EP136 Turkey Hunting Shells, Shot, & Chokes

Show Notes:

When it comes to turkey hunting, a lot of mystique has developed around the shells, shot, and choke tubes used to get the best patterns to take gobblers at range. On this episode I break down the different types of shells, shot, and chokes, and what the advantages are of each to help you make the best decisions for your hunting style and budget.

Take Aways

  • Shells – There are four main categories of shotgun shells for this sport; target loads, high brass loads, turkey loads, and heavier than lead loads.
  • Shot – There is a balance between larger heavier pellets that go further and have more impact power and smaller more numerous pellets that improve your odds of hitting a vital area.
  • Chokes – Too often full or extra full chokes are branded as turkey chokes but they do not have sufficient constriction. A proper turkey choke for a 12 gauge shotgun should measure 0.68 or smaller. Anything from 0.68 down to 0.65 is ideal.
  • Range – Hunting turkeys beyond 40 yards introduces a host of problems with expectations of gear, the marksmanship of the hunter, and ethics of being able to consistently and humanely take game. It is hard to even see a turkey’s head and neck at long range. New hunters should limit their shots to 40 yards. Under 30 yards is ideal.
  • Testing – Every combination of shells, shot, choke, and shotgun will behave differently. What is perfect for one hunter may not work as well for another.  Testing is the only way to know what your setup is capable of and and how to evaluate it.
  • Listen – There is no substitute for listening to this episode learn about these components in depth.

EP135 Turkey Hunting Food Plot Basics

Show Notes:

Turkeys are constantly in search of food. On this episode I talk about the simplest, easiest, and cheapest ways you can draw gobblers toward a property with food and the types of habitat that produce turkey food naturally.

Take Aways

  • Most turkey food plot mixes and plans focus on creating food in the fall, which does not impact the spring hunt much.
  • Come spring time, birds are looking for whatever they can find, and it can take very little to create an attraction then vs. any other time of the year.
  • Left over mast like acorns can draw birds but this is not a consistent spring hunting strategy.
  • Clearings and low grass will attract bugs and grasshoppers that are favored spring meal items for turkeys.
  • Creating clearings without even planting can draw birds, depending on the surrounding habitat.
  • Clover is a great, easy, and cheap spring food plot idea that grows back every year at the right time. 
  • Cover provides protein and good bug habitat in the spring. It requires no tilling, and a weed whacker is often all you need to create exposed soil.
  • A clearing or clover patch that is as small as 1/8th of an acre can be enough to make a difference.
  • Turkeys will travel for food, especially in the spring. If you can give them food and some cover, you can influence bird movement patterns.
  • Listen to this episode for more details and strategies. 

 

EP134 Is It Easier To Hunt Deer Or Turkey?

Show Notes:

A lot of factors go into trying to determine if one type of hunting is “easier” than another. On this episode I compare whitetail deer and turkey hunting to examine the difficulties and advantages of each pursuit to help new hunters better decide where to start and to help more experienced hunters expand into new areas of hunting.

Factors to consider for hunting either deer or turkey:

  • Geography and habitat are core to determine which type of game is more abundant around you.
  • General hunting pressure will train animals to be more or less skittish around humans.
  • Deer tend to adapt to some human pressure while turkeys seem to get more paranoid.
  • Deer hunting requires excellent preparation, selecting not just the right area but even the right tree in advance.
  • Turkey hunting tends to require more diverse skill sets like perfect concealment on the ground, calling, and moving stealthily at critical times.
  • Deer hunting requires a lot of advanced strategy while turkey hunting requires more decisions that are made in the moment.
  • Turkey hunting requires more gear to start out with but the birds are easier to carry out of the woods.
  • A spooked deer is hard to chase, but a turkey that takes flight may be impossible to ever catch sight of again.
  • Deer are larger and thus harder to conceal than turkeys.
  • Larger animals also tend to leave larger more recognizable sign.
  • Listen to the whole episode for more and to see how both pursuits stack up against each other.

EP106 Cheapest, Fastest, Easiest Food To Plant For Deer & Turkey

Show Notes:

A lot of people think food plots are beyond what they can achieve or afford. But there are great options out there you can start with, such as white clover that can be planted with no equipment, needs minimal space, and grows back every year. On this episode I dig into the details of getting started on cheap, fast, and easy clover plots.

Take Aways

  • The best times of the year to plant clover are early spring and late summer, either of which can help impact your whitetail deer or turkey hunting success.
  • You do not need to till the ground to plant clover, in fact there are good reasons not to till.
  • You can plant a half acre or less plot with the best white clover seed on planet earth for less than $30.
  • Clover is roughly 30% protein and is loved by deer and turkey. Bonus fact, it can double as a survival food for humans if you boil it before eating.
  • Clover grows back every year, which means once you get the plot established, all you need to do is maintain it and it can last for years and years.
  • Planting can be fun, it can even become its own off season side hobby like hunting for antler sheds.
  • Listen to the episode to hear the full story! 

 

EP97 Wild Turkey Cooking Basics

Show Notes:

Wild turkey is a culinary treat, but many have had poor experiences cooking it because they try to cook it like something else. On this episode I talk about the unique aspects of wild turkey meat and how you need adjust your cooking methods to bring out the best. 

Take Aways:

  • Most people try to cook wild turkey like store bought chicken without realizing it. That doesn’t work.
  • Lots of people try to roast a gobbler just like they would a store bought turkey and that doesn’t usually work well either.
  • Wild turkey needs different cooking methods for the breasts and the legs. To get the most out of these birds you have to cook them differently than anything else you know how to cook.
  • You cannot just nonchalantly grill turkey breasts and expect great results. You need to know what to do.
  • You absolutely cannot grill turkey legs and expect good results. But there are GREAT ways to cook them.
  • Learn the basics by listening to this episode.

Again and again, I am blown away by how well you can cook wild turkey, particularly the legs. I have known long time turkey hunters to just leave the legs on the carcass and discard them. They claim the legs are not good to eat, but they are trying to cook them like chicken and not getting the same results.

You are not going to get great results if you pluck a whole turkey and try to roast it like a chicken or store-bought turkey. The bird is going to try out. The legs will become jerky before the breasts are cooked through. These are not farm raised birds that spend their lives being groomed for the dinner table. 

The truth is, wild turkey is its own meat and cannot be cooked like any other bird. Turkey legs can be amazing, but they need a low, slow, and moist cooking method to be at their best. I have found great success making BBQ pulled turkey legs into sandwiches and tacos, or just eating it with a fork. You can also cook the legs until tender and pull them apart to make an excellent turkey soup from them.

The bottom line is that wild turkeys need to be treated for what they are, a completely unique game animal with excellent potential just waiting to be unlocked by the right cooking method.

Listen to the podcast episode to hear the rest!

EP96 Five Late Season Turkey Hunting Tactics

Show Notes:

You can successfully take a gobbler all season long, but things often change in the turkey woods as the season progresses. On this episode I talk about how you can improve your changes of success during the late season.

Take Aways:

  • Late season can be defined as the last week or last 10 days of the season, but in truth it is a moving target that has more to do with the weather than the calendar. The warmer the spring the earlier turkeys seem to do start and finish breeding in many areas.
  • Turkey’s become less vocal and more wary as the season goes on. So some of the tried and true strategies must change.
  • If toms won’t gobble you need to use other methods to locate them. They may still come in to calls but you have to get into ear shot of them one way or another for them to be able to hear.
  • The tried and true way to find a good area to hunt is by finding where turkey’s roost. This can involve evening scouting or looking for roost sign while you are in the woods during the day.
  • Listen to the episode to hear the five tactics you can use to be successful.

EP95 The Worst Shotgun For Turkey Hunting

Show Notes:

Gear can be overrate, but there are times when a firearms selection can be so bad that it all but eliminates your chances for a successful hunt. On this episode I talk about the worst shotgun for turkey hunting, both from my experience with my first turkey gun and in general terms so you can make better informed firearms selections.

Take Aways:

  • A good turkey shotgun becomes an extension of the hunter. You don’t notice it, it just works, kind of like how you fingers just work and do what you want them to do.
  • A bad turkey shotgun is like a handicap, it is constantly hindering you and making things more difficult, or impossible.
  • What makes a gun a bad selection for a hunter is somewhat subjective, but when things do not work right, fail to perform, are unreliable, or designed poorly for the task, it is pretty universally recognized as a bad tool for the job.
  • Inexperience and lack of mentorship can make it easy to make bad decisions when you are new to something. Which is I started this podcast, so you can avoid the mistakes I made.
  • Listen to this episode to hear to whole story and get tips to make better choices than I did.

EP94 Turkey Hunting Shotguns | Is Bigger Better?

Show Notes:

A bigger turkey hunting shotgun means more power, more shot, and more range, so bigger must always be better right? Truth be told, a bigger shotgun often results in less effectiveness and less turkey hunting success (especially among newer hunters).  On this episode I talk about the pros, cons, and rarely discussed nuances of big turkey guns.

Take Aways:

  • More power does not directly translate to more effectiveness.
  • Few people truly understand the nature of recoil and how it effects accuracy and effectiveness.
  • The ability to endure heavy recoil without whimpering does not in any way translate to the ability to shoot a big gun well.
  • To help manage recoil, more powerful guns are heavier, which makes then harder to carry and shoot.
  • The anticipation of recoil is the enemy of accuracy. Being able to “take it” does not mean you are effective with it.
  • The best gun you can use is the one you can shoot well, accurately, and pleasantly. 
  • The number one factor to effectively killing gobblers is getting close to them. The least expensive guns and shells will perform well enough at the right distances.
  • Being able to throw shot out to long distances does not mean you have the accuracy to use that shot effectively.
  • The more powerful the gun, the less accurate many hunters tend to be. 
  • A turkey’s most vulnerable areas are its head and neck, their robust feathers limit the effectiveness of body shots with any gauge shotgun.
  • Even a .410 shotgun can effectively take a turkey at close range with good aim. Pattern trumps power. 
  • Turkey hunting is about fun. If a particular shotgun is not fun to use, it is a hindrance, not an asset.

 

EP93 Should You Use Decoys For Turkey Hunting Or Not?

Show Notes:

Hunting spring turkey with decoys is all the rage and there are endless options to choose from. But should newer hunters even consider using one? On this episode I give advice to help filter out the noise and talk about the situations that might warrant a decoy for new hunters.

Take Aways:

  • Everyone has an opinion, but when you are talking about new turkey hunters, there are special things to consider when it comes to turkey decoys.
  • New hunters will lack the skill and experience to read situations, landscapes, sign, or sun direction to use decoys well.
  • Decoys can create problems and distractions that would not have been there otherwise.
  • If you move and your decoy stays behind, it can become a liability.
  • But even still, there are certain times that new hunters would benefit from using a decoy, listen to this episode to learn more.

EP92 When To Hunt Turkey From A Blind | The 5 Best Times

Show Notes:

While hunting spring turkey on foot can be a lot of fun, there are times when it is best to hunt gobblers from a blind. On this episode I talk about the 5 situations when hunting turkey from a blind is the most fun or gives you the best chances for success.

Take Aways:

  • No matter what anyone says, hunting turkey from a blind is REAL turkey hunting.
  • Real turkey hunting is best defined as the type that helps you safely enjoy the sport most.
  • Blinds offer certain advantages and disadvantages. Depending on your skill level and situation, the pros can outweigh the cons when it comes to your chances of success.
  • No usable trees or topography. Sometimes you just don’t have the cover you need to hunt turkeys, no matter how good your camo is. A blind can enable you to hunt certain spots that you would not have been able to hunt otherwise.
  • Injuries and disabilities. For some people, they are simply not able to hunt on the move or on the ground. A blind can help you successfully hunt gobblers when you not be physically able to otherwise.
  • Listen to the episode to hear about the other times when hunting from a turkey blind is the best option.

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