The MeatEater

Two things taught me to be a much better turkey caller. The first was when I started to semi-regularly kill bucks by snort-wheezing at them. Now I know that might seem disconnected from turkey hunting, but hear me out. Most hunters look at the snort-wheeze call as a dominant buck vocalization that is a straight-up challenge to fight.

Because of this, hunters will spot a buck, snort-wheeze at it, and then usually get a negative or neutral response. They’ll reason that the buck isn’t a fighter, or isn’t in a mood to scrap, and give up on that call. I’m not that smart, I guess, because I will snort-wheeze at a buck until he either leaves or I piss him off enough to swing closer. You can literally see their moods change sometimes, and it often takes me dozens of calls to get them to commit.

I’ve also snort-wheezed in a pile of basket racks who definitely weren’t the dominant buck, but that’s beside the point. To snort-wheeze at most bucks, you have to be confident and really say something to them. This goes for calling in turkeys, too.

When I started trying to arrow birds instead of shooting them as soon as they crossed the 40-yard mark with my shotgun, I realized that I needed to understand what I was trying to say to birds.

It’s a different beast attempting to put a tom and his girlfriends in your spread at 10 yards than it is to get a bird to check you out from nearly half a football field away. You have to have a conversation with all of the birds, and when you do, you sort of understand what they’re saying.

How often have you been sitting there, calling every half hour or so, and then gotten a response from a hen in the form of a series of yelps? You can yelp, and she’ll yelp back, but the conversation is slow and measured. She’s saying, "We are over here, come on over if you want.” She might wander in and take a look, but she often won’t mix right in with your decoys. There’s no urgency at stake, it’s just small talk.

But if you can cut that hen off and try to talk over her, you might get an emotional response. You can take the interaction from mostly neutral to something with more life. That can change the vibes of the whole setup, and often does.

This is one of the things that flies in the face of traditional turkey calling advice, but I believe it because it’s helped me watch a pile of birds die. Instead of constantly trying to take the temperature of the real birds and call like them, learn to call with real confidence and then use that to make something happen.

Timid calling can kill hyped-up toms, but mostly won’t. If you want to kill pressured birds, or just make something happen, learning to call with emotion matters. Then, try to double up your presence.

There are plenty of hunters who live and die by a favorite box call, or mouth call, or whatever. You could use one call the rest of your life and kill plenty of turkeys, but not as many as you would if you learned to use different calls, particularly in the same sequence.

Think of it this way. A lone hen is great, but at least two hens together is just something different, especially in the early season when they are more likely to still be hanging together in small flocks. My go-to sequence is to run a mouth call and a slate call because I can use both at the exact same time.

That move kills birds, but it’s not necessary. Giving them the impression that there are at least two hens in one spot, often is though. This requires calls with different tones. That might be two box calls if that’s your confidence style, or it could be a loud, raspy box call and then a slate call that lets you sound like a softer, less aggressive hen.

The key is to mimic how turkeys actually sound when they are together. They don’t just do a five-note series of yelps back and forth every time they talk. They purr, cluck, and yelp in a variety of ways like they’re having a conversation, because they are.

Too many hunters think that they just need to make realistic turkey sounds, but they don't think about what those sounds are meant to convey. But the truth is, the birds will let you know. If your calling isn’t getting the ladies to talk, it’s less likely to get the longbeards to commit. Pay attention to what you’re saying, and then pay attention to what the hens say back to you.

There’s a lot to learn there, and all of it will help you not only start up a turkey conversation but also hold it long enough to get a longbeard to spit and drum his way into range.

A common calling mistake that a lot of hunters make happens when birds get close. Traditional advice says to just shut up and let the encounter unfold. Look, if you have a tom that has closed the distance by a lot in a short period of time and gobbled at every sound you’ve made, then you most likely should shut up and get that shotgun to your shoulder.

But what if you have a hen or two stroll in? What if you have a bird that seems to hold up in the timber just off of the food plot or meadow, and he just won’t step out? My personal strategy is to keep calling, because I want to keep nearby birds engaged. When I started bowhunting turkeys, I couldn’t believe how many hens I called in that would hang out for an hour or two in my spread.

If you keep talking to those birds, even just soft clucks and purrs, they’ll keep talking. And they’ll stick around. This also works really well if you have a small flock with a tom or two in it that seems to want to orbit around your setup but not commit. If you don’t keep the conversation going, they’ll keep doing their thing. But if you do, you’re much more likely to elicit one of two responses.

The first is that they’ll finally just swing through, which is the goal. The second is that, when you have the opportunity to call to nearby birds who will answer, you’re advertising to the greater turkey world that good things are happening in your spot. Nearby toms or jakes who are looking for some action are very, very likely to swing through and check things out. But you have to be confident enough to keep talking to close birds without the fear of saying something wrong and spooking them.

Brent's first encounter with a bear happened many years ago on a hunt with his dad and a longtime family friend. It is a favorite memory involving an animal to which he would form stronger ties as he got older. The annual celebration of black bears has also introduced Brent to a large number of people he now counts as family. He's sharing that first experience with his father and a special project that spawned from the annual Black Bear Bonanza in Arkansas. 

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Last year, Wisconsin detectives requested that the four unidentified victims of Chicagoland serial killer John Wayne Gacy be compared to a missing 18-year-old hunter named Bob Christian. We covered Bob's story in Episode 1 of Season 1. Those DNA results have finally arrived, and we have all the details in this Case Update.

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If you're trying to kill your first turkey, this guide covers everything you need: when seasons open, essential turkey hunting gear, how to find and pattern birds, and where to aim when that gobbler finally steps into range.

I can't think of a more thrilling hunt than calling a strutting gobbler into shotgun range. Whitetails might be the golden boy of big game hunting in America, but hunting wild turkeys might be the most fun. They're a low-stakes-high-reward wild game species. They're exciting, fun to call, and incredibly delicious. That's probably why so many hunters hit the woods every spring in search of a lonely and willing tom. Besides, resident tags are cheap, and even nonresident tags won't break the bank.

For many hunters, wild turkeys are the gateway drug to other game species. They're super fun to hunt, but they can be challenging and downright frustrating, especially when you're learning on your own. Whether you're brand new or still chasing your first bird, this guide covers everything you need:

While some states offer fall seasons, turkey seasons across the country usually align with peak breeding in the spring. Some of the earliest turkey seasons open the first week of March, while the latest (Maine) closes at the beginning of June.

If you're interested in chasing turkeys in the fall, you can read more about it here, but for the purpose of this article, I'll focus on spring seasons.

Except for states that allow you to shoot bearded hens, most states only allow you to kill gobblers (male turkeys) during the spring, since this time of year is critical for hens nesting and nest success rates.

Like any other game species, turkey hunting requires a hunting license and/or a special permit, depending on the state. Every state also requires mandatory reporting once you harvest a bird. Some states allow you to report the bird by a certain time of the day you kill it, while others require you to tag your bird before moving it.

Just be sure to check your state's laws, and know that regulations can even vary within the state depending on different zones, private, or public lands. If you have any doubts, reach out to your local game warden.

If you're looking to explore some new states for turkey hunting, check out The 5 Best States for DIY Turkey Hunting.

A good call, a shotgun and ammo, earth-toned clothes, and patience are all you need to kill a turkey. There's a lot of gear out there that can make turkey hunting more convenient or comfortable, but that doesn't mean they're necessary to kill a turkey. Once you learn how to successfully call and kill turkeys, you can decide what extra gear you want/need.

If you're new to turkey hunting, find a call that allows you to make easy, realistic turkey sounds. Here's a list of the different types of calls you should consider and their pros/cons.

There are other calls that require steeper learning curves, but these are more than enough to get you started. You don't need a whole vest full of calls either. Focus on learning how to run one or two and you can add to your collection as you go.

For a deeper dive on turkey calls, check out:

The best shotgun for turkey hunting is the one you already have. You don't have to buy a new, turkey-specific shotgun. You can do that later. Turkey hunters were killing longbeards well before turkey ammo, red dots, or camouflaged shotguns hit the shelves. But if you don't have a shotgun, here are a few things to consider.

I suppose you could opt for a .410 or even the niche 28 gauge, but 20- and 12-gauge shotguns dominate the turkey woods. They're easy to find, and so is the ammo. If you want the best bang for your buck, a 12 gauge can cover everything from small game to predator and deer hunting. It does produce more recoil than a 20 gauge, but this can be mitigated through recoil pads or load choice.

Thanks to TSS, turkey chokes, and other shotgun configurations, the 20 gauge isn't far behind the 12. In fact, many hunters opt for a 20 to reduce weight or recoil and still kill turkeys at impressive distances. In other words, it's hard to go wrong with either of these turkey getters.

If you're looking for a turkey gun recommendation, check out these articles:

When selecting turkey ammo, you want your shotgun/ammo/choke combo to put 100 pellets in a 10-inch circle at 30 or 40 yards max. For most first-time turkey hunters, Winchester Longbeard XR is a great starting point. It patterns well, kills cleanly at 40 yards, and costs a fraction of premium turkey loads.

There are a number of other premium turkey ammo options available, like TSS (Tungsten Super Shot) and bismuth loads that pattern better than traditional lead shot. However, they're really expensive. Lead should be the obvious choice for new turkey hunters (unless you live in California).

Read more about ammo selection and patterning a shotgun for turkey hunting below:

If your shotgun already has a factory full choke, pattern it at 30 and 40 yards before you buy anything. You may not need a turkey choke at all.

Hunters killed plenty of birds with single-barrel shotguns with nothing more than full choke or even modified bores. However, if you're struggling to consistently get a healthy dose of pellets on paper at 30 and 40 yards, you should invest in a turkey choke.

You don't have to spend a fortune. I'm running a 20-year-old Primos Tight Wad choke in my main turkey gun. You can find them for about $30. They're even compatible with TSS, for when you inevitably go down that rabbit hole. Bottom line, you don't have to look hard to find an affordable and reliable turkey choke.

More on choke tubes:

Unless you're bowhunting turkeys, you don't need decoys. I've been turkey hunting for more than two decades. I've killed a lot of turkeys in that time, and I've never used a decoy. But that doesn't mean they don't have their place. If you're targeting gobblers in open ag land or flocked-up turkeys, you can use decoys to add a visual confirmation to your calling. Otherwise, they're situational, and you shouldn't use them on public lands.

Turkey hunting clothes can make your time in the woods more comfortable and convenient, but you can get away with any earth-toned digs that you already own. First, work on your stealth. No amount of camo will fool a turkey if you can't sit still. Focus on making subtle, glacial-like movements in the turkey woods. Skills before gear any day.

That said, if you're looking for gear recommendations:

First Lite has a couple of different camo options that work great for turkey hunting.

For the most part, wild turkeys are plentiful almost everywhere in the lower 48 and even Canada. You can find them in the swamps of Florida, the mountains of Colorado, and everywhere in between. The different terrain and habitat types are what make turkey hunting exciting yet challenging. Yet, these different locales all share critical habitat components that allow turkeys to thrive. Here are a few habitat features that turkeys need:

Turkeys need trees to roost. They're diurnal, meaning they're only active during the day, while they sleep in trees (aka roost) at night. Turkeys might roost in mature hardwoods, pines, cottonwoods, or palms in Florida.

During the day, turkeys spend their time feeding through open woods, large ag fields, and fresh or young (one to two year) clear-cuts where they can eat green sprouts after a burn or an assortment of bugs.

Hen turkeys typically nest in thick, grassy cover. This cover helps provide security from predators during the nesting season.

Turkeys thrive in diverse habitats where they can find a combination of feeding, roosting, and nesting sites. Like whitetails, turkeys will roost and live near edges. This could be where a hardwood bottom meets a thinned section of pines or a fence row or block of woods that joins a large ag field. But, just because a place looks like it should hold turkeys, doesn't mean it will. You'll need to scout to make sure you're not spending your time in a turkey desert. Look for tracks, scat, turkey scratching, or glass an area to confirm birds are there.

If you have plenty of private land chock-full of turkeys, that's great. Whether it's your family farm or hunting club, limited or unpressured grounds can provide a great turkey hunting experience.

Even if you don't have access to unpressured private land, you can find tough yet rewarding turkey hunting on public lands. Just know that if you hear a gobbling bird, you're not the only suitor. Look for places that might not jump off the map. Places where large tracts of public forests meet private ag fields are easy to spot. These spots probably hold turkeys, but they probably spend most of their time on the private.

Consider spots that might hold turkeys but aren't easily accessible, especially in later parts of the season. These could be distant ridge points, soft edges within a large, monotonous block of old-growth timber, or even a stretch of woods on the other side of a large creek or river. Yes, you'll have to wake up earlier and walk farther to access these spots, but that's what makes it all the sweeter when you finally pull the trigger.

Before you walk into the turkey woods this spring, it helps to know what you're up against. Turkeys are stupid about a lot of things—but surviving isn't one of them.

Turkeys have an uncanny ability to survive. They have some of the keenest eyesight in the woods, and they can detect the subtlest of sounds. Their monocular vision, which allows them to operate each eye independently, provides them with a 360-degree field of view. This allows turkeys to spot potential predators from a distance. Their hearing functions similarly, which is why they can use it in tandem with their vision to pinpoint where certain sounds are coming from.

Luckily, a turkey's sense of smell isn't up to par with its eyes or ears. Otherwise, they'd be nearly impossible to kill.

With the exception of those gobblers that run in, guns blazing, to those first few calls off the limb, turkeys don't typically react the way we want them to. Turkey hunting requires you to call a tom to your setup, but that's not typically how it works in nature. Toms gobble so they can let hens know where they're located. Naturally, hens go to the gobbler, not the other way around. Unless you're tight to the roost, you're trying to convince a gobbler to do something contrary to what he's used to. That's why it might take a gobbler a long time to close this distance, if he does at all. This is where a lot of new hunters mess up.

When a turkey hangs up or goes silent, he's either feeding, waiting for a hen to show up, or he already has hens. Or, best case scenario, he's slowly making his way to your calling. A lot of new hunters don't understand this, so they either leave too soon or try to sneak closer. Both of those scenarios usually end without a dead turkey.

One of the most stubborn gobblers I killed made me wait half a workday to do so. From first gobble on the limb to the time I pulled the trigger was just over four hours. I never moved from my initial setup. He wasn't very responsive, so I only yelped a handful of times once every 30 minutes. We did this dance for about three hours. I finally decided not to call and see if he'd break. After 45 minutes of silence, he finally gobbled forty yards through some brush before he popped into a shooting lane.

That 45 minutes was painful. My rear end went numb. To pass the time, I watched mosquitos fill their bellies on my index finger, which I had glued to my gun's forend. I was hunting in thick cover and didn't want to chance spooking a bird that had already taken three hours of my life, so I sat ready in the shooting position. That's the kind of patience turkey hunting demands. When I finally hoisted that 17-pound pencil beard up, he felt like a stud.

Every turkey hunt unfolds differently. I've had some that lasted five minutes, while one peculiar longbeard dragged me all over a single property from daylight into the afternoon. Somewhere between these two extremes, most successful hunts might last a few hours. Here's what to expect from a "typical" turkey hunt.

If you haven't roosted a turkey, you can read more about it here. For the sake of this article, let's assume you already roosted one. First, you want to get as close to the roost as possible without alerting a gobbler or any other turkeys. The sweet spot is 100 yards, maybe 75 if you have plenty of cover and you can get in without making any noise. Otherwise, you'll risk blowing your hunt before it even starts.

Turkey hunting rewards the patient hunter. Wait until he gobbles before you even think about making the first call. Even then, you don't have to respond immediately. Make sure he's where you thought he was roosted, and adjust your setup if you need to. Let him gobble a few times and start with a few soft clucks. Don't overdo it. If you're within 100 yards of his tree, he'll hear you. Whenever I'm making these first few clucks, I'm not calling to that gobbler, I'm simply making normal turkey noises. If he gobbles back, great. If not, that's okay. There's plenty of time to call.

Once daylight starts to break, you can start with a few soft yelps. If he cuts you off, you don't really need to call anymore. I might make a few more yelps and then wait for him to fly down. Depending on how interested he is, that gobbler might just come right to your calling without gobbling again, or you might hear him gobble on the ground. If he does gobble on the ground, you can call to him with a few clucks or a series of yelps (four to ten). After you call, he'll either gobble or he won't. Either way, give it ten to fifteen minutes before calling again. This is where you develop your patience as a turkey hunter. That ten minutes might feel like a few hours, especially if he doesn't gobble, but trust me, he hears you.

At this point, you should have your gun propped on your knee in the ready-to-shoot position, waiting for him to show or gobble again. For turkeys that gobble a lot or cut your calls off before you finish them, you can stop calling. Get your gun at the ready and wait for him to come to you. If thirty minutes go by and he appears to gobble in the same spot, you can run a series of yelps. If he gobbles immediately, put your call down and get ready. If he stops gobbling, he's probably on the way.

This is where a lot of hunters run out of patience. When a turkey hasn't gobbled for a while, it can be tempting to get up and move. A lot of times, the turkey is either on his way or he has hens with him. Turkeys have incredible eyesight, so it's hard to slip up on one unless you have some terrain or thick vegetation between you and the bird. Otherwise, you'll hear them putt and scoot out of the county.

You also need to sit with your gun at the ready. Early in my turkey hunting days, I busted or missed multiple opportunities on longbeards that came in quiet. I'd get tired of waiting, the action would die down, and I'd set my gun next to me. Then, out of nowhere, a gobbler would pop up in shotgun range, and there'd be nothing I could do except watch them walk out of my life. You might be fast, but you're not fast enough to draw on a turkey from the hip. It might get uncomfortable, but sit with your gun propped on your knee. This allows you to make a shot or get in position with minimal movement when the gobbler finally shows its face.

When it comes time to shoot, aim for the red wattles on a turkey's neck where it meets the feathers. Avoid shooting a turkey while it struts. You're likely to hit the body and ruin a lot of the meat or wound it.

Avoid obstructed shots in thick vegetation. Ideally, you should have an unobstructed view of the turkey's head within 40 yards. Wait for the turkey to stop moving, too. Turkey loads and chokes mean your pattern could be the size of a softball at 20 yards. This makes it easy to miss a moving turkey. You can always yelp with a mouth call to get a turkey to stop so you can shoot.

Like shooting a bow or rifle, follow-through is important. Keep your head down on the gun, and don't move until after the shot. If you pick your head up too soon, you'll miss the turkey high. Exhale as you pull the trigger, follow through, and you'll have a turkey flopping on the ground.

More detailed advice on aiming can be found below:

Once you have a turkey down, make sure it's dead. You can do this by placing your heel on its head. Most turkey loads, especially TSS, make this unnecessary. Make a good shot and you won't have to worry about it.

Before moving your turkey, make sure you tag it. Most states require you to do this, either with a physical tag or electronic record. Read up on your local regulations to make sure you're following the rules.

The urgency to clean your bird depends on where and when you're hunting. If there's snow on the ground when your turkey season opens, there's not a huge rush. Hunters down South, especially in Osceola country, will want to move quickly. Regardless, the sooner the better. For an in-depth look at how to pluck and clean a turkey, you can watch this video here. For turkey recipes, check out this page.

Once you get a few turkeys under your belt, you can start expanding your calling abilities. You can watch tutorials, try out new calls, and see which ones work best for you.

There are plenty of great articles, podcasts, and other resources to help you learn more about turkey hunting. However, there's no better teacher than failure. You'll learn best by making mistakes and figuring out what you did wrong. Turkey hunting can be hard, but, man, is it rewarding. Bottom line, spend more time in the woods. Even when you think you've mastered turkey hunting, they'll throw you for a loop—and that's the fun of it.

That depends. Are you rifle hunting deer, or are you spot and stalking them with traditional archery equipment? Deer and turkey hunting have their own unique challenges, and both can be difficult in their own way.

If you have the privilege of learning under a seasoned turkey hunter, you might tag a bird in your first season. Learning to turkey hunt on your own might take longer, especially if you only have access to pressured or public lands.

Turkeys can be challenging to hunt any time of day. However, you can increase your odds of success by slipping close (within 100 yards) to a roosted turkey before daylight. There's also the famed 10-2 window of time, when hens start to break away from toms. Gobblers can be susceptible during this time while they look for willing hens.

Your effective shooting range depends on your turkey ammo, choke, and personal shooting capabilities. One way you can determine this is by counting your pellet strikes on a target. If you can consistently put at least 100 pellets within a 10-inch circle, then you can kill a turkey at that distance. Do this until you can no longer put 100 pellets within that 10-inch circle to determine your effective shooting range.

You don't have to be a professional turkey caller to kill a turkey. In my early days of turkey hunting, I killed several turkeys with subpar calling. Learning when to call, or when not to, is more important.

Turkeys might gobble but never come to your calls for several reasons. Sometimes they already have hens. Other times you might be dealing with pressured gobblers. Or, you might not be in the best spot/position for calling.

A turkey might suddenly go silent when he decides to come into your calling; maybe he was spooked or had hens approach him. It's a good idea to wait at least 30 to 45 minutes after a turkey goes silent before making a move.

Turkey hunting on public land can be extremely challenging, especially for beginners, but not impossible.

On this episode of In Pursuit with Rich Froning, the crew sit down with Jake Currei, CEO of Qalo, to talk fitness, technology, and what it really means to stay ready. Jake shares his journey from CrossFit coach to tech entrepreneur and how QALO is evolving from durable silicone rings into wearable health technology.

They break down key metrics like sleep, heart rate variability, stress, and recovery — and why tracking them can help everyday people make smarter decisions about training, nutrition, and long-term health. The conversation also explores how small insights can drive meaningful habit changes and even reveal hidden issues before they become real problems.

If you want a practical look at using data to perform better in the gym, in the backcountry, and in life, this episode delivers.

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Steven Rinella and the MeatEater crew discuss: Clay’s “12 in ‘26” Utah mountain lion hunt; the Bear Grease YouTube channel; our Spring Turkey Giveaway; how to pronounce “Neanderthal”; correcting Steve on the Open Fields Doctrine; how a U. of Michigan Wolverines player may actually fish more than he plays basketball; Tony experiences WI’s turkey tag system meltdown; the price of tungsten and TSS skyrocket; what’s behind proposed changes to black bear seasons in OK, WA, and AZ?; AK bottom trawling; professional golfer Rory McElroy is fueled by elk; and more. 

Outro credit: "The Screaming Song" written by George Alan Sparhawk

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This week on the show I'm joined by Dr. Mike Chamberlain to discuss the future of wild turkeys and turkey hunting in America.

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Lightweight, specialized shotguns with pistol grips, shorter barrels, constricted chokes, and red dots have taken over turkey hunting. Paired with heavy payloads of tungsten super shot (TSS)—and properly patterned—these guns can be deadly, especially at a distance.

However, there are a few narratives surrounding turkey guns that give hunters a false sense of confidence when a tom struts into shooting range. Don’t get me wrong, turkey guns can help you anchor a gobbler, but there are always trade-offs in the shotgun game, no matter the platform and load you select. What’s most important is that you pick a shotgun, shotshell, and choke combination that produces a pattern that makes allowances for shooter error but can also deliver sufficient energy at the target to punch your tag.

I’ve patterned countless turkey shotguns and killed spring toms with and without red dot sights. Most hunters believe that an optic makes their shotgun more accurate, which is not really the case. A red dot can simplify the process of shooting a turkey. Sighted in properly, all you need to do is put the dot on the turkey's head or wattles and pull the trigger.

But an optic doesn’t magically put more pellets inside the 10-inch circle most turkey hunters use as a measurement to ensure their shotgun is capable of killing a tom. The point of impact will be similar whether you’re looking through a reflex sight or the bead at the end of your barrel. Of course, pellet count within the 10-inch circle will vary a bit, as no shotshell patterns are the same twice.

When I test turkey guns, I pattern the gun on paper without a red dot at 40 yards. Then I affix an optic to the top of the receiver, sight it in, and pattern the gun again at 40 yards. The patterns don’t change much when I shoot open sights versus a red dot. If I were shooting a single projectile, yes, the optic would be beneficial, even necessary. But I’m sending hundreds of round pellets downrange, all of which are susceptible to a myriad of factors. Simply put, red dots can make it easier to aim at your target, but do not improve shotgun patterns.

Red dots can also make you think that killing a turkey at long range is possible. But if you’re not experienced shooting turkeys beyond 40 yards or haven’t spent the time at the pattern board to see how the payload performs at distance, it’s a recipe for missing the shot. Or worse, wounding a tom.

I have a hunting buddy who has killed several long-distance turkeys. He knows exactly where to hold the red dot at multiple yardages to ensure a clean kill, and he hunts several states each spring, so he has more experience than your average hunter. A few years ago, I went out west with him to hunt Merriams. After roosting some birds the night before, a tom flew down a few hundred yards away from our setup the next morning. As soon as the tom hit the ground, I was looking through my red dot. It took the bird several minutes to meander toward us, and I ended up pulling the trigger too soon. The shot crippled the bird, and a second salvo was needed to dispatch it. Luckily, we were leaning against a tree in a wide-open pasture. Had we been in the woods, I might have lost that turkey.

My long-range turkey-shooting buddy asked me why I didn’t let the bird come closer. I told him I thought it was inside 40 yards, but it was more like 65 yards. Due to the low light and the fact that I had been on the gun for so long, it seemed the bird was well within range. I had extensively patterned my gun with the red dot and seen great results.

Unknowingly, that made me overconfident. I was too reliant on the optic and didn’t consider the bird might be farther than I thought. That is less likely to happen when shooting open sights, because you are relying on woodsmanship rather than technology.

The head of a turkey is a small target, and many hunters (myself included) bought into the concept that you need to place as many pellets as possible inside a 10-inch circle to punch your tag. But that doesn’t make sense unless you’re intending to shoot a turkey at distance and need the pattern to stay together longer so it delivers enough energy to dispatch the bird at impact.

This may soon become a moot point, as TSS has become so expensive that some shotshell manufacturers have paused loading it, but too often, I see hunters laud TSS for the tight patterns it can produce. Yes, it’s incredible to see what TSS does on the pattern board and in the field; however, you don’t need (or even want) 350 No. 9s inside a 10-inch circle. Why? Because, as “cool” as that is to see on paper, it doesn’t allow for much shooter error, which is the No. 1 factor when missing anything with a shotgun.

If you're a seasoned turkey hunter who has killed 100 toms, disregard this. But for the rest of us, a wider, more pellet-rich pattern is the best recipe for success. How many times have you heard of a fellow turkey hunter missing a bird at close range? Or, how many times have you missed a tom that was almost in your lap? It’s likely because your pattern was the size of a softball.

To allow for increased shooter error, I have switched to a more open choke on my Remington 870. Previously, I used an aftermarket .665 constricted choke for the 12-gauge. On average, it placed 285 No. 9 TSS pellets inside the 10-inch circle at 40 yards. I decided to expand the circle to 20 inches for added forgiveness and insert an improved modified choke (.705 constriction). Shooting a 3-inch 1⅝-ounce shotshell (583 pellets) with a muzzle velocity of 1,200 fps, I have put as many as 500 pellets inside the 20-inch circle at 40 yards. By swapping chokes, I’ve turned a softball-sized pattern into a beach ball-sized one.

Sure, I have to pick a few more pellets from the breast meat of my turkeys, but I am also giving myself a better chance to kill a tom inside 40 yards.

Turkey shotguns are typically lighter than the average field gun, making them ideal to carry through the woods. However, turkey-specific shotshells have heavy payloads, which is not ideal for accuracy when paired with a lightweight auto-loader or pump. Tighter turkey chokes also result in more felt recoil. When you constrict projectiles as they move towards the muzzle of a shotgun, it increases pressure and speeds up the shot.

Recoil can cause us to flinch in anticipation of the “kick” we feel in our shoulder when the trigger is pulled, the firing pin strikes the primer, and ignites the accelerant, causing a mini-explosion that pushes the payload forward and the shotgun rearward. Muzzle jump may increase with added recoil as well, causing your impact point to elevate and sail over the bird. Neither is good for shooting a small target like a gobbler’s head.

Specialized shotguns, tight chokes, and heavy payloads have a place in the turkey woods, but they are not a necessity. Before you invest, consider all the intangibles that come with such a platform and whether or not it makes sense for how you hunt. If it does, that’s great; you’re on the way to putting another gun in the closet. However, it’s just as likely that you already own a shotgun capable of killing a turkey.

The one upgrade you can make to a truck that will result in the most noticeable difference while driving is suspension. If you spend a good amount of time driving on washboard roads and rutted-up two-tracks, or maybe your county is just behind on mending potholes, a good suspension system will aid in smoothing out your ride by absorbing those bumps and holes in a controlled manner.

To be clear, I’m not recommending a giant lift kit that requires a ladder to get into your pickup. But high-quality shocks and coilovers from brands like Fox, Bilstein, KING, Falcon, and a handful of others will certainly make for smoother sailing when you’ve got your truck bed loaded down with gear and (hopefully) a dead critter in the back heading to and from your hunting spots.

If you’re interested in upgrading your suspension, you need to start by asking yourself three questions. What’s my budget? How do I plan on using this vehicle? How fast am I going to be driving? This will help you focus your search in the vast spectrum of options on the market.

On one end are budget-friendly, daily-driver upgrades that will improve ride and control. On the other end are custom-built, 4-inch-plus diameter shocks for Baja racers that cost more than some cars and have no place on a street vehicle.

When looking into upgrading the suspension on our Silverado 1500, I wanted something relatively budget-friendly that would result in improved rides on bumpy, rutted-out backcountry roads (that I may like to drive a little faster than most on). I also wanted to lift the front of the truck up a bit, leveling it as opposed to a big lift or a full-on long travel kit. The setup that checked all the boxes is the FOX 2.5 coilover leveling kit from BDS. It levels the truck and adds significant performance gains where it counts.

With this suspension kit, the biggest gain is shear damping power. These units can take some serious abuse, absorb big hits, help control body movement, and keep the tires planted when flying down gnarly roads. When you add in some weight from all your hunting gear, coolers, camp gear, and more, the difference in ride quality is shocking (pun intended). On rough roads, it means the suspension works with you, instead of fighting you. So you arrive at the trailhead or back home less beat up and more focused.

When it comes to installing suspension like this kit, we highly recommend taking it to the professionals. While you could technically do it in your driveway, you’ll soon figure out that it’s not going to be a quick and easy job. In this case, we went to the experts at Ressler Chevrolet to have their custom build team do the install. Since you need to get an alignment after a job like this, it’s a one-stop shop. They made quick work of the install and had it back to us in short order.

The results? The truck gained some height up front, which increased its ground clearance and approach angle. But once you get behind the wheel and hit some bumps, even just parking lot speed bumps, the change becomes very apparent. Gone is the boat-like sway when the vehicle hits angled ground. Instead, the truck stays composed and firmly planted. When you hit a larger bump, maybe going a little faster than you’d ordinarily go, the shocks do their job well. The bumps get soaked up, and the truck is back and ready for more almost instantly. There is no additional bouncing; it just feels planted. It’s not just on rough roads either. When cruising down the highway or taking curves, body roll is greatly reduced, and the ride is noticeably smoother.

Spencer Neuharth hosts MeatEater Trivia with Brody Henderson, Randall Williams, Corinne Schneider, Nate Mason, Roman Schnobrich, and Jon Montressor.

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