Late season tactics

[SteelerFan]

My late season tactic has been curse the alarm out when it goes off and then curse everything out in the woods after climbing this hill that seems like I've been climbing all year and then go get a cup of coffee. It's been that type of year...

Didn't work for me either...

[The Woodsman]

I just keep going and be more patient....

Denny

[Swenny]

I tend to do a lot less calling late season, and when I call I do it a lot more quietly. 

[Gooserbat]

Pretty much I use every option available.  I'll ambush them all day if given a chance.  I don't use decks much any way.

[appalachianassassin]

I get a lot closer to the roost late season and if I strike a bird that's not on the roost I get a lot closer than normal too. the foliage is a lot thicker late season and you can get away with getting closer. if he seems uninterested in hen talk try jake or gobbler yelping, and don't rule out gobbling. I tend to cover a lot of ground this time of year too, with the thick foliage I just cant hear them very far off. field hopping as Ronnie stated is a good bet if you have access to several, I only have mountain land so this is out of the equation for me. man... Ill say again, gobbling can be dynamite this time of year. the biggest thing any time of year is to be out there, if you don't go youll never know.

[g8rvet]

Pretty much I use every option available.  I'll ambush them all day if given a chance.  I don't use decks much any way.

If you accidentally kill a bird every 10 years by  sitting and him walking by, that is ambushing.  If you kill a bird because you knew where he wanted to be and got there first, gobbling or not, that is woodsmanship.  IMHO

[Farmboy27]

I actually use less patience(if that's possible) cover more ground, and call louder later in the season. Around here a lot of the birds that You heard earlier are dead. Sitting and calling softly where there used to be a gobbler is useless. Add the fact that the woods is fully leafed up and your  calling is muffled and you can't see but 30 yards. In late season I'm covering ground and calling boldly. But then again I am usually at a loss as to where to find a live gobbler late in the season. If you know where a bird is then the sit and soft call might be best.

[tree-rat sniper]

Pretty much I use every option available.  I'll ambush them all day if given a chance.  I don't use decks much any way.

If you accidentally kill a bird every 10 years by  sitting and him walking by, that is ambushing.  If you kill a bird because you knew where he wanted to be and got there first, gobbling or not, that is woodsmanship.  IMHO

Yep, I tagged out yesterday attempting an ambush, it turned into a spot & stalk... knowing their habits helps!

[tha bugman]

really just depends on the bird.  I probably do more listening, less aggressive, only decoy in fields.  The foliage allows you to get so much closer to one, but it also buffers the sound of his gobble so you can be on top of him before you know it.   

[GobbleNut]

Lots of varying answers to the question,...all of which are correct, depending on the place and situation. 

Early season or late season, there are places where the worst turkey hunter on the planet can kill a gobbler,...and there are places where the best turkey hunter in the universe will not.  All of the factors that have been mentioned already will play a role in success or failure.

Generally speaking, however, the more "control" someone has over the place they hunt, relative to the number of turkeys that are there, will play a large role in late season success.  There are places where, by the end of the season, there so few gobblers left that are willing to come to a turkey call that the only realistic method of killing one of them is through ambush,...or by happening onto one of those few by trial and error. And conversely, there are places that get so little hunting pressure (for whatever reason) that hunting late season is no different than hunting the first day.

Being able to recognize which type of place you are hunting and then apply the right hunting tactics to that location often determines success or failure.  Those tactics can vary widely depending solely on the place hunted. 

[g8rvet]

My nephew is a Wildland Firefighter.  He is on a detail in central Florida where the season has been closed for a while. He had a lunch break thsi weekend and was doing nothing, but he had a mouth call with him and was at a place that is loaded with birds.  He got the owner's permission and called an Osceola in to 18 steps.  Video'ed the bird strutting and gobbling like crazy.  Even got him breeding a hen on video! 

[Strutr]

My favorite late season tactics - patience and perseverence.

[Happy hooker]

Call for an hour then go to sleep,,we get to hunt Turkey's till May 31st here in Minnesota I'm hunting on memorial day every year,,they get smart by then,,call hard for one hour then fall asleep agAinst the tree sounds stupid but it works, if your asleep you ressist playing your nice calls,,woke up more then once with a gobbler out in front of me,,don't know maybe my snoring sounds like an old hen.

[TRG3]

Late season tactics seem to vary with the gobbler trying to be coaxed in. I've had success with a gobbler decoy in full strut over a hen in the breeding position and a Funky Chicken with a feeding hen. I've also had those very same set ups intimidate from one to a group of three long beards, keeping them some 60+ yards away and finally walking off. For me, it's a crap shoot as to what decoy spread to attempt in the late season. If someone has a sure-fire technique, I'd like to hear about it.