Yesterday evening I went shopping for turkey decoys and a turkey call at the local Mills Fleet. I looked at all the stuff they had and I thought to myself, which one being they had so many of each. So I made a few phone calls and text messages to the guys here on BHC and got no responses other then from Joe (BHF) who was at some kind of audition or concert where It was loud as heck so he said he'd call back later In which he did but I already had made my purchases by just guessing on what to get. Kyle also texted me about 2 hours later but like I said I had already bought my stuff. Well here's what I got. I picked up a Primos She-Mobile (submissive hen) and a B-Mobile (strutting gobbler) for decoy's and a Metal box call made by MAD. To everyone out there I don't know jack sh!t about turkey hunting (never done It before) so If I messed up on what I got let me know so I can bring It back and replace It with something else. Joe (BHF) told me that maybe I should of got a Jake Instead, after listening to him tell me this and explain why It made sense but I was on the way home already. Should I trade my Gobbler In for a Jake or just pick up a Jake too and have all 3 on hand? Thanks Joe for helping out, you also Kyle.
No worries Steve, I was running lights for the taping of the American Idol finalist Danny Gokey's homecoming show here in Milwaukee, it was a Zoo, I was in the middle of the show when you called, I answered when I was surrounded by 26,000 SCREAMING people at the lighting console! Hey its a good paycheck... :d I would get a Jake as well. Sometimes they will come into a full strutter sometimes they won't. Its good to have the options! I have the B-Mobile, a couple of hens and a Jake. I will switch it up, a lone Hen... Hen and a Jake... B-Mobile, Hen and a Jake... B-Mobile and two Hens, you get the idea! You just got to experiment
What you got is great for your first year. I'm sure you will ad more calls as the years go on. I would get a mouth call also. They are hard to work with as first(at least me for me), but they are a useful tool in turkey hunting.
Steve, B mobile is a good decoy. If you could get ahold of a Jake fan for it, it might make it less intimidating. You can also cut the beard off that came with it, make a Jake beard out of the black fibers on a shop hand held broom. Im not sure on your She Hen if it has some sort of stake to hold it down on windy days but here is what i did on a laying submissive pretty girl Hen I had a section of 5/16 acrillac rod laying around, drilled two holes in it, one above the deak and one below the deak, where it pokes through the top.This way it always has the stake attached and it wont fall out. Another option is, and the B mobile is perfect for this since it has a step in the back is to take a real fan, attach it to a hinge, mount it on the back where it swivels up and down, and rig some fire line fishing string to it to make it move up and down. You also need to use two small wire stakes with hooks bent on one end to hold the line down close to the ground so the birds dont get there feet in it. This last tip is killer I forgot to mention i added cotter keys to the rod on the deak to keep it in place!!
What type of setting are you hunting in? Woods? If so I rarely even mess with a decoy...birds can't see well enough in the trees to know for sure no turkey is around when you are calling, so there are seemingly fewer hangups in the woods than in fields. My best advice is to go out at daylight the 2-3 days before opener if possible, and listen to where they are roosting (gobbling). If you hear them a ways off and can't tell exactly, get closer to know for sure....you want to be able to tell within 50 yards of where that dude is. If there is a pattern over this time span of where a certain bird is, USE it. Listen to which direction they head when going off roost. Odds are, this pattern will continue. Then just get between the roost area and the area they head to before sunup on the opener, and you are WELL ahead of the curve. Calling in turkey can be as easy as chewing gum sometimes, or as hard as painting the Mona Lisa at others....if you are already in the direction that bird wants to go, you have REALLY made it easier on yourself. Try and get good at calling, but don't put too much stock into it. Once you get decent turkey sounds, that should be enough to get the job done. Another tactic, if you are just wanting to kill one and maybe not call it in, is setting up on them in the late late afternoon on the way to roost. Dynamite tactic. Go out the first afternoon and get CLOSE to the roost they used earlier, like within 70 yards, and wait. Hopefully you will hear/see where the birds approach and fly up from (if not from within range of you the first time). Once you know what direction they come from, and what trees they roost in, you are set....the next afternoon set up about 100 yards from the roost tree in the direction they came from....nestle in and wait, you should have em pass within range. Not as fun as a hunt calling in a gobbler in full strut fanned out, but just as deadly a tactic. I WAS going to use it on my bird this spring, but it didn't work out that way. They ended up switching ridges they were roosting on on me, and I had to call them across back to the ridge they were normally using...he approached in full strut with 3 hens and 4 jakes, I dropped the gobbler, and dad dropped a jake thinking it was a second gobbler at around 12 steps. Calling them in this late is seemingly pretty darn hard since their sole mission is GET TO ROOST, but the only reason it worked for me was because I was setup where they normally want to roost, so it didnt take much convincing for them to head over. Mid day hunting can be just as productive as well, but it usually involves moving around alot and calling the birds in to you. If you have access to fields where you can see them strutting mid day, you can formulate an ambush on them, but if you are hunting woods, my best advice would be to move call listen, move call listen...cover alot of ground trying to get a gobble, once you get one move in closer if necessary and get settled in quick, they can often come in very fast. Dont get too caught up in decoys either...in the right place they work wonders, but they can also hinder your setup as well, especially if the birds are hunted much. The Bmobile will either be your best friend or your worst enemy...if you catch a big gobbler in the mood to fight, it is almost too easy....but then again, you will likely SPOOK a tom with a full strut deke for every one you actually draw in. Remember, they have to be in the mood to fight, and confident enough to come in looking for one..otherwise a tom will turn tail and head elsewhere to avoid trouble.
A little tip, some of the worst turkey calling I have ever heard came from real live turkeys so practice a bit and KNOW what sounds you are actually making and why!
Thanks again guys. Tembry, I'm hunting In a pretty open pastor. I already know where I'm setting up at, found a good natural ground blind spot (18 yard shot). The neighbor lady see's turkeys all the time In the mornings by her house, I'm about 150 yards north of that so I figure I'll play the waiting game and wait and see and maybe do a little calling here and there.
asking me turkey hunting questions is like the blind leading the blind! BTW, I never got a message. Oh I guess I do have a text. Sorry, I missed that one.
