Fall turkey tactics.

[Stronski]

First time turkey hunting this year. Heard them didn't see them. I had the last two weeks of the seaon which I now know is difficult. What's the way to get them in the fall? Does the strategy change at all?
Hunting with a bow makes things even more off a challenge. Do you fellas reccomend a portable blind?

[Mr. Longbeard]

I'm not much of a fall turkey hunter Deer on the brain that time of the year

[DoubleLung55]

Im with MR Longbeard on this one , i am usually concentrated on deer and archery then... but if i get my buck i will hunt fall birds...

What we do here in PA is find the birds , and its OK if they spot you , thats the plan , then jsut rush them and get them to bust up and fly all different directions , then follow the way that the most go for about 50 yards , that is if they dont fly to another hill , then just sit down and call , it is OK to call aggressivley , and this tactic especially works at night b4 roosting time , they hate to roost alone!!

[Strut&Rut]

Besides flock busting, you can also ambush fall birds rather easily. If you can find where a flock roosts, they can be pretty predictable about their habits, especially early morning and evening.

With a bow, I've found patterning to be the most useful, because then you can set a blind near a field hedge and merely wait out the birds. Extra useful if you can also deer hunt at the same time, as turks & deer often consume the same forage and mast during the fall...

[snowdog2]

Sometime over the past year, the National Wild Turkey Federation had an article about fall turkey hunting in their Turkey Call magazine. Since I don't fall turkey hunt (but that may change), I didn't pay a lot of attention to the tips, but I remember reading that there are four different types of fall flocks, hen and poults, old gobblers, jakes and hens without poults, as I recall. Could be wrong, and I defer to anyone who remembers/knows better.

I also recall that there are some different strategies for different flocks. Bustin' flocks is a good tactic, but I think evening roost busting was regarded as a good way to deal with all fall flocks, if you get the flock to divide, with some going one way and some going another way, as opposed to having all of them fly the roost in the same direction.

The article, as I recall, suggested that you can successfully call fall birds even without flock busting, if you know where the bird(s) is/are and set up on their likely "migration" path.

Find back issues of Turkey Call and read 'em for fall tactics, and good luck!!

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