Need some guidance on turkey hunting

Last chance for me is next weekend...

Have a rough idea of where the roost is (within 100 yards)

My calling skills are average at best.

Does anyone know an idiot proof way of attracting turkeys?

Last time I got in the deer blind and tried to snipe one (to no avail)

I'm desperate here guys.

Get a decoy. Sit your butt down behind a bush (some sort of pad is helpful) before dawn, after you put the decoy out at max shotgun range. Wait until you hear them coming off the roost, and yelp...just a little bit. Don't over do it. The less you call, the less they'll figure out that that bush is moving when you point and shoot. Easy does it. Don't wear your Bud Light hat.

I like to also "purr" on a box call. It means she's found food, or...she's "in the mood".

Full disclosure: I missed a gobbler at 30 yards a few weeks ago...with a full-choke old model 12. (I yanked the trigger when it didn't go "boom".) So - what do I know?
If I decide to get serious about killing a tough old bird next year I'll haul the Bennelli out here.

Agree with Creek except I will give a couple light yelps while they are on the roost, seems to get them riled up and ready and know which direction to go, I've had them fly right in within 10 yards on occasion.

The one and only time my wife went as the hunter, used this set up on birds roosted about 175 yards of, at the crack of daylight, she had 3 to pick from within 20-30 feet

Thanks guys I’m gonna give that a try.

I’ll post a picture if I bag one

Agree with what’s been said here. I will add, if you have a high hen population and the bird is off the roost, gobbling, but not coming to you, That’s your sign to get aggressive and go to them. They will most likely be on a hen and gobbling to gobble but with no intent to leave her. By this time, the real hens should be finished so hopefully less competition.

Be coy. Over calling is a big rookie mistake. Once you get a return gobble, slow it down.

And stay out all day.

Was about to type that. Turkeys are out all day, I have killed late season gobblers from daylight until after sundown.

As others have noted, less is more when it comes to getting a Tom to come to you. I hunted with an old timer who said that once a Tom answers you, shut up and let his emotions get the best of him. This man hunted turkeys all his life and claimed that if a gobbler answers you just once, you can rest assured he will walk through the area before the end of the day. And should you get one "hung up", send him a single series of soft purrs and then shut up again. Hens should be close to setting if they haven't already started so the gobblers should be much easier to work now. And remember, wary old gobblers seldom come running it like a rutting buck. It's a matter of who has the best and most patient eye when it comes to who will win the match.

Good luck!

You don't have to be able to do a lot of fancy calling, but you do need for the calls you make to sounds like hens the gobbler knows. Youtube a hen video. Learn to yelp and soft clucking. Don't bother with anything else this season.

Do not call to a bird before it touches the ground. If it hears you can when facing one way, and then hears you calling facing the other it has triangulated your position to within a few yards. Your exact location gives it too many options. Also, a bird that's been hunted can be put off by what it may sense is a hen that's not in a tree.

You always want to be above the bird in elevation if possible. You must be in a spot it will come to, but has to get within shotgun range of to view. You can use topography or vegetation to block its view as well but up the hill is better. Never give a gobble the high ground if there is any.

Leave those turkey dolls on the shelf. If you're in a spot the gobbler will come to, and has to in order to see, dolls are no use. Dolls are no use because the turkey can't see them until it is in range. When it is in range you need to make it dead ASAP. This key point of where to set up is half of turkey hunting. Using dolls as a crutch will just confuse the issue.

Once the turkey flies down, tell it "here I am" by yelping. If it is not in sight of hens it will say "here I am" by gobbling. After it says here I am a few times, you shut up until it says it again. Now you answer. Now you have it calling to you instead of you calling to it. After this goes a while you can say "show yourself" by clucking. Once this goes on a time or two shut up and wait it out. If you make it this far the gobbler believes there is a hen where you are. If nothing is in the way or distracting it, then it will most likely eventually show up. It make take an hour and a half, but it will likely do so.

Gobblers tend to be quient when travelling. If it is hot and edging toward you, then goes silent. Shut up and get your gun up. Don't call to make it gobble. That just slows it down or makes it stop and start trying to call the hen in again.

If the gobbler goes away saying here I am, then it is also saying here I go. In that instance you circle in front of it over and over until the above starts to happen. Rather than fancy calling you use movement of your calls to convince the gobbler.

You can do a lot more and there's more that can go on, but the above are the basics. Most successful hunts follow that pattern. Apply that until you figure something else out. Get yourself Lovett Williams' CDs and Kenny Morgan's books before next season.

Really appreciate the heads up here