Explain an easy way to fall turkey hunt
08-19-2003, 10:57 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: germantown wisconsin USA
Posts: 29
Explain an easy way to fall turkey hunt
I have been hunting spring gobblers for 4 years now, and Im going to try some fall hunting. I liv in wisconsin, where u can shoot a hen in the fall, but i want a gobbler. How would I go about getting one? I have heard about busting flocks, but to me that sounds like it pritty hard. How do I call gobblers in the fall? Should I just scout and find a place where they go, then set up there and hope they come again? I appreciate all answers, thanks.
jackel
jackel
08-19-2003, 11:44 AM
#2
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: PA
Posts: 9,085
RE: Explain an easy way to fall turkey hunt
ok.....you find a flock of turkeys....they usually roost and feed and do most of the things around hte same time and in the same areas daily...USUALLY....then you get all camoed up..when you spot them run after them screaming like a mad manchasing them all around until they are running wild.....then sit there and wait a few minutes and try to sound like the boss hen calling them in......thats the way ive been told to do it.....basically....lol....i exaggerated about the screaming and running but you get the idea.....thats the easiest way ive heard of to fall turkey hunt.......i havent been able to finda flock to bust yet! i see them every day im not turkey hunting though!
08-19-2003, 11:51 AM
#3
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location:
Posts: 169
RE: Explain an easy way to fall turkey hunt
Cracked Corn Cracked Corn and more Cracked corn. Set-up a feeding area between their normal feeding area and the roost. The will walk by and say WOW food w/ less distance to travel. Then " boom" or " twang" meat is in the freezer and a trophy is on the wall. This has worked my last 2 seasons, just requires a few days of before season scouting.
08-19-2003, 02:18 PM
#4
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: germantown wisconsin USA
Posts: 29
RE: Explain an easy way to fall turkey hunt
Hunttokill, first of all baiting is illegal in wisconsin right now, and second of all, baiting is cheating in my book. If u cant rely on your own hunting skills to get an animal, why hunt. Anyone and there grandma could bait an animal and shoot it, but using your hunting skills and calls is a different story.
08-19-2003, 03:46 PM
#5
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location:
Posts: 500
RE: Explain an easy way to fall turkey hunt
I' ve never fall hunted, but Lovett Williams has described a successful scenario. He suggests you bust up a flock, sit and wait a half an hour, then call. I think an alternative is to bust them up the night before on the roost, which would be easier, if you know likely roost sites, than to run in on ' em a hootin' and a hollerin' as others here would suggest.
If you bust ' em up the night before, you get in the middle of ' em and make assembly calls and kee kees in the a.m./dawn' s early light.
If you bust ' em in the day, I think you hunker down and wait a half an hour to calm ' em down, then use kee kees and keekee runs, as well as gobbler yelps, and maybe assembly yelps, though I understand each mama hen has her own assembly yelp, so I don' t know what good assembly yelping would do.
Else you can waylay them along their path and whomp ' em, if you know their routes and habits.
If you bust ' em up the night before, you get in the middle of ' em and make assembly calls and kee kees in the a.m./dawn' s early light.
If you bust ' em in the day, I think you hunker down and wait a half an hour to calm ' em down, then use kee kees and keekee runs, as well as gobbler yelps, and maybe assembly yelps, though I understand each mama hen has her own assembly yelp, so I don' t know what good assembly yelping would do.
Else you can waylay them along their path and whomp ' em, if you know their routes and habits.
08-19-2003, 08:27 PM
#6
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Oct 1998
Location: Hughesville, PA USA
Posts: 18,322
RE: Explain an easy way to fall turkey hunt
An easy way, 
Find' em, Bust' em and call them in....yeah....an easy way.
First, scouting is going to give you the clues on where your local flock is hanging out. And, in the fall, gobblers will flock up on thier own and the hens will be flocked up with thier offspring of the year. Most times, many hens with thier broud will be flocked up. So, not only do you need to find a flock, but now your looking for gobblers to boot....again, scouting is the key.
Now, once you find your flocked up gobblers, you need to bust them up and then hope you have what it takes to call one in. Calling fall gobblers can be more difficult than calling spring gobblers. Taking a hen in the fall isn' t something you should be against because it can be very exciting to bust a flock of hens with thier jakes and jenny' s of the year and sit back and listen to all the vocalizations. You' ll never have a better classroom than a woods full of busted birds.
Okay, now you' ve busted your gobblers, now you need to sound like a old raspy slow talkin fall gobbler and hope the rest of them feel like hookin up again. That' s not always the case. Again, a busted flock of hens can be very exciting but if your stead fast on a fall gobbler.....scout' em, find' em, bust' em and call them in.
Fall turkey hunting can be and is just as exciting as the spring season. Too many states miss out on this fact. Watch for the Oct/Nov issue of Heartland USA on an article on my outfitters business. The article is called Flock Busters by Joe Byers.
Find' em, Bust' em and call them in....yeah....an easy way. First, scouting is going to give you the clues on where your local flock is hanging out. And, in the fall, gobblers will flock up on thier own and the hens will be flocked up with thier offspring of the year. Most times, many hens with thier broud will be flocked up. So, not only do you need to find a flock, but now your looking for gobblers to boot....again, scouting is the key.
Now, once you find your flocked up gobblers, you need to bust them up and then hope you have what it takes to call one in. Calling fall gobblers can be more difficult than calling spring gobblers. Taking a hen in the fall isn' t something you should be against because it can be very exciting to bust a flock of hens with thier jakes and jenny' s of the year and sit back and listen to all the vocalizations. You' ll never have a better classroom than a woods full of busted birds.
Okay, now you' ve busted your gobblers, now you need to sound like a old raspy slow talkin fall gobbler and hope the rest of them feel like hookin up again. That' s not always the case. Again, a busted flock of hens can be very exciting but if your stead fast on a fall gobbler.....scout' em, find' em, bust' em and call them in.
Fall turkey hunting can be and is just as exciting as the spring season. Too many states miss out on this fact. Watch for the Oct/Nov issue of Heartland USA on an article on my outfitters business. The article is called Flock Busters by Joe Byers.
08-19-2003, 10:23 PM
#7
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location:
Posts: 169
RE: Explain an easy way to fall turkey hunt
Well Jackel its to bad u think baiting is cheating. Do you hunt on a farm? Do you use a food plot? Im guessing you dont go into the middle of the woods w/ out any Unnatural food for hundreds of miles do ya? Didnt think so, therfore your cheating. Keep stupid opinions to yourself thax pal.
08-20-2003, 09:52 AM
#9
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location:
Posts: 500
RE: Explain an easy way to fall turkey hunt
Now, now, H2K--
For whatever reason, in many states it is illegal to hunt over bait. Nationally, it is illegal to hunt waterfowl over bait (as I understand it) because of federal regulations. In MN you can' t hunt anything except bear over bait. I know other states have different approaches--for example, in Texas I know guys feed deer all year round to whack ' em in the fall, and I even hunted quail we attracted with cracked corn spread the night before.
Jackel says baiting is illegal in Wisconsin, and I suppose growing up a hunter there has probably influenced his view of that ethic. Maybe he was harsh calling it " cheating" and maybe he didn' t think deeply about how much of what is sometimes called the hunter ethic has nothing to do hunting success but has more to do with someone' s abstract concepts of sportsmanship, but a bit of civility couldn' t have hurt, could it??
This forum sometimes runs into those philosophical debates about rightness or wrongness, whether it is about shooting birds on the roost, or killing hens in the fall, or what have you. I think sincere contemplation will reveal that what is or feels right for one, might not be right for another. I also think that a lot of the hunter ethic stuff is bogus idealization. Why, for example, can archers use modern bows with their cams and sights, including, in some circumstances, laser sights, but crossbows are illegal? Why is corn spread on a plowed field baiting for waterfowl, but a flooded rice field, grown only to attract waterfowl, not? Some upland hunters won' t shoot a pheasant their dog didn' t point, others (like my deceased father-in-law) never shoot a pheasant more than 50 yards from their vehicle, because their method of hunting is to " road hunt" .
No doubt your advice was meant with good intentions, and probably based on successful experience in a state where baiting is legal. As such, it is/was great advice. Apparently, however, in WI baiting turkeys is illegal, so Jackel could not have taken your advice and implemented it anyway.
Let' s keep it friendly on this forum. Let' s disagree civilly, all.
(And I apologize for any incivility I have engaged in in the past.)
For whatever reason, in many states it is illegal to hunt over bait. Nationally, it is illegal to hunt waterfowl over bait (as I understand it) because of federal regulations. In MN you can' t hunt anything except bear over bait. I know other states have different approaches--for example, in Texas I know guys feed deer all year round to whack ' em in the fall, and I even hunted quail we attracted with cracked corn spread the night before.
Jackel says baiting is illegal in Wisconsin, and I suppose growing up a hunter there has probably influenced his view of that ethic. Maybe he was harsh calling it " cheating" and maybe he didn' t think deeply about how much of what is sometimes called the hunter ethic has nothing to do hunting success but has more to do with someone' s abstract concepts of sportsmanship, but a bit of civility couldn' t have hurt, could it??
This forum sometimes runs into those philosophical debates about rightness or wrongness, whether it is about shooting birds on the roost, or killing hens in the fall, or what have you. I think sincere contemplation will reveal that what is or feels right for one, might not be right for another. I also think that a lot of the hunter ethic stuff is bogus idealization. Why, for example, can archers use modern bows with their cams and sights, including, in some circumstances, laser sights, but crossbows are illegal? Why is corn spread on a plowed field baiting for waterfowl, but a flooded rice field, grown only to attract waterfowl, not? Some upland hunters won' t shoot a pheasant their dog didn' t point, others (like my deceased father-in-law) never shoot a pheasant more than 50 yards from their vehicle, because their method of hunting is to " road hunt" .
No doubt your advice was meant with good intentions, and probably based on successful experience in a state where baiting is legal. As such, it is/was great advice. Apparently, however, in WI baiting turkeys is illegal, so Jackel could not have taken your advice and implemented it anyway.
Let' s keep it friendly on this forum. Let' s disagree civilly, all.
(And I apologize for any incivility I have engaged in in the past.)
08-20-2003, 09:54 AM
#10
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Calif
Posts: 1,894
RE: Explain an easy way to fall turkey hunt
Jackel one of the easiest ways I' ve found in harvesting a fall longbeard is to figure out daily feeding and watering patterns.Out west here we get the majority of our rain later in the year after fall season opens and I' ve harvested many birds by finding water holes such as,springs,ponds,and creeks.Daily feeding and watering sites concentrates the birds and finding the time to get out and scout being able to read sign will not go unrewarded!