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It’s a great time of the year again—turkey season. After a couple months of
cabin fever after the end of the regular hunting season, everyone is ready and
eager to go out and challenge Mr. Smarty-Pants! I find turkey hunting to be very
exciting, maybe because you are able to hear what you are hunting and that
gobbling at close range is very similar to hearing geese at close range. It just
gives you goose bumps all over.
I purchased a new decoy this year. It’s called a Bobb-n-Head. I had to put a
blow dryer on the neck part to soften it up and stuff it with newspaper to
stretch the neck area. In shipping it seemed to crunch the rubber in the neck
area. Once I got that done, I set it up in my back yard on a day there was a
slight wind. All I can say is Mr. Tom is sure going to get fooled by this one.
They have a coil spring that is on the part that goes to the top of the body,
which kind of makes the decoy sway slightly. The greatest thing about it is as
its name implies. This baby‘s head moves from side to side and also bobs just
like a turkey feeding. I was really happy and impressed with this puppy! I have
another hen decoy with a head that I can adjust so that it also kind of moves
around slightly.
I think this is going to be a very deadly combination with a challenging Jake
coming in off the side. You never know with turkeys, but I’m sure that if they
see this setup they’ll come galloping. I also use a turkey wing. I bang this
against my leg just after the crack of dawn giving the impression to birds in
the immediate hearing distance that some birds have left the roost and are on
the ground. Another accessory I have added is that tiny box call that attaches
to your gun barrel. It comes in very handy for a guy like me who cannot work a
diaphragm call to save my life. As I bring my gun up my first finger goes in
that ring and if the bird needs any more coaxing I can just move my finger to
keep him interested. I also picked up a Quaker Boy 10 Sider box call. This call
has easy adjustments by just depressing the lid and sliding it into another slot
thereby giving it different tones. I think it has a great hen sound. Also I
found I could do a great Cutting sound with this call. Cutting is much easier to
do with mouth calls. With this one if you hold the lid on this call at a 45 deg.
angle to the left, with the handle of the call facing away from you, then bring
the box in your right hand back and hit the lid quickly—presto a cutting call.
If you’re new to turkey hunting you really have to feel the calling out. Rule of
thumb—don’t overcall. You want that tom to look for you and if you’re yapping
all the time, he may get disinterested real fast, like most men. Latter part of
the morning when it quiets down, just use some purrs and clucks to just make it
sound like a hen feeding. Again if there isn’t a lot of calling from hens going
on, you don’t want to stand out in the crowd by being too noisy. The clucks may
be just enough to make a tom want to join a feeding hen.
I hope I’ve given you a few tips. It’s very exciting hunting. Most of all I hope
you get your bird!!
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