Turkey hunting tips for the pre-season . . .

[shickoff]

Did I forget to add anything to this list? What do you turkey forum folks do to get ready for the opener?

Turkey Hunting Tips for the Pre-Season | Tip | Realtree ®

Thanks,

Steve

[Strut10]

Good list, Steve.

I would adda a #10.........

10. Practice, PRACTICE, PRACTICE with all your calls. The week before or night before season is not the time to pull out your calls and get boned up on running them. Take your mouth calls to work with you and run them during the commute (as long as you don't take the bus !!).

Might be worthy to mention that, depending on who is building your custom boxcall, you may be ordering now for the 2013, 2014 or 2018 season. Some of the better builders have staggering backlogs. So don't procrastinate. Good thing about being on a waiting list is that it gives ample time to lay some pennies back to pay for the call.

It can never be streesed enough the importance of dialing up a high-performance gun- load- choke combo. Shoot, shoot and shoot some more !! Sad thing is..............everybody's a loser where I shoot. Nearest Waffle House is 60 miles away.

[shickoff]

Hey, Strut 10 . . .

Great to hear from ya!

Your point about ordering a custom box call is excellent. So true.

As further evidence, I just talked to one of my call-making buds last week, and he's got orders to cover the next couple years.

When do you get on your first birds of the spring? You traveling outside of PA for some early action?

Thanks,

Steve

Edited January 8, 2012 by shickoff

[Strut10]

Thought I'd toss that out seeing as how I've waited a couple years for a boxcall on several occasions and, I believe 4 or 5 years for my Lamar boatpaddle.

I used to hunt WV a lot and MD some. Haven't been outta state since 2007 when I did a Gould's hunt. I really need to get some of my irons out of the fire and do some serious turkey killing again.

[dbHunterNY]

yea i start practicing with my calls early... even take them out early when doing pre-season scouting. call very sparingly just find out which gets a particular bird to respond from a distance and then stop. come opening i already know what could get him fired up.

[Rhino]

I'm REAL big on preseason scouting, especially during the 2 weeks before the season opens. When doing so, I leave my calls at home. I you have to take them with you, practice calling in the truck and leave them there when you hit the woods. No sense educating the birds with calling before you're going to hunt them. Heck, they'll gobble on their own on the roost anyway and some will gobble enough at ground level to give you an idea where they're heading. Look for turkey tracks & sign during the day and listen for them early in the morning from a vantage point where you can hear a long way. If you hear some gobble, close the distance just enough in order to track their movement from their gobbling when they fly down. I don't want a gobbler seeing me until I'm looking down the barrel of my turkey gun if I can help it. Break out the trail cams and locate where they are during the day, checking the times they show up there too. There may be a pattern to when they show up at a particular place, especially fields. By doing some preseason scouting you can sure better your odds on getting between where a bird is and where he might want to go after the season opens. As the old saying goes...it's easier to call in a bird if you are between where he is and where he wants to go.