turkey hunting tactics

With turkey hunting being my passion, I have had the opportunity over the years to talk with some of the industry’s most popular turkey hunters. Photos by … The main reason I think turkey hunting is a blast is that it is a hunt of strategy and response from an animal. Most of the time turkeys have ventured out throughout the day and when it is time to go to bed for the night have a specific spot or tree in mind and will make a beeline towards that area. By Nancy Jo Adams. Get creative, and use the campaign banner in your Turkey Hunting pictures and get ready to submit on our Facebook Page to win some CSTF2016 prizes. Scouting and patterning birds is what puts consistency in your success and will help you not waste those early mornings without seeing any jellyheads. “At first light, rather than going to a roosted gobbling turkey, I go away from him and try to get 200-300 yards away. Skills, turkey, hunting, bowhunting, calling, decoys, scouting, preparation, offseason, spring. Trail Kreitzer's possibles pouch and kill kit gear dump, Wyoming Backcountry Mule Deer Hunt Video Series With Randy Newberg, OUT WEST - A Wyoming Backcountry Archery Elk Hunt, ALERT: Utah bill introduced to ban big game baiting and regulate trail camera use, Maximizing and managing time as a busy hunter, Four tips to keep your spouse happy season after season, An unforgettable OTC Colorado bull elk hunt. Aggressive tactics, such as trolling and covering lots of ground trying to strike a bird, often yield a positive outcome and put you in a similar set up situation. Most people don’t know that similar to ungulates, turkeys can be patterned as well. Turkey hunting can go right, or it can go wrong fast…it’s difficult and easy at the same time, all depending on your actions. Wake up early and walk in the cover of darkness, not using a light, and set up close to the tree. Then again, wild turkey call apps are likely just a quirky feature in our world of hand-held devices. The turkey hunting itch begins as early as February for some. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. All of these possibilities when it comes to team turkey hunting can make the difference and can change in a moment's notice. Then it is up to you to make the shot count when he comes closer to steal the hen or beat up your jake decoy. “Sweet yearning, seductive sounds of very excited lonesome hen turkey…that is what we are trying to achieve here” – Michael Waddell. Consistent success requires dedication and time, but tagging a bird can be accomplished by anyone willing to try. Oftentimes there’s leftovers in those units, and you can get leftover tags in those prairie units. I went on my first turkey hunt at the ripe old age of 18. Tag-Team Calling Tactics for Turkeys. If you’re off work on a rainy day, use it to scout! Brady Miller thinks so. Traditional locator calls include the crow or barred owl. Fall Turkey Hunting with Dogs. If I am the caller, I often move back and forth, staying low and out of sight. Upside: “If you have a small kid that can’t sit still long, or if it’s … From continually scouting the countryside to busting up flocks and calling them back together there are many action-packed aspects to fall wild turkey … Wild turkey hunting isn’t just a hobby for some of us, it is a passion. Once a bird is on the hook and coming your direction, it’s time to exercise some patience. If you do, you will tell the turkey something is different than yesterday and they might change their pattern. If you are close enough to this area, it is common to hear their wings beating and breaking some small branches as they flap their 20 pound bodies straight up to their roost. “ Roost the gobbler in the afternoon but the next morning concentrate on finding the hen group closest to that roost, place yourself between the tom and the hen group and be patient, he will come” –Nick Mundt. Once you have the right call, you need to learn how to use it correctly. .cc-input-type-hidden,.has_errors .cc_intro{display:none}html body #cc_form_3 .cc_success{margin:0!important;padding:10px;color:#0a0707!important}html body #cc_form_3{line-height:1}html body #cc_form_3 ol,html body #cc_form_3 ul{list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}html body #cc_form_3 li{list-style:none}html body #cc_form_3 blockquote,html body #cc_form_3 q{quotes:none}html body #cc_form_3 blockquote:before,html body #cc_form_3 blockquote:after,html body #cc_form_3 q:before,html body #cc_form_3 q:after{content:'';content:none}html body #cc_form_3 :focus{outline:0}html body #cc_form_3 .req{cursor:help}html body #cc_form_3{background:none transparent;padding:0;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:1em;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;-webkit-background-clip:border-box;-moz-background-clip:border-box;background-clip:border-box;background-origin:border-box;-webkit-background-origin:border-box;-moz-background-origin:border-box;border:solid #000 0;-moz-border-radius:0 0;-webkit-border-radius:0 0;border-radius:0 0 0 0;width:100%;max-width:100%;color:#0a0707!important;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',HelveticaNeue,Helvetica,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif!important;font-size:!important;text-align:center!important}html body #cc_form_3 *{font-size:}html body #cc_form_3 select{max-width:100%}.kws_input_fields{text-align:center}html body #cc_form_3 li{margin:.5em 0}html body #cc_form_3 ul label{margin:0;padding:0;line-height:1;cursor:pointer}html body #cc_form_3 input.t{margin:0;padding:.3em;line-height:1.1;-moz-border-radius:2px 2px;-webkit-border-radius:2px 2px;border-radius:2px 2px 2px 2px;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',HelveticaNeue,Helvetica,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif;max-width:95%}html body #cc_form_3 ::-webkit-input-placeholder{color:#bbb}html body #cc_form_3 :-moz-placeholder{color:#bbb}html body #cc_form_3 ::-moz-placeholder{color:#bbb}html body #cc_form_3 :-ms-input-placeholder{color:#bbb}html body #cc_form_3 .cc_intro,html body #cc_form_3 .cc_intro *{font-family:'Helvetica Neue',HelveticaNeue,Helvetica,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif;margin:0;padding:0;line-height:1;color:#0a0707}html body #cc_form_3 .cc_intro *{padding:.5em 0;margin:0}html body #cc_form_3 .cc_intro{padding-bottom:.5em}html body #cc_form_3 .kws_input_container{padding-top:1.5em}html body #cc_form_3 label{margin-bottom:.5em;text-align:;color:#0a0707;font-size:16px!important;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',HelveticaNeue,Helvetica,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif;display:block}html body #cc_form_3 .cc_lists li{text-indent:-1.25em;padding-left:1.4em}html body #cc_form_3 .submit{display:block;padding-top:1.5px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto}html body #cc_form_3 label.kws_bold{font-weight:700}label.kws_bold input{font-weight:400}html body #cc_form_3 label.kws_italic{font-style:italic}label.kws_italic input{text-style:normal}.kws_clear{clear:both}. Earlier in the year during the late winter, you will be looking for the flock. If you let him know there is a hen below in your direction he will come and investigate. “I like South Dakota because there’s liberal bag limits in South Dakota. (Video) 3 TURKEY CALLS EVERY Turkey Caller Should Know! Advanced Spring Turkey Hunting Tips. Turkey hunting is one of my favorite times of the year and signifies the start of spring as the forest begins to blossom and migratory birds come back to the area. What turkey decoy type should you use? But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. Communicating with and decoying in a Tom is extremely satisfying. A few of us get after it a bit harder, however. Along with scouting, roosting is the second most important activity a hunter can do to increase their success morning after morning. goHUNT is a registered trademark of goHUNT, LLC. Turkey locator calls are used to make male spring turkeys "shock gobble" on hearing a loud sound. Farmers and landowners will much more likely concede to letting you turkey hunt with your Hoyt Bow or Killer Instinct Crossbow, rather than a gun. Typical turkey scouting for me in the farm country involves early morning listening and glassing from roads or high points or late afternoon glassing and roosting birds. The only drawback for an e-reader is that the pictures weren't of very much use. © Copyright - Michael Waddell's Bone Collector - Powered by, 7 Deer and Turkey Management To-Dos | Bone Collector, Pre-Season Turkey Practice | Calls You Need To Learn and Master. If you overcall a bird, they will have you pegged and come in looking right at you. Photo by Charles Johnson If I am in the woods and the spring foliage has made visibility limited to 40 or 50 yards I often choose not to use a decoy. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. I sought out two of these notorious turkey hunters, Eddie Salter and Preston Pittman, to give us their tactics on woodsmanship; guns, chokes and ammo; turkey calls and calling; turkey … Wild turkey hunting is the fastest growing form of hunting in the U.S. today. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Want to be a part of the CSTF2106 Tour? Soon, even well before the official season starts, toms and jakes will begin to gobble in the early morning hours as the sunlight crests the horizon. During the early spring — even well before season — turkeys tend to be out and visible at dawn, midmorning and evenings. He will keep coming in looking for that hen until he is close enough that it is too late. Turkey Hunting Tips: Winter Scouting for Better Spring Hunting. The NWTF is the go-to resource for all things turkey hunting. Is Afternoon Turkey Hunting the Most Productive? Using “turkey talk” is the number one way to kill a big long beard. “Especially when you’re hunting eastern turkeys, rainy days means they like to come out on the fields. Your email address will not be published. If hunting on a field ege or early in the season when the woods have excellent visibility, I would definitely use a hen or two and a jake decoy. Dominant toms are strutting in full view, hoping to catch the attention of whatever hen happens to see them, which is an advantage to us hunters. The best way is with pre-season scouting. Hearing gobbles even months before season will make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up in excitement at the upcoming mornings in the turkey woods. “I like to mostly use yelps, but I will cut sometimes to get gobblers fired up. Locating the flock with this tactic gives you the general area, but later in the year you will focus more on locating gobblers to hunt. 30 Topics 298 Posts Last post by ggshoesesaler Sat Jan 09, 2021 3:03 pm; Osceola Turkey Discuss Osceola Turkey hunting tactics here. Have a chance to win hunts and gear every month — over $100,000 per year, Access strategy & tips to help you apply & spend more time in the field, Statistics and historical data to find top producing trophy units, Detailed overview of how to apply and hunt in each state, Your quick dashboard for important dates, benefits, and the latest giveaways. Deer hunting where Daniel uses a hunting tactic that is his key to tagging a buck during the rut. Josh Hawkins checks the pattern his Mossberg delivered at 40 yards. Turkeys may have a very small brain, but their eyesight and hearing is excellent. Even though we did not kill a turkey … I scratch the ground, creating a feeding sound, and sometimes move away from a hung up bird. It is a hunt that has the opportunity to be a group activity that can be done before work for a lot of people — not to mention turkey are excellent eating. There is so much more to fall wild turkey hunting than just traipsing through the woods hoping to get a shot at a bird. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Outdoorsmen who have dedicated their lives to hunting a particular species always seem filled with hard-won wisdom and tactics that come with such singular, laser focus. Additional chances to hunt the kings of spring. This will also present a challenge in itself. Your email address will not be published. If you have three people, you can have two callers and one shooter or two shooters and one caller, depending on the situation. Having a second person calling is always a good idea if it is an option for you. Turkey hunting season is here, read up on these turkey hunting tips from the bone collectors, kill a big long beard and be a part of the 2016 Can’t Stop The Flop campaign! Here are the top 6 turkey hunting tips from the great Beard Collectors, Michael Waddell and Nick Mundt. From my experience, these decoys are awesome, but not necessary for you to kill a bird. The fewer hens, the better your chances are to call him away from them. Receive updates and goHUNT's most popular content. The power of Filtering 2.0 to find draw only bear hunts, APPLICATION STRATEGY 2021: Wyoming Sheep, Moose, Goat and Bison. When your bow hunting, you will most likely need a blind to get away with the movement of preparing for the shot and drawing back. While stutters and Jake decoys might result in a shy uncooperative bird, you can never really go wrong with a single hen decoy. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. What makes it so enjoyable? This will entice the tom to either breed or fight; both scenarios will put him in your lap and close enough for a shot. By getting in close to observe and listen to a tom on the roost you will know exactly when and where to be the next morning. If you are where visibility of the turkey habitat is limited, consider listening quietly for them to gobble or cackle as they fly up the tree for the night. Sometimes when you’ve got a tom that’s hung up, a fighting purr will make him think two gobblers are fighting over a hen and bring him in that last little way” – Nick Mundt. Despite the fact that I heard turkeys gobble that morning, I was not immediately spurred by the turkey hunting bug, although I can’t say the same for my fellow rookie turkey hunting partner. Print the campaign banner below (click banner to enlarge, right click on banner and click “save image as” to print). By using our website, you accept our use of cookies. Turkey reaping, not to be confused with turkey fanning, can be one of the most intense turkey hunting tactic employed by a hunter. You can shoot a turkey in the Black Hills, you can get an archery tag, and then you can get prairie tags. In the world of turkey hunting, the greatest turkey call you’ll ever, ever own is silence. For most hunters, fall turkey hunting is somewhat of an afterthought. These cookies do not store any personal information. By Mark Melotik. Note: Jeff's hunting property is 9 acres! Hunt The Evening. Do not limit yourself to turkey hunting in only one state. Since turkeys are available, and occasionally walk by our treestands, we pick up a tag and hope for a chance encounter. It's a dead doe left in the field as a lure for the rutting buck! I try to never call if a bird is 100 yards or less because he will almost always pin you down and put the brakes on. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Image from allaboutbirds.org Some of your best spring turkey hunting spots are completely void … One tactic often used in this situation is aptly turkey reaping. The main positive of team calling a bird to a shooter is that a caller sitting 30 to 40 yards behind the shooter can be more aggressive. Using the Bone Collector Lights Out or the Bone Collector Cadiz Hen will be much easier to master rather than going to the field for the first time with a diaphragm call. He prefers “the old ways of turkey hunting.” Simply put, he means calling a gobbler to within 40 yards or less and making the kill something to remember. Will Primos, founder of Primos Hunting Calls, gave me another example of how distance can add to realism. Then Kansas buck hunting where pro-staff member Jeff Therrell works hard to tag a buck that's been on his hit list for several years. Ultimately, it is his or her opportunity and, sometimes, moving 20 yards closer or farther away as a gobbler who is coming in can make all the difference in the world and fill your tag or not. The turkey hunting is very good with great numbers, not tons of pressure, and have several Indian reservations that have good turkey hunting…so it’s possible to take a lot of turkeys in South Dakota.” – Nick Mundt. Sign up and receive a coupon code for 10% Off Bone Collector Apparel! Turkey season can be described as the elk season of the spring; the main difference is about 600 lbs. To be successful year after year, hunters need to know the basics of scouting, roosting, decoys and calling, but, most importantly, hunters need to put time in the woods. If left unpressured toms will frequent the same logging road, field or open spot in the woods for around the same amount of time each day depending on weather, hen situation and other circumstances. Can’t Stop the Flop Tour 2016! Turkey Hunting Tips. Do Same-Day Ground Blind Sets Work for Turkeys? There is no doubt about it… you #CantStopTheFlop. Many turkey hunters give up on a gobbler or avoid certain areas altogether due to hunting pressure. mast bearing (acorn filled) hardwood flats, cut grain fields, and pastures for tracks, droppings, and scratching. Jeff Budz scans past palmettos for a Florida gobbler. A lot of times glassing up fields that turkey frequent or driving roads can be successful at spotting birds one hour before sunset. If you are attempting to listen for birds roosting and the light is waning and all you have heard is silence, then I would suggest a series of owl hoots or crow sounds depending on your area. At such times and in such places it’s best to sit tight and let the birds come to you. When turkey hunting, even the most experienced hunters make mistakes and move or don’t move, call too much or too little, get too close to the roosting tree or do one of the hundreds of things that may or may not be the right move. Your tip here is to explore your options! When using a blind and a bow “set your decoys up quite a bit closer, and when you’re shooting them with a bow, a lot of times you’ve got to be pretty precise with your shot, and I feel like it’s easier to make a really good shot when the decoys are close. For another look at spring turkey opportunities in the west be sure to check out this article, Additional chances to hunt the kings of spring. Instead, set up a decoy on the field edge, consider a jake and hen decoy, and when it comes to 10:00 a.m.. if he hasn't shown, then softly purr and cluck as if your tom and hen are content where they are. Be a part of the #CantStopTheFlop2016 Campaign. These days people make a lot of fuss over really fancy decoys with motion, moving fans, wobble and other cool inventions. If you are looking for new properties to hunt this year try bow hunting. Each state brings different birds, different scenarios, and different thrills. Of course there are always some skeptics that say you don’t need to scout, turkeys are dumb birds and, sometimes, they get lucky; however, take it from me: that is the exception not the norm. If you are looking to test your skills with a bow during turkey season, get started with these tips. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. If that bird is in the area he might come in to check out who is talking and lock onto the visual. I don’t know if they feel more comfortable out in the open or safer out there, but that’s a good time to take a cruise around if you’ve got some open fields and find where you’ve got groups of turkeys.” -Nick Mundt. Paul Meek of Morton is an old-school call maker and turkey hunter. Scout food sources such as mast bearing (acorn filled) hardwood flats, cut grain fields, and pastures for tracks, droppings, and scratching. If you need to do something, scratch at the leaves or purr softly. Of course there are always some skeptics that say … I have also used an air horn with success, but I don’t suggest it since it’s not as natural of a sound and could spook a bird off the roost if you are too close.

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