Having traveled to southern Maine, New Hampshire, Florida and even Hawaii to hunt various species of wild turkey, I was elated when a number of birds were transplanted in Aroostook County between 2007 and 2011.
Fast forward a dozen years and Crown of Maine hunters enjoy both spring and fall seasons, with growing flocks of gobblers in Aroostook’s fields and forests.
Central and southern Maine offer a far higher concentration of birds, excellent breeding, nesting and feeding habitat and a larger number of hunter-friendly open fields and pastures to pursue these wary, wily wildfowl.
The fact that most hunting families already own a suitable shotgun and camouflage gear, especially those who hunt waterfowl, lowers the initial investment. A dependable scattergun with a full choke, compatible shells, full camouflage clothing, especially a face mask and gloves, and at least one decoy compile most of the basic equipment for rookie gobbler gunners.
There is one other essential piece of gear, and its selection and proper use can make or break every turkey hunt. You need some sort of call to realistically “talk turkey.”
There are several types of turkey calls in a wide range of prices, each with a specific sound, method and ease of producing a realistic hen or tom call.
Shaker and push button boxes are two options in the $20 range that can be operated with one hand and yield a realistic gobble or hen cluck. For the best shooting outcome and higher success ratio, a two-person team is the way to go.
One person does all the calling while the shooter can remain motionless with the gun steady on a tripod rest so as not to spook the bird as it approaches. For a one-hunter outing, especially with an inexperienced caller, a one-handed automatic shake or push button call is excellent.
Either a slide-top box call or a disk and striker combo is the next level, and they each require two hands to operate but produce a far wider range of call.
Tone, softness or loudness can be easily controlled by the user and each requires a moderate amount of practice. Box calls operate by simply sliding the top across the mouth of the box in small increments with varying amounts of pressure.
For the second style, the caller holds the disk in one hand and the striker in the other like a pencil. The pan (center of the disk) is made of slate, glass, crystal or aluminum. Rubbing the tip of the striker against the disk produces imitation turkey sounds.
The center yields deeper sounds while the edges offer high-pitched, louder tones. Good for beginners to experienced callers, every pot and striker is different and therefore produces a varied sound for each person. Either style call averages from $25 to $50 apiece.
The last manually operated call, most favored by seasoned turkey hunters, is the mouth call, also referred to as a diaphragm call. Arguably the most difficult to master, the half-moon device fits into the roof of the mouth offering hands-free use and a wide selection of coaxing calls mimicking toms and hens.
While a couple effective, basic calls may be achieved after a few practice sessions, a full repertoire of realistic turkey sounds takes much longer.
Most novice hunters have no idea of the variety of sounds a wild turkey uses to communicate with its flock or other single birds. Calls include a cluck, purr, cut, yelp, kee kee, gobble, putt and cackle, performed singly or in combinations.
The hunter also needs to imitate by mouth or with a breath-blown call the sound of an owl or crow while scouting to elicit a shock response from roosting turkeys to locate their overnight rest site. This response will help determine the best location to set up the next morning when the birds fly down to feed.
I’d be remiss not to mention one final call option of growing popularity and its extreme effectiveness, especially among novice turkey hunters.
Electronic game calls are considered by many sportsmen to be the most useful advancement in hunting equipment for many game animals over the last couple of decades. Experienced turkey hunters often prefer the hands-on involvement of using a manual call, but neophytes will fare much better with battery-operated units.
Depending on features, electronic turkey calls range from $50 to more than $400, and many allow the remote speaker to be placed under or hidden in grass beside the decoy.
There is one final calling alternative to consider. Coax a friend with lots of experience to come along on your hunt and do the calling. Perhaps even hire a professional guide who will supply all the gear, expertise and do the scouting, then watch, listen and learn to gain experience and knowledge for your first solo venture.
One last piece of advice is that less is far more productive than more. Turkeys have exceptional hearing and will pinpoint your position within yards when they hear your first call. Don’t overdo, space out calling and change sounds for the best results and let the decoys do most of the enticement.
