Yelp yelp yelp!!!

Pumped.

Hunting south zone here on Saturday and Sunday, God I love living in Florida..

Been ready since deer season ended. Hoping to get lucky this year with the one we call "Big Bird" on our lease. We've seen him the past couple years but no has been able to seal the deal on him. He makes the rest of our toms look miniature and these are 20 lb birds with 10" beards.

Ready
SIL heard 3 yesterday

Have my window open at work this morning and the song birds outside easily tell me its time.

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you're the OB's resident turkey man

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Those aren't my words.

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How much stock do you put in the theory that calling to birds the weekend prior while scouting will help the turkeys "wise up" to your calling? I've always abided by that rule.

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Why in the absolute frick anyone would call to a turkey he isn't trying to kill that moment I will never understand. In regard to turkeys "wising up", they don't. You can call a turkey up in the morning, miss him, and call him up after lunch with the same call and kill him. They are machines. Computers. They do what they do because that's how they are programed.

That being said, when scouting I slip in and slip out without making a sound. No hooting, crow calling, anything. Scouting should just be to determine if there is a gobbling turkey in the area. Just because you don't hear one, doesn't mean he's not there. They don't gobble like idiots every morning. Additionally, the amount of gobbling you hear is based upon the number of 2 yr old turkeys. Lots of 2 yr olds equals a lot of competition, therefore the older turkeys gobble more. Less 2 yr olds and you'll hear less overall gobbling.

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you run the chance of them seeing you and associating that "hen" with a human, thus making them more wary of hens. I think you run that chance regardless of whether they see you or not. If he shows up and doesn't see a hen, he's going to be more wary of any hen calls he hears in the future.

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Not true. But spooking him the week before the season runs the risk of disrupting his pattern and therefore changing your chances of killing him. Gobblers going to hens is not natural. In the real world, hens go to gobblers. You are trying to trick his internal programming into stepping close enough to shoot him when he doesn't have hens around him.

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can't get him in range, and he never sees a hen, I think he will be harder to hunt and more wary of hen calls.

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Not true. Call turkey to fence/creek/road, he doesn't see hen and is out of range, walks away. Hunter walks around other side without an obstacle, calls him up and shoots him. Happens all the time.

This will be my first year Turkey hunting, I lucked out and get to go and learn from some guys that are addicted to it.

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Interested to know if you hunt with decoys and if so do you use just a hen or a hen and a Jake or any other combination of decoys. I've got a hen and a Jake but I'm afraid the Jake decoy is too big and will scare off the gobblers. What have you had the most success with?

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It depends. Sometimes they help if it's real open and he can see it (fields, powerlines, roads, etc.). I wouldn't worry too much about the size of the jake decoy. Get really close to him before calling and you won't need decoys most of the time. Just be sneaky. Coyote-like sneaky. The name of the game is killing him. I don't care if I call him or if he gobbles at all.