What is busting flocks and how do you do it?

Thanks.

Run at the middle of the flock, so that they each go in a different direction.


Then sit quite for a while, and then call them back in.


Oh yea, and shoot the one with the longest beard and the biggest spurs.

Run at the middle of the flock, so that they each go in a different direction.


Then sit quite for a while, and then call them back in.


Oh yea, and shoot the one with the longest beard and the biggest spurs.

What does that exactly do?

I'm sorry..................you do that if the flock is far away and "hung-up" and will not come in to your set-up.


At first I though you were being a wise guy !

haha, sorry after i posted it, i was kinda thinking it did, thanks.

The reason for busting flocks is because when flocks of turkeys get separated from each other, the birds have a strong instinct to regroup.. This applies to flocks of hens and young birds, and also to flocks of gobblers.. The main difference is that when gobblers are separated from thier flock, they usually are not as eager to re-group as mixed flocks of hens and young birds..

There are different ways to do it...You can listen near potential roosting areas in the evening , hoping to hear a flock of birds fly up to roost...If you hear birds fly up, hurry to the area where you heard them and walk around making as much noise as you can, flushing the turkeys from thier roost trees and scattering them as much as you can...Then come back to the area before daylight in the morning, and call to the birds as they are regrouping..This works well sometimes, but often the mother hens will sit in thier roost trees and call thier broods back together, then fly down and regroup very quickly..

Another way is to listen at daylight for birds to start calling in the trees before flydown..Hurry to the area and flush the birds as well as you can.. Then sit down and call to them as they regroup.. In my experience this works somewhat better than busting them at night..

The third way is to encounter intact flocks on the ground.. Get as close as you can and either rush them to flush them, or shoot over thier heads in the trees to get them into the air and hopefully scattering them in several directions...Once again, stay close to the flush site and call to birds attempting to regroup..

Busting a flock is a preferred fall hunting tactic that in some conditions can be used in the spring but still is primarily used during fall hunting..