Turkey hunting – Lessons learned

I really like the Rite Bite Tubes http://www.baitandlures.com/

Hisser, hard to tell from the site…he 3.5 and 4 inch tubes real thick?

thanks very much for the response/assist…

They are thick and double dipped.

Thanks BF…looking forward to going after a few of these…

Venom has a couple different models you may like take a looksee, a link is down at the bottom in my sign.

I love Venom’s tubes

those venom tubes look great! they (Big Shots) sure are some high priced plastics though… whoah although, probably in line with Senkos…

http://www.getbitbaits.com/

great tubes, great customer service. Makes the plastic and colors in a very consistent manner so each tube is the same. give them a shot you will not be disappointed. JJ

The one and only, the Amazing Flying Lure!

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those venom tubes look great! they (Big Shots) sure are some high priced plastics though… whoah although, probably in line with Senkos…

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There was a store (Pauls) that had the Big Shots tubes in Clinton Iowa. Last time I was in there they were marked down to $2.00 a pack. My dad used them a few times last fall and pulled a 5 pounder out of a pound with them.

They do look really cool

Jeremy

I have equal luck with Strike King or Yum and I typically add a rattle for a little extra noise.

After more than a 10 year absence from turkey hunting. I returned to the great sport again this season. Due to a work Issue, instead of the 4 days that I had planned to hunt I was only going to have the weekend to hunt ( Bummer ) The following are a few Lessons (Hard) learned.

1. Turkeys are Turkeys – What I mean by this is that I made the wrong assumption that since the area I was going to hunt this year was in central Minnesota that the turkeys would be far less smart and educated than those I hunted years ago in southeastern Minnesota. Yes these birds had not been hunted near as much as some birds elsewhere – But that by no means made them Easy!!!!! – These birds were just as tough to hunt as the birds I hunted elsewhere.

2. I really need to learn to use a Mouth diaphragm call. I had a few birds hang up just outside the decoys. And being unable to hold the gun in position and work a friction call at the same time may have prevented those birds from covering the last 10 or so yards needed.

3. Make sure you know the yardages all around you. If your not good at judging distances ( Like me ) then you better place a few markers all around you ( Including behind you ) I had a nice Tom Circle behind me and I miss judged the distance. What I thought was a shot near 40 yards ( I know – that’s a long shot anyway ) Well it turns out that the bird was closer to 50 yards. The good thing is that the only thing hurt was my feelings and pride on the shot – The bird flew away just fine and seen him the next day. He was even one of the birds that hung up just outside the decoy’s on me.

4. The last lesson I learned was to be prepared at all times – Sun morning I had a bird Pitch down and sail right into me before I was ready. I did not have the gun in a good spot; I did not have my gloves on, Ect. The bird ended up about 10 yards to my right – Thankfully he turned and fanned a few times away from me and I was able to get the gun in my hands and up over the tree limb that was on my right side acting as cover. That is when I made my 2nd bad decision of the weekend. By the time I was able to get the gun up and into position the bird was about 25-30 yards away. I think I ended up rushing the shot and to make a long story short I clean missed. How you do that with a shotgun at 25-30 yards I have no idea. I patterned the gun the week before and was consistently placing 10- 15 pellets in the kill area on the target. I think I must have just rushed and flinched. To make matters worse it was a really nice Tom. Probably right around 20 Lbs. with about an 8-9” beard.

Now for some good news – The guy I was hunting with ( 1st time turkey hunting ) Shot a monster Tom about 6:45 Sat. morning. It weighed 23Lbs and had a nice thick 10” beard. I also had a ton of fun and saw and heard a lot of birds so I’m already looking forward to next year. There should be a good supply of really nice birds out there next season.

I want to say thanks to everyone who responded to all of my Post. A lot of the Info. really helped.

Congrats to your buddy A few lessons learned but it sounds like you’ll be ready next year

Good read sorry bout your luck I hate learning stuff the hard way

Congrats to your bud

Excellent post Buck Wacker. Most hunters don’t write about what they did wrong or their hard lessons learned. Your advice is priceless and it’s a good reminder for all of us to focus on all the little things that lead to success.

Oh the frustrations of turkey hunting. I think I can say that if you do this long enough, you will eventually do all those things you have mentioned and then some. Bad luck though that they happened to you all in one weekend. Good luck next year and lets hope your luck changes with the calendar!

Buck Wacker:

I’m very impressed with your post and thought-process going into and out of this season. You’re going to be a darned good turkey hunter in short-order with reflection like that. As Brad mentioned, few take the time to study what happened, good or bad, and learn from their experiences. The folks that obsess about it truly are the best turkey hunters I know.

I’m a big fan of helping to remember what you take away from every hunt, as I try to put a small “lessons-learned” section at the end of every journal entry. Invariably, they serve as great motivational material in the weeks/days before any hunt, and they help you remember the nitty-gritty details.

Thanks for the great post!

Joel

Thanks for all the nice words everyone. I’m still kicking myself some. Then again if I was not a little upset with myself then I probably should not be hunting. I tried to prepair myself the best that I could for the season and think I did so. But, sometimes things do not always go as planned. I made a few mistakes and learned a few things and I think these will make me a better hunter next season ( I hope so anyway ) I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older that you do not have to kill something to have a successful outing. As long as you have fun and keep learning new things. Thats a Success!!!! best of luck to everyone else with seasons still upcomming!!!! Shoot strait and be safe!!!

I’ve read this post about 10 times. Trying to make mental notes of things I shouldn’t be doing in my upcoming seasons. I consider myself a novice at this game and anything I can pick from others is greatly appreciated.

I’ve been hunting turkeys for 17 years and still make mistakes Not the same mistakes thou I learn new ones every year