The Turkey Hunter Podcast With Andy Gagliano | Turkey Hunting Tips, Strategies, And Stories

Post Thanksgiving Turkey Soup This week, I have another turkey soup episode for you guys.  This is the time of year when spring turkey tag application periods open in some states, and knowing the dates of those application periods is important. So, this week we talk about a couple of those states where the period has opened, or will be opening soon. This is also the time of year when some states ask for input from hunters about proposed regulation changes regarding season dates and bag limits. If your state government is asking for your input, then by all means you should give it to them. Some states have already released their harvest statistics for their fall 2019 turkey seasons, and we will talk about the results of some of those seasons. Listen in!

Jeff Budz Traveling Seminar from 2019 NWTF Convention This week I am playing Jeff Budz seminar on traveling and turkey hunting from the 2019 NWTF Convention in Nashville this past February.  There is lots of great information in this seminar that anyone who travels to turkey hunt or wants to start traveling to turkey hunt can use.  Listen in!

2020 Unicoi Turkey Call Makers Show Preview This week, I have Mark Sharpe on the show to talk about the upcoming 2020 Unicoi Turkey Call Makers Show at the Unicoi State Park in Helen, GA. The show will be held January 10 - 11, 2020. Mark gives us a preview of the show so we will know what to expect when we get there. I can tell you that if the 2020 show is anything like the 2019 show, then it will be one you will not want to miss. Not only are there custom turkey calls everywhere in the room that you can pick up, run, and purchase to take home with you, but there are hundreds of like-minded turkey hunting fools in the group as well. This is a show that any die hard turkey hunter needs to attend at least once, and a trip to Unicoi will certainly be worth the time and effort to get there. Listen in to this week's show, and then come see me in Helen, GA in January of 2020.

More Shotgun Choke Talk with Mike Ponder This week I have Mike Ponder with Indian Creek Shooting Systems on the show so I can share with him the results of my time at the range before turkey season started this past spring. I switched over to an Indian Creek choke for my 12 gauge "Black Death" with TSS shells and improved not only my pattern but my point of impact as well. My pattern density improved by a whopping 50% with the Indian Creek choke. In my Remington 870 20 gauge with TSS shells, my pattern improved by 15%.  Listen in as I share my results with Mike and get his input on my results.

PreThanksgiving Turkey Soup This week, I have some wild turkey news for you. I have a bunch of news from Pennsylvania, and I have some news from Tennessee, Missouri, Maryland, and West Virginia. I also share part of an interesting article published on thespokesman.com website about the history of the wild turkey/human relationship, and I let you know how to find the entire article. It is a pretty fascinating read. I also tell the story about getting my new favorite turkey call in the mail a couple of weeks ago, and I give a shout out to our veterans. Listen in! 

Replay of Winter Turkey Hunting with Rob Keck This week, I am replaying the interview I did several years ago with Rob Keck about winter turkey hunting. When I ran into Rob at the ATA show in Louisville, KY, I asked him to come on the show, and I told him I would email him a few topics to choose from for our call. He said he didn't need any topics that he already knew what he wanted to talk about. That topic he wanted to talk about is late winter turkey hunting, and Rob has some amazing stories about his trips to Kansas for some winter turkey hunts. Listen in and see if you can pickup some tips that may help you to plan a successful trip for a winter turkey hunt.

Why We Hunt Seminar with Brenda Valentine This week, I'm playing the Why We Hunt seminar with Brenda Valentine from the 2019 NWTF Convention in Nashville. During the seminar Brenda recommends we hunters come up with a one word answer to offer people who ask why we hunt. If you think about it, the question is much harder to answer than it seems to be on the surface. I also read an article that covers the results of a recent studies about the acceptability of hunting for people. The study sheds some light on answers we can give that more people can relate to when we are asked the question why we hunt. Listen in!

The Story of a Successful Fall Turkey Hunt This week, I have Cameron Weddington back on the show with us to share the story of his second fall turkey hunt and first fall harvest. Cameron killed a very beautiful and very huge gobbler with inch and five-eighths spurs and a ten and a quarter inch beard. In addition to the fact that the turkey he harvested is a monster, Cameron was almost surrounded by 14 different gobblers during this hunt.  Listen in to hear the story of Cameron's first fall turkey and monster wild turkey gobbler.

A Conversation with a First Time Fall Turkey Hunter This week, Cameron Weddington joins us to share a story of his recent fall turkey hunt - his first fall turkey hunt.  Cameron describes the action that took place during his hunt along with his first experience with coyote backstraps. Listen in as we discuss Trichinosis, wild turkeys, coyotes, shotguns, and crossbows. 

  A Textbook New Hampshire Turkey Hunt This week I'm bringing you my final spring turkey hunt of 2019. This hunt was a very exciting hunt and really played out just like we play out hunts in our heads over and over before turkey season starts. These turkeys came in to some soft calling not long after flydown, and the flock ran off minus one turkey.  Listen in and enjoy the final spring 2019 turkey hunt.

A Backup Pot of Turkey Soup This week a little technical difficulty prevented me from bringing you the final turkey hunt from my big spring trip. So, I had to cook something up for you guys, and that something this week is turkey soup. States we cover this week include New Hampshire, Missouri, Maine, Iowa, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Virginia, Arizona, and North Carolina. We talk about upcoming fall seasons, fall seasons currently open, applying for permits and tags for spring and fall seasons, record book 5 spurred turkeys, hunting approval ratings, and outlaws. Listen in!

An Awesome New Hampshire Turkey Hunt This week I have some really incredible audio from a hunt from this past spring in New Hampshire. This hunt took place on the same piece of property that Chip killed his turkey on earlier, and it is really fun to listen to.  This hunt has lots of hen talk, lots of gobbler talk, and will make you wish you were sitting against a big oak tree right now with a shotgun in your hands. Listen in and enjoy!

A New Hampshire Turkey Story This week I have another turkey hunting story for you. This time from New Hampshire as my long time friend Chip tags an odd looking NH turkey our first day there. Chip's hunt was a strange one, and we turkey hunters just have to take what we can get sometimes. Listen in as I describe the property we are hunting and the early morning of our first day in the New Hampshire turkey woods.

Matt Morrett's Decoy Seminar from 2019 NWTF Convention This week I have the decoy seminar from the 2019 NWTF Convention in Nashville that was presented by Matt Morrett. Matt covers a multitude of topics including decoys (of course), calling, scouting, patterning guns, henned up gobblers, and much more during his hour and 20 plus minute seminar. Listen in to Matt and learn and laugh a little.

End of Summer Turkey Soup This week we are talking wild turkey news from New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia, Florida, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Idaho, and Massachusetts. I share stories of record spring turkey harvests, upcoming fall turkey season openers, hunter input on proposed turkey hunting regulation changes, and there's even a little news of the weird. Our news of the weird this week includes a proposed 6 month long fall/winter season in southern Idaho and a story of wild turkeys terrorizing a senior community in Florida. Listen in!

A Vermont Turkey Hunt This week, I'm sharing my Vermont turkey hunt with you. This hunt was a great deal tougher than my hunt in Maine. These Vermont turkeys had been pressured a fair amount, and they acted a good bit like an Alabama wild turkey. This ended up being a great hunt with plenty of highs and lows and turkey encounters.  Listen in and learn about one new tool that I've added to my turkey hunting gear that helped make a difference with my Vermont turkey.

A Timely Replay of the Habitat Management Interview with Grant Woods This week I have a replay of the Habitat Management Interview with Grant Woods just in time as many of you guys prepare to plant food plots to get ready for deer and fall turkey seasons. This interview has quite a few food plot tips in it as well as general tips on how to manage our hunting properties for wild turkeys. Listen in as Grant shares his knowledge and experience with us in hopes that we can make our properties be wild turkey meccas.

An Interview with a New Turkey Hunter with Judy Camuso This week, I have an awesome interview with Judy Camuso who is the Commissioner of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife for the state of Maine.  Judy is actually new to the sport of hunting, and her reason for participating in the sport came from her want to include more organic sources of animal protein in her diet. I speak with her about her first successful turkey hunt, her entry into the sport of hunting, her previous vegetarian lifestyle, and of course her work. Listen in to this week's interview with Judy to learn a few more talking points that can help us convince those who may be curious about hunting to venture out into the woods with us this coming fall, winter, and spring.

The Future of Hunting Seminar from 2019 NWTF Convention This week I'm playing the recording of The Future of Hunting Seminar put on by Cuz Strickland, Jimmy Primos, Matt Morrett, Fred Zink, and Jeremiah Dowdy from the 2019 NWTF Convention and Sport Show in Nashville. There is much discussion of the decrease in the number of licensed hunters in this country and ways that we hunters can bring more people into the sport so that it will continue to thrive. Listen in, put on your thinking caps to find a way that we can get new hunters involved, and take action.

Mainely Turkeys This week, I'm sharing my hunt from Maine with you guys.  This is a pretty strange hunt in regards to where it took place and how it went down.  Listen in as Chip and I mark another state off of our list of states needed to complete our Super Slams.