Turkey Season

Now that the last trade show of the season has met its end and seasonal temps are on the rise, our thoughts have moved on to something more fun… the king of spring.

We live for this time of year, as we dream of old tom with his 12” beard. It’s a great excuse to pull out the old trusty Nat Gear jacket, practice our turkey box calls and pattern our shotguns. Below are a few spring suggestions that are likely to increase your chances of taking home your limit.

We start by practicing our calls and getting them conditioned well in advance. Yeah, it drives our wife’s crazy…but they only say nice things later when we roll in with bird in hand. Pot and box calls are important, but we’ve also learned that it’s a good idea to have a variety of mouth calls to work with. You never know what variety they’ll be choosing this year. Now’s your chance to practice before you’re in the field. Get your gear in order.We start with a thorough pre-season gun cleaning, ammo, boot and vest check. We then review the basics by patterning our shotguns with the loads and choke we’ll be using on this year’s hunt. Set up cheap paper targets at 40 yards (We usually buy a big roll of craft paper at our local home improvement store) and make a dot with an 18” circle around it. When practicing at the range, understand what you’re trying to accomplish with your pattern elevations and get it dialed now, prior to missing your first opportunity in the field and making adjustments then. We typically stick with the 60 /40 standard. Get your choke in order so that you have an evenly spread pattern at the kill zone with your preferred range. Don’t forget to stash up on your preferred ammo in advance before inventory runs low.

So get ready friends, for soon we’ll take to the woods in pursuit of one of our favorite hunts. But for now, make it an afternoon of preparation with friends. Set up some targets, break out your favorite venison recipe on the grill and let the good times ring this Spring.