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

Homemade Turkey Callers We turkey hunters live and die by our turkey callers. Truth is, we don't really need those callers to be successful while turkey hunting, but those callers do help to increase our odds of success and enjoyment of the sport.  While most commercially sold callers are well worth their money because of the amount of testing and design work done on them, we can make our own turkey callers ourselves very inexpensively and with very common materials. In addition to saving a little money, it is often quite fun to make our own callers and very rewarding to kill a wild turkey using our handmade, homemade caller. Today, I discuss several homemade turkey callers, which commercially sold caller they most resemble, and where we can learn how to make one ourselves. Listen in, learn, and get to work making a couple of homemade turkey callers to throw into your turkey vest to use this fall.

This week I have clips of audio recorded with Preston Pittman where I pick his brain about certain turkey hunting related topics.  We talk about turkey predators and nest predators, fanning wild turkeys, turkey caliing, cross contamination of steaks, super slams, and a couple of other topics. This is a hodge podge of turkey hunting material and topics that I think you will really enjoy and learn from as well. Listen in!

Join me as I interview Tim Knight and Corey New about bowhunting turkeys without a blind. A wild turkey’s eyesight is undoubtedly the best of any big game species in North America. They have an uncanny ability to pick out any type of movement or something that is just not right in the woods. Because of their incredible eyesight, bowhunting turkeys without a blind may seem like it is an impossible feat, but it is not. As of today’s date, Tim Knight has killed 84 turkeys with a bow and without a blind, and in this episode I pick his brain about how he is so successful doing it. We talk bow setup, shot placement, camouflage, decoys, and ideal range for a bow shot.  In addition, we share some hunting stories, and Tim even shares a recipe or three with us. This episode is a new one on my favorite episode list because I got so much more out of Tim than I had planned and because I had a great time conducting the interview. Be sure to listen in to this episode to learn all you can about bowhunting turkeys without a b

Turkey Hunting Shotgun Modifications Revisited with Laurence Pylinski In this episode I revisit the topic of turkey hunting shotgun modifications with Laurence Pylinski with Pylinski Arms. Laurence has been a gunsmith for 30 years, and he is very knowledgeable on modifications that can be made to shotguns by turkey hunters that may improve our pattern or accuracy. Laurence and I discuss porting barrels, the benefits and detriments to porting, and the cost as well. We also discuss backboring shotguns, the benefits of backboring, what to be cautious of when backboring, and the cost of that modification. And, last but not least, Laurence and I talk about lengthening the forcing cones of shotguns, how that can improve our pattern, what to be cautious of when lenthening forcing cones, and the cost of that also. A couple of these modifications have been widely adopted by gun manufacturers in the manufacturing of their product because they have seen the benefits of having these modifications done to the guns they ma

Turkey Hunting Solo Turkey hunting solo can be a rather intimidating thought for newer turkey hunters who are afraid to fail in the turkey woods. Many new hunters will not take to the woods by themselves for fear of frustration of not knowing the sport. Today, I tackle the subject of turkey hunting solo, and I offer a few helpful hints to newer turkey hunters to hopefully provide a little self confidence before they head to the woods alone.  The main takeaway from today's show is that new turkey hunters should get in the turkey woods, have fun, make smart decisions, embrace mistakes, and learn from those mistakes.  

Cooking Wild Turkey with Scott Leysath This week I'm talking about cooking wild turkey with Scott Leysath, The Sporting Chef. We discuss how to remove that tough silver sinew that surrounds each wild turkey breast. We talk about brining to enhance the flavor of any bird we want to cook, and how we can season our brine to add even more flavor to our turkeys. Scott shares some recipes for preparing and cooking wild turkeys that will make your mouth water as well as which herbs and spices seem to always go well with wild turkey. Scott also tells us the best way to prepare wild turkey thighs so that the meat falls off of the bone and is mouth watering tender after it is cooked. We talk about making stock with the legs, and we also talk about the goodness of bone broth.

Getting Permission to Turkey Hunt Private Land For those of us who only hunt public land, getting permission to turkey hunt private land can turn our success level around so that we are consistently filling tags each season because private land turkeys are often less pressured than public land wild turkeys are. The problem with getting access to hunt private land is getting access to hunt private land. Most of us don't know where to start to gain access to some private land hunting honey holds. That is exactly what we are talking about in this week's episode. I discuss how to find those private land parcels that will most likely give us the best opportunity for success, and I talk about some do's and don'ts when we approach the land owners to ask for access. Listen in!

Traveling with Your Own Firearm to Turkey Hunt Traveling and turkey hunting are both very exciting activities by themselves. However, when we combine those two activities into one, there are not many things we do that can rival the fun we can have while enjoying both at the same time. Traveling with your own firearm to turkey hunt can make our travels a little bit more stressful than say a normal family vacation may be. There are so many rules and regulations of the travel carriers that we need to keep in mind when preparing for our trip as well as the laws and regulations governing firearms put in place by our local and state governments. In today's episode of The Turkey Hunter, I cover some considerations we need to keep in mind when traveling with your own firearm to turkey hunt. So, listen in as we talk about firearms and ammunition on planes, trains, and automobiles. https://www.nraila.org/articles/20150101/guide-to-the-interstate-transportation https://www.amtrak.com/firearms-in-checked-baggage https://

What Makes a Shotgun a Turkey Hunting Shotgun This week, I'm discussing what makes a shotgun a "turkey hunting shotgun." Any shotgun can kill a turkey when shooting the right shells, at the right point of aim, at a turkey at the proper distance. However, there are certain things that we need to know about guns in order for us to have any sort of success in the turkey woods. To make any shotgun into a turkey hunting shotgun, there are certain things that we need to look for in a gun that we are going to use for hunting wild turkeys. 1. Bore or Gauge - we want to be sure we are shooting a gun that we can handle. Some gauges are just too heavy and have too much recoil for some shooters. 2. Chamber Length - having the proper chamber length for our gauge and what we intend to hunt with the turkeys is important to ensuring our success when the opportunity arises. 3. Action - the type of the action of the gun may seem insignificant, but shooting a gun with the type of action best suited for real life hunting scenari

Interviewing a Turkey Hunting Outfitter This week I interview a turkey hunting outfitter to question him about his services and accommodations. This past spring, my turkey hunting buddies and I chose to hunt in Idaho and Washington for our 2018 out of state spring turkey hunt. We also decided that hunting with an outfitter is how we need to tackle the states that are so far from home due to time constraints and the fact that we need to kill 8 turkeys in approximately 6 days of hunting. That is a tall enough task when a turkey hunter has an outfitter who knows where the birds are and what they do during the day, but it is an extremely tough task when trying to accomplish that feat on public land that turkey hunter has never been on before. So, the process of interviewing outfitters started, and I've recorded one of those initial interviews that I had with an outfitter for today's show. I don't get too terribly in depth with my questioning at this point in the process because I'm taking a list of about 10 outfi

Habitat Management for Wild Turkeys with Grant Woods This week I discuss habitat management for wild turkeys with Grant Woods with www.GrowingDeer.TV. Grant is a wildlife biologist who specializes in habitat management planning for landowners around the US. He also hosts a weekly show on his website where he shares some of the management techniques that he uses on his own property, called The Proving Grounds. Grant's videos are very well produced and put together and chocked full of great information that any turkey hunter can use to improve his/her hunting land - whether that is public hunting land or private ground. Grant and I discuss what a wild turkey might consider to be the perfect blend of forest land and fields. We also talk about how much of those fields we need to turn into nesting habitat and brood rearing habitat. We talk a good bit about how prescribed fire can be used to improve our hunting property and how Grant uses it to manage his nesting and brood rearing areas as well. Finally, we talk ab

Turkey Hunting Small Parcels   In this week's episode, I discuss a few of the things that I learned turkey hunting small parcels of land this past turkey season. I own almost 24 acres of land in central Alabama, and I spent several days turkey hunting that parcel this past season in search of a tom.  I made several mistakes while hunting this small parcel, and I share those experiences so we can all learn from them. Turkey hunting small parcels is a topic that was suggested by Tracy Long, a listener to the show. Listen in to this week's episode!

Protecting Your Public Land Access This week, I'm interviewing Andrew Maxwell regarding Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. Backcountry Hunters and Anglers is a non profit organization which seeks to ensure North America's outdoor heritage of hunting and fishing in a natural setting, through education and work on behalf of wild public lands and waters. Listen in and see if BHA may be an organization that you are interested in supporting.

Turkey Men with Thomas Pero In this week's episode, I interview Thomas Pero with Wild River Press about his new book, Turkey Men. Turkey Men is a book about the men who have accomplished the goal of killing a turkey in all 49 states that have wild turkeys in them. We learn about Thomas' motivation for writing the book as well as how long it took him to track down the hunters that he interviewed for the book. We also learn what one common trait that Thomas saw in each of the men that he interviewed that he feels make them so good at what they do. The interview with Thomas is fun and informative. The book, Turkey Men, is a very well put together piece that I feel like any "died in the wool" turkey hunter will want to read and add to his/her library. Listen in!

Handling the Disappointment of Turkey Hunting We turkey hunters often spend a great deal of time, effort, and money in preparing for turkey season and for turkey hunting trips out of state or out of the country.  We spend money on gasoline, groceries, licenses and tags, calls, clothing, guns, shotgun shells, hunting club dues, planting and maintaining food plots, just to name a few expenses. In doing all of our preparations, we often visualize ourselves and how we will react after we fill a tag with a big tom.  These visualizations often turn into expectations, and that is where we can sometimes have the wrong attitude about our successes or failures in the turkey woods. In this episode, Robbie Kroger shares with us the experience of his recent trip to Mexico to hunt the Ocellated turkey. Robbie went to Mexico almost expecting to harvest a turkey, but what happened after he arrived turned those expectations into frustration. Listen in as Robbie shares his story of his Ocellated turkey hunt in Mexico, and how

Tungsten Super Shot (TSS) and Wild Turkeys with Nick Charney This week I interview Nick Charney with Apex Ammunition to discuss Tungsten Super Shot and its performance for hunting turkeys. I ask Nick what the benefits of Tungsten Super Shot are over basic lead shot and even the other shot options which are more dense than lead when turkey hunting. I ask if we can use a smaller shot size in TSS than the customary #4, #5, or #6 shot sizes in lead. We discuss how some states are not allowing lead shot to be used any longer for hunting on any public lands and how TSS overcomes that environmental issue. We discuss why shooting shorter length shells in TSS can often yield the same, if not better, results than longer (heavier recoiled) lead loads. We also discuss why shooting a smaller/lighter gauge shotgun with TSS can yield the same, if not better, results than a heavier gauge gun. We also discuss the availability of Tungsten Super Shot in the United States, and why it costs more than lead shot does. Listen in and

2017 Turkey Hunting Season Recap and Lessons Learned Cameron joins me this week to recap our 2017 turkey hunting seasons and to talk about the lessons we learned and re-learned this season. We talk about the differences between turkey hunting in Alabama and in other states. We also share the stories of our most exciting hunts from the season. We discuss our recent turkey hunting trip to North Carolina where Cameron fired a warning shot at a public land turkey. Listen in as we share some laughs, stories, and some tips as well.

Late Season Turkey Hunting Tips Late season turkey hunting can be difficult at times as toms often find themselves being without female company for long periods of times for the first time in months. Many times we can go days on end without hearing a turkey gobble, and then the next day the turkeys are gobbling to beat the band. There are some things that we can do to help increase our chances of being successful in filling that last tag or two on a late season tom.  Here are some late season turkey hunting tips to help you when the going gets tough.

This week I answer several questions from listeners to the show. From "Help me kill this turkey" to "What does a cluck and purr really mean in turkey talk?" I cover a lot of topics and try to help some of you guys to kill another turkey or two this season.

Etiquette and Safety for Turkey Hunting Public Land This week, I speak with Corporal Dave Painter with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources about etiquette and safety for turkey hunting public land. Corporal Painter has been a conservation officer with the state of Michigan for over 20 years, and he has hands on experience in dealing with lots of hunters on lots of public land and dealing with issues that arise in those situations. We discuss 1. having other hunters come into the area you are hunting while you are working turkeys and how you should handle that situation.  2. how to handle the situation when you arrive at your public land hunting spot and someone else is in the area. 3. the issues that walk-in hunting areas can present for us as we often don't have vehicles parked in a specific area to let others know we are hunting there. 4. confronting someone who is doing something unethical on public land. 5. confronting someone who is doing something illegal on public land. 6. first hand accounts