2 strutting toms (still closest) with 2 - 4 or more hen decoys....reason.....Tom's are henned up at this time... like to sound like multiple amount of turkeys... use multiple calls and some at the same time.

2/3 through season....one hen and Tom (strutt or follower) ..... reason.... hens are starting to nest but not all of them. On into the morning, 9 o'clock to 10:30 or so, I like trying to get a tom fired up by loud cuts and yelps

End of season....couple of gobblers and that's all....the hens are nesting and the Tom's are starting to group back up. Purs and raspy, longer, slow yelps like a tom or jake.

Awesome info. Thank you Sir.

 

[Autumnrider]

Awesome info. Thank you Sir.

Your more than welcome.
This is what the turkeys are doing during turkey season here in North Mississippi. Remember, it can be different in your hunting area so just remember, as you hunt turkey, realize what is going on with the turkeys and write notes in your phone or in a notebook. As the years pass, you will have a pattern that will work.
Good luck and remember....each turkey is different so learn everything you can cause you will not know what they will throw at you tomorrow.

 

[Bigterp]

Agree with everything above. If I was coming in cold here are a few things I wish I knew when I started. If you have the chance try & roost a bird the night before, not necessary but it sure helps to have a place to start. Don’t get too close the next morning. If it doesn’t happen first thing, late morning to lunch are awesome for finding a lone hot bird. You don’t have to be a great caller, a slate call is a great place to start, soft is better. If you get a response don’t overdo it call sparingly. Make him seek you out. I used to love to make them gobble & in the end got them so fired up they would hang up & then the jig is up.
Just my 2 cents, good hunting to ya, spring gobblers are addicting!!

 

[Buchholz06]

You don’t have to be a great caller, a slate call is a great place to start, soft is better.

Thanks for your 2 cents it all adds up. This was a good tidbit. Any recommendation on a slate call?

 

[Bigterp]

Thanks for your 2 cents it all adds up. This was a good tidbit. Any recommendation on a slate call?

I have a collection but really only use 2, I’ll look at them & send a pic when I get home. If you can learn to run a mouth call that’s really helpful. Just get a few & do it while your driving back & forth to work......... its a really odd feeling at first, but man once you get it you got it! But it’s totally not a necessity especially early on. You can shoot em in the face just fine w a box or slate. I personally think a slate is just really versatile, super soft tree yelps early, putts & purrs for feeding talk & great yelps & cutts for excited stuff.

 

[Apex7]

I like Avian X breeder hen and a funky chicken . I have taken quite a few long beards with my bow. I use quite a few diaphragm calls and slate and glass calls H&S strut make some nice calls and so does Primos but my slate and glass calls are hand made in Pennsylvania. I also use Bullhead broadheads made by Magnus all you do is have to shoot them in the throat or head and they take them down fast.

 

[Bigterp]

I have a collection but really only use 2, I’ll look at them & send a pic when I get home. If you can learn to run a mouth call that’s really helpful. Just get a few & do it while your driving back & forth to work......... its a really odd feeling at first, but man once you get it you got it! But it’s totally not a necessity especially early on. You can shoot em in the face just fine w a box or slate. I personally think a slate is just really versatile, super soft tree yelps early, putts & purrs for feeding talk & great yelps & cutts for excited stuff.

Ok I have 3 in my vest , prob really only need 2. But have a 3rd one that runs good wet. This Zink Power Hen is great (loud) my older one is a Primos Freak (soft). Like them both, I’d tinker around w/ different material strikers before I started a big collection though..... you could run one slate w/ 3 different strikers & have different hens. Those both have crystal in them, I little higher frequency & I can run them both if it’s a bit damp or humid. Have had some other slate/glass calls that were paperweights unless it was a bluebird day.

 

[donnieballgame]

Don't wanna derail the thread but I have 2 questions for the turkey bow hunters. Last year was my first real season turkey hunting, although I tried a little in my youth.

1. From a tree, blind, nothing(ground)?
2. What do you use for run and gun? Vest? What kind if so?

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[Bigterp]

So this is my first year in a saddle & have no experience to report w that I know @Ontariofarmer mentioned using the tree for cover. I’ll add it to the arsenal & report back. As far as bow I’ve never been in a tree for spring gobblers have taken a few opportunistically while archery for deer....... 1. so a blind is great but not a run & gun set, if your on the ground you just need some great background cover & decoys b/c they come in looking hard..... 2. Run & gun yeah definitely a vest (but I use a vest for all turkey hunting) I just got that new alpz one last season (awesome has a small kickstand for back support, if no large trees) . Best advice for turkey with a bow is if you can get him to fan & strut for the decoy , you can get drawn if his fan blocks his head. Otherwise it’s kinda hard to snap shoot, cause he’s gonna booger when you draw for the most part unless you can get a few yards back into the woodline & he comes into the dekes parallel to the cover. It’s definitely doable but make sure you’re in a target rich environment b/c it’s likely going to need a few opportunities to seal the deal. On that note I might consider hammering a few w/ #5s just to get a feel for good setups & how to pull it off in general...... I don’t want to discourage you either, it can be done but it’s upping the stakes a bit.

 

[Ontariofarmer]

Just to clarify. I sit 6 inches off the ground with a guidos web and sit behind a large tree two or three medium size trees. I am not in an elevated position.
That said I did kill a turkey one fall from a tree with a bow using the tree as cover. I usually carry a turkey and deer tag in the fall just in case.

Both turkeys I shot within 10 yards on the ground last spring. They came to my decoys and never saw me behind the trees. To shoot I push off the tree and rested my shotgun against the side of the tree and take my shot.

I expect I could do the same with a bow too

I have only hunted turkeys for 2 years and i have got 3 toms - all from a saddle. Two from the ground and one in a tree. I guess I am lucky.

 

[huck72412]

Just to clarify. I sit 6 inches off the ground with a guidos web and sit behind a large tree two or three medium size trees. I am not in an elevated position.
That said I did kill a turkey one fall from a tree with a bow using the tree as cover. I usually carry a turkey and deer tag in the fall just in case.

Both turkeys I shot within 10 yards on the ground last spring. They came to my decoys and never saw me behind the trees. To shoot I push off the tree and rested my shotgun against the side of the tree and take my shot.

I expect I could do the same with a bow too

I have only hunted turkeys for 2 years and i have got 3 toms - all from a saddle. Two from the ground and one in a tree. I guess I am lucky.

@Ontariofarmer , when does your turkey season open ????

 

[Ontariofarmer]

@Ontariofarmer , when does your turkey season open ????

Third week of April until end of May and then we have a month of bow hunting in October or two weeks of shotgun in October.
Turkeys were re introduced in Ontario in the late 1980s and the numbers have gone way up.
We imported some good old American turkeys. Immigrants.

We can buy two tags in the spring and one in the fall. I should mention that I had tag soup in the fall. But I just buy it so I can kill a turkey with the bow when hunting deer. Normally an elevated position is not a good idea for turkeys but in the fall I have had them under a tree and used the tree for cover.
Last fall I had one fly up and roost above me when deer hunting at dusk. Of course I had no shot through branches. Eventually he saw me and decided to move.

In the fall I really do not hunt turkey but just hope that opportunity knocks when deer hunting.
In the fall I don't use decoys or calls but just hope for an opportunity. I have had three opportunities in the fall in three years but only managed to kill one. A bow kill is not easy. 20 feet up at a small target.

 

[Autumnrider]

When bow hunting, run and gun, I use a mouth call, one slate and a box call. All these will fit in my shirt pocket and the box fits my leg pocket on my pants. Don't use a vest just because of the bulk and I don't want my bow string to have a chance to snag anything.
I also put my decoys (2) in the other leg pocket. I just ordered montana flock so I'll have to figure out something else for those.

I mentioned to mention, my favorite call is the box simply cause it's easy and I can make any call a turkey can. The next is the pot call.

 

[jryser]

Favorite call ever - Hook's custom calls for diaphragm. I like Lonzo's calls for pot and peg; have a green slate and aluminum. And then my box call is an Ed Terefencko. Many birds have walked right into a face full of #5s!!! Dekes now are just an Avian X breeder and a Reaper fan.


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