TALKING TURKEY WITH THE EXPERTS

The Owners Of Knight & Hale Game Calls Talk Turkey

EDITOR'S NOTE: To help those of us who are frustrated more often than not by
America's most famous game bird, I posed some questions to several of the nation's top turkey hunters and turkey authorities. Today, Harold Knight and David Hale, the founders of Knight & Hale Game Calls, answer questions.

Question: Harold, what is the most effective call to use to call a gobbler in quickly?
Answer: Without a doubt, I have called more turkeys cutting than with any other type of call. Cutting is a series of fast clucks or the beginning of a cackle without actually going into a cackle. It is the sound a hen makes when she wants to mate. If the cutting is given with a real high pitch, I believe the old gobbler really thinks the hen is excited and ready for mating.

Question: Harold, is cutting always the best call to give?
Answer: No, and that's the reason a good turkey hunter should know how to make many calls. The difference between being a good turkey hunter and a great turkey hunter is being able to figure out which call to use when. In my opinion, cutting is the most effective call on most turkeys in many regions and under a wide variety of circumstances. But cutting won't always work anytime or any place.

Question: Harold, how many turkey calls should a hunter carry with him into the woods?
Answer: That's an important question. Although my answer may sound somewhat ridiculous, I will explain. A turkey hunter needs either an owl hooter or the ability to hoot like an owl to try to get a turkey to gobble without coming to the hunter. When the hunter knows where the turkey is, he can move quickly to the bird to attempt to set up to call the tom. I also believe a turkey hunter requires a crow call and a hawk call -- two calls that can be effectively used to get a turkey to gobble later in the morning or in the middle of the day. Next, I think a turkey hunter needs a mouth caller, because under some circumstances, he must be able to call a turkey without using his hands, as he must on a friction call. A mouth call is probably the most versatile call of all. And the sportsman needs several different types of mouth calls. Sometimes a gobbler will come to a raspy call when he won't come to a sweet or smooth call. I believe a hunter should also have on hand a box call and a slate call. Often the slate will work when nothing else will, or the box will when all else fails. So, as you can see, I am a firm believer in a hunter having several different types of calls to be effective.

However, if I had to choose one call to cover all turkey hunting situations and all types of turkey hunters with varying skill levels, it would be the push button call. Even a child can work the push button call. One season I had an 11-year-old call and kill his own turkey with a push button. I have been so impressed with those little calls that I've started utilizing them myself and have discovered them to be deadly. They are easy to use, and most importantly-they will call turkeys.

Question: Harold, when there is a great deal of
turkey-hunting pressure, how do you compete for the gobblers?
Answer: I don't because I believe turkeys are pretty smart critters. When there are many hunters in the woods trying to take them, they wise up quickly. Turkeys are aware that most hunters hunt in the mornings and in the afternoons, which makes these times the most dangerous for them. I think that's when the toms become more cautious and wary. Therefore, when I find myself having to hunt areas with high hunter pressure, I give the other hunters the mornings and the afternoons, and I hunt in the middle of the day. I do very little calling then, but a lot of waiting and looking. Most of the time the tom won't gobble when he comes in to where I am waiting. I may hear him drum or strut, or he may come in silently and just appear. But I have found in high pressure areas that hunting in the middle of the day is the most effective.

Question: David, we've mainly been talking about calling to turkeys, yet most turkey experts agree calling is only 10 to 25 percent of what is required for taking a turkey. How do you bag a bird if you don't call to him?
Answer: I killed five gobblers before I ever saw a turkey call. I thought turkeys were like other critters and could be hunted like other animals. So I started going into the woods, listening for turkeys to gobble and attempting to follow them through the woods. I soon learned where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do. Once I understood the gobbler's movement patterns, I would sit down on a route the bird normally took every morning. If he followed that same pattern, he would walk right in front of me, and I would shoot him. I believe if a man knows how to hunt a turkey, he will have a much better chance of killing a tom than if he just knows to call a turkey.