Turkey

SUCCESSFUL TURKEY SEASONS START HERE.

The wild turkey is an elusive bird. To get the gobbler, get the know-how. Strategies, management and gear for the hunt can all be found right here.

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Pat Reeve’s Role in Restocking Wild Turkeys in Minnesota

I went to college with the intentions of becoming a game warden. I majored in criminal justice with a minor in wildlife. But when I got out of college, no money or positions were available for new game wardens. At that time, the Minnesota DNR was involved in a turkey restocking program, and some of the funding was coming from the NWTF.

Big Game, Turkey, Conservation

Why I Love Turkeys with Pat Reeve

Pat Reeve and his wife, Nicole, are Mossy Oak ProStaffers and the hosts of “Driven” TV and hunt and film all over the world. Pat and Nicole’s love of turkeys goes all the way back to their childhoods and after college, Pat caught wild turkeys, boxed them up, drove them to their new locations, released them and now he hunts them. Pat Reeve explains, “The first paycheck I ever received in college was from the

Big Game, Turkey, Mossy Oak, Firearm

The Four Stages of a Turkey Hunter

The first stage that a hunter goes through, especially a turkey hunter, is to bag that first bird. The second stage is he wants to harvest so-many birds he can’t load them all in the back of his or her pickup truck. The third stage is he wants to harvest the biggest gobbler that’s ever been taken or perhaps take a Grand Slam or a World Slam. And, the fourth stage in turkey hunting is

Big Game, Turkey, Mossy Oak

Build Forts While Turkey Hunting with Children

You can’t really expect a youngster to sit still and be quiet as long as you can sit still and be quiet when you’re working a turkey. For this reason, when I’m taking a youngster hunting, I’ll try and locate a gobbler before the hunt, set-up a portable blind and brush it up. I’ll put it close enough that I can call to that turkey, or I’ll build a natural blind out of branches, limbs

Big Game, Turkey, Mossy Oak

Have the Right Turkey Hunting Stuff

One of the first things I do before I go hunting with my grandchildren is make sure they: have camo pants and shirts that fit them; have a quality pair of comfortable boots; look at themselves in the mirror and know they look good, like a turkey hunter should; and have guns that fit them. Youngsters want to have everything you have, so I always make sure I have a gun that will fit them.

Big Game, Turkey, Mossy Oak, Firearm

Remember You Want Children to Have Fun Turkey Hunting

I always plan to hunt when I know the weather will be warm, and the children won’t get cold or wet. Today youngsters have so many video games, iPads, ball sports and television shows that you have to convince them that turkey hunting is one of the most-fun things they can do. You want your children or your grandchildren to really, really want to go hunting with you. Now getting the youngsters mentally prepared to

Big Game, Turkey, Mossy Oak

One Small Mistake Can Ruin Your Turkey Population

The wild turkey is an amazing bird. Although their numbers across the U.S. are really good, most any hunter or sportsman wouldn’t mind seeing a few more where they hunt or manage land. A simple mistake we see made every year that can have a negative impact on your turkey numbers is the good old bush hog. After being on your property during the spring, you begin to see a lot of things you would

Big Game, Turkey, Conservation, BioLogic, Mossy Oak Gamekeepers

Building the Next Generation of Turkey Hunters

The sport of turkey hunting will continue if each of us dedicates ourselves to teaching the next generation (including our children and our grandchildren). Ronnie “Cuz” Strickland, vice president of Mossy Oak Television and Video Production, says, “Turkey hunting trips with my grandchildren are some of my best turkey hunts ever.” To understand why, we asked Cuz to tell us all how he’s training his grandchildren to turkey hunt.

Big Game, Turkey, Mossy Oak

Turkeys Across Deep and Wide Creeks

One of the toughest questions is: “How do you take a turkey that’s gobbling across a creek that’s too deep to wade and too far or too cold to swim?” When I find myself in this situation, I say, “Is that water too cold for me to swim, or is there another way that I can get on the same side of the creek as that gobbler?”

Big Game, Turkey, Mossy Oak

A Turkey Decoy May Work, But Perhaps Not

I really like to use a strutting gobbler decoy. However, you don’t know which gobbler in the flock may come in to your calling. If a subordinate gobbler comes in, and he's already been beat up by a dominant gobbler, there's a very good chance that he's won’t come in and get his head bloodied again.

Big Game, Turkey, Mossy Oak

Matt Morrett on How to Take a Field Turkey

On most fields, the edges of the fields are wooded. Finding a gobbler out in the field is the easiest way to locate a turkey to hunt. However, a field turkey oftentimes is one of the most-difficult turkeys to hunt. A really-smart field turkey will fly down from the roost, land out in the middle of the field, strut, drum and call his hens to him. He’ll stay out in the field until the sun

Big Game, Turkey, Mossy Oak

Matt Morrett Loves to Use Friction Calls for Gobblers

In 2 minutes or less, you can learn to push the dowel on a push-button call and call in a wild turkey. In 5 to 10 minutes you can learn to use a slate or a glass-type friction call. You can make a yelp, a cluck, a purr and a cutting sound and call in a wild turkey. For this reason, friction calls are the easiest and simplest to learn.

Big Game, Turkey, Mossy Oak

Solving Tough Turkey Taking Problems

Matt Morrett represents Zink Wild Game Calls, Avian X decoys and the Plano Company. He has been a Mossy Oak Pro most of his life. After winning his first World Turkey Calling Championship when he was 16-years old, he has stacked-up turkey calling championships higher than he is tall. During turkey season, he probably sleeps in Mossy Oak camo, so he can jump out of the bed before first light and get out into the

Big Game, Turkey, Mossy Oak

Ronnie “Cuz” Strickland on the Different Types of Eastern Wild Turkeys

In my own mind, there are several different types of eastern wild turkeys. I know the turkeys in Missouri are eastern wild turkeys, but they gobble so loud and so much that believing they have turbo chargers on their chests is easy. So, I classify them as a different species of eastern wild turkey in my mind than some of the other eastern gobblers. Turkeys in New York also gobble pretty good, but they seem

Big Game, Turkey

Ronnie “Cuz” Strickland’s Favorite Turkey to Hunt – Merriam’s Gobblers

I like Merriam’s gobblers, because those birds like to talk. If they can hear you, the Merriam’s gobbler won’t hesitate to come to you from a mile away. If a Merriam’s gobbler answers my calling, over the years, I've learned to sit down and eat a candy bar. By the time I’m finished with that candy bar, the gobbler will be right in front of me. I think one of the reasons that the Merriam’s

Big Game, Turkey, Mossy Oak