Hunting A Dusting Spot Good or BAD

[Greg Massey]

How many of you have been successful in sitting up on a dusting area and trying to kill a gobbler? Do you feel like you have wasted time sitting up on a dusting area just to see hens without a gobbler in tow? Have you seen mature gobblers dusting in a dusting spot or hanging around a dusting area? Do you just avoid these dusting spots all together? This could be an interesting post. Opinions please ...

[Hobbes]

Besides recognizing what they are and taking it as a good sign that there are birds around, I don't recall ever considering them one way or the other.  However, I don't do much blind calling anymore.

[MISSISSIPPI Double beard]

Just yesterday I saw 4 hens in a clear cut feeding around. I looked further and 2 hens were dusting. They were probably 100 yards part from each other. I knew they had to be a gobbler around so I called. Sure enough a gobbler and jake came from around the ridge closer to where the 2 hens were dusting. I wouldn't have a problem setting back up in that dusting spot at all.

[3bailey3]

I do it in the afternoon after everything has quit gobbling, I have only saw hens come to the dusting places.

[Timmer]

A while back there was a thread about toms dusting.  Many of us noted we have never seen anything but hens and young jakes dusting.  I had never thought of it up until then, but still to this day I have never seen a tom dust. I don't know what to make of it, just a note.   

[Dtrkyman]

I have never seen a tom hit a dust bowl, or a Jake for that matter.  Piles of hens!

Definitely not a bad thing to be around fresh sign when things are quiet!

[tal]

 I had a dirt spot on a ridgeback that was used several years in succession. I never could figure out why they liked that one particular spot. It was fairly hard packed but they could scrape out a bowl and stand around waiting their turn on that one spot with ground just like it for several yards around. As mentioned I saw hens mostly but I did see a few jakes dust, never a gobbler. I did hunt it but don't remember much luck in the spring. I did have some luck in the early fall. I didn't hunt the dust bowl per se but hunted close enough to it that brought birds to the area that you could entice calling.
On public ground I've seen them dust in old, much decayed dead falls. Didn't hunt it but it's always good to see sign like scratching, droppings, feathers, etc.

[Gooserbat]

I don't think I've ever seen a ton dust either, but I've seen toms where I saw hens...lots of times.

[Hobbes]

It may not be relevant but the tame toms that I had would dust.  That is until I hung them upside down and bled them just before plucking them for Thanksgiving.

[tal]

 I'm sure gobblers dust but probably not a priority during breeding. I guessed the hens dusting after visiting the nest laying, was about that time of day. Never a Tom in tow

[Zobo]

I've shot three gobblers at the same dusting area in three different spring seasons. All three were shot late morning if I remember correctly.  I never saw them or any Tom dusting however. They were either following and/or looking for hens I suppose.

[Paulmyr]

I take dusting bowls as good sign that needs further investigation. Can't say I've ever hunted dusting bowls but I have returned to these areas for conformation.

[King Cobra]

I would never even think about hunting a dusting area. To me that is not what the hunt is about...

[ferocious calls]

Have raised hundreds of Easterns for many years. Have yet to see a Tom or Jake dust. There is an area at my place where birds go to for grit and hens to dust next to a berry patch. When I was younger I took 3 toms there with the bow.

[GobbleNut]

I would never even think about hunting a dusting area. To me that is not what the hunt is about...

Although I have no problems if someone else wants to hunt turkeys by sitting at a dusting site, I agree that doing so is not what turkey hunting is about for me either.  Now, if I am hunting and stumble on to a dusting site with fresh sign there, I may hang around long enough to hopefully instill a response from a gobbler to my calling, but the timeframe for that to happen is pretty short. 

On the other hand, if I get a response to my calling at a dusting area, I will most certainly try a set-up close by under the assumption that this particular spot might be an added incentive for a gobbler to come take a look.  Sitting on a dusting area without some sort of dialogue going on between me and a turkey?,...Not much of a chance of that happening.