Do you hunt in valleys/bottoms?

[Mossberg90MN]

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Got a question about turkeys gobbling in bottoms and hunting them.

Do you ever go down into the ridge bottoms to call for turkeys? Or do you just stay on the ridge tops and try and get them to come up?

If you get one to gobble that won’t come up, do you go down into the bottom and try to call down there? Or do you drop down into the bottom and get to the next ridge and attempt to call him up from that next ridge?

Thanks for the help guys, I know these may be basic questions and I think I have a decent idea of what should be done, but I thought I should ask. This will be my first season hunting ridges, spent last season on flat parcels. Not by design but I wasn’t entirely aware that turkeys love hardwood ridges, considering last year was my first season.

[Twowithone]

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Here in Pa. in the mountains they usually roost 3/4 the way up the mountain when its time to fly off their gliding down the mountain to do their thing. Ive known people that brought them back up the mountain with their calling. Good luck this season.   

[Happy]

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Rule of thumb. Try to stay on the same level as the Turkey or above him. Not that the wont come downhill it just that they seem to prefer level or uphill travel. As for a Turkey in a bottom. I usually take the fight to the Turkey and want to get in tight and make it easy for him to check me out. Problem with bottoms is that it is very easy to get picked off when moving in. So usually it takes a bit of work to pull it off. Really depends on the lay of the land though.

[GobbleNut]

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Simple answer,...yes.  I hunts 'em where they at. 

There is no set formula for hunting turkeys,...other than try not to scare them off before they get in range.  My formula is this:  get close, call to 'em, see how they react.  Once they react, I react in whatever manner I think is going to work the best to get them in range before I scare them off. 

...Sometimes my formula works,....sometimes it doesn't!

[TauntoHawk]

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There a few reasons why most turkey hunters preach hunting high.

1. Can hear better from on top, sometimes into multiple bottoms
2. It is much faster to make a move down the charge up hill after them
3. Generally coming up hill he will have to commit closer to see the calling source (you) then coming down and peering over an edge.

There a few times I find the birds are in bottoms more then up on ridges. Here in the north east we often don't have much green up at all for a season opener. At those times the most new growth green are down in the bottoms by water and that's usually where I find the birds hanging out. And the inverse late in the season when it's hot I find them back down there because it's got better shade and is cooler in the late morning and afternoons.

I still start high based on reasons 1 and 2 from the list above but often have dropped right down into the bottoms to kill a bird.

All that to say a rarely start down in one but yes I can think of specific hunts where I've found the need be in a bottom to kill one if that's where they wanted to be. I'll still try and keep that last little bit of terrain between to use to my advantage.

I can only think of one situation/place that I purposely start below the birds and it's a point where they go down hill after fly down 99% of the time to get fields.

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[Greg Massey]

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It's all about experience and learning about turkey hunting. Agree you can take the hunt to them. Learning turkeys is like learning a different language , regardless how much you think you may know , you can still screw up.. It's called a good old turkey butt whipping. Depending on the time of the hunt and where he wants to be , is were you hunt them.

[Mossberg90MN]

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There a few reasons why most turkey hunters preach hunting high.

1. Can hear better from on top, sometimes into multiple bottoms
2. It is much faster to make a move down the charge up hill after them
3. Generally coming up hill he will have to commit closer to see the calling source (you) then coming down and peering over an edge.

There a few times I find the birds are in bottoms more then up on ridges. Here in the north east we often don't have much green up at all for a season opener. At those times the most new growth green are down in the bottoms by water and that's usually where I find the birds hanging out. And the inverse late in the season when it's hot I find them back down there because it's got better shade and is cooler in the late morning and afternoons.

I still start high based on reasons 1 and 2 from the list above but often have dropped right down into the bottoms to kill a bird.

All that to say a rarely start down in one but yes I can think of specific hunts where I've found the need be in a bottom to kill one if that's where they wanted to be. I'll still try and keep that last little bit of terrain between to use to my advantage.

I can only think of one situation/place that I purposely start below the birds and it's a point where they go down hill after fly down 99% of the time to get fields.

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Good info, thanks for the response. Real good points here.

[Mossberg90MN]

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Thanks for all the responses, I’ve been wondering this for a while because I see a lot of guys call from the ridge tops and they kinda try to avoid the bottoms. They mainly just use them to reposition onto another ridge.

But I feel like if you can use the terrain to hide and get posted in the direction the bird is traveling you could cut him off in the bottom.

I’ve also heard that it’s mainly henned up gobblers that hand In the bottoms. So I guess they won’t be going to calls anyways.


Well again thanks for all the responses. I’m just a fresh hunter obsessed with turkeys. Last year was my first season and I got really close a handful of times but couldn’t seal the deal. Most of the time it was because of hens. So I’m looking to hit the woods hard and different this time to do what I can to make it happen.

[Southerngobbler]

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Hunting pressure has a lot to do with it. If people are down in the bottoms hunting and hiking or whatever sometimes the turkey just start avoiding the bottoms altogether and stay up high all day, provided there's some sort of water up there.

[West Augusta]

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I've found that some gobblers, usually older gobblers, like to roost over creeks.  So yes, when I find one that likes the creeks I'll go there.  Usually I hunt the ridges.

[Gobbler428]

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                X2 When I first started turkey hunting an old time turkey hunter told me that
                longbeards love to roost with their tails over water facing a field or clearing. I
                have found this to be true on many occasions.

[Bowguy]

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Simple answer,...yes.  I hunts 'em where they at. 

There is no set formula for hunting turkeys,...other than try not to scare them off before they get in range.  My formula is this:  get close, call to 'em, see how they react.  Once they react, I react in whatever manner I think is going to work the best to get them in range before I scare them off. 

...Sometimes my formula works,....sometimes it doesn't!

This

[Marc]

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I will often hunt well-traveled ridge bottoms....  I would far rather attempt to be where a bird wants to be and call him, then try to call a bird where he does not want to be...

That being said, if I am hunting a bird I hear, and going to make a move, I will generally try and get above him, or stay level...  You can call birds downhill, but it does seem a tad easier to entice them uphill or level (as others have previously mentioned)...

But you need to look at the terrain, and the terrain that the bird will have to cross to get to you.  I will stay downhill on a bird that has easy terrain between us, rather than get above him where he has to cross rough terrain.  Them turkeys are funny creatures...  Sometimes they'll fly over molten lava to get to you, and sometimes they won't cross a shadow from a tree.  If I know the country, I try to give him as few obstacles/barriers as possible to get to me.

[dirt road ninja]

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Yes, most of our good woods are on creek bottoms or swampy areas that log trucks can’t get too. Like others said get close to him.

[falltoms]

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Where I hunt in the mountains of the Appalachian mountains,  gobblers that are by themselves looking for hens, will usually be on rigetops or there sides, stay high ,hunt high,  when they are henned up, lots of times they hang out in the bottoms of hollows where they can strut and show off in front of hens. Many of the hardwood hollows or bottoms I hunt are WIDE open, you can see a long way in all directions, the birds like that ,they feel safe,  there out of the wind etc!. These bottom strut zones are hard to hunt. I have had success in these places,  but getting set up in them is tough if the birds are already there.  If I know a gobbler is roosted with hens,on a bank of one of these hollows , it's a good chance that's where he will spend his morning.Get in there super early and set up. Good luck