The peak of the breeding season is a tough time for early-morning calling, as toms stay close to their harems. Some hunters have found success by sleeping late in the mornings and hunting in the afternoons, after toms have serviced all the available hens and are more open to chasing "lonesome" hens.

"That's an advantage Iowa turkey hunters have over some other states," said Creery. "Some states only allow morning hunting. We can hunt afternoons, and maybe pull in those toms looking for stray hens."

Once hens go onto their nests, toms are more prone to investigate calls made by hunters. "An important thing to remember is not all turkeys in all locations are at the same phase of the breeding season," said Creery. "It's weird, but turkeys in one block of timber may be a week or more ahead of or behind turkeys only five or 10 miles away, in another block of timber. If you've done your scouting, and are really on top of what hens are doing in various places you hunt, you can plan your hunts to take advantage of those differences.

"If I know that the turkeys are at the peak of their breeding season in one timber, but I know that 10 miles away there's a timber where the hens have started going to their nests, I'm going to hunt the timber where the hens are starting to nest and the toms are going to be easier to call. It takes a lot of work, but it can really increase your chances of taking a tom."

According to Creery, calling is the key to taking a spring turkey, but, he added, the quality of calling is secondary to timing of calls. "People get hung up about perfectly imitating turkey sounds," he said. "Turkeys are like people -- every turkey has a different-sounding voice. I've heard turkey calls in the timber that I swore had to be a really bad hunter, because it sounded so bad, but after while, here comes this hen, making the most unturkeylike sounds I'd ever heard.

"So I've decided that it's not the quality of the calling as much as the timing of when you call. It's hard to describe, but if you've spent enough time in the woods listening to turkeys talk to each other, you get a feel for how often to call when you're working a bird. I'm convinced that the biggest mistakes beginning hunters make is to call too often. You've got to tantalize them, make them curious, and sometimes the best way to do that is to do nothing."

Patience is perhaps the hardest part of turkey hunting. In Creery's view, you need to operate on "turkey time" when hunting. "You've got to remember that turkeys have all day to do their job, and their job is to stay alive," he said. "They don't have to rush back to work in town. They can take all day to move from their roost to their feeding area, if they want to move that slow in order to keep from feeling nervous, or unsure about their safety.

"That's why you hear about guys calling for an hour or so, getting impatient and standing up to move -- and spooking a turkey that was maybe 50 or 100 yards away. The bird was coming in, but it was coming in at its own pace. Successful turkey hunters are patient turkey hunters."

Creery's final tip for this spring's Iowa turkey hunting seasons was for the increasing number of hunters who try to take their tom by bow.

"Because of the thick feathers on their wings, you've just about got to arrow a turkey from the front, in the breast, or from the rear," he said. "Use a jake decoy, and position it facing you, just outside the range you want to shoot. The tom will come in and face the jake decoy, with his back to you. He'll probably fan his tail and display to impress the jake. When he does, he won't be able to see to the rear because he has his tailfeathers fanned, so that gives you a chance to draw your bow and take the shot."