Whose ready for Turkey season...lost and now found!

Jeff in TX

Whose ready for the upcoming turkey season? This is the season I live for and can't wait. I've got a week of vacation scheduled and my hunting buddy of over 40 years coming out.

Also, my sister found an old box in the attic and opened it up. Inside were my pop's old 3-hole Lynch's model 102 box call made in the original Lynch's factory in Birmingham Al. Also in the box was my first Lynch's model 102 box call I bought in the early 70's after Lynch's was sold and moved their factory to Liberty MS. Both calls are in fantastic condition and both still sound great! I took the rubber bands off as they just feel restrictive with them on there.

Six-Gun

Getting there, one piece of gear at a time.

For a long time, I had Carrylite collapsible foam decoys that were nice and light...but ugly and worthless. Birds would look at them and the just stroll by in the distance, not the least bit interested. I finally tossed them and choked down the cost of the high-quality, semi-inflatable Avian-X decoys and got immediate results. A friend followed suit and also got action from angry gobblers right away. I just added their laydown hen decoy to my arsenal this year. We'll see how it does paired with a strutter jake using a real tail fan clipped into it to look like an active courtship display.

Also, after years of owning fairly crappy production slate/pot calls, I've made a commitment to gut my call collection through giveaways or the garbage can, and start procuring quality stuff. I have done very well with production mouth calls, but my slates sound mostly terrible. So, step 1 on that front: I ordered a custom Lonnie Sneed "Outlaw Hen" glass pot with purple heartwood striker directly from the man himself (Lonnie Sneed, Sr.). It should be here in about a month and it sounds amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmtJaxAbOqg

There's an even better audio clip of the call in use, but it's a Facebook link and won't work on the forum.

Like cpj, I have had more frustration at the hand (claw?) of turkeys than any other game animal. It's hard for me to get picky when it comes to those blasted birds. Hopefully, I'll get a decent bird this year.

Jeff in TX

Six-Gun wrote: »

Getting there.

Also, after years of owning fairly crappy production slate/pot calls, I've made a commitment to gut my call collection through giveaways or the garbage can, and start procuring quality stuff. I have done very well with production mouth calls, but my slates sound mostly terrible. So, step 1 on that front: I ordered a custom Lonnie Sneed "Outlaw Hen" glass pot with purple heartwood striker directly from the man himself (Lonnie Sneed, Sr.). It should be here in about a month and it sounds amazing.

I usually use natural voice calls, one of a gazillion of my box calls, diaphragms and slate calls. I had a real nice Cody slate I used for years and have been looking for it for weeks. Who knows where it is but it's gone. I just bought a Zebra wood slate from Lonzo's calls. My buddy has one and it really sounds good. I should have it by the end of the week and look forward to giving it a try this spring!

Six-Gun

I'll have to check out those Lonzo calls. I never have heard one in person. It's cool hat you found those old box calls. My box calls are all production types of some sort. They sound decent and have gotten responses in the past, but probably don't sound nearly as nice as those old Lynch call you have.

Jayhawker

Jeff in TX

I haven't heard many bad sounding production box calls. I think when it comes to box calls it's more of a personal preference, aesthetics, and who the call maker is.

A bunch of years ago I went out east to hunt turkeys. We were on private land and as the sun came up I heard the worse sounding box call I've heard. It wouldn't stop calling and sounded like fingernails on a chalk board. After 30 min I wanted to yell into the woods for the love of it all please shut up! As I started to call the worlds worst caller kept calling and coming towards me. I thought great when he gets here I'll at least chalk his box call for him. Within a few minutes I caught movement and low and behold here comes the worst sounding hen I'd ever heard with two gobblers bringing up the rear. I couldn't believe my ears and eyes. Apparently the two gobblers must have been deaf!

Just goes to show it's not always the pretty sounding hens that get the big boys. And yes, I dropped one of the two gobblers as they strutted by!

Jayhawker

cpj wrote: »

I made a glass call. Sounded HORRIBLE. Tried all morning to get something answer my other calls (every call I had save for the glass)but the birds had lockjaw. We have to quit hunting at 1:00pm (yeah, it's stupid) and it was about 12:45. Got out the nast sounding glass call. Simply messing around with it. Stupid Tom answers, and comes to me like he was on a string. Ended up shooting him with a few minutes to spare.

I'm still using those strikers you made for me....damn things are like magic when used on my slate..I've killed a bunch of bords using them. .Last bird I killed I had roosted behind the house the night before...got out just before sunup and started with some clucks and purrs....Gobbler flew down, came up the road on the strut...shot him at about 25 yards. It took me longer to walk from the house to my blind and back than to call him in. Took the wife hunting and called in three mature gobblers and 4 jakes....at the same time...

CHIRO1989

I am getting a calling lesson this saturday:up:

Six-Gun

CHIRO1989 wrote: »

I am getting a calling lesson this saturday:up:

Awesome. It help tremendously to have someone demonstrate and show you the ropes. I have to suffer through trial and error until I got a decent sound with a mouth/diaphragm call. That meant wearing a few out before getting it right (once the diaphragm get stretched out and loose, the call is trash). I do still keep on in the truck before the season to get warmed back up.

Jeff in TX

My buddy and I did the calling contest circuit back in the early mid 80's. We did ok, never first but never last usually in the middle of the pack. It was a lot of fun and we met some really cool die hard professional callers. Today I keep it simple, nothing fancy, yelps, clucks, purrs and and they occasional fly down cackle. Actually my gobble tube does a right nice job of getting the hush mouths to open their mouths and gobble.

As luck would have I was searching the garage and found all my slate calls and a dozen plus strikers. My Cody II slate still sounds great. I found a Quaker Boy slate that sounds great and a Primos Crystal that sounds horrific that one got trashed!

Best of luck to you on your calling.

snake284

I got burned out on Turkey shooting years back, in the 80s. The place we hunted had tons of turkeys and they would stupidly walk up to your feeder and wait to get shot. I shot my share too. No super duper Magnum, just that old Remington Model 31 or if my dad was along I'd take my 870, which was a magnum but hell for turkey I'd use low brass number 6 or 7 1/2s. Most shots were inside 35 yards. Didn't have any Decoy or any of that. They'd walk up to the feeder and start eating. Sometimes there would be 100-200 turkeys at a time. It ruined me on turkey hunting. It had me saying, "What's the big deal?"

If I turkey hunt again, I want to do it with a Bow. Now that would be fun.

Six-Gun

Check out of the fixed-position blind, skip shooting them off the feeder and try calling them during the Spring breeding season with a slate or a box call. I guarantee you it will get interesting again. I promise, there WILL be a challenge involved. Shooting turkeys without bait is a whole different ballgame, and hardly a sure thing.

Johnny reb

You'll love you're avian x decoys there no the lightest But they sure work. And with diaphragm calls I find they keep very well in a refrigerator and last a lot longer. I hope I can just get time off too go this year. Doubled up opening morning last year back at truck 7:30 only day I got too go but we shot 2 nice toms. Buddy shot one another came in and worked him over pretty good then made a bline for my avianx semi strut and worked him over for a good 2 minutes wish I had a camera when he lost interest in he decoy I took him.

Six-Gun

Johnny reb wrote: »

You'll love you're avian x decoys there no the lightest But they sure work. And with diaphragm calls I find they keep very well in a refrigerator and last a lot longer. I hope I can just get time off too go this year. Doubled up opening morning last year back at truck 7:30 only day I got too go but we shot 2 nice toms. Buddy shot one another came in and worked him over pretty good then made a bline for my avianx semi strut and worked him over for a good 2 minutes wish I had a camera when he lost interest in he decoy I took him.

That's a god idea! Yeah, the Avian-X decoys are the best that I've seen. Just like you, the bird that I shot came in on a dead run to the semi-strut jake that I had out. He was totally fooled and pissed as hell, along with his buddy. I shot him just before he started pounding on the decoy.

Six-Gun

cpj wrote: »

I kept diaphragm calls in the freezer. I got 8-10 years out of the same 3 pack of calls.

That's another good idea.

However, what I find kills diaphragm calls above dry rot or other age-related ailments is simply the reed stretching out until it's warbled, and no longer makes a good tone. With practice time in the truck included, I only get a season, maybe a season and a half out of your average diaphragm mouth call before the reed is just worn out. If I find a good call, I buy 2 or three spares to ensure I have a few when they inevitably discontinue it for some newfangled call that's supposedly better. That said, I'm going to put those spare call packs in the freezer.

snake284

Six-Gun wrote: »

Check out of the fixed-position blind, skip shooting them off the feeder and try calling them during the Spring breeding season with a slate or a box call. I guarantee you it will get interesting again. I promise, there WILL be a challenge involved. Shooting turkeys without bait is a whole different ballgame, and hardly a sure thing.

I know you're right Six, but I was so burned out of shooting stupid turkeys and plucking them I didn't care if I ever saw one again. But now you're tweaking my interest. I know there has to be something exciting to it because it's always in TV and everybody talks about it. I just got off to a bad start. And doing it in the fall it was interfering with my deer hunting. But I am serious about wanting to try it with a bow.

Six-Gun

cpj wrote: »

Don't remember who told me to do it, but it works. And to the point of buying multiple calls when you find one you like......do it. I babied my call because I couldn't find the same one. And it was the only one that I could use with any success.

Yeah, I learned that lesson about buying a few spares of the call you like best the hard way. Like you, I could never find the one I liked best years ago and had to move on prematurely. Now, I finally a set that I like a lot and bought a few packs that will hopefully last a while:

https://www.amazon.com/Primos-Hunting-Hunter-Turkey-Mouth/dp/B004UDDTH4

I used the blue one to call in a bird at Jerry's farm a couple of years ago.

snake284 wrote: »

I know you're right Six, but I was so burned out of shooting stupid turkeys and plucking them I didn't care if I ever saw one again. But now you're tweaking my interest. I know there has to be something exciting to it because it's always in TV and everybody talks about it. I just got off to a bad start. And doing it in the fall it was interfering with my deer hunting. But I am serious about wanting to try it with a bow.

It's a rush when you see them come in straight pissed off and ready to fight a decoy. Doing it with a bow would make it even more fun, but there's is virtually no room for error. The same goes with a flintlock or other singe-shot projectile (where it's legal, of course). It was a big deal to me when I shot my Pennsylvania bird with a .36 cal flinter this past Fall because the kill zone is just so small.

I would tell you to try it with a shotgun while calling first before you take to the stick and string. Go sit somewhere on your lease where the birds generally frequent, but well away from your feeder to avoid the temptation to shoot one that's just coming in to the bait. Camo up in some cover and be still, or grab a pop-up blind. It won't spook the birds, even if it's freshly set up. They don't care like deer do about new stuff in their territory. Kick it in with a box call or a slate (keep at least one of each since the birds can love or hate on call or the other) once every 15 minutes or so and listen for a reply. Even if they don't reply, stay still because they will sometimes come in silently. When one come in, move cautiously (particularly if you're not in a blind) and bust him at 20 - 40 yards.

snake284

Six-Gun wrote: »

Yeah, I learned that lesson about buying a few spares of the call you like best the hard way. Like you, I could never find the one I liked best years ago and had to move on prematurely. Now, I finally a set that I like a lot and bought a few packs that will hopefully last a while:

https://www.amazon.com/Primos-Hunting-Hunter-Turkey-Mouth/dp/B004UDDTH4

I used the blue one to call in a bird at Jerry's farm a couple of years ago.



It's a rush when you see them come in straight pissed off and ready to fight a decoy. Doing it with a bow would make it even more fun, but there's is virtually no room for error. The same goes with a flintlock or other singe-shot projectile (where it's legal, of course). It was a big deal to me when I shot my Pennsylvania bird with a .36 cal flinter this past Fall because the kill zone is just so small.

I would tell you to try it with a shotgun while calling first before you take to the stick and string. Go sit somewhere on your lease where the birds generally frequent, but well away from your feeder to avoid the temptation to shoot one that's just coming in to the bait. Camo up in some cover and be still, or grab a pop-up blind. It won't spook the birds, even if it's freshly set up. They don't care like deer do about new stuff in their territory. Kick it in with a box call or a slate (keep at least one of each since the birds can love or hate on call or the other) once every 15 minutes or so and listen for a reply. Even if they don't reply, stay still because they will sometimes come in silently. When one come in, move cautiously (particularly if you're not in a blind) and bust him at 20 - 40 yards.

For some reason I just want to bust one with an arrow. A shotgun is so easy, but you do get me curious about a Muzzle Loader. I can relate to that.

Six-Gun

snake284 wrote: »

For some reason I just want to bust one with an arrow. A shotgun is so easy, but you do get me curious about a Muzzle Loader. I can relate to that.

Just be sure it's legal if you plan to go with a singe-shot projectile muzzleloader. A muzzleloading shotgun is almost assuredly legal, but only a handful of places let you shoot a bird with a patched roundball or conical bullet.

snake284

Six-Gun wrote: »

Just be sure it's legal if you plan to go with a singe-shot projectile muzzleloader. A muzzleloading shotgun is almost assuredly legal, but only a handful of places let you shoot a bird with a patched roundball or conical bullet.

In Texas Turkey's are leagal with rifles so I would think a Muzzle Loading rifle would be legal. but I would check first.