The Turkey Hunter Podcast with Andy Gagliano & Cameron Weddington | Turkey Hunting Tips, Strategies, and Stories

This week I discuss tag team turkey hunting, or turkey hunting in pairs. There are certain strategies that hunting with a partner allow you to execute that you can't execute hunting solo.

Chris Parrish joins us to share some turkey calling tips and tactics.

With turkey season in for the majority of the country, turkey calling is something that we all need to learn more about and practice as much as we can.

Chris tells us how he approaches early season gobblers and mid season gobblers. He also shares some tips to try when running and gunning.

In this episode, Cameron (The Turkey Hunter intern) and I list our 5 favorite turkey hunting tips from the list of 101 Turkey Hunting Tips that is available to any listener who wants the list by texting "101Tips" to 44222.

The list of tips is a great reminder for us experienced turkey hunters and a great learning tool for those beginner turkey hunters as well.

Author J. Wayne Fears talks high tech turkey shotgun shells and turkey shotgun chokes in today's episode of The Turkey Hunter podcast.

Wayne and I talk about what the numbers on a box of shotgun shells really tells us, what the constriction of a choke means to us, and different shotgun pellets.

We also talk about how today's high tech turkey loads will require a more open constriction choke than the turkey loads from years past where the tighter a turkey choke is, the better.

Brandon Jacob is a turkey hunter from Texas who is on a mission to help restore wild turkeys to eastern Texas.

Brandon is tackling a 5 month long thru hike on the Appalachian Trail. This hike has been on his bucket list for a long period of time, and Brandon decided that now is the time to take on the challenge.

Brandon wanted to do a little more than just hike the trail. He wants to do something to help support his passion and his home state.  Brandon has started a Go Fund Me account to raise money for relocation of wild turkeys into east Texas. 

Brandon has gotten the Texas Parks and Wildlife Division to match the contributions 3 to 1, so a $5 donation will result in a total of $20 being donated for the restoration of wild turkeys into east Texas.

Listen in as Brandon tells his story of how he wants to complete a lifelong goal and help restore wild turkeys in east Texas.

Preston Pittman with Pittman Game Calls and Long Leaf Camo discusses how weather affects wild turkeys in this week's episode.

Not many of us turkey hunters always have the luxury of hunting only on "blue bird" days - those days where it is sunny and 65 degrees with no wind.  For those of us who take turkey hunting trips out of state each year or who live in states that have very short week long seasons, we have to hunt no matter what the weather is.  

Wild turkeys will move to different terrain when different weather conditions occur. On days when the weather is bad, we can greatly increase our chances of success by knowing where the turkeys are.  Once we know where the turkeys are, all we have to do is figure out how to hunt them. 

Of course, we can't guarantee every single turkey will react the same way to certain weather conditions, but we can make predictions off of our past observations.

In this episode, Preston Pittman shares his knowledge of where we can find turkeys during periods of high wind, hot temperatures, snow, or rain.  Using this information during turkey season can help us to have more success when bad weather interferes with our turkey hunting.

Today, we are dissecting a diaphragm turkey call with Mitchell Johnston from Dead End Game Calls. Mitchell shares with us what goes into a diaphragm, or mouth, call.

Diaphragm turkey calls are a great method for calling turkeys while keeping your hands free. Diaphragm calls do have a couple of downfalls though. Diaphragm turkey calls can be difficult for the beginning user to master, and some users just can't operate a call because the calls in their mouths make them gag.

Despite these downfalls, diaphragm calls are outstanding hunting calls if you purchase the right one and practice with it often.

Mitchell will teach us the difference in sound between a 2, 3, and 4 reed call as well as the different cuts that go into the top reed of a diaphragm turkey call.

In this episode, Keith Beam, the co-founder of Double Bull Blinds and current owner of Drake's Adventures, shares some tips for turkey hunting from a ground blind.

Keith shares some tips on how to choose the perfect ground blind for our turkey hunting needs. Choosing a blind that is too big for our needs can be an added unnecessary expense, but choosing a blind that is too small can be a hindrance in being able to draw a bow or in accommodating hunting partners.

Keith also shares some tips for setting up a ground blind to make sure that we do not spook an approaching Tom because our blind fabric is too shiny or because the fabric is flapping in the wind.

Keith also shares with us info on how to choose the best location to put a blind so that we can maximize our odds of success.

Lastly, Keith shares the exciting news of his new venture that he calls Drake's Adventures. If you want more information on Drake's Adventures, you can visit www.drakesadventures.com.

Scott Davis with Urban Hunting TV joins us in this episode to discuss urban turkey hunting.

As development encroaches on wild turkey habitat and wild turkeys expand their range, urban encounters with wild turkeys have become more and more common. It seems that almost daily a new video wild turkey attack video is being posted on YouTube. These attacks are more common because encounters between wild turkeys and humans are more common and the turkeys have lost their fear of humans.

One way to humanely control any wild game population is through hunting. Many municipalities have laws against firing a weapon (gun or bow) within the city limits, and this law prevents many of us from being able to hunt these overgrown populations of wild game.

Some states have laws which override the local laws preventing discharge of a weapon within city limits as long as the person firing the weapon is doing so in an ethical and responsible manner while hunting. The states that have such a law open the opportunity for us to hunt within the boundaries of a municipality in that state and, of course, open the doors for urban turkey hunting.

Scott shares with us how he first got into urban turkey hunting, how he approaches land owners about hunting on their urban properties, and his approach for hunting those properties once he receives permission to hunt.

When urban turkey hunting, care must be taken to prevent a confrontation with neighbors and/or anti-hunters. Scott also shares with us a few tips he has learned over the years to prevent those confrontations from arising. He also shares a few ways he maintains a strong relationship between himself and the property owner so that he has a place to hunt in the future as well.

Listen in to this week's episode to learn everything you can about urban turkey hunting.

Blake Morris talks turkey hunting and gun safety when he shares the story of his hunting accident.

Blake was upland bird hunting in Kansas when he inadvertently loaded the wrong shotgun shell in his shotgun. The ensuing shot at a flying bird caused the gun barrel to split open and Blake lost his thumb in the accident.

Blake shares the story and some gun safety tips that we all need to keep in mind whether we are hunting wild turkeys or at the range sighting in our firearms.  Most of these tips are things that we have been taught before, but it never hurts to have a reminder in gun safety.

Listen in to this episode to hear the story of Blake's hunting accident, some gun safety tips, and the story of Blake's first turkey hunt after his accident where he tagged a very nice Eastern wild turkey.