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| DON'T OVERLOOK THE ESSENTIALS BY STEPHAN RICHARDSON Spring turkey season is just around the corner. Do you wonder if it is going to be a successful season? Follow these tips and your chances of bagging that gobbler will get a little better. Pattern your shotgun! One of the biggest mistakes I see hunters make is not patterning their shotguns. You can’t just stop by the sporting goods store, pick up some shells and go to the woods. Pick up a couple of boxes of shells with different size pellets and go to the range. Before shooting always put on some ear protection, and make sure that everyone around you has ear protection on. Try each at 20, 30, and 40 yards; if you don’t see a pattern that is hitting consistently, try a different choke. If you still are not getting a pattern that you like you can send your gun to a proven company like Gobbler Guns, www.gobblerguns.com . They will check the barrel and do the appropriate work and get a shell/choke combination that has your gun hitting just like you need it to. Get your calls out and spend a few minutes each day practicing. I can’t tell you how many times people have told me, “ I get them out the day before season and go hunting.” It is no wonder they don’t sound like they had hoped. Plus when setting up on a gobbler it gives you much more confidence when you know what your calling is going to sound like. He has to believe what he hears. Go to the woods and scout. This is a critical part of the puzzle. Scouting not only lets you know where the birds are, it also tells you what they are eating, and it also helps you get to know the lay of the land that you are hunting. Knowing where hidden fences in the woods are, hidden ditches, and other obstacles can mean the difference between going home to a bowl of tag soup or getting to tote a big gobbler out on your back. Good luck this season, Stephan Richardson Hook’s Custom Calls Prostaff 2008 Grand National Gobbling Champion |
| HUNTING TIPS |
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