The turkey is quirky.

Even though you rise early, dress to impress and make sure to hit all the right notes, there’s no guarantee an old tom will gobble up what you have to offer and arrange a face-to-face meeting.

Then again, that’s why it’s called hunting.

The spring Rio Grande turkey season begins March 21 in southern counties and two weeks later to the north again this year, a move meant to maximize the chances of hitting peak gobbling activity, and by all indications it likely will be tougher hunting due to widespread drought. Despite the conditions, there should be plenty of opportunities to test your calling skills on a quarry whose only predictability is its unpredictability.

With that in mind, here is what some seasoned turkey hunters have to say about chasing after the sneaky birds.

Wildlife biologist Greg Simons formed Wildlife Systems, Inc. in 1987 and since then has hosted thousands of hunters. He offered the following take.

“Your setup is more important than your vocabulary with your calls,” he said. You don’t have to sound exactly like a turkey, and a lot of people think that’s the most important thing. If you’re not set up in a convenient location where those birds will be coming in to, you’re not going to get them to come as readily to your calls. Finding food, water and roost locations is probably the most important thing you can do. Just being able to see birds is also important. Some people will set up where it’s too thick or they can’t see as well as if they had thought about it a little before selecting a spot. Setting up in a fashion where birds will come in (to you) in front instead of behind is important.

“One real common mistake hunters make is not evaluating a setup as strategically as they should. A lot of guys will have birds come in behind them and get hamstrung. If that gobbler is henned up, he’s going to follow those hens and if you don’t account for them when you think about your setup, you’re not going to be as successful as I think you’d like to be.

“Some folks get a little overzealous with their decoys, too. They think if they have it they need to use it. A guy might be walking along and hear a bird gobble and then run out and try to find a good place for the decoy and then come back and find a place to set up. Then he looks out there and sees a red head at 100 yards and it’s too late because he’s already busted because the bird saw him sticking the decoy out or rustling around.”

Dave Fulson of Total Outdoors Adventures has had his fair share of successful turkey excursions. Here are some of his pearls of wisdom.

“I always catch myself telling hunters an eagle may have better distance vision, but no creature on the planet has as much vision for his immediate surroundings as a turkey,” he said. “They can basically scan 360 degrees around their position, so that’s one of their biggest advantages.

“I’ve seen it happen a hundred times where someone has moved something around like a pop-up blind or a hay bale or anything else, and if they see anything at all changed they respond to it. A turkey’s memory is incredible. They’ll remember areas where they were ambushed by a predator like a bobcat or where they were shot at by somebody. If the turkey was spooked, we will never set up in that same spot to try and get that same bird.

“I compare turkey hunting to elk hunting. That 4-year-old bird doesn’t gobble as much as he used to, but the 2-year-old bird will. The birds are much more wary than they were even 15 years ago. People from all over the country are coming to hunt them and they’re not as vocal as they used to be. You used to be able to go out early and cut loose and bring birds right to you. That’s not the case anymore in many areas.

“Most people give up too early and lose their interest. Over the years I’ve killed an enormous amount of turkeys between noon and 1 p.m. Basic breeding is over by 10 o’clock in the morning so you can convince a tom that there’s a receptive hen in the field where you are and pull him off a lot easier than early in the morning.”

Roy Wilson of Krooked River Ranch Outfitters also has had plenty of success in more than two decades of working with hunters. Here’s what he had to say.

“The biggest problem I see with a lot of turkey hunters is just calling too much,” he said. “They get around feeders or places where the birds are and they just talk too much, and the birds will come in around behind them or just kind of spook off and then that’s it. It used to be that turkeys were just kind of an add-on when somebody was out deer hunting (in the fall), but now we’re getting hunters from all over the country who are die-hards and all they want is to chase after turkeys.

“You don’t have to be a great caller, but the main thing is just to not do it as much as you think you need to. These birds have gotten smarter because of hunting pressure, there’s no doubt. But with today’s camouflage and having a good setup, you can overcome some of the variables. The one thing that does keep some hunters from being successful is trying to talk too much to a call-shy tom. And they’ll let you know when they’ve had enough!”

by Will Leschper
Dallas Hunting and Fishing Examiner