Editor’s Note: Matt Kelly of Alabama has been hunting turkeys for 40 years and guiding to turkeys for 12 years.

The most-memorable turkeys I’ve hunted aren’t the ones I’ve taken home to dinner, or the ones I’ve called in for clients.

There was a gobbler on the place where I guided. One of the hunters who came to hunt doves with us took pictures of that bird. The hunter swore that, “This tom has 2-inch spurs. If those spurs aren’t 2 inches, they must be 1-7/8 -inches long.”

Later I was guiding a client, and we went to a spot where I felt certain we would take a turkey. However, the turkey didn’t show up. We went by that dove field, and I gave a cutting call. Almost immediately, the dove-field gobbler walked out of the woods and into the dove field with two other toms I named his lieutenants. These two toms (the lieutenants) had beards that were almost dragging the ground.

Although every time I yelped to this gobbler he wouldn’t answer me. But whenever I gave him the cutting call, he would gobble. Finally, all three birds came up to a road where my client and I were set-up on the other side. I whispered to my hunter, “As soon as those other two birds move away from that big gobbler, shoot him.”

Sure enough, when the birds were at 26 steps, the lieutenants moved away, and my hunter shot but missed the turkey. That bird probably was the biggest gobbler that ever was seen on the property we were hunting. I never saw that gobbler again, even though I tried to hunt him several times each year. I like to believe that the dove field gobbler just died of old age.

I think many smart turkeys that live to be four years or older probably die of old age. When I thought back on that gobbler right after my client had missed him, I felt certain he had picked his head up off the stock of his gun. That’s one of the most-common mistakes a hunter has made when he misses a turkey.

Of course, a hunter wants to see the gobbler. He may forget that he has to have his cheek on the stock, look straight down the barrel or scope and sight down the crosshairs on the scope  that are super imposed on the turkey’s neck before he squeezes the trigger. I think a hunter often picks his head up off the stock to see his pattern down a turkey. But instead he’ll see the gobbler running off. I am just about positive that every turkey I’ve ever missed has been due to that exact reason – I wasn’t patient enough to make sure my cheek was against the stock and keep it there when I squeezed the trigger.

Taking a turkey is really simple. If the turkey’s within range of your gun, you look down the barrel of your gun, and you keep your cheek against the stock, you will take the turkey.

Looking for more content? Check out our YouTube channel and watch “The Worst Day to Turkey Hunt” by John E. Phillips.

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

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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

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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

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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

To see more of John E. Phillips’ turkey-hunting books, go to www.amazon.com/author/johnephillips.

Tomorrow: Why Hunters May Miss Close Turkeys