Final Turkey Checklist

Less than a 48 hours until my 2025 turkey seasons begins and I still have a couple of items to finalize.

Base Strategy – Your strategy may change quickly with turkeys as you react to where you are hearing the gobbles come from or if they are moving out of range. But its helpful to have a plan to start with: are you going to put a blind up or find a

tree to rest against, decoys or no decoys, call or not call. It’s the first week of the year so will be interesting to see if they are fired up or not, if they start quiet I will probably minimize calling and try to get in between them and their likely food sources in the morning or catch them returning to their roosts in the evening.

I created a prediction of turkey movement based on scouting and experience on the property. If the birds are quiet, I'll try to cut them off in their daily loops. Note this could be completely wrong come Friday.

Picking my Calls – Turkey calls can be intimidating and have a learning curve. Don’t wait until you are sitting in the woods to figure out if you sound like a turkey or not. I’ve been practicing my mouth calls on my way to work and determining which ones work best for me and my practicing my box call while sitting on the couch. If you are limited in time and have not used a call before box calls are going to be the easiest to pick up, mouth calls can have a steeper learning curve.

Shotgun Pattern/Sight-in – I am using a new shotgun this year a Benelli Pump, the barrel is 2” shorter than my Winchester Ranger and should make me a little more maneuverable in the woods. I transferred my red-dot scope to it and took a couple shots over the weekend to make sure I was hitting paper. I would like to take a couple more shots further out Thursday morning to determine an effective range.  

Its important to consider and check your choke pattern. For turkey’s you want a small/narrow pattern as you will generally be shooting at a stationary target and are dealing with tough birds that need more of a payload to be taken down

Double check to see if your shotgun has a choke in it already and what type. You'll be looking for Full or Turkey specific chokes to keep a tight pattern.

compared to ducks and gamebirds. The full or turkey chokes will also give you longer effective range from 40-70 yards depending on your choke and shell you are using. Most shotguns will come standard with a medium or open choke design to cover a larger target area to improve your odds for hitting a flying duck or pheasant. So it is important to take a look at what choke to make sure you setting yourself up for success when the opportunity comes.

Similar to the choke, I plan to use Turkey specific shells. I won't go far down this rabbit hole but really two major category. Lead and Tungsten. Lead shot is the

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most common and economical, you will want to look for size #5 or #6. TSS are expensive at $10 per round but they give you a longer effective range and more pellets, you will generally use shot in #7-#9 for TSS. Whether TSS or Lead, your turkey shells are going to have more noticeably more pop so best to shoot a couple so you are not caught off guard in the field. I am going to try Federal Premium’s Heavyweight TSS 3” with 1-3/4 oz of 7 shot to start the year.

Permithrin/Thermacell – Ticks and bugs will be starting to come out of hibernation soon and protecting yourself with permethrin will keep you comfortable and safe. With permethrin you should not apply directly to yourself or clothing immediately before using. Spray your pants, socks, boots, jacket, hat you plan to wear a couple of days before and leave it outside overnight or for a number of hours during the day. A travel thermacell will help with keeping mosquitos at bay if you are hunting in May.

Snacks/Caffeine/Hydration – Key to being able to be stay in the hunt longer is being comfortable. Keeping hunger and thirst at bay will reduce the urge to call it early and the caffeine will keep you from being asleep when turkeys walk by. After an early wakeup its good to have some go juice.

Day of Itinerary – Confirming when legal shooting begins (5:38am), subtract 20 minutes for being in place (5:18am), 15 minutes to get to my spot from my truck (5:03am), 10 minutes at the truck to get situated (4:53am), 12 minutes to drive to my location (4:41am), 30 minutes for breakfast and getting dressed (4:11am), factor in one snooze button (8 minutes) and set alarm clock with set for (4:03am).

Hope to have a picture to share next week! Good Luck!

Luke B.