Affinito recommends that hunters carry life-sized foam hens and a foam jake.

"When woods hunting, place a fake hen 20 yards from your setup, so that you're sitting between the decoy and the longbeard you're yelping to," Affinito said. "That way, if the tom walks in and stops 50 yards from the fake, he'll be well in range."

Most hunters these days wear camouflaged clothing. But they forget that incoming longbeards have very keen eyesight.

"I sit with my back against a wide tree. The wider, the better because it helps to break your outline and hide you from the incoming tom. It also helps provide a stable shooting position," he noted.

"Try to find a place with a few extra feet of elevation. This increases your visibility when you scan the foliage for incoming birds."

BRINGING THEM IN
Affinito's hunting day begins at 3:30 a.m., an hour before dawn, and he plans to be in the woods before the turkeys leave their roosts.

Affinito often does the calling for two or three other hunters.

"Things works best if someone else does the calling. It distracts the bird from the shooter," he said. "I start out with one of my handcrafted yelpers and switch to a few cuts on the box call."

When he hears a bird gobble, he'll begin the matriarchal call -- three soft yelps.

"The soft yelps are important until the birds hit the ground and begin to assemble for the day."

CAN YOU CALL TOO MUCH?
Affinito likes to hear the birds gobble and has been accused of over-calling. But in his opinion, no one can ever call too much.

In fact, Affinito admits he is relentless once he hears the gobble from a longbeard.

"Place a fake hen 20 yards from your setup, so that you're sitting between the decoy and the longbeard you're yelping to," Affinito said. "That way, if the tom walks in and stops 50 yards from the fake, he'll be well in range."

"I think a lot of calling gets the tom excited," Affinito said. "He'll strut right up to the decoys and begin to fan and parade around for what he thinks is a whole flock of eager hens."

Affinito noted that most hunters fail because they either use continuous yelps or under-call. He said that as long as yelps are uttered in three-note sequences, the birds will respond.

If no gobblers respond after 45 minutes, Affinito advises hunters to pick up and move to another spot.

"Time is short, and you can't waste it on a barren tree."

Affinito said his most memorable experience was when he worked on a bird for 12 days, prior to taking longtime friend Rick Mayo on his first hunt.

"I called six or seven times, and finally called in the longbeard with a box call and a diaphragm. When the bird got close, Rick said, 'I see a blue head!' The tom kept on gobbling his way right up to the decoy, maybe 20 yards to the left of Rick, who made a perfect shot right to the upper neck."