Discover How to Hunt Turkey Using Custom Turkey calls

Talking turkey or simply making noise. Knowing the difference will determine the success of a turkey hunt. Imagine for a moment, you are experiencing another one of those sleepless nights tossing and turning. You know, the night before opening day. The night before turkey season actually opens, the dream like vision of a strutting old tom coming into range. For me, my trusty Browning Gold with the NWTF logo in mossy oak camo finish ready for action, resting on my knee.

Your mind, cluttered with all the pre-hunt scouting you and your hunting buddies have been talking about for the last several weeks. There have been reports of the winter flocks breaking-up, big ole toms are in their bachelor groups, there have been sightings of several groups of jakes doing what jakes do, and suggesting last years hatch was a good one.

Oh yeah, this year will be the best year you have had in a long time. Scouting confirms the birds are in deed using the same old roost trees. There are a lot of tom tracks, droppings and feathers on the ground under the roost. Just like clock work, the toms fly down, and make their way to the strut zone. The hens fly down, establish their pecking order, and go to the tom, oh yeah life is good in the turkey’s world.

Your plan consists of starting with the ole running and gunning tactic, until around 9:30 or 10:00 am. By that time, the toms will most likely be with their hens and quit gobbling. Anyway, the plan is to have a bird on the ground before that happens. If not then plan ‘B’, set-up in the old double bull pop-up blind overlooking a known dusting area and take a midday break that includes lunch a nap, and who knows maybe, a lovesick gobbler might just strut into range.

Snapping back into consciousness, you now find yourself obsessing over how important having your trusted turkey gun not only set-up properly, but more importantly, having your true glow gobble stopper red dot site dialed in as well. You wanted to put a Bushnell hollow site on your shotgun this year, but opted to go with the less expensive true glow red dot instead and save the money for a new choke tube. Now after the fact, you find yourself thinking about what you have heard. All the red dot sites have a red or green glow to them when turned on that can spook a weary old tom. Yes, it is true they do, but you convince yourself that the chances a turkey will look straight at the site is relatively small anyway.

After all, the 3 ½ 12 gage Heavy shot shell and the Indian Creek choke tube is a lethal combination at forty yards, and you trust it out to fifty yards under the right conditions. Still yet, you want to limit your shot to between 20 and 30 yards, which for a shotgun that shoots a tight pattern. You must as they say aim small, to hit small. After all that is why you decided to go with a site that provided the best sight picture, and ensure a good humane harvest of the respected ole turkey.

Another reality check, a glance at the alarm clock reveals, only 1:03am. Thinking to yourself, I got to get some sleep as you grab your pillow roll over again and try to drift off. Still your mind is in turkey hunting mode, but now you are thinking about how to call a turkey.

Your turkey vest is full of every kind of call known to man. Box calls, both a long and short version. A push pull call, Locater calls, crow call, hawk call, peacock call, owl hooter, even a dog whistle you have them all. You have a custom hand made wing bone call, an old tube call, and the Mack daddy of all custom calls, the friction call referred to by many as simply a slate.

Now you can go to your local wall mart and pick up some cheep imitations of the real custom hand tuned true life sounding calls, but there not the same. Oh, no there not even close to sounding like a real life turkey in the wild. The realism that only comes from a hand made and tuned custom call made by a real turkey hunter turned call maker, like the turkey hunting addicts at Hypnotic Game Calls. You meet at one of the local NWTF events; these folks do talk the talk, and walk the walk. You remember, after the event was over and everyone was standing around, one of their pro staff and turkey-calling experts, Tedd broke out his trusty mouth diaphragm and actually started hammering away at a damned good realistic sounding gobble, and like the ole lovesick tom, you were hooked.

One of the avid turkey hunters standing in the crowd made the comment, Ted if you do that in the turkey woods, some good ole boy will shoot your ass off. Tedd responded, yeah you want to be sure where you are before cutting loose with any kind of gobble call.

Like moths to a flame, as Tedd reached for his man bag slung around his shoulder hunters looking for the next best and greatest turkey call gathered around him. Not to disappoint, Ted pulled out a beautifully hand constructed slate call appropriately named Voodoo. It had a pop made of Sassafras, then the walnut striker made its way out of the bag. Then just to make things a bit more interesting, Ted mentioned that while at the 2010 NWTF convention in Nashville, Tennessee they were able to put the voodoo in the hands of legendary turkey calling expert Preston Pittman.

Preston ran the call for a few minutes, he clucked, purred and yelped on the Voodoo. Then turned to the boys from Hypnotic Game Calls and told them they should market this call. Oh my God, Preston Pittman ran this call and he liked it, check that, he loved it so much so he even autographed it.

With the pot in his left hand, and walnut striker in his right Tedd started running the Voodoo. First, he clucked softly, and then a bit louder and suddenly Tedd let loose with a thunderous series of clucks that had everyone snapping their heads in his direction. With that, Tedd explained that is the call I used to bring an old boss gobbler across the green river while hunting turkeys in Kentucky this spring.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep interrupts your dream. Then you realize it is time to get up and you dream the whole series of events…

The author of this publication, Mike Teddleton owns the copyright to Discover How to Hunt Turkey Using Custom Turkey calls. The rights to publish this article in print or online can only be granted by contacting me the author in writing. You may use the intro and link back to the article directing the reader back to my post here at HubPages where they may find the story in its entirety