Jim Im no expert but I will give you some of my tips and tactics.
Dont worry about locating a bird early in the morning. Some guys will try and get a bird to shock gobble and if they cant, they keep going. Wasting valuable time, and moving around when you can be scaring birds. IF you know the birds, and you know where they normally roost, and normally go to strut, sit tight and call very little. Light clucks, purrs and some seductive yelping. Turkeys are VERY vocal, but they dont sit in one place calling loudly for an hour or more. SO sit tight and call lightly every half hour or so, or really space it out to a ten minute sequence every hour or so. THIS WORKS! But be on alert, this usually brings in a big boss tom that will sneak in on you without making a noise.
A fired up bird is great, but alot of fired up birds hang up out at 50 or so yards, because they expect the hen to come to them. (Hence the show they put on with the strutting and gobbling.)
THis is why the scouting is so important, if you know where he wants to go, you hardly have to call.
DONT give up after early morning either. Midday is great. Hens will nest for a while (around 10am) and the toms go out in search of a receptive GF.
Crow calls work great for a shock gobble midday, but if you have an idea as to where they might be strutting, just go there and call lightly like mentioned
If its raining, try fields. If there arent any fields, try powerlines, or very open hardwoods. REALLY hard rain, try dense areas, and areas with pines for cover.
Ive noticed a lot of people hunt an area due to the fact it LOOKs like it would hold turkeys. Its usually the edge of a hidden away field. Sure fields are good, but turkeys spend alot more time in dense grown over fields and woods than actual open fields.
As for decoy setups, put them off to your side. Im a right handed shooter so I put them off to my left to draw the attention away from me, and to make it easier for a shot.
Well, thats all I can think of for now, but Im sure theres more. Good luck---Matt
