You haven't started shooting your bow yet? Shame on you. Good practice is the basis of good bowhunting. It's like the coach always told you, "The way you practice is the way you play."

Some think that bow tuning should be the first step toward a new archery season. Not so. First get the rust off your shooting form. It is highly probable that some perceived mechanical flaw with your equipment is actually a fault induced by your out-of-practice form.

Start simply and with short sessions. Don't expect to pick right up where you left off last year. Avoid making rusty form worse by over-shooting to the point of fatigue. You've got to re-tune your muscles at the same time you are re-tuning your form.
Once you are back in your shooting groove, critique your equipment's performance. Good bow shooting is part physical, part mental and part mechanical. All of these factors must be brought to the same level of play for things to work out right.

Being able to judge the distance to a gobbler is important. For your initial approach you need to get close enough to call effectively but not so close as to spook the bird.

Judging gobbler distance is tricky. Simply the way the turkey is facing on a limb can make a big difference. A gobbler facing in your direction sounds much closer than one facing away. When the gobbler flies down, his gobbles are a bit muted. This has caused many turkey hunters to charge in and spook a bird they think is much farther away than he really is. As more foliage grows on trees and bushes, it also mutes and distorts the sound of the gobbler, making him sound farther away, both on the limb and on the ground.
Use caution when going to a gobbler and err on the side of setting up too far. Turkeys can hear amazingly well and successful turkey hunters are always heard and not seen.

As turkey season wanes so, it seems, does the interest of the gobblers. Many birds may be legitimately call shy, made so by intense calling and hunting pressure. However, many may just be tired.

In some ways, the end of the season is like the beginning. Gobblers are less "cranked up" and less vocal. Many hens have taken the nest and fewer available hens means less constant stimulation to strut and gobble. His sexual urges tend to come and go, competing with fatigue and hunger. He has lost weight and energy from the rigorous activities of breeding and fighting off other gobblers.

At this time, the turkey hunter must rely on woodcraft and specific turkey knowledge gained over the season. Even a late-season gobbler will still have his "hot flashes." They are just less frequent and more unpredictable. Hunting into the mid-morning and all day, if legal, is a good idea. If you can get his interest aroused, the late-season gobbler can be called fairly easily.

The National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) is the best friend the wild turkey resource and the wild turkey hunter has. For more than a quarter of a century the NWTF has championed the cause of wild turkey restoration and sound, scientific wildlife management.
Although near extinction at the turn of the century, the U.S. wild turkey population is nearly 5,000,000 birds, with huntable populations in 49 of the 50 states.
The NWTF has been a considerable force in the successful restoration of the wild turkey. On the political side, it has presented the unified voice of thousands of turkey hunters calling on wildlife management agencies to make wild turkey management a priority. Through NWTF fund-raising efforts, millions of dollars have helped with wild turkey restoration and management activity.
Without all this, we would certainly not enjoy the great turkey hunting we have today. All serious turkey hunters should join and support a National Wild Turkey Federation chapter near them.

For bowhunters, right now is not too early to start your scouting for the upcoming bow seasons. The early archery seasons are just around the corner. When the season opens, deer will still be in the same pattern as they are now