Are you taking turkey hunting shortcuts? Most people may think not, but there is good news if you are willing to honestly examine yourself. If you can identify and stop taking shortcuts, you can start taking more turkeys out of the woods and be more effective. In this episode I break down 10 different shortcuts that hunters are taking.

Here are some turkey hunting shortcuts that you need to stop taking right away:

1. Not patterning your gun. This is a major issue. Too many people just get a shotgun, choke, or maybe new ammo and go right into the woods. You need to shoot that combination at paper at the ranges you plan to hunt to find out where the point of impact is and what the pattern looks like. If you do not test it you can easily find yourself in the field missing a turkey because your range or pattern were not as good as you hoped. 
2. Not practicing your calls. You need to use each one of your calls before turkey season starts, not just to become a better musician with them but to make sure they all still work, sound properly and you can do any maintenance that is needed before you are in the woods. Take everything out before season and make sure it all works and sounds right. For getting to chalk a box call, or finding a call is broken, or not surfaced right in the field can be a major issue. Finding out the day before can make all the difference.
3. Not practicing shooting from a sitting position. The moment you sit down, you change your body position, how you mount a shotgun, and potentially where your pattern goes. You need to practice firing from a seated position, and not just a comfortable seated position. A good drill to do is walk out about 20-35 yards from some targets, clay discs on a hillside works well, and close your eyes and spin around a few times in a circle and then sit down. Open your eyes and try to hit the targets without getting up or changing position. You will have to twist, bend, contort, etc to get on target, and this is very similar to shooting at a turkey that comes in from an unexpected direction. 
4. Not sitting in your spot before the hunt. Scouting is one thing but sitting in your spot before you hunt there is another. The biggest issue people run into is they walk up to a tree and sit down and setup in the dark, only to realize they can hardly see anything once the sun comes up. A little bit of preparation goes a long way, especially if you are in an area where it is difficult to move once it is daylight because turkeys may see you. When possible, you should test out and prepare your spot in advance, removing leaves, twigs or other debris that might cause you to make extra noise in the spot. 

Listen to the whole podcast episode for more detail and to hear about the rest of the 10 turkey hunting shortcuts that you need to stop taking right now.