Editor’s Note: No hunter can give exact rules for solving problems with any particular turkey, because each gobbler has a personality based on his genetic make-up, how long he’s lived, and how-many hunter encounters he’s had. Also, turkeys are very moody with changes in their likes and dislikes occurring almost daily. One day a turkey may gobble aggressively and come to any type of calling. The next day you go to hunt him, he may not gobble at all, and/or he may shy away from calling. Wild turkeys are very-complex birds. But if you hunt long enough, you will encounter toms nobody can take. The more you hunt them and learn about them, the greater your odds for bagging one. This week I’ll give tactics to help you take tough toms at the end of the season.

Flying Toms:

Turkeys generally don’t like to fly – except to and from their roosts. However, in some situations you may encounter, the only way to get a bird to you is to make him fly across a river, a canyon or some other terrain break to where you are. To force that gobbler to make the flight, promise him the most-exciting experience ever.

Begin by cutting and cackling like an excited hen to force a tom in the mood to mate to take to the air. Bring some more hens to the party by giving excited clucks, yelps and cackles on both your box or diaphragm calls at the same time. Or, use a slate call. If you still can’t coax the gobbler to you, begin your excited calling sequence again, gobble and give the gobbling call to make that tom think a gobbler has moved into his territory to try to mate his hens. But be sure you’re sitting with your back up against a tree where you can see in all directions to keep a hunter from moving in on you.  Use the gobbling call with caution. If the longbeard still fails to take to the air, you’ll have to swim the river, cross the canyon or plan to hunt the turkey another day in another place.

Silent Gobblers:

Some turkeys refuse to talk, and your knowledge of the woods and the turkeys in that region are all you have to rely on for a successful hunt. Go to an area where you’ve heard turkeys gobbling. Begin to call, and look for and expect a turkey. However, don’t anticipate that the turkey will gobble before you see him. Be patient, and do very-little calling. Too, if turkeys are silent in the morning, they may not remain quiet all day long. Attempt to make a turkey gobble using an owl call, a hawk call or a crow call later on in the day. Cover plenty of ground, make numbers of calls, and listen from high places.

Tomorrow: Hunt Sheiks and Hard to Take Turkeys

Check out John E. Phillips’ 12th book: “Turkeys: Today’s Tactics for Longbeards Tomorrow“

Expert Guidebooks on Turkey Hunting: Best Sellers

Turkey Hunting Tactics
This turkey hunting audiobook has entertaining chapters like: “How to Miss a Turkey”, “Hunting with a Guide”, and “The Turkey and the New York Lady”.

You’ll learn about all the subspecies of turkey across North America, how to use a turkey call, how to scout before turkey season, how to find a turkey to hunt, and what hunting gear you’ll need to put the odds in your favor to take a wily gobbler.

VERSIONS: AUDIBLE, KINDLE & PRINT

---

How to Hunt Turkeys with World Champion Preston Pittman
You easily can take a turkey if you don’t make any mistakes, but you have to know what the deadly sins of turkey hunting are to keep you from making those mistakes. If you understand how to hunt a turkey, you’re far more likely to take a gobbler than if you just know how to call a turkey.

Of course, calling is important, and if you want to learn to call a turkey, Preston Pittman will teach you how to call turkeys with box calls, friction calls, diaphragm calls, and other turkey sounds.

You’ll also learn why Preston Pittman once put turkey manure all over his body to kill a tough tom.

When you have turkeys that strut and drum in the middle of a field, when you know there’s no way to get close enough to get a shot, Pittman will show you some weird tactics that have worked for him to help you hunt tough ole toms.

But the main thing you’ll learn in this book is how to become the turkey.

Using what he’s learned while hunting wild turkeys, he’s also become a master woodsman who can take most game, regardless of where he hunts. To learn more secrets about how to be a turkey hunter from one of the world champions of the sport, this turkey-hunting book with Preston Pittman is a must.

VERSIONS: AUDIBLE, KINDLE & PRINT

---

The Turkey Hunting Guides’ Bible
The quickest way to learn how to turkey hunt successfully is to either hunt with a turkey hunter with years of experience or a turkey-hunting guide. These two types of turkey hunters have solved most of the problems turkey hunters ever will face. 

Just as one size of shoes won’t fit every person, one style of turkey hunting doesn’t fit each hunter.  Each turkey-hunting guide interviewed for this book has his own style of calling, hunting, and outsmarting turkeys.  

While listening to this book, make a list of the new information you’ve learned, take that list with you during turkey season, and try some of the new tactics. Then you’ll become a more versatile turkey hunter and prove the wisdom from The Turkey Hunting Guides’ Bible.   

VERSIONS: AUDIBLE, KINDLE & PRINT

---

Outdoor Life’s Complete Turkey Hunting (2nd Edition)
This Audible book will help you learn how to call turkeys with two of the nation’s best, longtime and well-known turkey callers, Rob Keck, formerly with the National Wild Turkey Federation, and Lovett Williams, a wildlife biologist who recorded wild turkeys giving the calls that you’ll learn how to make on various types of turkey callers.

VERSIONS: AUDIBLE & KINDLE