New to hunting

[RNC]

Hey Talt1, I just started to turkey hunt last spring. I kind of did things backwards and started out with a mouth call. There were a lot of fustrating moments with it but I kept with it (amazing how many hours a week you can pratice sitting alone in a squad car). If I had to do it over I would start with a box call and a pot / striker. It was much easier to get the right tones and cadance with those calls. I would then go to the mouth call because they are great when you need your hands free for your bow / gun. I found that Primos DvD Mastering the Art Spring Turkey Guide was very helpful. I also got a Primos combo pack of mouth calls with an instructional CD that was very good for learning basic turkey calls. H.S. Strut University also has a series of DvDs that the new hunter can get a lot of information from. They are Vol. 1 So, you want to be a turkey hunter, Mouth Calling 101, Friction Calling 101 and Box Calling 101. Each of the 101 videos comes with a call also.

After you get comfortable with your calls I would find and area before the season that has turkeys but you wont be hunting. I would then go pratice on and listen to live birds. I did this last spring and I believe it helped dramaticly. In fact I was lucky because there are several areas of state land in the city limits here that dont allow hunting so I got to pratice from Mid March right up to the time we got to hunt in late May.  I plan to continue this pratice because there is no finer instructor then the real thing.

[shaman]

ORIGINAL: talt1

Hey I am a resident of NC, and would like to get in to turkey hunting.  My father owns land right on top of 6000 acres of game lands in the mountains, so I would be in this area.  I have read through many tips and pointer for turkey hunting on all sorts of websites, and they all seem to be the same, saying that 25 to 40 yards is the normal range to try to take a turkey. Where I'm at it does seem like there is any open area  that is more 25 yards wide and in many cases I have ran into 10-12 turkeys on an ATV.  They generally wont even move unless you get with in 10 feet of them (I have literally had staring contest with a bunch of turkeys 15 feet away from me).  To me it doesn't seem like it would be much of a sport to drive a ATV around until I ran into a bunch of turkeys? Is there a better way to go about doing this?  Sound also doesn't travel very far where I'm at either, so I don't know how effective calls would be. 

You've gotten good advice so far.  Here's my take on it.

First off, you've conquered the hardest part I found-- finding turkeys.  I got into the sport before the flocks had grown.  I'd go all season sometimes without a gobble.

The time to act is now, while the winter flocks are intact.  Go out ( going on your ATV is fine ) and listen to the turkeys as they wake up in the morning and get down off the roost.  Spend as much time as you can out in the woods learning their behaviors and the cadences of their calls.  There will be no better education in turkey hunting. Match what you hear and see in the woods with the information you're getting off the DVD's, tapes, etc. and you will be ready for Spring. Learning to be a part of the ebb and flow of the turkey's daily routine is more important than anything else.

What you will find is that after the winter flocks break up and they get to breeding, turkeys can be rather uncooperative.  The skill comes in getting a gobbler to come to you of his own accord and getting him within shooting range. Your observation about 25 yards being as far as you can see is correct. Once you're on the ground it is hard to see that far, let alone get a shot.  I do not make a whole lot of effort to get out beyond that.

The one thing you don't have correct is how far sound can travel. Be out in a high place at sunrise later on in the Winter when the turkeys start to gobble on the roost.  You'll see what I mean. Later on in the year, a little bit of soft yelping may bring a gobbler for a few hundred yards off.

[grizzly]

talt you've gotten lots of great advice i can't add much save this do'nt make your time in the woods just about killing a tom . enjoy the whole thing watching the sun come up the songbirds singing the wonder of god's green earth comeing to life, over the years i,ve taken young hunters out and they do'nt get a bird right away they get dissappointed when i ask why they say the guys on tv always get them and that is the most important thing after showing them the wonder of just being in the woods on a spring morning was enough to show them the real truth