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

Why not add some wild turkey breast to your 4th of July BBQ menu? Here are some tips for cooking wild turkey on the grill or smoker that will help your turkey breast to come our moist and delicious. Grilling or smoking wild turkey breast often produces a dry, tough, and chewy meal, but it doesn't have to. By following a few of the tips in this week's show, your grilled or smoked wild turkey breast can be moist and delicious.  Today I am talking about trimming fat from your turkey breast, brining wild turkey, cooking and carving wild turkey so that your guests will be fighting over the last piece. 

Jeremy McCarty joins me this week to talk about reaping wild turkeys. Reaping and fanning wild turkeys have become very popular over the past several years, and Jeremy shares his thoughts about the strategy as well as some safety tips for those hunters who wish to try reaping a wild turkey.

We are chasing the Grand Slam of wild turkeys with Jeff Budz in this week's episode of The Turkey Hunter.  If you are looking to start your first Grand Slam or complete a single season slam, then you can probably pick up a few tips from the man who has 92 of them under his belt.  We are talking hunting Osceola's, Rio Grande's, Merriam's, and Eastern's on public land. We also discuss traveling with firearms and tackling the Grand Slam on unguided hunts.

In this episode, we are talking about summer and fall plantings for wild turkeys with Scott Bronkema, with Boneyard Seed, LLC. Ensuring that the wild turkeys on your property have enough food to eat year round, will go a long way to helping to make sure that you have turkeys to hunt during the fall and spring seasons. Chicory, chufa, peas, clovers, and grains are all great foods for turkeys and will not only help to draw turkeys onto your property but will help to keep them there. Before those seeds and grains are planted, making sure your soil is in ideal condition is critical to the success of your plantings. Another consideration for a great summer or fall food plot is proper fertilization as well. Scott and I discuss all of the above this week, so please listen in.

In this episode, I'm sharing Episode 02 of my new podcast called Spurred.  Spurred is a narrative hunting podcast where I actually take you along on my turkey hunts from the spring 2016 turkey season. These hunts take place over 5 different states and approximately 50 days.  I have audio of 9 different gobblers being shot at, not to mention some hilarious stories and great fun along the way. To get Spurred, text the word "spurred" to 44222, and I'll send you the information you need in order to subscribe to the show. I hope you enjoy this week's episode of The Turkey Hunter podcast's preview of Andy Gagliano's new podcast entitled Spurred.  Please leave a comment below after listening.  I would love to hear your feedback.

Join The Turkey Hunter podcast intern, Cameron, and I as we discuss our 2016 turkey season recap and takeaways. Cameron and I recap the 2016 spring turkey hunts in Alabama, Tennessee, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. We also discuss our takeaways from the season - what we learned, or relearned, from our hunts throughout the season.

In this episode I discuss some of the factors affecting gobbling in wild turkeys with wildlife biologist Derek Colbert. While getting his Master's Degree at the University of Georgia's Warnell School of Forestry, Derek Colbert headed up a study to determine how weather, nesting, and hunting pressure affect gobbling in wild turkeys. During his study, Derek and other volunteers gathered and analyzed over 20,000 hours of audio to determine number of wild turkey gobbles heard at 14 different listening stations on two different pieces of property in Southwest Georgia - one hunted parcel and one non hunted parcel.  The goal of this part of a larger overall study was to determine what effects different weather variables played on the amount of gobbling by male wild turkeys and whether the timing of the hunting seasons have a negative effect on the breeding cycle of wild turkeys. The findings from the study are quite interesting, and further prove the unpredictability of wild turkeys and why they are such an amazing

In this week's episode I interview my hunting buddy, Chip, about our unsuccessful outfitted turkey hunt.  We discuss a few things that we feel like we did wrong when booking the hunt.  Listen in to learn why we feel like an outfitter who provides lodging helps our success.

Turkey Hunting Q&A with the Turkey Hitman In this episode of The Turkey Hunter, I answer some of the questions that listeners to the show have asked over the turkey season. I answer questions about missing turkeys and calling them in later, hunting in West Virginia, roosting turkeys, hunting afternoon turkeys, and calling too much.

This week I discuss tag team turkey hunting, or turkey hunting in pairs. There are certain strategies that hunting with a partner allow you to execute that you can't execute hunting solo.

Chris Parrish joins us to share some turkey calling tips and tactics. With turkey season in for the majority of the country, turkey calling is something that we all need to learn more about and practice as much as we can. Chris tells us how he approaches early season gobblers and mid season gobblers. He also shares some tips to try when running and gunning.

In this episode, Cameron (The Turkey Hunter intern) and I list our 5 favorite turkey hunting tips from the list of 101 Turkey Hunting Tips that is available to any listener who wants the list by texting "101Tips" to 44222. The list of tips is a great reminder for us experienced turkey hunters and a great learning tool for those beginner turkey hunters as well.

Author J. Wayne Fears talks high tech turkey shotgun shells and turkey shotgun chokes in today's episode of The Turkey Hunter podcast. Wayne and I talk about what the numbers on a box of shotgun shells really tells us, what the constriction of a choke means to us, and different shotgun pellets. We also talk about how today's high tech turkey loads will require a more open constriction choke than the turkey loads from years past where the tighter a turkey choke is, the better.

Brandon Jacob is a turkey hunter from Texas who is on a mission to help restore wild turkeys to eastern Texas. Brandon is tackling a 5 month long thru hike on the Appalachian Trail. This hike has been on his bucket list for a long period of time, and Brandon decided that now is the time to take on the challenge. Brandon wanted to do a little more than just hike the trail. He wants to do something to help support his passion and his home state.  Brandon has started a Go Fund Me account to raise money for relocation of wild turkeys into east Texas.  Brandon has gotten the Texas Parks and Wildlife Division to match the contributions 3 to 1, so a $5 donation will result in a total of $20 being donated for the restoration of wild turkeys into east Texas. Listen in as Brandon tells his story of how he wants to complete a lifelong goal and help restore wild turkeys in east Texas.

Preston Pittman with Pittman Game Calls and Long Leaf Camo discusses how weather affects wild turkeys in this week's episode. Not many of us turkey hunters always have the luxury of hunting only on "blue bird" days - those days where it is sunny and 65 degrees with no wind.  For those of us who take turkey hunting trips out of state each year or who live in states that have very short week long seasons, we have to hunt no matter what the weather is.   Wild turkeys will move to different terrain when different weather conditions occur. On days when the weather is bad, we can greatly increase our chances of success by knowing where the turkeys are.  Once we know where the turkeys are, all we have to do is figure out how to hunt them.  Of course, we can't guarantee every single turkey will react the same way to certain weather conditions, but we can make predictions off of our past observations. In this episode, Preston Pittman shares his knowledge of where we can find turkeys during periods of high wind, hot te

Today, we are dissecting a diaphragm turkey call with Mitchell Johnston from Dead End Game Calls. Mitchell shares with us what goes into a diaphragm, or mouth, call. Diaphragm turkey calls are a great method for calling turkeys while keeping your hands free. Diaphragm calls do have a couple of downfalls though. Diaphragm turkey calls can be difficult for the beginning user to master, and some users just can't operate a call because the calls in their mouths make them gag. Despite these downfalls, diaphragm calls are outstanding hunting calls if you purchase the right one and practice with it often. Mitchell will teach us the difference in sound between a 2, 3, and 4 reed call as well as the different cuts that go into the top reed of a diaphragm turkey call.  

In this episode, Keith Beam, the co-founder of Double Bull Blinds and current owner of Drake's Adventures, shares some tips for turkey hunting from a ground blind. Keith shares some tips on how to choose the perfect ground blind for our turkey hunting needs. Choosing a blind that is too big for our needs can be an added unnecessary expense, but choosing a blind that is too small can be a hindrance in being able to draw a bow or in accommodating hunting partners. Keith also shares some tips for setting up a ground blind to make sure that we do not spook an approaching Tom because our blind fabric is too shiny or because the fabric is flapping in the wind. Keith also shares with us info on how to choose the best location to put a blind so that we can maximize our odds of success. Lastly, Keith shares the exciting news of his new venture that he calls Drake's Adventures. If you want more information on Drake's Adventures, you can visit www.drakesadventures.com.  

Scott Davis with Urban Hunting TV joins us in this episode to discuss urban turkey hunting. As development encroaches on wild turkey habitat and wild turkeys expand their range, urban encounters with wild turkeys have become more and more common. It seems that almost daily a new video wild turkey attack video is being posted on YouTube. These attacks are more common because encounters between wild turkeys and humans are more common and the turkeys have lost their fear of humans. One way to humanely control any wild game population is through hunting. Many municipalities have laws against firing a weapon (gun or bow) within the city limits, and this law prevents many of us from being able to hunt these overgrown populations of wild game. Some states have laws which override the local laws preventing discharge of a weapon within city limits as long as the person firing the weapon is doing so in an ethical and responsible manner while hunting. The states that have such a law open the opportunity for us to hunt w

Blake Morris talks turkey hunting and gun safety when he shares the story of his hunting accident. Blake was upland bird hunting in Kansas when he inadvertently loaded the wrong shotgun shell in his shotgun. The ensuing shot at a flying bird caused the gun barrel to split open and Blake lost his thumb in the accident. Blake shares the story and some gun safety tips that we all need to keep in mind whether we are hunting wild turkeys or at the range sighting in our firearms.  Most of these tips are things that we have been taught before, but it never hurts to have a reminder in gun safety. Listen in to this episode to hear the story of Blake's hunting accident, some gun safety tips, and the story of Blake's first turkey hunt after his accident where he tagged a very nice Eastern wild turkey.

There are several things we can do to improve our odds of success in the turkey woods this spring. We can practice our calling, buy new camo, do some extra scouting, pattern our shotguns and shells, etc.  There is probably one thing that you haven't thought about that you can do to give you a better chance at success.  Exercising is one facet of preparation for turkey season that is often overlooked.  Being in better shape to hold your shotgun and walk mile after mile with a heavy vest on your shoulders and heavy boots on your feet can often make the difference on filling a tag or not. I can think of several turkeys that I killed that I would not have killed if I was not in decent physical condition.  I can honestly say that exercising during the offseason has made me a better turkey hunter, and I know you can benefit as well. Listen in to this week's episode as Jon Vogel, personal trainer with Iron Tribe fitness, shares some things that we can do to get in better physical condition to handle those long days