Patience and confidence are crucial to tagging turkeys
After growing up in Lancaster County, SC, Robert “Bob” Baker can remember the early days of turkey hunting in his teens and early 20s. The Eastern wild turkey was a dream endeavor for Baker, something he’d only read about in the pages of Field and Stream or Outdoor Life magazines. He’d also read about old time turkey hunting that was written about by Archibald Rutledge, stalking the Low Country plantations of South Carolina for the majestic birds.
Thanks to the efforts of the then South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Division, Baker can remember the first time he ever heard a bird gobble, and made up his mind he would learn how to hunt these elusive creatures. What followed was 40 years of self-teaching.
“Back in those days, you couldn’t find a YouTube video or even a book on how to hunt turkey in the Piedmont areas of South Carolina or just over the state line in Anson County, North Carolina where my mother’s family had land,” said Baker. “I think I’ve made every mistake you could make at least twice. But slowly, I began to figure things out.”
To this day, Baker won’t say that he’s an expert turkey hunter. But he does admit he has learned some things – some might call them secrets – that only seemed like common sense to him back in his younger days. And these things have helped him kill a lot of turkeys over the years.
Location is everything
“If you’re new at it, one thing is get with somebody that understands how turkeys behave,” he said. “Go with them and learn how and when to use a call. I think a lot of people put too much emphasis on calling. I think location is a lot more important. Get down to learning the land, find out the area the turkeys are using, and then figure out how to get them to come to you.”
Baker said he sees a lot of turkey hunters gravitate to open areas like fields, pastures, and big food plots when hunting turkeys. That was never his style. His preference was to make things a little more personal.
“I’d rather hunt wood birds than in the field anytime,” said Baker. “I could always get a bird to work better in the timber than I could in the open field. Most of the time in an open field, he’s going to fly out right in the middle of that open area with a bunch of hens and that’s where he’s staying.”
Baker’s favorite and most productive tactic has been to roost a bird in the timber the night before. He will admit that’s not a secret to 100-percent success, if there is even such a thing in turkey hunting. But it’s one he’s had the most success at.
“I’ve had the best luck putting a big gobbler to bed the night before,” said Baker. “I’ll get out there and do a good bit of scouting. Lots of times they will roost in the very same tree over and over. That’s the fun part I’ve always found about turkeys. They are liable to do one thing today, something else tomorrow. You think you got them figured out, you go back in there and they’ve done moved 5 miles. But most times, when they’ve got plenty of food, and some hens to show off for, they’ll stay in the area unless something or someone scares them and moves them out.”
Baker said he believes much of his success stems from being both patient and confident. He’s patient if he knows he’s in the right area. And he gets that patience from knowing the lay of the land and knowing that birds are in the area. He’s never been one to chase down a bird he knows nothing about. He’d rather set up somewhere and make that bird come to him.
“I never was ‘run and gun.’ I do my scouting and I’m confident I know where they’re at. I’ll go and get in the area and see what happens,” he said. “Gobblers always seem to want to come up hill for some reason, especially in the woods. My favorite set up is to roost a bird and get uphill from him, especially if there’s an old logging road involved. Old turkeys love to walk them old logging roads.”
On Turkey Calling
One of the most debated, and over-rated skills that a turkey hunter can possess is the ability to work a turkey call. Many hunters brag about their world champion calling skills, but place too much confidence in calling a turkey over being able to think like one.
“Everyone knows everything they need to know about calling right now,” said turkey call maker Preston Pittman. “It’s how you say it that counts.”
Pittman relates a soft call to a whisper. When soft calling for a bird that’s close in and seems to be willing to work, Pittman can move a bird that’s off to his right by calling out of the left side of his mouth. The same principal applies when a bird comes in on your offhand side and you can’t change shooting hands in sight of the bird. Steer him over to your strong side by calling with the opposite side of your mouth.
“Know where you’re going to sit down every time you go to make a call” said Pittman.
Pittman gives this advice in the event you call after walking into the woods or you’ve walked into a new area, throw out a call, and he’s right there. Getting to cover, or at least to a decent shooting position, could cost you that bird.
“You can make all kinds of mistakes calling, some of the worst callers in the woods are real hens. Just be sure to end it on a good note. Put some emotion into the call. Aggressive calling works some of the time, emotional calling works almost all the time” claims Pittman.
The veteran hunter said it doesn’t take World Championship calling ability to get the attention of a wary bird. Calling to gobblers is not so much what you say as how you say it. There are times when you can power call that turkey in to the gun. But your odds are much better to start a dialogue with him, and then up your odds by convincing him he wants to come in. That’s much easier done with soft calls like purrs, putts, and non-verbal calls like scratching.
“Real hens are all the time making some kind of sound, purrs, pops, clucks, putts, mostly soft stuff,” he said. “Most hunters have one or two hen sounds that they wear into the ground; the yelp and the cutt.”
“The next time you’re set up in the turkey woods or in a deer stand in the fall and have a group of hens come by, do a little eavesdropping on their conversations,” said Pittman. “Unless she’s spooked, a hen doesn’t shut up. Learn to mimic that soft hen chatter and watch how many gobblers come running in the spring.”
Know your Game Zone
So when does South Carolina’s 2023 turkey hunting season start? It depends on which Game Zone you’re hunting in.
For Game Zones 3 & 4, the season begins on March 22 and runs through April 30 on private lands.
For private lands in Game Zones 1 & 2, the season starts on April 1 and ends on May 10.
On all WMAs, statewide, the season runs April 1 through April 29 (No WMA hunting on Sundays). Also, keep in mind that some WMAs are only open to hunting on certain days and at certain times, some may not allow archery hunting, and some have certain restrictions that apply only on that particular WMA. Check the SCDNR manual for the WMA you’d like to hunt.
The Game Zones also have specially-designated Youth Weekends. For youth hunters 17-years-old and younger, the private land Youth Weekend in Game Zones 3 & 4 is March 18-19. In Game Zones 1 & 2, Youth Weekend is March 25-26 on private lands. Youth Weekends have a limit of one gobbler. This one-gobbler limit also counts toward the season limit.
SCDNR would like to remind hunters that they can kill only one turkey during the first 10 days of the season. The season limit is three for residents, two for non-residents.
For the full list of South Carolina’s 2023 turkey hunting regulations, visit eregulations.com/southcarolina/hunting/turkey-regulations.
Be the first to comment