helfer

Hunting Kuk

A little later in the year you can go out and listen for the bird's going up to roost.....they'll gobble when they are going up or coming down from roost if you could get out their 2 days before turkey season opens of a early morning and just listen and see where it sounds like they are it will help you alot!My dad never takes me so I go about half a mile behind my house and listen.

The best thing you could do is go with someone who has hunted turkey before and watch what they do when roosting bird's....anymore questions?

Where you hunting at anyways?Is it eastern's,rio's,merriam's,etc....

JW

There is a wealth of well written articles on jsut about anything you need to do to be a good turkey hunter on the Tips & Tactics Forum jsut above

JW

helfer

im from the eastern thanks for the tips and ill check out the tips and tactics too.

IL-Cornfed

Find the food sources, you can learn at TON about the turkey in your area by heading out in the mornng or evening and glassing feeding areas. If you can find a picked cornfield or a hay field where the birds are feeding you will be well on your way of being able to put something together. The only other major piece of the puzzle is to locate the roost, whic is actually pretty easy to do with a good set of ears in the morning. Then it will be a simple game of connect the dots. Good luck and good huntin'

Sheridan

It's all about scouting....................then just put yourself in their way.



Now, it doesn't hurt if you can sound like a "date" for the big boys along the way.



Get camoed-up and remain motionless.

turkey guide

Good point Sheridan. If you put yourself where they want to go you just have wait. Twenty years or so back I took a man from Minnesota out and we heard birds, but just didn't have the luck to be near them. As we walked out to the truck we saw a huge gobbler strutting in a field with 15 hens feeding around him. We glassed him and decided to make a mile forced march to circle round and head him off. You see, I knew this field and knew exactly where these birds always ran to, when spooked by a passing car or whatever. I also knew the exact route we had to take to stay out of sight and head them off. Well, we gave it a try but the birds didn't hold in the field long enough and we had no luck calling them back. But again,I knew these birds and I could be sure they would strut the same field, at about the same time tomorrow. So I showed the guy the exact tree to sit by and told him all he had to do was be there until the turkeys came. He went there, sat there, and the turkeys came at the same time the next day. He watched them for two hours as they fed and strutted and bred. And at the same time they had disappeared into the trees the day before they found a hunter waiting in ambush. He was a very happy hunter too when he got his first bird without even calling, which he wasn't good at. Come to think of it, that guy still owes me a moose hunt that I can never find the time for.

Screamin Steel

Over the next few months, the turkeys' bevavior and patterns change alot. late winter/ early spring usually finds them in large flocks, esp near grain fields scratching for remnants. By March, flocks begin to disperse, gobblers and hens begin fighting and re-establishing pecking oders....gobblers testosterone levels begin to rise sharply...gobbling picks up, and birds become territorial. Scout too early and you miss the transitions.....best to keep tabs on them and scout frequently (low impact) right up until your hunt. Most seasons open when the birds are just breaking into the small breeding flocks of one or two dominant birds ....subordinants hanging out nearby hoping for some back door action....jake flocks running around like teenage thugs stirring up trouble. Keys to sucess are locating frequent roost sites, landing zones, morning feeding routes of hens, gobblers' strut zones...and mid day lounging areas. This is done by stealth observation...you need to get in the woods with them undetected (not calling) and get close but not too close.....nail down their movements over time and use that knowledge to determine your plan....setting up close to the roost, or somewhere else along their travels. Also trying to locate more than one flock...especially on public land. You can count on company..and the closer to roads, the more pressure to expect. Nothing ruins your best laid plans quicker than a stranger's shotgun blast. Your odds increase if you can find birds in remote areas. Keep your scouting and your hunting as low key as possible. Take great pains not to spook birds, even if it means walking way out and around known roosting sites. And be patient. Success comes over time, but experience and lessons come each day. Good luck.

mouthcaller

1. Do what JW suggested - read the tips and tactics section on at the top of the main turkey hunting page here on HuntingNet

2. Join the NWTF.

3. Turkeys aren't hard to find and they leave a lot of sign - tracks, droppings, feathers, scratching. Since they are so vocal it is easy to find and identify them. The NWTF website has nice pictures of what to look for and recorded sound files of the various calls they make.

4. Get another experienced hunter to take you on a scouting trip and you will learn more than we can tell you here on the internet. My biggest mistake 29 years ago when I started turkey hunting was being stubborn and not going along with someone who knew what he was doing. It took several years for me to figure it out, but I was determined to do it on my own. Don't make that mistake.

Mouthcaller