You can wear best-quality camouflage, use the outstanding Knight and Hale turkey calls and employ all the tactics in the Knight and Hale videos, and you still won't go home with a gobbler if you're hunting in a place that doesn't hold a turkey. To have a successful turkey hunt, you must first find a gobbler to hunt.

As Chuck Jones, who cohosts and produces "Knight and Hale's Ultimate Hunting" TV show and videos explains, "if you really want to experience success, you need to locate more than one gobbler every day you go afield."

Jones of Cadiz, Kentucky, has to find and take turkeys every season not only for the table, but also for the video camera. His employers, not his ego, dictate this requirement. If you want to learn how to find and take more turkeys this season, talk to someone like Chuck Jones who locates and hunts gobblers for a living.

HOW THE PRO SCOUTS
"When I plan to hunt a new location, I scout the area before turkey season opens," Jones explains. "I learn what turkeys eat and their daily movement patterns." When Jones scouts, he quickly covers as much ground as possible. He also pinpoints the locations of as many turkeys as he can each day he scouts. Jones knows that, just like you or I, if he carries a turkey call with him on a scouting expedition, sooner or later he'll take that turkey call out of his pocket and call to a gobbling bird.

"Regardless of your will power, if you have a turkey call in your pocket, vest or anywhere else on your body, you probably will pull it out of your pocket and use it," Jones emphasizes. "Never use a turkey call when scouting for gobblers because you'll educate the gobbler you want to take.:"

To solve this problem, Jones takes all his turkey calls out of his pack, vest and clothes before he leaves home. He'll replace them with a variety of locator calls. Jones carries a wide variety of locator calls to learn a turkey's movement patterns.
"I listen to turkeys gobble after they fly down off the roost to learn...
• where they go
• why they go there
• where they strut
• where they feed
• where they loaf in the middle of the day and
• How they walk back to the roost."

Jones likes Knight and Hale's Model 404 Magnum Camo Crow Call, the model 118 shock Gobble Owl Call, The Model 502 Screamin' Hawk Call, the model 149 Pileated Woodpecker Cal and the model 927 EZ-Howler Coyote Call. By blowing these calls while scouting, he can make the turkeys gobble and then determine their directions without the turkeys seeing him.

"Different calls will make the turkeys gobble at various times of the day," Jones reports. "A turkey that won't gobble to an owl call may gobble every time you blow a woodpecker call. "A turkey that doesn't answer a crow call may sound off each time you use a hawk call. "A turkey that won't answer any of the other calls may gobble when you blow a coyote howler. By carrying a wide variety of locator calls with you, you can change calls until you discover one the turkey will answer."

Jones says that to take a turkey, regardless of where you hunt, you must go to the gobbler's destination before he arrives there. Often, you may not have to use a locator call once you discover the turkey's route and learn his daily routine.

"Over the years I've learned that when hunting hilly country, turkeys usually end up around the bottom of the hills," Jones mentions. "When I scout early in the morning, I'll use locator calls from the ridge tops to find the turkeys in the bottoms."

Turkeys frequent the fertile grounds at the foot of hills to search for young sprouts and insects. These areas stay cooler longer as the day progresses and generally have water near or in them.
"Also to find spring gobblers, you need to locate the hens," Jones says. "I look for hens in feeding sites and in fields."

THE GOBBLER GUIDE
Last year, Knight and Hale produced the "Knight and Hale Gobbler Guide," Model No. 185 booklet. Jones, like many hunters, travels across the country during the spring to hunt turkeys. He refers to the "Gobbler Guide" to determine the best times to find turkeys in the state where he plans to hunt.

"Turkeys go through several transitions during turkey season in each state," Jones comments. "Knowing the transitions will help you determine how and where to find gobblers in the state at the time."

The "Gobbler Guide" splits the U.S. into various zones and tells you how the turkeys will behave in each zone on each day of the turkey season. The guide also gives you the hunting strategies that will enable you to find and bag more gobblers in that state on that date.
"Using the 'Gobbler Guide,' helps me know if the gobblers will be with hens on the day I plan to hunt," Jones explains. "I also can know what phase the breeding season is in on the day I hunt.

"If, for instance, you know the gobblers have finished breeding on a particular day in the state you plant to hunt, you may not want to use aggressive hen calls," Jones says. "Once toms finish breeding, you won't hear very much gobbling or hen calling. You may have to rely more on your hunting skills than on your calling skills."
"The Knight and Hale Gobbler Guide" also comes with a video that both the beginner or the most advanced turkey hunter will enjoy.

JONES' FAVORITE CALLS
No matter how many calls you carry in the woods with you, you always will use your favorites. Although Jones takes all the Knight and Hale locator calls with him when he scouts, he relies the most heavily on his crow call, hawk call and owl call.

I'll use the Shock Gobble Owl Call on a roosted turkey and throughout the morning to locate gobblers," Jones advises. "Once the turkey flies off the roost, I'll rely on the Magnum Camo Crow Call because turkeys hate crows. Crows seem to antagonize other types of wildlife. A male turkey in any state usually will gobble to a crow call when he hears it."

When the crow call doesn't work, Jones uses the Knight & Hale Screamin' Hawk Call. "This hawk call makes a much higher-pitch call like the pileated woodpecker Call does. These two calls work effectively when you hunt in areas where the turkeys have a lot of hunting pressure and don't hear the hawk or woodpecker call as much as they hear the owl and crow calls. The higher-pitched hawk and crow calls may cause a gobbler to speak when other calls won't."

Jones likes to use Knight & Hale's Deluxe Acrylic Goose-Locator Call in areas with intense hunting pressure, something most hunters never think of doing. According to Jones, "The loud high-pitched goose call will make turkeys gobble when no other locator call can get the bird's attention.

The EZ-Howler coyote call works best in the west where sportsmen hunt Rio Grand or Merriam's gobblers. The howler works most effectively just before or at daylight. However, because coyotes have expanded their range into the East, the coyote howler works for eastern hunters as well.

DURING THE SEASON
"When I either make a turkey gobble or hear one gobble on his own during the season, I'll use my locator call to determine the turkey's direction of travel to decide where I need to take a stand," Jones reports. "I want to get out in front of the turkey before I set up and use hen calls. If I move ahead of the bird before I call to him, I increase my odds for bagging him.

Once Jones knows the direction of the turkey's movement. He'll sneak ahead of the turkey and set up his hunting spot as close as he can without the bird's seeing him before he can use his hen calls. Locator calls enable Jones to stay in constant contact with the gobbler to pinpoint the gobbler's position.

"By knowing the gobbler's location and his speed of travel, I can determine better if I have time to cut limbs and bushes to make a natural blind, or if I need to sit down quickly next to a big tree to hide my silhouette," Jones says. "I never use my turkey calls to call the bird to me until I'm ready to take the shot."

THE SPOOKED GOBBLER
If you turkey hunt long enough, you'll eventually spook a tom you want to harvest. Jones says locator calls can play an important role in locating the spooked gobbler. I'll wait 30 minutes after I've spooked a gobbler before using several different types of locator calls to try to get him to respond." Once I learn which type of locator call he'll respond to, I'll use that same call and entice him to gobble three of four different times as I move into a location to call him to me."

After Jones gets close to a tom, he sits down and readies for the shot before he gives any hen calls. "I'll sit down beside a tree that's wider than my shoulders to camouflage my silhouette and prepare to make the shot before I ever use a hen call. Then if I call a gobbler in to me, I can take him if he comes in on the run. When I share the woods with another hunter, I want to make sure a tree is between me and that other hunter before I start sounding like a turkey. Then I won't get shot."

HUSH-MOUTHED TOMS
Often you'll call in a turkey that won't come within gun range. Hens already may accompany that turkey, a predator may have spooked the gobbler, terrain may prevent the turkey from coming to you, or the bird may have lost interest in your calling.

When one of these scenarios occurs, Jones suggests you, "Wait another hour before you move because many times a gobbler will come in silently. If you move you'll spook the turkey. However, if an hour passes with no sign of the bird, back out of that spot, go to a new area, and use your locator calls to try to find another turkey."

If another tom doesn't answer after you've prospected for one with your locator calls for several hours, Jones recommends you return to the region where you've encountered the hush-mouthed gobbler. Find the bird with your locator calls, move to a different stand site closer to the bird, and use a different style of turkey caller.

"I like to have several turkeys to hunt in any area where I plan to spend the day," Jones mentions. "If for some reason the bird I've hunted that morning beats me, I can hunt another turkey and come back to that same bird later that morning or another time."

HOW TO CLOSE THE DEAL
After Jones pinpoints a gobbler, picks out his best stand and rests his shotgun on his knee, he often relies on friction calls. "Friction calls like Knight and Hale's Ultimate slate sound more like a hen than any other type of call. I prefer to use either an ebony striker or a hickory striker on this call since these two strikers have that raspy sound of an excited hen."

When Jones hunts turkeys that have experienced immense hunting pressure, he uses the hickory striker to call softly, especially when the turkey comes in close to him. "To take a tough gobbler, use a locator call," Jones advises, "Set up on him, and call lightly on a friction call with soft clucks and purrs. No hunter should go in the woods without several different types of locator calls. To find the gobblers, you must know how to use a locator call."

By effectively using a locator call, you can reduce the amount of time you spend scouting and determine where and how to set up to increase your odds for bagging a gobbler. According to Jones, "I wouldn't go into the spring turkey woods without a locator call."

See Ya February 28th.