Hunters are responsible for many great achievements, and the wild turkey is one of them. In the early 1900s there were only 100,000 left in the country. Now there are an estimated 4.5 million!

Many people are hesitant to start a new hobby simply because they don’t know how to start. Here’s a start on your first turkey hunting trip.

Deer hunting usually means sitting on one spot in the hopes that one might walk by. Turkey hunting is more aggressive. If possible, begin the evening before your hunt by listening and watching for birds heading to and flying up to roost. Whereas deer begin getting active in the evening and feed during the nighttime, turkeys spend their nights roosted in a big tree, often over water such as a creek.

If you start the morning off without an idea of where a gobbler is roosted, begin by listening for gobbles and heading toward them. Sneak within 100 yards if you can stay hidden away from the bird. Then set up with your back against a big tree and wait for daylight.

If the birds are quiet and you don’t hear a gobble, you can prompt a “shock gobble” from a bird by using an owl call.

Even though calling is fun, restrain yourself from calling too much. As the dawn breaks, make a few calls – tree calls or yelps – just loud enough for the bird to hear you. He should gobble back at you when he hears you, and then you can quiet down and wait. You may see or hear the bird fly down. Make a few more quiet calls and if he’s interested, he’ll come in to investigate. If not, you may hear him gobbling and going away.

If the gobbler is going away from you, you’ve got a decision to make. You can sit still and wait a while to see if the bird circles around and comes back to you, which does happen, or you can try to circle around the bird and cut it off.

If the bird shuts up and you lose it, it’s time to begin walking and calling. Walk a ways and stop at good calling locations, hilltops, the edge of woods, at the bottom of valleys, etc. If this tactic doesn’t score a gobble that you can venture off toward and the morning wears on, switch to a crow call to get a shock gobble. Also effective as the morning wears on is a box call. Box calls are loud and piercing and often get a gobble when nothing else does.

So, you’ve located a bird, sneaked within 100-150 yards or so of it and set up with your back against a big tree. That bird is gobbling back at you every time you call and he’s getting closer. Get ready, have your gun up and watch for his red head. The rest is up to you!

Turkey Calls
There are plenty of different types of turkey calls and a good hunter learns to use several. Why? Because you never know which type of sound a gobbler will respond to on any given day. Some days they may like the high-pitched yelps of an aluminum friction calls and the next they prefer the rarely used sound of a wingbone. Always bring along several different types of calls on every hunting trip.

Friction
Friction calls are usually made of slate, fiberglass, aluminum or ceramic and require the user to create the sound by drawing a dowel, or striker, across the surface like running your fingernails over a chalkboard. Normally circular in shape, friction calls are extremely versatile and make most of the turkey sounds needed to turkey hunt. They also are easy to lean to use. For right-handed hunters, hold the call in your left hand away from your body, and cup it between your index finger and thumb, leaving your remaining fingers under the call for support. Leave some space between the bottom of the call and your palm so the sound escapes unmuffled.

With the striker held like a pencil in your right hand, place the end of the striker on the friction surface. (Often it’s beneficial to brace your striker holding hand on the side of the friction call by resting your pinky finger and side of your hand around the edge of the call.)

Then, draw the striker across the surface to make a sound. For the common hen yelp, move the striker in small, tight ovals or circles. To cluck, move the striker very quickly 1/4-inch in a straight line. The cutt is the same as the cluck, but is done in a quick, excited series. A purr is a slow slide of the striker in a straight line across the surface. Purrs should be soft and quiet.

Box
Box calls are very easy to use and can create a loud yelp perfect for locating and calling in gobblers. They are made of various woods and often feature elaborate decoration. Some collector-style box calls can cost as much as $1,000!

To make a yelp on a box call, grasp the base of the call in your left hand and the lid with your right. Pull the lid across the box in fairly short strokes to create a real-sounding turkey yelp. Clucks and cutts are made with short, sharp strokes.

Most box calls need to be chalked occasionally to keep them sounding good. If the quality of the sound you’re getting out of your box call isn’t what it used to be, a good coating of chalk will bring it back to life.

Push-Pull Calls
Push-pull calls make a realistic turkey hen yelp simply by pushing down a peg. They are often rectangular wooden or plastic boxes, but also can be round or egg-shaped. When the peg is pushed, a friction surface is drawn across an internal striker and a yelp is made. Push-pull calls are capable of creating all types of hen sounds.

Tube Calls
Tube calls consist of a small hollow barrel with latex rubberbanded across half of the top. These calls take a little more practice than the other calls mentioned so far, but the realistic calls they are capable of make them popular among advanced callers. Tube calls create fantastic yelps, cutts, purrs, clucks, tree calls — even gobbles are possible with a tube caller who has practiced.

Wingbone Calls
Wingbone calls originally were made from the wingbones of a turkey, and some still are. They are a suction-type call and are rarely heard in the woods anymore. Sounds are made with quick, forceful sucking motions, much like kissing the end of the call. Good wingbone calls make a hollow sounding yelp.

Diaphragm Calls
The turkey diaphragm call may be the most popular call you’ll see in the woods. Hunters like diaphragm calls because there is no hand-movement involved with calling, so the hunter can call even when the turkey is in view, and the versatility of a diaphragm allows experienced callers to yelp loudly or softly cluck. Plus, there’s the “cool” factor of a diaphragm call — it’s just neat to place the call in your mouth and make turkey sounds. Some people, however, have problems using a diaphragm call due to a gag reflex that prevents the call from settling in the mouth. That’s nothing to be ashamed of, but prevents these folks from using a diaphragm.

To use a turkey diaphragm call, place the call in your mouth with the short side of the reeds down (on multiple reed calls). The tape portion of the call should rest against the roof of the mouth with the tongue supporting the reeds. The call rests at an angle in the mouth. To make a sound, blow air between your tongue and the reeds. This call takes practice to learn. Keep practicing until you can make realistic yelps. To make the cutt of an excited hen, force air through in short, forceful bursts.