Hopefully most turkey hunters will have their stuff together long before opening day. I'm talking about the total turkey hunting package, not just the obvious items. Sure you have your calls, gun and loads, but what about all the other "essential" gear that can make or break your hunt? Do you know where your flashlight is? Are the batteries in your flashlight fresh? How about the batteries in your camera? Is your turkey vest packed? Besides your turkey calls, how about locator calls? How about chalk for your box and/or sandpaper for your slate? The bigger items need to be packed too. Remember a rain parka or a rain suit. Decoys and the blind need to be ready to go and I mean packed in immediately transportable form. Turkey hunting often means a lot of walking. Are your hunting boots well broken in and freshly waterproofed? There's a lot more to gobbler hunting than just calls and guns. Make sure you have it all with you.

A wild gobbler is a big, tough bird and big guns and loads are best. The 12-gauge 3-inch magnum with modern loads of two ounces of #4, #5 or #6 shot is probably the most popular combination. The "Big Guns" of turkey hunting take 3 1/2-inch shells. The 10-gauge magnum and the 12-gauge 3 1/2-inch magnum both pack 2 1/4 ounces of shot. These provide a lot of wallop on both ends of the gun. There's nothing wrong with being "over-gunned" for big boss gobblers but these big guns are heavy and the recoil is severe. How about lighter loads and smaller gauges? Standard "short" magnum 12-gauge shells with 1 1/2 to 1 5/8 ounces of shot give you about 90% of the range and will deal with about 98% of the gobblers that the big guns do. For smaller and younger shooters, a tight-choked 20-gauge with well-patterned 3-inch magnum loads will cleanly take 30-yard gobblers with head and neck shots.

Many hunters like to do their pre-deer season scouting in the late winter and early spring, however turkey season is up first and pre-season scouting and early success go hand in hand. First, find the turkeys in general. Most hens and many adult gobblers are still in flocks until just before the season. Their group scratchings in the leaves are hard to miss. However, smaller scratchings two to three feet in diameter away from the main flock's feeding area is a sign that the gobblers are starting to break. Turkeys like to walk in the clear. Look for tracks on logging roads and sand bars. Gobbler tracks are usually about four inches long and gobbler droppings are tight and well-formed, often with a J-hook. Thus by keeping an eye on the logging roads, you will know how much travel they get and what's doing the traveling. Early bird scouting is the best bet for an early bird.

It's none too early to break out the turkey calls and start practicing for the hunting season. While there is lots to turkey hunting besides just calling, it doesn't hurts to be a competent caller. Having confidence in your calling ability is an important tactical advantage when the chips are down. It's preferable to practice outside. Besides not getting on the family's nerves, most turkey calls sound different out in the open. Many, particularly the friction calls, sound different at a distance. Set up a tape recorder 20 or 30 feet away and tape your calling. The same goes for the diaphragm. Since it's inside your mouth, you don't hear it exactly the same way it sounds some distance away. For basic calling instructions, most major call makers offer tapes and videos. Many turkey hunting videos also offer plenty of calling tips and techniques. I know because I make some of them. Try to pick up a new tip from each video you watch and put it into practice.