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

Bobby Pinson with the World Turkey Hunting Championship tells us how the World Turkey Hunting Championship works. There are a lot of great turkey callers around this country, but being a great turkey caller does not necessarily put meat in your freezer.  The World Turkey Hunting Championship has hunters putting their money where their mouthcall is.

In part 2 of episode 23, Jerick Henley with Chain Ranch Outfitters shares the story of his most recent successful turkey hunt, 3 things we must do before booking our next outfitted turkey hunt, and how much we should tip our guides and camp cooks.

This is information you must know before you plan your next turkey hunting adventure. 

Also, as an added bonus for the listeners to this episode, I share how you can get my list of 45 questions that I use when interviewing outfitters for my turkey hunts. The list of questions is a great starting point when interviewing outfitters, and those questions can really help to shed light on exactly what you can expect when you arrive in camp after booking your hunt.

In episode 023, Jerick Henley with Chain Ranch Outfitters in Kansas and Oklahoma shares tips and tricks to have the most satisfaction with outfitted turkey hunts.

Most of us do not have the luxury of traveling the country on all expenses paid turkey hunting adventures for the two and a half months of turkey season, but we still want to occasionally go on an out of state turkey hunt to attempt to complete our Grand Slam or just to look at some different trees and turkeys.  Hunting public land is not always the best option to maximize the opportunities available with time that we can allot towards a "turkey vacation."

Booking an outfitted turkey hunt can often give us the best opportunity to harvest a wild turkey on a short trip to unfamiliar lands since the hunting is typically done on private, often less pressured, lands with someone who knows the habits and patterns of the birds residing on that property.

The problem that most of us have when booking outfitted turkey hunts is that we don't know the best way to book that hunt, and we sometimes end up with an unsatisfactory result from our trip. Either we have an unfilled tag, have to sleep in the back seat of our truck, or show up to hunt with an outfitter who has skipped town with our money.

These issues can be avoided by doing your due diligence and following some simple steps, and Jerick helps us with that in this episode.

Be sure to tune in to part 2 of episode 23 next week as Jerick will tell us the best time and best way to approach an outfitter who is not living up to your expectations, how much to tip the camp cook, and how much to tip your guide.

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In episode 022, Karen Lee, who is Vice President of Communications with the NWTF, gives us a preview of the 2015 NWTF Convention and Sports Show that will take place February 13 - 15 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort.

The NWTF believes this year's show will be their biggest and best ever, and by looking at the event billing it certainly appears that it will be. 

Karen tells us all about the calling contests, taxidermy contests, call making competitions, the exhibitors, the seminars, autograph sessions with pros and celebrities, and tons of activities for the kids as well.

Tune in to this week's episode to learn why you can't afford to miss the convention and sports show this year and also to hear Karen and I practicing our team owl hooting/gobbling competition routine.  It is quite funny.

In this episode of The Turkey Hunter Podcast, Jay Scott shares a very cool story of a turkey hunting outing where he was not the only hunter who was hunting the turkeys. The turkeys' reaction to the other hunter is fascinating and completely different than I would have thought.

Listen in as Jay tells the story of turkeys vs bobcat in this week's episode. Also, listen in to the very end of the show where I premiere a new segment of The Turkey Hunter Podcast called, "Fun with Editing" where I do just that.  I have fun playing with some of the audio snippets from the show with my audio editing software. I hope you enjoy the show and the new segment.

Thanks for listening!

In part 2 of Episode 021, Jay Scott with The Big Buck Registry's Big Buck Podcast shares with us some of his field turkey hunting stories and strategies as well.

Hunting field turkeys can be quite different than hunting turkeys that are hanging out in the woods.  Actually, most of the time, they are the same exact turkeys.  They just have dual personalities - a woods personality and a field personality, and we have to keep those differences in mind when we are chasing turkeys this spring.

Listen to Jay and Andy share stories about calling turkeys across creeks, Jay's most recent successful turkey hunt, the advantages of hunting on Wednesday's, and his thoughts about using decoys, and the importance of knowing when to move on a turkey.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy part 2 of Episode 021 of The Turkey Hunter Podcast - Hunting Field Turkeys with Jay Scott

Field turkeys and woods turkeys are generally the same exact turkeys, but turkeys do not act the same when they are in fields as they do when they are in the woods.  Therefore, we cannot use the same hunting strategies on turkeys that are in fields as we do with turkeys that are in the woods.  

Jay Scott, with the Big Buck Registry's Big Buck Podcast, shares many different field turkey tactics with us in this episode.  In part 1 of the episode, Jay tells us the awesome and funny story of how he got into turkey hunting, and how patience is a must have virtue while we are hunting fields. 

Be sure to listen to this week's episode of The Turkey Hunter Podcast and become a better field turkey hunter this spring.

In this episode of The Turkey Hunter Podcast, Bob Eriksen, who is a wildlife biologist with the NWTF, shares his knowledge of the breeding cycle of wild turkey hens and gobblers.

Bob tells us what activities that we need to avoid on our properties while hens are nesting.  Many times, land owners and managers can destroy nests and even kill hens who are sitting on those nests by doing certain things when hens are nesting.  Oftentimes, hens that have their nests destroyed will renest, but that is not always successful for them. 

He also shares the actions that we can take on our properties to improve nesting success.  Hens can nest almost anywhere; however, some habitats are better for nesting than others.  We, as land managers and owners, can perform certain management techniques that can actually enhance the nesting habitat.  Logging, burning, and other techniques can help improve the numbers of turkeys on our properties.

Bob shares his knowledge of what makes certain habitats more suitable for brood rearing success.  Bunch grasses and native warm season grasses are wonderful areas for hens to ensure that her hens have enough food to eat and cover for protection from predators.

Listen in to all of the very informative details of my interview with Bob Eriksen with the NWTF, and learn more about the breeding cycle of wild turkeys so you can be the best turkey hunter you can be.

Bob Eriksen has been a wildlife biologist with the NWTF for the past 13 years.  Bob has participated in many studies on wild turkeys over those years, and he has gained a tremendous amount of knowledge of the bird that he now spends his days studying. 

In part 1of Episode 020, Bob helps us understand the breeding cycle of hens so we can learn more about the Spring habits of the wild turkey.  Here are some of the things you'll learn when you tune in to this episode of The Turkey Hunter Podcast:

1. How many eggs the average hen lays each day and each season.

2. How much the peak season varies from north to south.

3. What factor gets hens in the mood to mate.

4. Why jakes tend to group up with other jakes at the end of the season.

5. How much more likely a mature hen is to nest successfully than a juvenile. 

6. Ideal nesting habitat.

7. When hens will start sitting on nests full time.

8. Why a hen only needs to be bred once to lay a clutch of 10 - 12 eggs.

9. How long it takes a hen to start laying eggs after she is bred.

10. What a "determinate nester" is.

Be sure to tune in to part 2 of Episode 020 next week when Bob will share more great information about the breeding cycle of wild turkey hens with us.

Turkey hunter, John Rowell, recounts the story of killing a once in a lifetime wild turkey in Missouri. 

John tells the story of what starts out to be a tough hunt because of retaliation against his hunting party by the outfitter that John paid to hunt in Missouri. The owner mistakenly associated John with a hunter who had been to his operation in previous years and had killed more turkeys than he was allotted on the unguided hunts.  After that unethical "hunter" cleared the situation up with the outfitter and let him know that John and his group should not be punished because of his actions in years past, the outfitter opened up more ranches to John and his group, but time was against John at that point who had one day remaining on his out of state hunt.

On the last morning of the hunt, John heard shots from all around the ranch he was hunting as his hunting partners were filling their tags, but John was not having any luck.  It looked like John was going to go home empty handed until a gobbling bird entered John's radar screen.  

The hunt was on, but the bird was not playing fair.  John took control of the situation and made the most of the opportunity he was given. 

Listen in as John describes what happened next and take a look at the picture to see how John's patience was rewarded by the Turkey gods.