By the time you read this, the 2023 turkey hunting season will be in the books. And I wonder, as another long season becomes a memory, did you still have tags to fill on the last day with enthusiasm left to burn? I bet some of you did! And that’s OK, because I don’t care who you are, if you turkey hunt, things don’t always go perfectly. None of us know everything when it comes to hunting this great bird, and I’m a first-hand example of that. Even after 44 years of chasing them, I still learn something new every year.

Turkey hunting knowledge is so much easier to come by now than it was when I first began back in 1978. Most of us didn’t know what a good turkey call sounded like back then, so we had to learn. And even today, we work to avoid those common turkey hunting mistakes while pursuing the woods' most elusive bird. Believe me when I tell you, I’ve made them all.

That said, smart turkey hunters start thinking about these things shortly after a season ends. And when you think about it, what better time to start pondering on what went wrong than immediately after the season. Dick Kirby, founder of Quaker Boy Game Calls and one of the best turkey hunters I’ve ever known, taught me this decades ago, and I’ve never forgotten the lesson. Since that time, one of the keys to my hunting success, which I had to learn the hard way, was to start making better decisions about being patient, while gaining the confidence and trust to know that patience is one of the best ways to consistently place yourself in a position for success. Patience was the key to my hunting success this past spring, and I’m sure countless others just like me. When you’re patient in the turkey woods, you’re hunting smart while truly allowing the game to come to you.

Here’s a couple of other common mistakes that might sound familiar to you right now, so when the 2024 season rolls around, you might just be a little better prepared when that mighty gobbler brings down the thunder.

You didn't do advanced scouting. The excuses for not scouting always run out long before the wariness of an old gobbler. Even if you're hunting land that you've hunted for years, a turkey hunter who goes into opening day prepared has a much greater chance of harvesting a bird than the hunter who walks into the woods blind on opening day, or any day during a turkey season.

Scouting is the great equalizer that will help stack the odds in your favor no matter what season you’re hunting in. Walking in the woods, whether in the pre-dawn darkness or later in the day, produces a ripple effect like that of a rock being thrown into a quiet pond. You upset the natural balance of nature, which often gets the attention of wildlife. But remember, once you’re set-up and quiet, this ripple effect will usually settle down. Preseason scouting gives you the advantage of knowing where you are, which will lift your odds tremendously when that old gobbler sounds off, and the dance with him begins again. Also, resist the urge to call in turkeys while you’re scouting in the preseason. In other words, when you’re scouting, leave those calls at home. Wild turkeys are smart enough, and the more bogus turkey calls they hear in the preseason, the less likely they’ll respond to those calls when it counts!

Calling too much and calling too loud. For 11 months turkeys have grown accustomed to natural sounds in the woods. Suddenly every day for the next month, unfamiliar sounds start to fill the woods again, and you're busted before you even get started.

One of the biggest mistakes callers make is calling too much or calling too loud, especially in those extremely important early morning hours. Many turkeys are lost right here by over-calling during this critical period of a turkey hunting day. A rule of thumb for me, I keep it soft and subtle in those early morning hours. If a turkey responds, I stop calling for a while and see what happens. He’ll know exactly where I am and by playing a little hard to get, good things often follow. If you make a bad call by striking a sour note, continue to call right through it. Real turkeys make bad calls all the time. What’s more important is to maintain a consistent cadence in your calling technique. Keep it soft in those first hours of the day, and watch things develop as you make this a regular part of your routine.

Joe Judd is a lifelong hunter and sportsman. He is an outdoor writer, seminar speaker, member of the New England Outdoor Writers Association, and a 2019 inductee into the N.E. Turkey Hunting Hall of Fame. Joe is also on the Quaker Boy Game Calls and Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s Pro-Staff.]]>