Avoid these turkey-hunting mistakes

Dave Richey aims at a big gobbler

It’s still two months until the 2011 spring turkey season opens, but with luck, a few preparatory articles may make the difference between success and failure. Trust me on this: I’ve made many mistakes over the years of hunting gobblers, and have learned from my mistakes.

If I can help sportsmen avoid some of those mistakes with this column, I’ll feel as if I’ve done my job of properly informing hunters.

If a wild turkey could smell, few hunters would ever shoot a spring gobbler. These birds have superb hearing and eagle-sharp vision, and if a hunter makes just one small mistake when a bird is nearby, the hunt will end quickly without a shot.

It's easy to write this piece because at one time or another over my lengthy turkey-hunting career, I've made some mistakes or watched others make them. I know how to avoid them because making a simple mistake has cost me more than one gobbler.

10 turkey tips to avoid and a “gimme” tip to remember at the end.

Here are 10 common turkey-hunting errors. Also included are some solutions that work some of the time. Nothing about turkey hunting is ever 100 percent.

[1] Being too concealed -- Every turkey hunter knows they must be dressed in quality camouflage clothing that matches the foliage at that time of year. They also must sit still and blend into their surroundings. What some people forget is that one cannot be so buried in thick brush, that they can’t move. I once watched a guy burrow into heavy undergrowth near an abandoned orchard, and the gobbler flew down at dawn and walked to within 20 yards of the guy. He couldn't raise his shotgun, and while struggling with old berry briers, he became so entangled he couldn't mount his shotgun, aim and shoot. The longbeard spotted the odd movements back in the briars and was more than 200 yards away before the guy could work his shotgun free.

• Solution -- Sit with your back to a big tree, draw your knees up and your heels back to your butt, tuck the shotgun buttstock into your shoulder, and wait for the bird to walk in front of the shotgun. Shoot when his head comes up to look around.

[2] Calling too much -- Turkey hunters usually know that too much calling is much worse than too little. However, they toodle away on a diaphragm call, switch to a sweet-talkin' box call, pick up a slate and yelp with it, and start over. The constant calling can and will spook some birds. It just doesn’t sound natural.

• Solution -- Use a call sparingly. If a gobbler keeps calling, wait him out. After he gobbles two or three times without an answer, muffle the call, and make it soft and sweet. He may come on a dead run so be ready at all times.

[3] Decoy placement -- It takes some willpower to curb the constant use of decoys. Don't hasten to set out decoys if a hot gobbler is coming. Don't hide decoys in thick cover where a gobbler can't see them, and forget the dekes when hunting near water. Placing too many decoys too close together will make them look like a flock of frighten birds.

• Solution -- Two or three decoys work best for me. Have a jake decoy face the hunter, and keep it between you and the hen decoys. Don't place the hens more than 30-35 yards out to avoid having a gobbler do an end-run on the jake decoy. The jake is the major object of concern for an adult gobbler so keep him in the open and visible from nearby heavy wooded cover.

Choose your camouflage wisely. Stick with black, brown or gray.

[4] Improper camouflage use -- Camouflage is camo, right? I've watched hunters dress in green camo when everything in the woods is still tan and brown, and bleached out from the winter snow. Dark-colored camo will stick out early in the season. Avoid anything that is colored red, white or blue, the color of a gobbler's head during the spring mating season. Match camo to existing conditions.

• Solution -- Know the terrain, and if the woods are brown, wear brown camo. If it has greened up, switch to green camo. Make sure that boot eyelets are spray-painted black or brown, and check to see that no white socks show when you sit down with your knees up, and beware of that white undershirt peeking out. Wear dark Jersey gloves. Make certain your glasses or watch doesn’t glint.

[5] Making unwanted noises -- You roosted one or two gobblers the night before, and are walking through the woods before dawn. A tree branch is bumped, and the box call squawks like a ruptured duck in your vest. Or, you are carrying two decoys with metal stakes and a shotgun, and you are almost to where you'll sit, and the stakes and shotgun clink together. Such noises aren’t good but the squeak of a rusty old farm-lane gate will often make roosted birds gobble..

• Solution -- Wrap box calls in a soft and dark washcloth, and fasten the lid and box together with stout rubber bands. Carry the decoys and stakes in the back of a hunting vest. Do everything possible to avoid noise once you are close to the roosting area. Stay at least 100 yards from the roost trees when you set up.

Movement saves the lives of more gobblers than anythinng else.

[6] Moving too much -- Movement spooks more gobblers and hens than anything
else. Hunters forget to clear a suitable area at the base of a large tree, and after 15 minutes and a gobbler is on the move toward you, hunters begin to fidget and move to relieve the pain of a tree root under their butt or a broken tree stub gouging their back. Tough it out and sit still. Play with pain or fix it first.

• Solution -- Scrape all leaves away from your sitting position so there will be no noise made if it becomes necessary to move slightly. Carry a rubber butt pad to sit on, and pick a spot where the tree trunk is bare. Remove any object that will make you uncomfortable.

[7] Not having the shotgun to your shoulder -- I've seen this one happen far too often to understand why hunters do it. The sportsman becomes very uncomfortable sitting with his knees bent and his boot heels against his butt. They stretch out their legs, and the muzzle is pointed at the ground when a gobbler walks out in front of them and gobbles his brains out. Any movement will spook the bird.

Three gobblers (one with beard visible) head for call

• Solution -- If a hunter is gunning for a wild gobbler, they must be ready for a shot at any time. Keep the shotgun resting across your upraised knees with the buttstock against your shoulder. It is impossible to raise a shotgun up, aim at the bird and shoot before the bird flies or runs away. Gut it out, and sit still and be prepared for a shot at any time.

[8] Not patterning a shotgun -- Yeah, it's OK. It was dead-on last season. I don't have to mess around with it this year. Stuff ol' Betsy full of shotgun shells and let’s go hunting. This is a mistake I made a few years ago.

• Solution -- Sights get knocked out of kilter for one reason or another. Pattern the shotgun with No. 4, 5 or 6 shot, and shoot whichever provides the most pellets to the head-neck area of a target. Make certain it is on, and don't forget to do this. It cost me a gobbler once, and  I’ve never forgotten it.

[9] Setting up in the wrong spot -- There are right and wrong spots to sit, and only preseason scouting and experience can tell you which place is best. Forget to scout, and start calling to birds on the other side of a big water puddle, flowing stream or lake, and turkeys will usually hang up at the water. Know where the gobblers are in the morning, afternoon and before shooting time ends.

• Solution -- Do the scouting, spend time at it, and know where the birds will be during the morning, at noon and in the early evening. Turkeys usually (not always because I called a gobbler across a river in South Dakota once) hang up at water and at some fences. If you know their travel route, it's easy to avoid such places. Chances are good the birds will come right to you.

[10] Taking long shots -- Many hunters have no clue what the effective range of their shotgun is. Make the mistake of spotting a big gobbler at 60 yards, and try to shoot that bird, is a lesson in futility. If anything, the bird is wounded and gets away to die or be eaten by coyotes. The shotgun may shoot that far, but responsible hunters prefer the bird to 20 to 35 yards away.

• Solution -- Know your distances, and if necessary, put a small branch on the ground at 30 yards. If the bird is coming, let him come and wait until he gets inside of the range marker. Granted, the big 3 1/2-inch 12-gauge or 10-gauge magnum shotguns can kill a gobbler past 40 yards, but why take the chance. Let him come within 35 yards and then shoot. The closer they come, the more fun it is, and remember this: the shot is anticlimactic to calling an adult gobbler within range.

And, last but not least: The Lagniappe:

• Follow the wisdom of longtime turkey hunters.
• Follow the old adage that states -- don’t make the mistake, take the jake.