Knowledge is your best asset. You must know the area that you intend to hunt, which includes getting there and walking it, and looking at it closely by means of aerial photos and topographic maps. Get familiar with its borders and its most inaccessible spots. You can’t be too familiar with your hunting spot — a principle that’s even more important when you’re afield on one of huge tracts of land scattered about the state. You can hardly hunt the Mark Twain National Forest or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lands that surround lakes such as Mark Twain, Truman, Pomme de Terre, Stockton, and Bull Shoals without having in hand a good map showing the boundaries.

I can say from experience that public land can be the site of the most fascinating and rewarding hunting you’ll ever be a part of — and that it can also be downright aggravating. There’ll be days that’ll make you want to pull your hat off and stalk away cussing. However, when your plan comes together and the hard work pays off in 20-something pounds of gobbler on your shoulder, you’ll feel like the happiest person to walk the earth for the next half-hour.

Learning from your mistakes can make all the difference — and we all make plenty of mistakes. Take time to review foiled hunts, and you’ll see improvements that you can make your next time out. Becoming a hunter who errs on the side of caution puts you ahead of the game. Reflect on typical missteps, and turn them to your advantage.

THE WRONG DIRECTION

To start off right, you have to do something that’s a little different from the average hunter’s drill. Around the Mark Twain National Forest, it’s easy to park on the road or in the lot nearest to the area in which you plan to hunt and start your trek there just before sunrise. This puts your course on the same plot as most everyone else, and though I don’t give turkeys a lot of credit for problem solving, conditioning is another story. It’s not surprising that after a few days of the season, and exposure to a few dozen hunters all working turkeys from the same direction, the toms might start to get a little resistant to believing that that’s where the hens are.

So work out a plan to circumvent the standard course, and get on different angles that most others won’t work for. If that entails showing up a little earlier and hiking a little farther, so be it. You can certainly expect a gobbler to head in a direction that seems to promise reduced pressure. This gives the bird one more reason to give in to your calling.

LOOK TO THE LITTLE SPOTS

The counties north of the Missouri River don’t contain the massive expanses of public land that the southern part of the state can boast. The Missouri Department of Conservation has done well with acquiring hunting areas, but many are small and thus not highly regarded. Units between 40 and a couple of hundred acres are frequently passed on by hunters. Big mistake: I’m a firm believer that if there’s a stand of timber in Missouri, there’s probably a turkey in it.

Use the small spots to your advantage, covering them thoroughly cover them with mini run-and-gun tactics. The odds are fairly high that you’ll end up locating a bird and won’t have to work your tail off. Plan a drive that’ll take you past several tracts in the course of a morning, so if one doesn’t pan out, you can try another.

REGARDING BIG TRACTS

Hearing a turkey and getting close are integral steps in taking one home, but they shouldn’t be rushed. If that bird’s gobbling from the roost at daylight and you approach too hastily, you’re sure to give away your location; it’s not proper turkey etiquette for hens to move halfway across country before most birds even come off the roost, Thus, using a hen call can have detrimental effects. Better to locate the bird by letting him gobble naturally, or by using an owl hoot.

After locating a public-land tom, put on a stealthy, silent stalk. Get close to his location before you ever make a peep on a call. (If it’s past morning roosting hours, this rule of not calling doesn’t apply.) Your stalk should still be cautious, but hens talk and walk. Keep in mind that they don’t cover ground as fast as an approaching hunter does. Try not to rush in on a bird as you hail him with hen calls. Instead, make your approach in lackadaisical turkey time.