Now that the 2016 spring season is in the books, how many of you guys are looking to kill a bird this fall? I have hunted fall turkey season since I could hunt and in my early years looked forward to it more than the spring season. Now days fall turkeys have taken a back seat to harvest time and archery hunting for me but I still hunt them a few days every year. (I'm actually still a 100% on fall birds, killed one every year for 23 years. Was 100% on spring till this year!). I know it doesn't carry the glamor of spring season and a young jake doesn't give the bragging rights that an old gobbler does, but I still enjoy chasing turkeys in the fall!
Count me in...love busting up a flock in the fall.
Love chasing those fall birds. Now that we have a Winter season I am liking that too. I haven't been as fortunate to kill every fall but there's just something about the calling of Fall birds. The leaves are changing if not falling when our Fall season is in and I like nothing more than an overcast day. Fall birds can be quite chatty!
I have never hunted turkeys in the fall, but I would love to do it with a good dog. Then again I enjoy hunting all birds with a good dog!
I've hunted fall birds a couple of times. My problem is that it coincides with deer archery season in NY so I usually have my bow in hand in a tree stand.
All The Way!
I would fall hunt if, it didn't cut into my spring tags. Every state is different but VA gives you 3 tags for the entire year whether you kill them in fall, winter or spring is up to you.
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I`ll be out
I always hunt a few days each fall...sometimes I'm successful..sometimes not but any chance I can chase turkeys I'm grateful no matter what. I've got a good spot scouted on L.I. and its my personal goal this fall to bag a bird on the Island...
We don't have a fall season in NC, but I would love to try it sometime. Hopefully we will one day as the turkey population is certainly growing here.
While I've hunted spring season for many years, I've never tried it in the fall, mainly because of tree squirrel and bow deer seasons; however, this fall I'm going to give it a whirl. As a result of bow hunting areas for years, I have a good idea of where the birds will be, but I have to do a little homework in determining how to get them to come in. I hope to use the peck order to my advantage in the fall like I do in the spring and try some fighting purrs with a couple of Funky Chicken decoys placed neck-to-neck. It sounds good on paper.
We don't have a fall season but I wish we did!
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Fall Hunting is getting tougher in New York! My area is now 2 weeks---down from 6 weeks. Big cut there. I will try again this Fall--struck out last year.
It's hard to put the bow down during the peak of the rut, but I also really like hunting the fall/winter turkey season, it is fun to call turkeys no matter when.
several of my spring hunts this year were more like fall hunts with the toms just clucking a couple of times and coming in to my clucks with very little gobbling on some days.
a good book to read this summer for fall hunting is "The Education of a turkey Hunter" by
William Frank Hanenkrat
not a how to book, but good information mixed with good story telling
he also used dogs in the fall
I never really hunted fall birds, only spring. My family still lives in CT and has a flock that regularly comes on their property. While visiting for Christmas this year I may bring the bow with me and see if I can bring home a turkey dinner for them.
I've got a boykin, and we went for the first time last year. I definitely plan on doing some more this year. Any time spent with him in the woods is fun, and he absolutely loves it.
Quote from: Dr Juice on June 23, 2016, 05:23:56 AM
I've hunted fall birds a couple of times. My problem is that it coincides with deer archery season in NY so I usually have my bow in hand in a tree stand.
Quote from: crow on June 23, 2016, 11:43:22 AM
It's hard to put the bow down during the peak of the rut, but I also really like hunting the fall/winter turkey season, it is fun to call turkeys no matter when.
Why wouldn't stick one with a bow while deer hunting? Seems like a great opportunity to put an arrow into a fall turkey.
Seems to me that the success rate of hunting would go up if you have the option of sticking a turkey or a deer.
I have killed a couple fall turkeys while quail hunting... Frankly in the fall, I would rather hunt upland or ducks.
Interestingly, there are more turkeys on the property in the fall, they are vocal, and would likely be easier to pattern than the spring. Perfect habitat for turkeys, but it seems in the spring, the birds spread out and many leave the property.
It's a lot of fun.
I started my turkey hunting career with fall birds. Hunted fall for years prior to ever trying the "easy" spring season... LOL
In my opinion, a fall longbeard ranks way up there on the list of trophy difficulty - but it sure can be fun and a great time to be in the woods. Like others, the stupid obsession with sitting 18 feet up a tree with a sharp stick waiting on a deer has taken over priorities. I'll admit I have a call with me in season, and have passed on flocks of hens and I have had bachelor groups of longbeards amble by out of bow range... but it's been a while since I ventured into the mountain on a dedicated fall turkey hunt.
Might have to change that this year...
I've never gotten into fall turkeys for 2 reasons:
1: Laying scent all over properties I deer hunt is counter-productive to killing nature deer and I have no desire to opportunistically shoot a turkey that happens to walk by me on a deer hunt.
2: Because I hate the idea of killing a hen when I know she'll be laying eggs and rearing broods in the spring.
Usually I am trying to get my yearly supply of deer meet and I prefer to do as much of that as possible with the bow. I think fall turkey would be fun but I think I will wait till there are less mouths to feed and two or three deer will get me through the year.
Quote from: VaTuRkStOmPeR on June 23, 2016, 08:55:01 PM
I've never gotten into fall turkeys for 2 reasons:
1: Laying scent all over properties I deer hunt is counter-productive to killing nature deer and I have no desire to opportunistically shoot a turkey that happens to walk by me on a deer hunt.
2: Because I hate the idea of killing a hen when I know she'll be laying eggs and rearing broods in the spring.
Good point! I rarely hunt fall birds where I hunt or intend to hunt bow in the near future. But I have killed deer within a 50 yards of where I hunted turkeys earlier that same day. (On the ground I hunt deer are so used to human scent that it doesn't much matter. I have never used any scent control and I often smoke a cigarette or 2 after I get settled in.). As far as killing hens, I try to shoot male birds. I have shot hens before and I probably will again, but I try for jakes. I have also killed 10-15 longbeards in the fall. Fall hunting ain't just for hens!
While it is true that in Virginia, you get three tags and can use them all in the spring, you cannot use all of them in fall. No more than 2 birds in the fall.
I've killed at least one bird every year since I was 11. On that note, I must admit that I didn't kill my first spring turkey until I was 18 or 19 years old. Most of the time I'd be squirrel hunting and it would simply be a target of opportunity while slinking through the woods. Like most states, our seasons overlap. I bow hunted as a youngster but I'd rather have been squirrel hunting because sitting perched in a tree for long periods of time just didn't appeal to me then. Hanging around Happy has changed a lot of things for me though. I find myself bow hunting more and more as the years progress and to be honest, I'd have a hard time giving it up. Having said that, I've also got a couple of squirrel dogs and with a new pup this year, may find myself trying harder to get him prepared for future hunts. The biggest thing that's really changed for me is that the location I live in hasn't offered a fall season in years. The good news is that, from what I've heard, every county in WV will have a fall season this year. I'm excited about that as I've not killed a bird this year and plan to give it another whirl in the fall. So long as the deer crop damage hunts go well and I can get meat in the freezer earlier, I plan to squirrel hunt with the dogs as much as possible, try to tag a bird this fall and I'll start deer hunting again when the rut gets closer. Besides that, the farm I'm hunting decided to plant corn this year so it's going to be significantly different from what I've been used to in the past. Excited about all aspects but I do plan to run some birds this fall.
Use too when population was up . With lower populations I don't have any desire to shoot egglayers .
Gobblers sure are still fun in the fall and when fall hunting always tried for them , have had good success too when you find them. But one or two less to hear in the spring and spring is still king!
When I was a kid we hunted them each fall with good success. My uncles all fall hunted but did not spring gobbler hunt.
I dicovered bow hunting big bucks in the rut and chasing gobbles in the spring on my own. I never looked back. Have not fall turkey hunted in 25 years.
Love to fall hunt turkeys, no science to back up claims it is effecting spring turkey hunting. Science does back up that it takes two jakes to get one spring gobbler, meaning based on disease, predation, etc. statistically only one of those two jakes will reach maturity. Look it up, Lovett Williams published it. Second, there are far fewer fall hunters than spring hunters so the killing of hens has minimal impact on the population as a whole. Third, the buck pictured below was killed out of a treestand in a patch of woods I fall turkey hunt in quite frequently so stinking up the woods is not a concern in my opinion
(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160625/3e02fbfcd5f26dd019d04cbf308af3a1.jpg)
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Quote from: trkehunr93 on June 24, 2016, 09:55:08 PM
Love to fall hunt turkeys, no science to back up claims
it is effecting spring turkey hunting. Science does back up that it takes two jakes to get one spring gobbler, meaning based on disease, predation, etc. statistically only one of those two jakes will reach maturity. Look it up, Lovett Williams published it. Second, there are far fewer fall hunters than spring hunters so the killing of hens has minimal impact on the population as a whole. Third, the buck pictured below was killed out of a treestand in a patch of woods I fall turkey hunt in quite frequently.
(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160625/3e02fbfcd5f26dd019d04cbf308af3a1.jpg)
Dang!! That's a nice one!
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Me
Got no Fall season and no desire to hunt turkeys in Fall.
Jim
Many spring only hunters and many fall hunters as well don't know that often times fall gobblers can be called in just like spring when circumstances are rite.
Find them on the roost without hens in the fall and it is on. Find 2 together on the roost with no hens and it is really on. Have had them gobble and strutt into my set up several times. I love to hunt fall gobblers. Often I will hear those heavy winged Toms' flying up to roost while archery hunting and return predawn to set up on them just like spring.
It used to be here in PA that archery season ended Friday and fall turkey started Sat morning. We hunted turkeys a lot more in the fall then. Then they lengthened bow season 2 weeks and now everybody is in trees. Our fall harvest has really dropped off because of that. I love fall season if we have a good hatch that spring. I'm not sure about this fall. Poult production seems down around where I am.
Quote from: Ihuntoldschool on June 23, 2016, 10:22:53 PM
While it is true that in Virginia, you get three tags and can use them all in the spring, you cannot use all of them in fall. No more than 2 birds in the fall.
You're right. That's not the point I was trying to make. No way am I wasting any tags on turkeys that aren't or would be gobbling in the spring. Plus the peak of pre rutting activity is going on. To each his own but not my cup of tea.
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Quote from: trkehunr93 on June 24, 2016, 09:55:08 PM
Love to fall hunt turkeys, no science to back up claims it is effecting spring turkey hunting. Science does back up that it takes two jakes to get one spring gobbler, meaning based on disease, predation, etc. statistically only one of those two jakes will reach maturity. Look it up, Lovett Williams published it. Second, there are far fewer fall hunters than spring hunters so the killing of hens has minimal impact on the population as a whole. Third, the buck pictured below was killed out of a treestand in a patch of woods I fall turkey hunt in quite frequently so stinking up the woods is not a concern in my opinion
(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160625/3e02fbfcd5f26dd019d04cbf308af3a1.jpg)
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If you're targeting male birds in the fall, you're right. It doesn't affect the overall health of the flock. However, if you're killing hens, you're absolutely impacting that population. The average clutch is 11 eggs per hen and statistically only 3 poults of 11 will make it to their first year. Kill 2 hens off a farm in the fall and that's 22 fewer eggs the next spring. No thanks.
You say stinking up the woods in the fall isn't a big deal. Considering a deer lives and dies by what its nose tells it and the most successful trophy hunters in the country take extreme measures to keep their woods pristine from scent and disturbance that's an interesting statement.... Do you have a wall full of deer over 4.5 years old or just one?
Quote from: ferocious calls on June 26, 2016, 07:40:24 AM
Many spring only hunters and many fall hunters as well don't know that often times fall gobblers can be called in just like spring when circumstances are rite.
Find them on the roost without hens in the fall and it is on. Find 2 together on the roost with no hens and it is really on. Have had them gobble and strutt into my set up several times. I love to hunt fall gobblers. Often I will hear those heavy winged Toms' flying up to roost while archery hunting and return predawn to set up on them just like spring.
I hunted a gobbler a couple years ago in the fall and the hunt played out exactly like it was spring. I had them busted the night before at roost and the next morning he gobbled his head off. He came right to me gobbling the whole way, but unfortunately couldn't get a shot.
Quote from: VaTuRkStOmPeR on June 26, 2016, 08:04:33 PM
Quote from: trkehunr93 on June 24, 2016, 09:55:08 PM
Love to fall hunt turkeys, no science to back up claims it is effecting spring turkey hunting. Science does back up that it takes two jakes to get one spring gobbler, meaning based on disease, predation, etc. statistically only one of those two jakes will reach maturity. Look it up, Lovett Williams published it. Second, there are far fewer fall hunters than spring hunters so the killing of hens has minimal impact on the population as a whole. Third, the buck pictured below was killed out of a treestand in a patch of woods I fall turkey hunt in quite frequently so stinking up the woods is not a concern in my opinion
(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160625/3e02fbfcd5f26dd019d04cbf308af3a1.jpg)
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If you're targeting male birds in the fall, you're right. It doesn't affect the overall health of the flock. However, if you're killing hens, you're absolutely impacting that population. The average clutch is 11 eggs per hen and statistically only 3 poults of 11 will make it to their first year. Kill 2 hens off a farm in the fall and that's 22 fewer eggs the next spring. No thanks.
You say stinking up the woods in the fall isn't a big deal. Considering a deer lives and dies by what its nose tells it and the most successful trophy hunters in the country take extreme measures to keep their woods pristine from scent and disturbance that's an interesting statement.... Do you have a wall full of deer over 4.5 years old or just one?
Isn't it nice that we can all have different opinions? ;D
Quote from: wvmntnhick on June 26, 2016, 10:10:43 PM
Quote from: VaTuRkStOmPeR on June 26, 2016, 08:04:33 PM
Quote from: trkehunr93 on June 24, 2016, 09:55:08 PM
Love to fall hunt turkeys, no science to back up claims it is effecting spring turkey hunting. Science does back up that it takes two jakes to get one spring gobbler, meaning based on disease, predation, etc. statistically only one of those two jakes will reach maturity. Look it up, Lovett Williams published it. Second, there are far fewer fall hunters than spring hunters so the killing of hens has minimal impact on the population as a whole. Third, the buck pictured below was killed out of a treestand in a patch of woods I fall turkey hunt in quite frequently so stinking up the woods is not a concern in my opinion
(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160625/3e02fbfcd5f26dd019d04cbf308af3a1.jpg)
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If you're targeting male birds in the fall, you're right. It doesn't affect the overall health of the flock. However, if you're killing hens, you're absolutely impacting that population. The average clutch is 11 eggs per hen and statistically only 3 poults of 11 will make it to their first year. Kill 2 hens off a farm in the fall and that's 22 fewer eggs the next spring. No thanks.
You say stinking up the woods in the fall isn't a big deal. Considering a deer lives and dies by what its nose tells it and the most successful trophy hunters in the country take extreme measures to keep their woods pristine from scent and disturbance that's an interesting statement.... Do you have a wall full of deer over 4.5 years old or just one?
Isn't it nice that we can all have different opinions? ;D
Lovett Williams was the foremost authority on wild turkeys conducting countless studies to collect biological and physiological data.
Numbers such as the average size of a clutch and the average mortality of wild turkey flocks (30% annual loss of population due to natural predation) are derived from empirical data. Therefore, it isn't an opinion that killing hens is bad for a flock. It's an absolute based on quantifiable data.
Considering the FACT that wild turkey numbers are falling at an alarming rate in many places across the country, as stewards of the resource it may be prudent to consider that before you send a load of 6's into a Jenny's face this fall.
As far as intrusion on a whitetail deer and its consequent behavioral modifications to hunting pressure/human scent, there are countless telemetry studies conducted by various graduate students focusing on deer management and various state agencies that conclusively show how detrimental detected human presence is to mature deer movement during daylight hours.
Now that I've written this and think about it, I'm not really sure how you can reference opinion.
Would it have still ruffled your feathers had I said "views" instead of "opinions"? I'm just curious. Bottom line, some people are going to hunt in the fall and others aren't. Not arguing about whether hunting pressure effects deer movement. Seen it first hand. However, some are of the "opinion" that it doesn't matter as it hasn't appeared to (for them) in the past.
Therefore, here's my formal apology. I'm sorry that I used the term "opinion." Isn't it nice that here, in America, people are entitled to their own "views?"
http://www.nwtf.org/hunt/article/4-wild-turkey-populations
Interesting article from the NWTF. It appears we are having a carrying capacity issue, not a too many fall hunters issue.
A quote from a previous post
"Considering the FACT that wild turkey numbers are falling at an alarming rate in many places across the country, as stewards of the resource it may be prudent to consider that before you send a load of 6's into a Jenny's face this fall."
BTW I prefer 5's ;D
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Quote from: trkehunr93 on June 27, 2016, 07:17:03 AM
http://www.nwtf.org/hunt/article/4-wild-turkey-populations
Interesting article from the NWTF. It appears we are having a carrying capacity issue, not a too many fall hunters issue.
A quote from a previous post
"Considering the FACT that wild turkey numbers are falling at an alarming rate in many places across the country, as stewards of the resource it may be prudent to consider that before you send a load of 6's into a Jenny's face this fall."
BTW I prefer 5's ;D
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This makes sense to me. Especially here where the land is being harvested heavily for crops and housing. Same thing happening to our deer. Under weight and under sized. I'll be out after both species this fall for sure.
Although I eat my spring gobblers they can't compare to the eating quality of those 5 or 6 month olds; thus my fall hunting is for excellent table fare. I no longer shoot hens, though. If a fall jake and a long beard are standing side by side in the fall the old guy will walk.
I don't hunt them in the fall... not because I think its wrong or I think the population can't handle it its simply because I don't want to because the elements i love about spring aren't present and Im busy deer hunting which provides more and IMO better tasting meat. I see lots of birds in the fall while deer hunting but I usually just watch them and day dream about the coming spring when I hope to run into them again.
I am proud to say yes, I do. I trained a dropper last year to hunt with me, and she is my pride & joy. :) If anyone within reasonable distance of me (Southeast PA) wants to hunt with her some time, send me a PM. I don't have much going on beside public land, but I'd be willing to travel, and if there are birds around, she will find them. :z-guntootsmiley:
Haven't been fall turkey hunting in years. I think I'll give it a go this year.
Quote from: Va3toes on June 29, 2016, 01:11:08 PM
Haven't been fall turkey hunting in years. I think I'll give it a go this year.
Excellent! Glad to see this thread has inspired you. Another good article below-
https://www.nwtf.org/hunt/article/fall-turkey-seasons-make-sense
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i hunt them every fall,i love it.although i do it totally different than the spring,i enjoy getting out there and hunting them in the fall,i have a excaliber crossbow that i use exclusivly in the fall.i usually get my limit every year which is 4 here in ky.as far as buggering the deer,i had rather turkey hunt and the land i hunt is private and only me and 1 other guy has permission to hunt it,so i dont bother no one and no one bothers me with their deer hunting.getting them with the crossbow is as fun as getting them in the spring,and i usually manage to get a better longbeard in the fall than the ones i get in the spring.to me nothing beats a fall longbeard,thats a challenge in its self.