Hey yall I've been wanting to get into Turkey hunting for some time now. I'm a skilled hunter in Predtor,Deer,and Waterfowling. What are some things that I would need and to know before getting started? Thanks in advance for your help.

buy some calls and practice

I agree with Preston, get a few calls and practice. I used a mix bag of calls:

Locator calls (owl primarily) to get turkey to gobble at first light as soon as the birds and animals start moving, I would start calling.

Slate call. I used a MAD super aluminator call, it was very loud and I could get turkey to respond from up to 1 miles.

Diaphram calls- great to use if you get a bird coming in so you can get your gun ready.

Decoys- I use the jake and 2 hen combo. I put one of the hens in the breeding position and a jake behind her. The Toms don't seem to like it...

All over camo, you will need it. They can see you blink

I recommend scouting a few days before season, look for strutting birds, droppings, feathers, and listen for gobbles...

ok great info thanks! I will get on the stick after I get all of it figured out next thing is to find a place that has birds on it lol

And a facemask thingamaboober! Get 'em Preston!!!

scout, scout, scout

If you have cattle on the property, look for cow patties flipped over, its a good sign they are in the area.

Your damn right haha

Really? This I have never heard of.

He meant to say look for cow's that are flipped over...You know, Cow Tipping...Those effn turkeys are king sized kooksters they are.

Actually turkey's will flip over dry cow patties looking for bugs to eat. I personally have never used this when scouting. I prefer to look for dusting areas, sturt zones and first and foremost just listening at day break and sun set for birds to sound off.

killin' me here! dead on with the other scouting tip's though.

Start by finding turkey's, on my first turkey hunt ever we had one box call a shotgun and some army surplus camo and turkey's all over us. If you scout correctly and leave the bird's alone you will most likely begin to notice a pattern. Come opening day if your set up in that pattern you will need nothin' more than a shotgun. Now on the other hand yes I carry 20 different call's for different situation's - b-mobile for a tom lookin' for a fight (last year I watched 1 tom strut the same field every day at the same time. I snuck in there with BJ Cotten and the result's are on youtube. I simply belly crawled B-mobile out into the edge of the field and he came runnin' after I shook that gobble tube at him once -no hen call's made. The ending was not so great when BJ missed at 8 yard's but man he was hooked forever.) If I had to say so I believe scouting is the most important turkey tip anyone can give. Now don't get me wrong here I am a scouting machine and there are ton's of times that I scout and have em' all over me then come time to take a gun and not hear a thing. Nothin' you can do about it but have patience it might not happen today or tomorrow but sooner or later he is gonna go lookin' for those hen's and you have to have patience patience patience. Commit to a bird set up facing his gobbles and call at him. If he is a mile away and answering your call don't move toward's him tryin' to close the distance if he want's to come he will. You will bump way more bird's than you will kill tryin' to get closer. If he is not gettin' closer and not wanting to come in most of the time getting closer won't help anyway. Also hunt late morning's. A turkey's natural thing to do in the mornin' is strut his hen's and show his dominance over other males. Late mornin' the flock tend's to move around and that boss gobbler will stick around protecting his field or territory. That's when a lone hen or b-mobile in his field will catch him way off guard! Good luck man hope this help's a little.

P.S. I'm with SM on this one! Start out with simple scouting listening in the morning's and checking for roosting, strutting, and feeding zones. I don't think I would go with the Cow patty technique right off the bat.

Imagine you are a gobbler. Now imagine a 200 yard circle
surrounding you. You have 360 degrees of choices
of the direction that you can travel.

Now think about where you are standing as a hunter.
What are the odds that the very spot you are
occupying is that degree that the gobbler
really wants to be in? Too often we set up
in the first spot that we hear a gobble.

Be where he wants to go and the battle is
80% in your favor.

In my defense, the cow patty tip was just an easy clue to see if you have turkeys and where they may be. I completely agree that getting in the woods and scouting is the best way to hunt. I just wanted to throw something out there that you may not have heard or thought of. I agree it sounds silly.

Oh and I forgot. Look for upside cow patties. And stay away from the ones that have mushrooms growing from them. Mallard told me that they are the Devil.

Patience,patience, and more patience has killed more gobblers for me than anything else. Always be aware of your surroundings..those big birds have a way of just appearing out of thin air sometimes.


Gman

If your hunting a new place set up feeders. I know alot of guys think this is cheating. You don't have to hunt over the feeders but it sure helps to bring them into your area. Especially on small properties. Feeders are nice too when your hunting with kids.

I have only been going for 3 years or so now but I am hooked solid. Being from the Shreveport area we hunted ducks, deer and squirrel mainly but when I moved up by LBJ I had my first turkey hunt and I love it. I agree scouting seems to be the most important thing. I only have a vest, a box call, a locator, and a shotgun with a turkey choke but have killed at least 2 birds in each fall and spring season. I watched you tube ALOT and also just went and sat in the woods and tried to mimic what i heard the birds do. I find it very addicting because the birds are so freaking smart and aware of everything that they may be close to you but you still have no chance of getting them.

Here is a good part 1 and 2 article about Turkey hunting basics. Also, ask lots of questions, these guys (not me) on this forum know alot about longbeards.

part 1:
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores...ectType=article

part 2:
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores...ectType=article