By Will Primos
It was opening morning. He had dreamed about this day for months. As he waited on sunrise, he kept thinking about the magazine articles and videos he had studied. This was his first turkey hunt and he was filled with excitement.

He had located a gobbler the afternoon before when it flew up to roost. Now he slipped into the woods and walked to a big oak that was about 100 yards from the gobbler's roost.

As he was trying to get set up, the gobbler sounded off. The hunter thought he was in the perfect spot. From what he had learned, it was time to begin some soft tree yelps. The turkey answered every time, even double-gobbled at the last series of yelps. His heart was about to beat out of his chest. This looked like it was going to be too easy. he kept expecting the gobbler to appear at any moment. The turkey continued to gobble so he switched to his Primos AlumiSlate and really poured it on. For the next hour, the gobbler answered everything the hunter did - problem was the gobbler wasn't moving. During the next 30 minutes the gobbles slowed rapidly. At this point, loud cutting was the only thing the tom would answer and then he became completely quiet. The hunter tried to figure out what he was doing wrong.

He finally decided to get up and move toward the spot the turkey had been gobbling from and try to get another response. He had walked about 100 yards when the sound of wing beats almost scared him out of his skin. He had flushed the gobbler off his roost. What had he done wrong? Why was the gobbler in the tree two hours after daylight?

This has happened to many hunters across the country, and it is a common mistake among first-time hunters. In the turkey woods, hens come to the gobbler as they fly off the roost. In this situation, the hunter called the gobbler too much. The turkey was gobbling on the roost because of the aggressive calling he was hearing. He finally became quiet until the hunter flushed him off

Every gobbler is different, but there are some general rules I like to follow. I like to give a gobbler one series of soft, tree calls at first light and then remain quiet until he flies off the roost. Once he is on the ground I will begin calling again. This is very effective when there are no hens roosted near the gobbler. If you hear hens, the best thing to do is to copy the calls the hens make. If they respond, call back a little louder or a little more aggressively. Many times, you can call the hens to you and a gobbler will follow.

Your pre-season scouting is just as important as competently using a call. Walk through your hunting areas looking in sandy creek bottoms, on old logging roads, and around the edges of fields. You need to look for tracks, droppings and the strut marks of gobblers. Strut marks are lines made beside the gobbler tracks when they drag their wing tips on the ground. You can also look on ridge tops and in hardwood bottoms for scratching. These are spots where turkeys scratch the leaves back while looking for food. Once you have these spots located, you can try to predict the birds' travel patterns. When you get into a situation where a gobbler walks away from your calls, you can get in front of him and set up where you think he is headed.

Spend as much time as possible going to the woods before the season opens and listen for gobblers on the roost. Try to locate as many gobbling turkeys as possible so you will have more options if your first spot doesn't pay off. Remember, all turkeys don 't gobble every day. Just because you don't hear them does not mean they are not there. Never call to the turkeys prior to the season. If you do, it will only give them an advantage once the game begins. February and March are good times to scout because the flocks have not broken up yet and the turkeys are very vocal, especially in the morning.

At home, videos and audio tapes with recordings of live hens are helpful to listen to. Be sure you give yourself at least two months to practice with each of your calls. You should become proficient with as many types of calls as possible because you never know which one a gobbler will respond to.

There are several other things you can do to convince a gobbler that you are a live hen. "The Real Wing" by Primos simulates the wing beats of a hen flying down from her roost. In heavy hunted areas this is the only call I use before a gobbler flies down. Another subtle tactic is to use the wing to scratch in the leaves to simulate a turkey feeding. You can mix this in with your other calls to trick a wise old tom. Don't always assume that a gobble is the only sound you will hear from a tom. You should also be listening for the drumming of a strutting turkey or the sound of a tom walking in the leaves.