Hunting dust bowls

[chow hound]

It's getting pretty late here in VA and just wondered if there would be any merit to staking out a dust bowl as a late season strategy?  How often do gobblers use them?

[357MAGNOLE]

I don't have much to add to this other than I have found a few dust bowls in the area I hunt in recently.  Excited to learn some more about them.

[Greg Massey]

If I were going to hunt a dust bowl I would hunt it after lunch... turkeys will use it a lot more in middle of the day to late afternoon..more so than in the morning...but I also know some States don't allow afternoon hunting.... I wouldn't waste my time on hunting a dust bowl in the early morning. Its the heat of the day that causes the turkeys to use the dust bowls to try and get the mite's off of them.

[357MAGNOLE]

If I were going to hunt a dust bowl I would hunt it after lunch... turkeys will use it a lot more in middle of the day to late afternoon..more so than in the morning...but I also know some States don't allow afternoon hunting.... I wouldn't waste my time on hunting a dust bowl in the early morning. Its the heat of the day that causes the turkeys to use the dust bowls to try and get the mite's off of them.

So what is the deal with the dust bowl? Is it something that shows they have been in the area, or is it something that they will frequent once established?

[Greg Massey]

Its just a area they will likely use from time to time ... but remember ... heat of the day causes them to use them. Also remember as the day heats up so do you..so setup in the shade if at all possible .. ive saw turkeys dust in a spot no bigger than a 5 gallon bucket in the middle of a field.  So the more you can find in a area together that's were I would be hunting... to me hunting a dusting bowl is like hunting a deer scrape ....lol

[357MAGNOLE]

Thanks for the info. I am approaching my last day of the season and will pull out all the stops throughout the day.  I am starting early morning and hoping to get a response off the roost.  I dont have high hopes though as I have not heard a gobble in almost 13 days now. 

I do have a location with 4-6 dust bowls within 100 yards of each other on a power line run.

I wish I could figure these birds here out, they dont seem to have a system. They just run all over the dang place. Right now there are so many bugs, caterpillars, and what not the ground is crawling so its not like they have to head to one area for food, I am also surrounded by water and the woods are full of roosting trees, which they don't seem to respond from any way.

[shaman]

I have a dusting spot that has been almost sure-fire some years.  It is in the doorway of an old barn. It usually takes hot weather for them to start using it, and generally the gobblers do not partake, only the hens.  They will strut in the adjoining pasture though. I have taken a few from there.

I used to head out there in the afternoon.  I'd be staked out in the other door with my back up against an old overturned table.  The hens would come in and dust, sometimes a dozen of them, with me just feet away. 

Sadly the barn fell to ruin after the last tornado, and I am a bit afraid to go in there anymore. 

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

Where in va are you that you say they aren't gobbling?

[outdoors]

Yup , I tried setting up on some bowls the first time I thought wow but no show
I hunted them on the quota hunt the first two days , we can hunt UNTILL 1 .
And they didnt use them again .... 

[silvestris]

Check the dusting site for tracks and breast feathers to determine whether the site is being used by hens or gobblers or both.  Hens will frequently dust somewhat near their nest which could be a mile or more from the nearest gobbler.

[357MAGNOLE]

Where in va are you that you say they aren't gobbling?

King George area

[357MAGNOLE]

I went out for the last day of the spring season yesterday. I decided to setup on the dust bowl locations I have found.  No toms, but a hen did come by every hour and a half or so and put on a show in the dust bowl. Really cool to watch, entertainment for the day as she was the only one I seen.

No late season luck. 

So this year my buddy and I called one in, was suppose to be my shot but the bird went around the backside of us (he was 20 yards behind me in the woods) and my buddy ended up taking the shot.

I called another one in that same day but it was about 55 yards out and a hen busted me and they took off.

Then I had another that I stalked (he was with a few hens and wouldnt even gobble) I got to about 70 yards and they took off again.

No luck this year but a ton of fun for a first season.

[Greg Massey]

Yes hunting turkeys at a dusting spot is like hunting a ghost ... as we told you hens will use it more than a gobbler..glad you got to see hens using them....nothing like learning from turkeys ..

[357MAGNOLE]

Yes hunting turkeys at a dusting spot is like hunting a ghost ... as we told you hens will use it more than a gobbler..glad you got to see hens using them....nothing like learning from turkeys ..

Yeah, I did not have any luck running the roads with locator calls, didnt see any out in the fields so I figured what the hell.  At the least maybe I will see a hen.  It was a good day, lots of fun to watch and got my heart pumping because I was hoping a Tom would be with her at some point.

[deadbuck]

At one of my hunting spots this year the turkeys made a huge dust bowl in a small food plot where the green grass did not grow well. I put a game camera on it and hens would use it daily from 1-3 pm. Never got pics of a tom dusting, but they were 10 yards away strutting watching the hens dust. Towards the end of the season I would stop by this spot on my way home from work and actually saw the hens throw dust 3 feet high in the air while they were dusting several times. Cool to watch.