Turkey Hunting: Call Softly and Sit Long with Tracy Groves
John E. Phillips 03.21.13
Author’s note: Tracy Groves of Sykesville, Maryland is an avid turkey hunter, a member of Mossy Oak’s Pro Staff (www.mossyoak.com) and particularly enjoys hunting public lands, something many turkey hunters find hard to do. The host of the Real Deal TV show on the Sportsman’s Channel for three years, he recently developed a camp called Heartwood Outdoors (http://heartwoodoutdoors.com) to take youngsters from single-parent families hunting to teach them outdoor skills and to work with special-needs children.
If you’re going to hunt turkeys on public lands, you’ve got to commit to hunt the turkey on his time, not on your time. Your best tool is patience.
Public land turkeys receive a lot of hunting pressure, and they don’t like it. The average public land turkey hunter will listen for a turkey to gobble, move within 100 yards of that turkey, and as long as a turkey is gobbling, the hunter will keep calling to him. But, when the turkey doesn’t gobble back to his calls, the hunter usually will wait 10 to 15 minutes and then go home. However, on many of my hunts, I’ll sit in the same spot for 3-1/2 hours, waiting on a gobbler to come back to me.
I was hunting on public lands in New York one year and had a special guest with me. I hunted this one gobbler for four straight hours. We moved perhaps 20 or 30 yards, but we never left that area. We would soft-call and move 20 or 30 yards and then soft-call again. If you listen to a wild turkey hen, you’ll notice she doesn’t call loudly at all. The hens call very softly and low and do a lot of clucking and purring. When they yelp, they yelp very quietly. I call so softly that if there’s another hunter 50 yards from me, he’ll never hear my calls. But, a turkey can hear that soft calling even if he’s 100 to 150 yards away.
The first secret to taking a gobbler on public lands is to call softly and to be patient. One of the rarest calls a wild turkey on public lands hears is soft-calling. Most hunters believe the louder they call, the more ground their calls will cover, and the more turkeys they can touch with that calling. However, you need to understand that all the turkeys on public lands have heard loud, aggressive calling from the day turkey season has opened, and they quickly have learned that that style of calling isn’t natural and represents danger to them. They also have learned that the faster they go to loud calling, the chances dramatically increase that at some point they’ll have lead in their heads. So, don’t call loudly, and plan to stay at least 30 minutes longer than you think you need to when a turkey stops gobbling. You’ll see your success ratio go up dramatically.
John, the 2008 Crossbow Communicator of the year and the 2007 Legendary Communicator chosen for induction into the National Fresh Water Hall of Fame, is a freelance writer (over 6,000 magazine articles for about 100 magazines and several thousand newspaper columns published), magazine editor, photographer for print media as well as industry catalogues (over 25,000 photos published), lecturer, outdoor consultant, marketing consultant, book author and daily internet content provider with an overview of the outdoors.
Phillips has been a contributor to many national magazines, has been affiliated with 27 radio stations across Alabama serving as their outdoor editor and wrote for a weekly syndicated column, "Alabama Outdoors," for 38-Alabama newspapers for more than 13 years. Phillips was Outdoor Editor for the "Birmingham Post-Herald" for 24 years. Phillips was also the executive editor for "Great Days Outdoors" magazine for 3 years.
The author of almost 30 books on the outdoors, Phillips is a founding member of the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA) and an active member of the Southeastern Outdoors Press Association (SEOPA). Phillips also is the owner of Night Hawk Publications, a marketing and publishing firm, and president of Creative Concepts, an outdoor consulting group.
Phillips conducts seminars across the nation at colleges in freelance writing, photography and outdoor education besides teaching courses in how to sell what you write to writers' groups. Phillips received his photography training as a still-lab photo specialist for six years in the Air Force. He was the chief photographer for Mannequins, Inc., a Birmingham modeling agency, for 11 years.
While serving as 2nd Vice President of the Alabama Wildlife Federation, Phillips was in charge of all press releases for the organization as well as serving as Chairman of Alabama's Big Buck Contest, which he founded more than 30 years ago. He also was president of the Alabama Sportsman's Association for three years.
Phillips is the recipient of a Certificate of Merit from the Governor of Alabama and the Department of Conservation for his work in the outdoor field. Phillips is vitally interested in the outdoors and travels the nation collecting personalities, stories and how-to information for his articles and features.
EDUCATION: B.S. degree from the University of West Alabama with a physical education major and a history minor.
EXPERIENCE: 10 years parttime and fulltime physical director for YMCAs and 34 years as a freelance writer, photographer, editor, book author, lecturer and daily-content provider for websites. Currently, Phillips is a field editor for Game and Fish Publications; serves on the editorial board of Grandview Media; is a regular contributor to 12 internet magazines and a daily content provider for 8 websites.
WRITING AWARDS: Runnerup - Best Outdoor Magazine Feature - 1981 - SEOPA; Certificate of Merit - Awarded by Alabama's Governor for writings on conservation; Most Outstanding Sports Writer in Southeast - 1983 & 1984; Best Outdoor Feature in Alabama, 1987 - Alabama Sportswriters' Association 3rd Place; Best Book of the Year - 1989 - SEOPA; 2007 - inducted into the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame as a Legendary Communicator; 2008 - received award naming him 2008 Crossbow Communicator of the Year from the Crossbow Manufacturers' Association; 2009 - GAMMA Honorable Mention for Consumer/Paid Best Essay for July/August 2008 in "Southern Sporting Journal."
