Don’t worry if you’re not famous for these skills; they can be easily learned by almost anybody with a little self-motivation. That’s why spring turkey hunting is a great introduction to hunting for people new to the activity, including teens and pre-teens. It is an extremely safe sport if a few common sense precautions are followed and the chances of filling your tag and harvesting a bird can be high even for newbies. Just ask any of the youth who have participated in the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s special youth hunts and outdoor skills camps.

Special opportunities are being offered to youth (10-17 years old) turkey hunters in some great turkey hunting areas. A youth-only hunt runs from Apr 19 - Apr 25 and May 10 - May 23, 2019 in Hunt Units 1 and 27 on the east and in Hunt Units 4A and 4B on the west side of the White Mountains / Rim area. The gap in the dates that you are allowed to hunt can increase chances that the turkeys are in their breeding season and gobbling a lot. Hunters 10-13 must complete the Hunter Education course before the hunt and everybody needs to buy an annual hunting license (Youth combination hunt and fish is $5 and the hunt tag is $10). Young hunters, 17 and under, don’t have to get lucky with the draw since they get their tags over the counter which is a great way for others in the family to go turkey hunting as spotters and callers. Check the Game and Fish website portal for more information,

The organization, Youth Outdoors Unlimited, organizes camps specifically designed for new hunters. To learn more about these camps and other outdoor skills programs, see the websites below. These camps depend on mentors to help new hunters on their first hunts so if you want to pass on the heritage of turkey hunting, no matter how experienced a hunter you are, contact the organizers below to volunteer.  

You don’t have to be in top shape to haul out 60-pound quarters of an elk or be a sharpshooter with a 3-inch group of shots at 500 yards to be a successful turkey hunter. Gobbler hunting actually can involve an all-out, half-mile sprint up and down steep canyons if you’re into that kind of thing. But it can also be much less of a physical test and even approach a relaxing and meditative experience.

If you like to make social activities out of your outdoor endeavors, turkey hunting can fit that plan. You’re obviously not going to be Facebooking while sitting on the ground against a big tree or loudly discussing who won the office NCAA basketball brackets. But it can help to have a partner along, even if they don’t have a tag and aren’t carrying a gun. The hunter can focus on watching for turkeys while her partner can do the turkey calling and looking for that gobbler sneaking up from behind the hunter.

Turkeys can’t smell well so wind direction doesn’t matter, taking away one variable in tagging a bird. But this also opens up all 360 degrees of the circle around you from where turkeys can approach and with their acute vision more than one gobbler has snuck away from the hunter unnoticed.

Their sense of smell may be lacking but turkeys have incredible eyesight that can alert them to even the slightest movement or to pick out a patch of clothing not in the camouflage color. Lighter skin colors can be a dead giveaway so face masks or face paint and camo gloves are worthwhile investments. Backpacks and other equipment must also blend in with your background.

Turkey hunting doesn’t require specialized expensive weapons as almost any shotgun will work, even the smallest .410 gauge. Smaller gauge shotguns shooting shot are legal and work well but have a reduced range to less than 30 yards usually. A tighter choke on the barrel will constrict the shot pellet pattern, insuring more instantly lethal results. No matter which gun you choose to use, it’s necessary to test fire your hunting loads at a large paper or cardboard target to make sure the shot pattern is dense enough to likely strike your target, the head and upper neck of the turkey. Rifles are not legal methods of hunting for turkeys in Arizona, even though they can be used in other states. 

As with most hunts, scouting trips prior to the season opener can really pay off. Turkeys leave quite a bit of sign that is easy to identify, such as eagle-sized three toed tracks as well as fecal droppings a half inch in diameter. Softer scats are fresher and the largest belong to the gobblers. Hunting areas with the most fresh sign usually pay off, with nearby turkeys often calling even if they don’t approach you close enough for a shot. For reasons only the turkeys understand, some mornings can be deafeningly silent, even though the gobblers are in earshot. But the next morning can be filled with so many reverberating gobbles it’s hard to believe you’re in the same place as yesterday.   

Using a global positioning system device, or GPS, on your scouting trips to mark possible areas to hide in or on trails going in to water holes, can help you navigate to that spot in the morning before the sun comes up.  

The most difficult part of turkey hunting for some hunters is the need to get up out of bed early enough to be in the woods when the stars are still shining brightly. However, it only takes one experience hearing a pair of gobblers competing with each other with their excited, almost spasmodic vocalizations echoing off cinder cones and canyon walls to convince you to modify your normal sleep schedule. If you are lucky enough to be situated in between these bundles of breeding hormones and can save the memory to your brain’s long-term section, getting up just a little past 0-dark-thirty will be a snap.  

The most exciting and addicting part of turkey hunting is probably getting into a conversation with a gobbler, using one of many types of turkey calls to create your best impersonation of a lonely hen turkey. These “discussions” can last more than 30 minutes, with the gobbler closing in on what he thinks is a blind date, silently meandering through trees and shrubs between his bouts of energetic gobbles, claiming this area over other nearby breeding gobblers and trying to get a better fix on where that mysterious hen (you!) is calling from.

Some gobblers will respond to almost any call if their hormone levels are peaking while other bearded turkeys are much more difficult to convince to be social. You only need one or two different types of calls to get started, expanding your inventory a little every year. There are definitely “minimalists” and “maximalists” out there when it comes to using turkey calls. Some hunters are afraid their calling will sound like someone else’s turkey call that recently spooked the area birds so they are always looking for a unique and different call. Most experienced hunters will say that the biggest mistake with using calls is actually using them too much. Turkeys can hear very well and can pinpoint your location from one series of calls if the wind isn’t blowing too hard. 

It’s impossible to cover all of the tips and tricks of turkey hunting in one article but fortunately there are dozens of good videos on YouTube which will demonstrate all kinds of techniques and approaches. Some youths are fortunate enough to have an older family member or friend willing to pass on their knowledge. Nevertheless, with a little preparation, turkey hunting can be a safe and satisfying form of exercise in our great White Mountains and you might even end up with some delicious wild turkey meat on your dinner table.