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Become the Turkey with Preston Pittman
Preston Pittman of Petal, Mississippi, one of the nation’s top competitive turkey callers, has won five turkey-calling championships. Not only is Pittman a contest winner, Preston Pittman becomes the turkey. On the “David Letterman Show,” Pittman strutted and gobbled and preened himself just like a wild turkey would. According to Pittman, if you’re going to take turkeys in the spring, you’ve got observe turkey body language with your Alpen binoculars, and use that knowledge to become the turkey.
 Question: Preston, how do you become a turkey when you’re in the woods?
Pittman: I’m not only trying to become the turkey, I’m trying to become the environment in which the wild turkey lives. I want to sound like everything that is natural in the turkey’s environment. I want to convince the turkey that I’m a hen looking for love. Depending on where I am, I try to sound like a turkey when he is walking through the woods. Now, I only use these tactics when I’m on extremely private land, and I don’t have to worry about anyone else around.
If I’m trying to move from point A to point B, and I know there’s a gobbler close-by, I take the tip of my toe and scratch in the leaves about every third step. I use the cadence: scratch, scratch-scratch, scratch, and then I move on. I take about three or four steps, and while I’m taking those steps, I’m clucking and purring like a contented hen. The way you become the turkey is by watching turkeys as they move through the woods. Observe their body language and the different noises they make besides calling as they move quietly through the woods. When a turkey is scratching, it almost always starts with its left foot. A turkey will always do one scratch, then two scratches and sometimes a third scratch. So as I walk through the woods, I try and use that same cadence. Now again, let me reiterate. You don’t want to sound like a turkey walking through the woods when you’re close to a gobbler on public lands, because if there are other hunters around, and you’re making the sound that will call those other hunters to you, you may be mistaken for a turkey. Do not use this tactic in public woods. Only use it on private property when you know no other hunters are there.
Question: What else are you doing as you are moving through the woods, Preston?
Pittman: I learned from deer hunting that when you’re sitting in a tree stand in the afternoon, and you hear a squirrel bark, that squirrel is telling you that there is something moving through the woods. A squirrel won’t give away his position unless he sees something or hears something that causes him to give an alarm cry. Therefore, when I’m deer hunting, and I hear a squirrel bark, if I’m sitting on my tree stand, I stand up, nock an arrow, and get ready to shoot, because I’ve learned more than likely, there’s a deer walking through the woods, and I should be able to see him soon. I’ve also learned that when I stand up and get ready to shoot, many times that squirrel is barking at a turkey that is moving through the woods.
So I’ve started carrying a squirrel barker, a little bellows-type device that makes a noise like a squirrel bark when you tap it with your hand, as well as my turkey calls. I’ll blow my diaphragm turkey call to sound like a turkey hen yelping. And I’ll have my squirrel barker out and pat on it, so that it barks like a squirrel right after I give those hen yelps. What I’m trying to do is create a scene in that gobbler’s mind that not only is there a hen walking around in the woods where he hears the yelping coming from, but there’s a squirrel that has seen that hen and started barking at her. Squirrel barking is one of the most-natural things that you hear in the woods, especially when turkey and deer are moving. Using this tactic, I can disguise the fact that I’m a hunter, and better convince the turkey gobbler that I’m a real hen walking through the woods.
 Question: What other turkey tactics are you using, Preston, that many other turkey hunters aren’t using?
Pittman: Most turkey hunters use a crow call to make a turkey gobble. That makes sense if you’re hunting on the edge of a road, a field, a power line or pipeline right-of-way, or any other open area where crows sitting in a tree cam see a deer or turkey moving. I’ve noticed that often crows will call aggressively when they see a deer or turkey walking through an opening. So, as a turkey caller, I’m trying to paint a picture in a gobbler’s mind that the hen he hears yelping to him is actually a hen that is moving through the woods. The two animals that often give alarm cries when they see a turkey or a deer moving through the woods are crows and squirrels. When I’m calling to a turkey with my turkey call in an open area, I’ll often use a crow call right after I give turkey yelps to make the gobbler I’m talking to think that a crow has seen the hen that’s been calling to him. I often use the crow call and the squirrel bark when I’m trying to call a smart, old gobbler in that may have been called to by several other hunters. That smart, old tom has heard lots of hens – and lots of turkey hunters. He’s listening for more than just a realistic cluck or yelp.
Question: Preston, are you using any other calls beside turkey calls when you’re trying to call gobblers in during the spring?
Pittman: Yes, I am. I’ll often take a quail whistle with me and blow the quail whistle after I’ve given a series of yelps, clucks, or after I’ve cut to a gobbler with a cutting call. Every animal in nature affects another animal. If you want your calling to sound more realistic, then you’ve got to be aware of this fact, and if you know how turkeys affect the other birds and animals in the woods, you can make your calling sound 100% more realistic. I use these other calls to prove to the gobbler I’m trying to take that I am a real turkey.
Question: Preston, what’s the worst gobbler you have to hunt?
Pittman: It’s what I call a hand-me-down gobbler. This means that your buddy has tried everything he knows to try to take that old gobbler, and when your buddy and everyone else in your hunting camp gives up on the idea of taking that turkey, they hand him down to you. So now this gobbler that you’re attempting to take knows every trick that every buddy in your hunting club can try and play on a gobbler. So by adding these other sounds to my calling sequences, I’m giving that gobbler something else to listen to other than the standard calling he’s been hearing all season. I’m using other animal and bird sounds to convince that gobbler that the hen calling he’s hearing is actually coming from a hen walking through the woods and not from a hunter with a shotgun in his hands.
 Question: Preston, how important are your binoculars to you when you’re hunting a turkey like this?
Pittman: They are absolutely critical. You have to realize that a turkey can see 10 times better than you can see, and he can probably hear 10 times better than you can hear. So the great equalizer becomes a good pair of Alpen binoculars. One of the great secrets to consistently take wild turkeys is to be able to read the turkey’s body language. You need to be able to see the gobbler before he sees you, and you also need to be able to see what effects different calls have on the turkey. If you call to a turkey, and you look at him and he is not paying attention, then either he hasn’t heard you, or you aren’t saying what he wants to hear, the way he wants to hear it. So you know you need to call louder, use a different call or change the type of calls that you’re using.
Too, you need to have your Alpen binoculars to see which way the turkey’s going. The easiest gobbler to call to you is a turkey that is coming to you, whether you call it or not. So if a turkey is walking away from you, and you know you’re not going to get a chance to take that turkey, use your binoculars to see where the turkey is going. If you study the terrain between you and the turkey, you can determine when and how you should move to reposition yourself. Then the turkey will walk to you instead of away from you. A quality pair of binoculars like Alpen makes will also tell you whether the turkey has hens with him, which often makes him more difficult to call, or if he has jakes (1-year-old gobblers) with him. If a long-bearded gobbler has three or four jakes with him, and they all hear a hen yelping, the jakes will run the gobbler away from the hen, so that he won’t be able to breed her. Without a good pair of binoculars, you can’t study the body language of a gobbler and determine what you need to do to get that gobbler to come to you, so you can take him. If you’re going to hunt turkeys, then you’ve got to have a good pair of binoculars like Alpen.
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