First Year turkey hunting

[TreeFreak]

This will be my first full season turkey hunting. I am essentially brand new to it, but am an avid deer hunter (bowhunter). I have been at it hard the past week solely on public land. Preseason was spent with several days of scouting different areas locating birds etc. I have been able to get on toms nearly every outing, but am having some issues getting them to commit to come into range. What I have been noticing is that once the toms fly off the roost, they stay put in a small general area not far from their roost tree. I have witnessed on numerous occasions hens coming straight into the toms shortly after flying down and they eventually wind up working off. I have attempted to sweep around to get ahead of the birds to cut them off, but haven't been successful in this yet. Toms have been gobbling on the roost, but shutting up once they hit the ground.

I have also attempted to move mid morning (between 9 am and noon) to areas holding a lot of sign in hopes that I can locate a tom that broke off from hens, but no luck with this yet either.

Is this just a phase of the season that birds sometimes go through? Just curious with me being brand new to this with little knowledge and experience with turkey if I am missing something on my end.

Regardless, i have been having a blast chasing these birds the past week.

** I took my 13 year old son out during the youth season on public and he was able to bag a nice gobbler on the second day!**


Any insight appreciated.

[silvestris]

Take your good luck charm, your son.  Be sure to replace his shot with salt.

[Paulmyr]

Instead of moving off to a new area between 9 and noon, try sticking around where you think the flock is. That's usually around the time hens pull away from the gobblers. He might start back up. And there's a good chance he's got other Tom's hanging around they just don't say much when he's not talking.

[Zobo]

Yeah, I agree with Paulmyr's comments. In general you may be moving around too much.

[TreeFreak]

Got it, so more patience.

[Marc]

I really enjoy these threads, and as long as we are still turkey hunting, all of us are "learning to turkey hunt."  I very frequently come away with tidbits of information that have helped improve my knowledge and hunting.

Some things to consider...

*Hens might respond to calling by addressing the competition...  Get the hen fired up, and she might bring some toms along.
*Hens might respond to calling, by leading the toms away from the competition (which seems more common for me).
*Hens (in an open area such as a field/pasture), might just stay where they are and keep the toms with them.

I have watched hens come in, and intercept a tom that was coming my direction (more than once) and lead him away.


Birds that are hung up, can be hung up for a variety of reasons:
*Could be he is already with hens
*Could be a physical barrier such as a creek, fence, or shadow that he does not want to cross (for whatever reason).
*Could be that he has come so far, and wants the hen to come the rest of the way (which seems to happen more often with more aggressive calling)

Getting as close to a bird as possible before calling reduces the chances of that bird getting hung up (on a physical barrier), or getting intercepted by another hen...  Calling at him from too far away allows for too many things to happen before he gets to you...   Trying to get too close to him, and you have a really good chance of "bumping him."

When a bird comes in, seems fired up, but will not come further...  Time to make a decisive change.  Either it will work, or it won't, but you already know the current situation is not working...  A lot of birds are either bumped or killed depending on the decision making here.

My strategy on calling...  I call as much as I have to, and as little as I can.  The more you call, the more you are telling him that you will come to him (at least that is my perspective).  I try (often without success) to create calling situations in which I answer him, as opposed to getting him to answer me.

Sometimes aggressive calling is the key, but more often for me, more subtle and passive calling seems to work better in more situations.

As much as you can possibly avoid it...  Do NOT call at a bird you can see.  They can pinpoint the origin of sound extremely well, and if you can see him & call, he will expect to see a hen...  Even from long distances.

I try and set up on saddles when possible...  When he breaks that ridge, he is in range, and it is too late for him.  Or areas with interspersed brush and trees that a bird does not have a good line of vision.  You might spot that "red head" coming toward you...  Once I have spotted a bird in a wooded area, as long as his progress is towards me, I do not call anymore...  If that bird changes direction, I wait till he is behind an obstacle, and maybe do clucks, purrs, or a soft contented yelp to bring him back my way.

At some point in the season, that 9AM-10AM period is the golden hour where hens leave the toms for the nest, and you have horney toms lookin' for love.  If I hear a bird spontaneously gobble at this point, I do NOT call back right away, unless I am not going to move.  I first make my move on the bird, get settled, and then call.  Those birds that spontaneously gobble mid-morning, are as susceptible as they are going to get for being killed; they are worked up, and lookin' for love.

[TreeFreak]

That is great information. Thank you for responding. I will keep this in mind tomorrow when I head back out. This site is full of great information. I am glad I found it. For me, it seems the when and how to call to a bird is going to come easier to me in gaining some good old fashioned experience.

The weather the past few days has been making it tough. Thunderstorms in the mornings and sustained winds of 30-35mph. I have been utilizing my time in the high winds with scouting. Although I only have 8 days of season left here in Missouri. It's supposed to be very windy again tomorrow, but I am going to do my best to keep my mind in the game.

Any suggestions on hunting in high winds? Is this something you all avoid or do you simply switch tactics?

[Marc]

Any suggestions on hunting in high winds? Is this something you all avoid or do you simply switch tactics?

I have limited time to hunt...  If it is legal and safe, I am hunting when I can.  I killed a nice bird on an afternoon hunt after a hard rain in the wind this season.

In the wind, I am looking to do the same thing the birds are...   Get out of the wind.  If I can find a protected gorge or ravine, I will hunt those if I can.

*If it is windy, and I hear a bird gobble down-wind, I do not move on him...  He is probably a lot closer than you think.
*If I hear a bird gobble up wind, I am far more likely to make a move and possibly consider getting around him...  I could be wrong, but I feel like birds are more willing to move upwind.
*Because it is so difficult to hear birds gobbling in the wind, I am far more likely to hunt prime locations for lengths of time, rather than trying to search up a bird (that I probably will not hear anyways).

[TreeFreak]

Marc, I wound up getting out this morning after the storms. The winds were high which made it very challenging hearing birds. My plan was to hit areas of heavy sign in the lower areas. Like you mentioned, I was trying to stay in these areas as long as I could (calling every half hour or so). I wound up bumping off a gobbler when I got up to leave.    

Back at it tomorrow.

Thanks for the thorough responses to all.

[High plains drifter]

I don't hunt in wind.To difficult.

[Paulmyr]

Just got back from Mo. The wind was tough all weekend. The birds gobbled a little on the roost right before flydown and just after. Pretty quiet after that. A gobble here a gobble there but nothing you could hang your hat on.The wind was so tough I had one close, I could hear the spit but the drum was washed out by the wind. Pretty sure he hung up on a fence line behind some brairs. Never seen him. Good luck.

[TreeFreak]

Paul, that's where I'm at, Missouri. The weather has been pretty tough all season. Hoping the birds are more talkative this coming weekend. Will be in the southeast portion of the state.

[Paulmyr]

The area I hunted appeared to have a good hatch last year. Seen plenty of birds while driving around. Actually watched 2 satellites follow a hen away from a couple strutters and thier harem, about a dozen birds in the group. While trying to circle around them I spooked a hen of a nest with about 8 eggs in it. Just gave it a glance as I went by because I wanted to get outta there so she would hopefully come back. The sattelites  gobbled about 3 times as they tried to get on her. Didn't pay no mind to me. The stutter never gobbled the 3 hours I was in there. So that mourn I seen the whole breeding gambit. I saw hens waiting to breed. I saw a hen leave to her nest. And I actually seen a nest.

[TreeFreak]

Sounds like you were in the game, they just didn't want to play.

I too witnessed something similar in a river bottom I hunt. The area holds a ton of sign and contains water, plenty of mature hardwoods, food, cover pastures etc. I noticed a couple nests with eggs nestled in a block of river cane. All around the area seems to hold a good number of birds. I figured i would key in on this area when i go back and if/when the birds go quiet.