After more than 65 years of turkey hunting, Alabama game warden Ray Kilgore told The Southern Outdoorsmen hosts Andrew Maxwell and Jacob Myers that many hunters still make the same mistake in the spring woods: they call too much, move too much, and lose patience before the gobbler has decided to come in.
Kilgore, who is 85 and has spent most of his life around turkeys, did not present the lesson as some new tactic or complicated system. Instead, in a conversation with Maxwell and Myers, he described turkey hunting as something built on stillness, timing, woodsmanship, and the ability to sit with a bird that may not be ready to move just because the hunter wants him to.
His main point was simple, but it came from a lifetime of hard-earned experience: a gobbler usually does not need much calling to know where the hen sound came from, and once he knows, the hunter’s job is often to wait rather than keep talking.
The Gobbler Knows Where You Are
Kilgore told Maxwell and Myers that once a gobbler hears a call, he has a very good idea where that sound came from, and a hunter can easily make things worse by trying to force the bird to answer again and again.
According to Kilgore, the mistake often begins after a hunter hears a gobble and gets excited, thinking that more calling will pull the turkey closer. In his view, that is usually when the hunter starts doing too much.
“You got to learn your bird,” Kilgore said, explaining that every turkey acts a little differently, even if hunters sometimes want to treat them all the same.
Some gobblers, he said, will gobble over and over, while others may only sound off once and then stay quiet for a long stretch. Because of that, Kilgore said a hunter has to “play your ears” and pay attention to what that particular bird is doing instead of calling on a fixed schedule.
That is one of the more useful parts of his advice, because it pushes turkey hunting away from gadget thinking and back toward reading the woods. Calls, decoys, camo, and setups matter, but Kilgore’s point was that the bird’s behavior matters more than any routine a hunter brought from home.
Why Birds Hang Up
When Maxwell and Myers asked about calling and hung-up gobblers, Kilgore explained the problem from the turkey’s point of view.
“The whole thing about turkey hunting is that gobbler wants that hen to come to him,” Kilgore said.
He said a gobbler often hangs up because he expects the hen to close the distance, not the other way around. The bird may strut, gobble, and hold his ground because, in that moment, he thinks he is the one that should be approached.
Kilgore described it in plain terms: the gobbler is “the man,” and he expects the hen to come looking for him.
That is where many hunters lose the game. If the bird does not come quickly, they begin calling harder, louder, or more often, trying to make something happen, while the gobbler may already know where they are and may simply be waiting to see if the “hen” will come to him.
Kilgore said that if the hen does not come, the gobbler may eventually come looking, but the hunter has to have the patience to sit there with him. Some birds, he said, are quick, while others take a long time.
It is an old-school lesson, but it still feels very modern because so much hunting content today can make success look immediate. Kilgore’s advice is almost the opposite: slow down, let the bird work, and do not mistake silence for failure.
The Biggest Mistake Is Overcalling
Kilgore told Maxwell and Myers that, in his opinion, a majority of turkey hunters overcall.
He was careful to frame it as his opinion, not a rule handed down for everyone, but he spoke with the confidence of someone who has watched turkeys react to hunters for decades.
“A turkey, you know, he don’t need much to know where you’re at,” Kilgore said.
He explained that if a bird is right, and if the situation is right, it does not take the amount of calling many hunters use. Often, all the hunter needs to do is let the gobbler know where the sound came from.
Kilgore described his own approach as quiet and careful. He said he listens for the turkey first and does not usually start by yelping just to make one gobble. While some hunters use crow calls, he said he does not rely on one much, though he noted that an owl call at the right time in the morning can sometimes get a turkey to answer.
Once he knows where a bird is, Kilgore tries to move close enough without getting too close, because pushing in too far can ruin the setup quickly.
Then, when he is where he wants to be, he may give just a little low tree yelp.
“You don’t have to be no big call,” Kilgore said, describing it as just enough sound for the bird to know where he is.
That is the heart of his argument. The call is not supposed to be a performance. It is supposed to be information.
Patience Is The Main Skill
When Maxwell asked Kilgore what patience really means in turkey hunting, Kilgore did not turn it into a complicated answer. He said that when the bird does not come, the hunter has to understand why.
The gobbler may be waiting for the hen to come to him. There may be another hen nearby. There may be a jake or another bird affecting him. The gobbler may also be cautious because of predators, hunting pressure, or because he has heard calls before and become harder to fool.
Because of all those unknowns, Kilgore said the hunter has to stay with him.
He told Maxwell and Myers that he can stay until 10, 11, or 12 o’clock if he believes a bird is still there and still interested. He also described what he calls a “second round,” often around 10 or 11 in the morning, when a gobbler may start gobbling again after he finishes his first route or loses the hens he was with earlier.
That kind of patience is difficult because it goes against the urge to move, call, check another ridge, or make something happen. But Kilgore’s message was that turkey hunting rewards the person who can sit still long enough for the bird’s mood to change.
He told one story about a turkey in Monroe County that kept coming close, then backing away, gobbling again farther out, and then returning without ever quite stepping into range. Kilgore said he eventually waited until the bird moved back off, then slipped forward and changed the setup enough to kill him when he came back.
That story says a lot about his style. Patience does not mean doing nothing forever; it means waiting long enough to understand the bird before deciding what to do.
Old-School Hunting Without Decoys Or Fancy Gear
Kilgore told Maxwell and Myers that when he started hunting, there were no decoys, and hunters did not have the kind of camouflage and gear that are common today.
He said many older hunters simply wore tan pants and an old drab shirt, maybe brown or green, and sat against a tree where they could blend in. These days, he has camouflage and leafy outfits, but he said he does not really use them because he does not feel he needs them.
That does not mean modern gear has no value, but Kilgore’s comments are a useful reminder that the basics came first. Before hunters had realistic decoys and head-to-toe camo patterns, they still killed turkeys by staying still, setting up well, listening carefully, and making the right sounds at the right time.
On decoys, Kilgore sounded a little unsure whether they are always helpful. He said a turkey coming to a call is looking for the hen, and in his early years, learning to hunt without a decoy may have helped build his foundation because he had to understand how a bird followed sound.
There is something valuable in that. Decoys can solve certain problems, but they can also hide weak calling, poor setups, or a lack of patience. Kilgore’s old method forced the hunter to understand the turkey itself.
Knowing The Woods Still Matters
When Maxwell and Myers asked what successful turkey hunters tend to have in common, Kilgore said the old-timers had patience, did not call too much, and knew their woods.
He remembered hunters who could call turkeys with only their mouths and no store-bought call at all, which showed him that fancy calling was not the main thing. What mattered was knowing enough to make the right sound, then having the restraint to stop.
Kilgore said the old-timers did not get in a hurry and did not feel like they had to kill a turkey right now. If they did not get him that day, they could come back another day because they knew the woods and understood the place they were hunting.
That may be the strongest lesson in the whole conversation. Turkey hunting is often sold through equipment, volume, and action, but Kilgore described it as a slower skill built over time, where the hunter learns the land, learns the birds, and learns not to panic when things do not happen immediately.
For hunters struggling with hung-up gobblers, his advice is not to call louder, buy more gear, or keep moving at the first sign of trouble. It is to remember that the bird probably already knows where the call came from, and the next move may not belong to the hunter at all.
Sometimes, as Kilgore told Maxwell and Myers, the best thing to do is sit there with him.
Mark grew up in the heart of Texas, where tornadoes and extreme weather were a part of life. His early experiences sparked a fascination with emergency preparedness and homesteading. A father of three, Mark is dedicated to teaching families how to be self-sufficient, with a focus on food storage, DIY projects, and energy independence. His writing empowers everyday people to take small steps toward greater self-reliance without feeling overwhelmed.
