Turkey tactics

[Ack]

I've seen this done on other forums and was curious with what we could come up with here on the Beast. Everyone post a tactic you have used that has put a tag on a bird. Not something like "just sit there and call them in"........maybe it's a way you set up, a certain decoy setup, etc.

[Uncle Lou]

Just like any animal, you have to hunt turkeys where they are. I probably spend more time scouting turkeys than I do deer. Probably because I get more time in the late winter early spring for it.

Calling isn't my thing. I like to see where they want to go and go there. When that doesnt work slip on the tennis shoes and go for it.

And I will do a shameless plug (meaning I have no shame in saying this). Watch Extreme Turkey Tactics by Dan Infalt you will see some useful turkey tactics. I love the turkey drive. I do one man turkey drives in fall. I push them in a thicket, disappear on them, then button hook and start looking for a head. Usually when I pull the trigger, stuff goes flying everywhere. My single shot with a sleeve of shells on the but stock usually ends up empty with a bird down. Total chaos, I love it.

My neighbor Tom is 70 yrs old, and I will scout with him some times in late winter, he is in great shape for his age and loves to get outside. He found a public area south of here one winter with someone else, but wouldn't hunt it. He said it was tough to get into, but crazy sign. I need to get a public tag and go in there. He told me I would need waders.

[Ack]

If I'm trying to set up on a specific bird and the terrain allows, I like to get into a position that will give me a shot as soon as that bird comes over the top of a hill, around a corner and so-on. If that bird can hear you but cannot see you many times he will come looking, and you will almost always get a shot as soon as he comes into view if your setup is right. If you can tell that he is getting close, STOP CALLING...he will usually stay on a straight path right into your setup.

[BigHunt]

If I'm trying to set up on a specific bird and the terrain allows, I like to get into a position that will give me a shot as soon as that bird comes over the top of a hill, around a corner and so-on. If that bird can hear you but cannot see you many times he will come looking, and you will almost always get a shot as soon as he comes into view if your setup is right. If you can tell that he is getting close, STOP CALLING...he will usually stay on a straight path right into your setup.

one thing ive noticed AcK is , as i locate a bird and i call to them they gobble back. as they get closer alot of the times they will shut up and come in quiet, thats how i know there coming in ...works 95% of the time

Another thing i try NOT to do when locating a bird is, not to walk at him and call with your turkey call...to me that makes it seem like im a hen turkey answering to his gobbles and am trying to find him "Im on my way honey" , and when that happens most of the time they will shut up and wait for you and not come in ...i use a hammering crow or squealing hawk call to locate or sometimes a coyote howler in the mourning and at night ......i see alot of guys do this a lot

[Brad]

I have only killed 3 toms in my life, but in 2010 I killed two of those toms. I had one I had been chasing for 4 days straight and he was oh so close to being killed on multiple occasions, but he always gave me the slip. I would go to one spot one day and he would be in a different, so the next day I would go where he was yesterday and he would be where I was yesterday etc etc. Long story the last morning of the hunt I decided to go to a spot I knew he would be at some point in the day. I set up the blind and waited him out. He came in at 930 am chasing a hen, and got a face full of #4's instead! He went 25 pounds with a 11.5 inch beard and inch spurs. I wanted to kill him in the worst way, but as soon as I did I actually felt remorse because the game was over, and I had won. That tom got me up at 4 in the morning for 5 days in a row (including my wedding day morning , and more importantly the morning after ), and I felt bad that I couldn't get up the next morning and chase him again. That Tom was almost a friend I knew him so well.

[Ack]

A very important thing to know is where the turkeys travel on the piece of property you hunt. It is important to know where they roost, where they feed, where they dust, where they strut......travel patterns on turkeys is no different than travel patterns of deer. I do not get too wrapped up in hunting a roost site because they don't spend very much time there at fly down or fly up.....know where they want to go and set up IN FRONT OF THEM.

[Goober]

I love it when I can spot a tom alone strutting. Then the stalk is on, and the less cover, the more fun!!!! Every time he faces away fanned out, I stand up and run towards him, watching for him to start to turn, then dropping to my belly and remain motionless until he turns again. I LOVE IT!!! I have tried it maybe 5 times, it worked 2 times. Once I killed him (shotgun), the other time I missed, proving that it is very difficult to shoot a bow from the prone position! So much fun though :-)

[UPbowhunter]

This little sucker works well. I copied this off of UB1243. It has worked great since I made it. It will make a not so perfect decoy set look real good to a gobbler. The day this was shot it was raining, it looks better when not drenched. It actually was used that day for a youth hunter to bow kill a bird at 15 yards. http://youtu.be/qrJwGi6n0vM

[Ack]

This little sucker works well. I copied this off of UB1243. It has worked great since I made it. It will make a not so perfect decoy set look real good to a gobbler. The day this was shot it was raining, it looks better when not drenched. It actually was used that day for a youth hunter to bow kill a bird at 15 yards. http://youtu.be/qrJwGi6n0vM

I could see where that would work well. Unfortunately we cannot use anything like that here in Michigan.......wind motion only.

[Mountain Man]

A very important thing to know is where the turkeys travel on the piece of property you hunt. It is important to know where they roost, where they feed, where they dust, where they strut......travel patterns on turkeys is no different than travel patterns of deer. I do not get too wrapped up in hunting a roost site because they don't spend very much time there at fly down or fly up.....know where they want to go and set up IN FRONT OF THEM.

That is excellent advice.

Here is a tactic I use when bowhunting from a blind in a field, near the outside corner of a woods. When I do this I know where the roost is and I know the bird(s) will come in my direction based on my scouting and previous hunts in that area. In this situation I set up my blind in a field about 25 yards from the outside corner of the woods. This way I can watch both sides of the woods edge. I will mainly watch the side of the woods where the birds will usually come from, but I can also watch the other edge of the woods in case a tom slips in from the side I really don't expect one to come from. By setting up about 25 yards from the edge of the woods, I kind of create a man-made funnel. Since I'm bowhunting, my decoys will be set up about 7-10 yards in front of me. If a bird doesn’t come into the decoys, many times they will walk between the decoys and the woods. If that happens I still have a shot that is 25 yards or less. They won't always walk through the "funnel" but more often than not they do and I get a shot.

[Brad]

A very important thing to know is where the turkeys travel on the piece of property you hunt. It is important to know where they roost, where they feed, where they dust, where they strut......travel patterns on turkeys is no different than travel patterns of deer. I do not get too wrapped up in hunting a roost site because they don't spend very much time there at fly down or fly up.....know where they want to go and set up IN FRONT OF THEM.

That is excellent advice.

Here is a tactic I use when bowhunting from a blind in a field, near the outside corner of a woods. When I do this I know where the roost is and I know the bird(s) will come in my direction based on my scouting and previous hunts in that area. In this situation I set up my blind in a field about 25 yards from the outside corner of the woods. This way I can watch both sides of the woods edge. I will mainly watch the side of the woods where the birds will usually come from, but I can also watch the other edge of the woods in case a tom slips in from the side I really don't expect one to come from. By setting up about 25 yards from the edge of the woods, I kind of create a man-made funnel. Since I'm bowhunting, my decoys will be set up about 7-10 yards in front of me. If a bird doesn’t come into the decoys, many times they will walk between the decoys and the woods. If that happens I still have a shot that is 25 yards or less. They won't always walk through the "funnel" but more often than not they do and I get a shot.

I like that, I am gonna try with a bow this spring, that is a tip I will use!

[Mountain Man]

Below are links to two videos from last spring. Both of these hunts took place at the same location (within a few yards for each blind set up) and I used the tactic described above. In both cases the toms came from the primary roost area to the left of the blind which is where I expected them to come from.

In the first video the tom didn't come into the decoys. He was a 2 year old so maybe he didn't come into the decoys b/c he wasn't the big boy on the block. It didn't matter to me since I'm shooting any mature tom that's in range. If I recall correctly, this was around April 21st.

http://www.thehuntingbeast.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=6543


In the second video the tom was following two hens and it appeared that he was going to skirt around behind me which is where the hens went. Anticipating what was going to happen, I turned around in the blind and I had opened a window on the back side for a shot but he decided to turn and he came into the decoys. I waited patiently for him to get into the decoys. Finally I had a shot and I just blew it. Based on my in season scouting I noticed that a little later in the morning, two toms kept showing up in a strut zone not too far away. I relocated a day or two later and killed one of those two in the strut zone (which gets back to Ack's advice about knowing where the strut zones are). It was mid to late May.

http://www.thehuntingbeast.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=6791

[Ack]

I also like to set up about 20-40 yards off the edge of a woods or fence row instead of right on the edge, mainly because it will increase your shooting range. Not only can you shoot to the edge if they take that route, but you can also shoot your comfortable distance out into the field as well.....you are essentially covering more area this way. Most birds won't pay any attention to the blind, so don't be afraid to set up in the field if you can get there undetected.

[jlh42581]

When I setup decoys and a blind I prefer to be smack dab in the middle of the field. Turkeys get ambushed from the edges and feel more comfortable in the wide open.

I also like to hunt fields which have bare dirt, especially if theyve just been tilled. Lots of dead bugs, corn that got pushed under turned up. They hammer those places.

[Ack]

Lots of new members here since this was posted.....let's hear about some more tactics.