Late season stratigies?

[luked]

I love to turkey hunt but I'll admit I am not good at it at all
This year due to the way our season falls I won't be able to take a weekend trip till our last weekend.
So due to that what are some tips and tricks you all can give for public land and probably pressured birds for the last weekend of season

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[Bill Cooksey]

Will you have time to scout in the week leading up to your hunt? If not, and assuming you don't have enough history on the ground to make educated guesses about what they'll do, I'd spend the first day covering as much ground as possible. I'd prospect trying to find a hot bird and scout hard while I'm at it. Hopefully that scouting would put me in a position to set up better the second day.

[renegade19]

Try to locate one on the roost and set up on him.  I love late season because I've found that gobblers can sometimes be very eager to come looking for a hen as the dating scene is winding down.  What todays kids would call "thirsty". Bird in my pic was a late season dude.  He flew down off the roost and ran in like he was on a rail.  That was after we misjudged where he was at and almost beached the boat under him!  Luckily, we were able to back out and move before setting up.  Good luck!

[Marc]

Seems like a wash for me...

Sometimes late season birds are completely shut down in my area (hens have not been breeding long enough that the toms aren't either I suppose).

Sometimes a late storm or late spring provides for some really eager birds.  (Maybe a hen or two loses a nest and tries to re-breed?)

Either way, if I could possibly pattern them I would.  With two days to hunt, I would attempt to make a smaller footprint on the first day, and see if I could figure out what the general routine is on any given shootable bird.  In other words a lot less calling and a lot more watching and listening on that first day (of course if I have an opportunity I will take it).

The second day, set up where they went to the first day and let them do their thing...

[TRG3]

My early, middle, and late season calling strategy doesn't change much; however, the turkeys that are attracted to it seem to change as the season progresses. My basic tactic involves locating the breeding area (usually a grass or picked grain field) where the turkeys will probably be headed after fly down, often 200-300 yards from their roosting site. (I've also used it within 100 yards of the roost if I'm in an unfamiliar area.) As the hens and gobblers wake up and start their talk back and forth to each other, I let them know where I'm at by some soft tree yelps eventually followed a few minutes later by louder yelps, often getting a gobble response. This sets me up as the new hen on the block. Because of the peck order, sometimes boss hens will make the trek to check me out, dragging in a gobbler behind her. More often than not, the gobbler's peck order will necessitate that he come in to check out the new tom since I've now begun to answer his gobbles with my Primos gobble tube, sometimes cutting him off or double gobbling. Early in the season, the gobblers that come in to check me out are often the subordinate ones that must watch while the boss gobbler goes off with the real hens. While I can see or hear gobblers that are over 100 yards away, it's not unusual that a tom or two will silently slip in on me. While the boss gobbler is what we call "henned up", those lower on the peck order are not above slipping away to check out a possible unclaimed hen and do a little breeding of their own. Later in the season, as hens to breed become fewer and fewer and the boss gobbler finds himself alone after fly down, he is more likely to respond to my calling because (1) he still is looking for hens to breed and (2) there's a new intruder gobbler moving in on his territory that is trying to lay claim to this new hen and the peck order demands that the new tom be put in his place. Obviously, this doesn't always work, but it's the most consistent strategy that I've found to date. About 10 years ago, I was taking a gobbler about once ever three years via sounding like a hen. Since then, I've filled all three (sometimes only two) of my Illinois tags. I thank Ray Eye who was with H.S. Strut at the time who wrote an article on using the peck order to bring in gobblers. Based on his article, this is the strategy/method that I've developed that works for me. I just filled my first season Illinois tag on the second day of the five day season and plan to use it for my two remaining permits during the third and fourth seasons. Best of luck as you discover what works for you. Be sure to share it with the rest of us. We're never too old to learn!

[howl]

Larry Gresser makes a pot call tuned for a jake. Your late season bird likes some reassurance from his own kind.

[Bill Cooksey]

Your late season bird likes some reassurance from his own kind.

That bears a little more discussion. Depending on the breeding stage, late season here often finds male turkeys starting to flock together. Every now and then you can successfully use their urge to flock together against them. Nothing to do with breeding or dominance. The times I've had it work necessitated either getting in very tight or getting ahead of them.

[fallhnt]

More gobbler yelps may be needed