Turkey hunt with my dogs?
 

Hello all, new to turkey hunting and I have two dogs, both under a year old, that I’ve dialed in on e-collars. Things like come/here, wait/stay, and stay by me/heel. Like I said, both under a year(7 and 10 months) so they’re not totally trained yet but good enough, I think, to start runnin on wild game.

One’s a German Shorthaired Pointer, and the other is a 50/50 German Shepherd-AmStaff Mix.
I’ve seen my pointer spook/tree turkeys on two separate occasions, before I even knew those were turkeys he took off chasing; he’s very motivated to get out and spook whatever he can. I felt if I had a shotgun in hand, I could’ve skeet shot both turkeys. Also, he’s a laser beam on scent trails I’ve laid with beef and venison livers. So how do I turn this into proper turkey hunting? My shep-pit pup mostly stays on my hip but occasionally takes off after stuff with the pointer. Not a lot on the YouTube about dog hunting turkeys so I figured I’d ask y’all.

Any advice on turkey hunting southern, public land is appreciated. I’m currently in Alabama, Talladega National Forest, but I travel to hike and whitetail hunt in the Oconee National Forest in GA and all over the Chattahoochee National Forest. Also moving back to the Lake Oconee area in Georgia next year to hunt with my dad closer to home.

First post, hopefully someone else on here runs dogs on turkeys and can help me out while the gettins still good.
God bless

Most use the dogs to break up a flock. Once the birds scatter you call them back and shoot one while they're trying to regroup.

Sounds like your dogs are on the right track.

-Jake

As Bocajnala said most use dogs for fall turkey hunting. The object is to get the dogs to locate a flock and then run in and scatter them . Then call the dogs back to you. You then either hide the dogs with a blanket bag etc next to you and set up like hunting in the spring. Next wait until you start to hear them calling to regroup and start to call to get them to come to you. There is more to it than that but that is the basics of it. Not many use dogs to jump shoot turkeys like you would for quail or pheasants ! The hardest part would be to teach the dog to stay quiet,still and not try to chase the birds as you are trying to call them back to you.

well according to what I seen online about turkey hunting im Alabama, its ILLEGAL to use a dog in either spring or fall hunting of turkeys

so, I gather if you decide to do so, your willing to break the law and accept any fines or?? that come with it?

so, maybe check your rules to make sure your up to the rules on things

here is what I seen below, copy and pasted for you?




Alabama 'Fall hunting for gobblers is scheduled in a few counties with a historical fall hunting tradition. Interestingly, the first established legal turkey seasons in the nation were in the fall season only. Alabama was the first state to experiment with a spring turkey season in the 1950s (p. 61 of the pdf).' Alabama has a fall season, and you can't use a dog, but the fine is reasonable enough: "Hunting of wild turkeys with dogs. Any person who hunts, pursues, captures or kills a wild turkey in this state with the aid of a dog at any time shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not less than $25.00 nor more than $50.00 for each offense." Title 9 CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES - Chapter 11 FISH, GAME AND WILDLIFE - Section 9-11-238 Hunting, etc., of wild turkeys with dogs.

Alabama has a fall season, and you can't use a dog, but the fine is reasonable enough: "Hunting of wild turkeys with dogs. Any person who hunts, pursues, captures or kills a wild turkey in this state with the aid of a dog at any time shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not less than $25.00 nor more than $50.00 for each offense."

I had a mixsetter/pointer that I trained to beak bird. I got him from a turkey dog lineage at 4 months old. It was extremely hard work getting him to do hunts. He had a great interest in any bird that he saw but getting him into turkeys over the summer months is tough and requires a lot of your time. In some states it is illegal to run turkeys when there is no season. He did get the hang of it after much work, teaching him to bark was also a challenge because your dog will be 100-150 yards away hunting and you need to know that he is into birds. Jake actually learned to bark in my yard when I'd run songbirds out of our pines and chase after them making a fuss. He saw me and picked up on it as crazy as that sounds. Once the dog breaks the birds go to him and make a quick blind for you and the dog. Look into the trees right at the break site, sometimes a couple will fly up and set their with you right under them. When the dog hears the birds calling as they are coming back he will begin to quiver wanting to get after them or at least Jake did so you have to help him there also. My dog hunted until he was 3 years old and got me and my brother birds for two fall. He developed epilepsy at 3 years old and was gone by a year later. I can tell you this: you will have no greater satisfaction that having your dog hunt with you and break birds. Knowing that you both worked together to get to that level. It is frustrating and hard but worth it once the dog understands. Good luck.

Better check the game laws in all the states you plan to hunt, not legal in all.

Thanks everybody for the advice, that was awesome. Sounds like me and the dogs will be drillin a lot of extended sit-and-waits at the house and on walks. Which is awesome cuz they’re wild as hell at the house lol. Bocephus (the pointer) already barks at anything he trees. Both times he got into turkeys out of my sight, I heard him barkin like crazy and then saw em fly.
And of course I would check the laws before I actually hunt or even practice running them on game. For now all I’m doing is hiking national scenic trails and using e collars as their collars so they can run as free as I can let em.
Just hiking the Pinhoti and Appalachian Trails they’ve come across all sorts of animals and as of recent, turkeys, so I’m just tryin to get a grasp of what these house pets are capable of if I change my training strategies early. I’ve heard so many stories of how amazing dogs can be for pursuing game and now that college wrestling is over for me I’m ready for a new adventure.
thanks again everybody, God bless

yes it is amazing to watch a hunting dog do what mother nature made it to do!

but please be aware that there are lots of LAWS on dogs and training them on public lands and even private lands

just letting them chance most live animals, be wild or domestic can get you in trouble(fines or worse)
so before you start taking things out and OFF lease and are doing TRAINING< make sure you read up on laws and rules on the what and what not's to be doing or that can LEGALLY be done

its is 100% ILLEGAL to hunt turkeys in Alabama with dogs
it isn;t a IF< its a fact!

I am not bashing here or trying to be negative, just trying to let you know the laws and not get yourself into troubles

in the spring time, all the more so when many wild animals are nursing there young, having a dog run wild, can do a LOT of harm and damage to young wildlife
owning a dog or dogs is a big responsibility and something many openers take for granted
they need exercise and time to be dogs and burn off excessive energy
my dogs seen a few miles recovery day of free time
Trained then to run along side atv's and vehicles on private lands, saved me a lot of walking as I got older LOL
but all dogs are different too in how much energy levels they have and need to burn off !
but its a simple things with dogs the more you train them the more you get back out of them, in bonding and results that show every where!
nothing alike a well trained dog! IMO

I treated mine like they were kids and the loyalty and friend ship and memories with them were/are priceless

a good thing to do with younger dogs might be training them to hunt for shed antlers(if your a deer hunter) this gets you a lot of time in the field and best time to start them is when there young!
so food for thought!

The state of WV allows dogs in the fall as does VA. In VA down around Charlottsville (sp) hunting with dogs is quite the rage and considered "gentlemen hunting" just like those who hunt quail, etc. Training as such is not permitted in WV and I do not know about VA. Given that your dos are already breaking flock and barking upon break, I'd say most likely they'll hunt and perform for you. One fear I always had was that Jake would hunt wider than I wanted and I was afraid that some "neck" would shoot him that may be out hunting. There are people who don't like seeing dogs run through the mts. Jake was a hunter but more importantly he was our pet. The guy lived in the house, slept in the bed, and would go in the car or truck whenever we went anywhere. We treated him like a kid. One of his favorite places to go was Dairy Queen. Just make sure that you can legally hunt with him where you take him is good advice.