Late season Birds??

[jhoward11]

Let's hear some expert advice for late season birds. I only have a few days left in the season. Decoys/set-ups/calls. Can't wait to get educated!

[CALLM2U]

Best advice I can give is to find one that's in the right mood.  I have made the mistake in the past (and did it again last Saturday) of spending hours with a bird that was never going to commit. 

By this time they're pressured, in a different mindset from a month ago and have different needs.  Gotta find one that will play along. 

[jwright8]

I'm by no means an expert, but in the late season decoys stay at the house for me. Birds have seen them on public lands, and in my neck of the woods they are in range by the time they can see them anyway. With full foliage on, you can be fooled by how far away they sound. You may think they are 500 yards but really may only be 200 and you will bust them. As far as tactics go I personally treat it no different myself. Seems to me in late season they either have zero interest or are super quick to come in as they have had no hens for days and are very anxious.


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[WV Flopper]

Hunt all day and pay attention all day. This is not a time to deer hunt, this is the time to cover as much ground as you can to find a turkey to play the game. When you find him, be ready! No time to be getting ready, you should have already done that.

Late season turkeys can be some of the most aggressive, feel them out when you find one, don't be sheepish.

When WV moved our season up one week and took the last week away, I complained. I like the later part, less hunters, more foliage, usually more stable weather.

[TRG3]

During the last three years, I've tagged out during the 5th (current) season in Southern Illinois. It goes out this week. I've had good success on private ground a couple of hours after flydown with hen yelps followed with gobbles about 10 minutes later, giving the impression that there's a new hen in the area as well as an intruder tom. If I get a response, I single or double gobble back in an aggressive manner. Often by this time of the season, there are fewer hens responding to the gobblers and he's always looking for more action. A couple of days ago, at 7 a.m. I bagged a gobbler after only hearing two while on the roost, none closer that about a quarter mile away across a creek.

[catman529]

There's fewer gobblers left (assuming other people hunt the area) and it can be harder to find a hot bird, but when you do they can be HOT... find one in the mood and don't screw up the setup and he's a dead bird. Early morning straight off roost has been good to me in the late season. But you can still strike a lonely bird any time of day. Might take more effort to find one, but they're still doing their thing, and don't have near as many hens around so they're usually lonely.


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[WTNUT]

Best advice I can give is to find one that's in the right mood.  I have made the mistake in the past (and did it again last Saturday) of spending hours with a bird that was never going to commit. 

By this time they're pressured, in a different mindset from a month ago and have different needs.  Gotta find one that will play along.

Agreed - the right late season bird can be the easiest you will ever kill.   The wrong late season bird can kill you desire to ever turkey hunt again!   

[Greg Massey]

Best advice i can give you is to hunt the food source, pretty much after the hens are nesting and the gobblers are pretty much silent, they are going to start back feeding pretty heavy and bunching back up. SO hunt the food sources , call very softly and very little. Yes you will have to camp out on these food sources, it is like deer hunting, so if you want to possibly kill that gobbler, that's what it may take in killing him..  It's all part of hunting late season IMO....

[1ST DRAW]

The wrong late season bird can kill you desire to ever turkey hunt again! 

These must be the two I ran into yesterday in the Virginia hills.

[catman529]

The wrong late season bird can kill you desire to ever turkey hunt again! 

These must be the two I ran into yesterday in the Virginia hills.

They were like that for me last year in Alabama, I was on multiple longbeards the last two weekends and they wanted nothing to do with a call. But still you can find a hot one sometimes. The birds north of Alabama seem to cooperate better, even after season closes.

A few years ago me and my neighbor were running a foxpro after turkey season closed, in late May, trying to kill coyotes since we saw a big blonde coyote kill the boss bird on the farm. He ran a hen yelp sequence on the foxpro, and a gobbler fired up and came into 30 yards in the wide open, and we were just sitting there at the gap in a fence row watching him half strut looking for that hen. It's funny how some birds will seemingly shut down and go back to feeding mode while others will stay hot well after season closes.


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