Turkey Hunting Strategies

Let's face it; we will never know exactly what a gobbler is thinking. However, we have a good idea of what his motives are during the spring.

In one word - girls. During summer, fall and winter a gobbler's movements will be determined, in large part, by where he can find his next meal. As the days grow longer, they turn their attention toward more important things like breeding hens. Learning how a gobbler reacts to hens can help you improve your chances of tagging a longbeard this spring.

In principle, spring turkey hunting is not difficult. Find a gobbling bird in the predawn darkness and set up nearby. As the sun starts to break the horizon, let out a few hen yelps and sit at the ready. When the bird flies down and walks within 30 yards, take him.

In the woods, however, it doesn't always work that way. Oftentimes, the trick to turkey hunting is finding the right bird at the right time in the right place. The same bird that ignored your calls in the morning may run you over later that afternoon.

Here are a few general tips about turkey behaviour in the spring:

• Gobbling is used to bring hens to the gobbler. Remember that you are trying to do the opposite when you are turkey hunting. Be patient and adjust your calling intensity to suit his mood. You will typically want to try and get him fired up.
• Strutting is a close-range technique to attract hens to the gobbler.
• Dominant toms usually gobble more than subordinate ones.
• Jakes do gobble and strut. However, they are often afraid to, especially later in the spring after a dominant bird has whipped them a few times. Just because the spring woods are quiet doesn't mean there aren't any turkeys around.
• Gobblers are usually surrounded with hens early in the morning. Toward midmorning, the hens will often leave them to sit their nests. The time to be there is when a old tom is alone. Did you ever have a vocal bird at predawn working your calls only to have the bird shut up when he flew off the roost? It is probably no surprise, but he most likely had hens all around him.
• Gobblers still mate in the rain - they just don't gobble as much or you can't hear them as much due to the noise. There is no reason why hunting rainy-day gobblers can't be successful. Look for birds in fields and pastures when it is raining.
• A common misconception is that toms sometimes just get tired of gobbling and shut up later in the season. This is not true. Gobbling will peak just before hens are ready to breed (usually just before your hunting season starts) and again after most hens have started to incubate their eggs (usually toward the middle to later part of your season). Late-season hunting is a great time to find a lonesome tom.

Pecking Order: Recognizing the Dominant Gobbler

Most of us would like to shoot the biggest, oldest gobbler on our property. The problem is that it can be hard to tell which gobbler this is until you actually have him in hand.

Fortunately, there are a few clues that may give a turkey hunter an advantage in picking out the dominant tom.

Most of the time, the biggest and/or oldest gobbler is likely to also be the dominant one within a flock. He can often be identified by the way he acts. When watching a small group of gobblers in the spring as they approach a hen or come to your calling, look for the longbeard that does all or most of the strutting. He will be the dominant bird nearly every time.

The other gobblers around the dominant bird will often strut, too, but usually they will not strut as long or as fully fanned. The boss gobbler may not come out of strut at all, his head is usually pulled in close to his body, and his fan is sticking straight up.

Another clue to identifying pecking order is to watch for attacks from the dominant tom toward other gobblers. The big boy may chase the others, or he may just turn their way, causing them to move off or break strut.

Gobbling behaviour may also give clues to pecking order. Many times, but not always, the first turkey to gobble on a given morning is the dominant bird. However, on occasions when he doesn't gobble first, you may note that other gobbling turkeys suddenly fall silent when he finally sounds off. Another clue is that the hens may yelp back more often and with more excitement to the dominant bird.

Pay close attention to the turkeys' behaviour, and you can take that top trophy we all dream about.

Scouting Open Places

Openings and fields are important to wild turkeys. In the spring and summer, the majority of the turkey's food sources are found in open, sunny places. Newly hatched broods may be seen along the borders of fields and other openings, which provide the poults' primary meal of insects, as well as a variety of seeds and berries.

Grasses, berries and insects are the primary foods for adult turkeys during this time of year, with plant material providing more than half of the spring and summer diet for the turkey.

Fields are good places to view the attentive hen teach her brood the ways of the wild turkey. And when the following spring rolls around, they are also good places to set-up and wait for a feeding longbeard when the birds refuse to gobble.

Listen for gobbler thunder from a ridge top, knoll or similar high spot at dawn. The higher you hunt the easier it is to hear and course faraway gobbles. If a bird roars on a nearby oak flat or just off the point of a ridge, great! Sneak quietly down into calling position.
The first time a turkey gobbles, don't tear down the woods running to him. Keep cool; slip 25 to 50 yards in the direction of the gobble; and check up. A tom will usually gobble 2 or 3 more times, and hopefully more than that. Listen to those calls and draw a solid line to the bird's roost tree.
Using ridges, hollows and foliage for cover, you should have no trouble sneaking within 200 yards of a roosted turkey. Whenever possible, try to cut the distance to 125 or even 100 yards. The less terra firma between you and a bird, the better the odds that he'll pitch down and drift to your calls at daybreak.
For some strange reason, most toms are reluctant to pitch from their limbs and strut downhill to calling. Try to position above a roosted bird, or at least on the same gradient plane with him.
As you approach a gobbling turkey, scan the woods for a fence, creek, gully or strip of thick brush, and manoeuvre to take any hazard large or small out of play. Strive to set up where the terrain is gently rolling and fairly open, which makes it easy for a tom to strut toward your calls.
The best strategy of all is to anticipate where a gobbler will go to gather hens, then set up to block his way. Is there a field, food plot, clear-cut, burn or open creek bottom within a half-mile or so of a tom's roost tree? If so, beat feet over in that direction and settle in. When the turkey flies down and heads for his strut zone, you'll be in good position to cut him off and coax him with calling.

Early Morning Calling

Let's say you do it right and slip within 100 yards of a roosted turkey that is gobbling hot and heavy. The more the bird roars, the more you feel an uncontrollable urge to cluck and yelp. But be careful! Too much calling at first light can hang a tom on his limb as he waits for the hot "hen" to sail or walk beneath his roost tree. And the longer he sits up there and fails to see a girl, the more he smells a rat. When the bird finally flies down 30 minutes later, there's a good chance he'll run the other way.
So fight the urge to call too early. Wait until pink illuminates the sky. Then give a bird some pillow talk to let him now you're there. A couple of sultry tree clucks and yelps are about right.
If the turkey bellows shut the heck up! He has honoured you as a hen, he likes what he heard, and he knows where you are. Let him fly down and come looking for you. But if the tom fails to gobble, cluck and yelp a little louder to focus his attention in your direction.
If he still doesn't talk, it's no big deal. Listen for the bird to fly down, and then hit him with a spirited hen cackle. If you have one, now’s the time to try flapping a turkey wing against your leg to sound like a hen pitching to the ground. If the tom gobbles and steps your way, you might not need to call again. But if he hangs up after 5 minutes or so, cluck, yelp and purr a little louder. As long as the turkey hangs around and gobbles keep playing the game. Most hunters move too quickly on toms that might eventually strut to their calls 30 minutes or so after fly-down time.

Mid Morning Strategies

Turkeys might gobble like crazy on the roost. But for an hour or two after daybreak the woods may fall as quiet as a mausoleum. That's because the hens and toms are courting and breeding. Toms strut and drum but gobble little if at all as they have their fun. The so-called "gobbling lull" is the toughest time of day to hunt.
But along about 9 o'clock some hens begin to leave some of the gobblers. Some girls simply lose interest in the boys, while others slip off to lay eggs. Lovesick toms are driven to be around hens all the time in the spring, so they immediately begin searching for more company. Some rowdy 2-year-old males may start gobbling hard in hopes of attracting new hens. Older longbeards strut and drum intensely, and they are stoked to shock gobble.
Gobblers strut around all morning, and suddenly they look up and their hens are gone, they almost fly into a panic. If you slip around the woods and call, those lonesome turkeys will hear you and gobble. If they gobble a couple of times at your calls, they're generally pretty easy to call in.
There's another big reason the midmorning hours are hot. You've got plenty of elbow room to do your thing. Most hunters have gone home or to work. A lot of the gobblers that were called to and maybe spooked first thing in the morning have settled back down. The woods have calmed down and the turkeys are back on their normal routine. If you've got the day off, hang in there. You'll have the woods to yourself as you call to those lonely gobblers.
Beginning around 9:00 a.m. walk old logging roads, field edges, foot trails on ridges…you get the idea. Pause often and listen for gobbles. Try to strike toms with calls.
I like to blow a hawk or crow call, lonely turkeys have so much pent-up energy that they'll often shock gobble at those sounds. The minute a turkey gobbles; I move in, set up in a good spot and switch over to soft hen calls."
If locator calls fail to produce, turn to turkey calling. "My favourite calls are loud yelps and especially cutts. "If a gobbler's hens have left and he's strutting around by himself, he'll nail a sharp cutt most of the time."
When I hunt late season, I figure most of the gobblers are call shy. So I tone down my calling. I still cover lots of ground and call down into hollows and around fields, but I yelp and cutt softer and not as much.

Late Afternoon Strategies

You can experience some great action beginning after lunch and continuing until roosting time if all-day turkey hunting is allowed in your area. Most of the early-morning hunters are out of the woods. But the gobblers are still there; most of them have been deserted by hens and stoked to gobble at your locator calls or hen cutts.
But keep this in mind. You can't expect a turkey to gobble 50 or more times in the afternoon like he might first thing in the morning. Most birds won't even gobble as much as they might around 9 or 10 a.m. You need to crow call or hen cutt and listen closely for a faint gobble or two. Then move in and listen for softer sounds, like a turkey strutting or walking in the leaves. A lot of turkeys, especially old Easterns, will gobble only once or twice in the afternoon, but they'll come to your calls fast and silently.
Afternoon hunting generally peaks from around 2 to 4:30 p.m., but you might as well hunt right up until dark some days. Gobblers love to roost within 50 to 200 yards of hens. If a turkey hears you yelping and cutting late in the day, he might come in to roost in the area. Better yet, he might run over to check out the hen before he flies up.

Decoy Setups

I've developed a love-hate relationship with decoys over the years. Granted, some lovesick toms run to fakes. But we've watched far too many birds stop 50 yards out, explode into strut and wait for the "hen" to walk the rest of the way to them. Here's a good way to cut down on some of those hang-ups.
Stake a fake hen 20 yards past a calling setup. This puts you smack between the decoy and the gobbling turkey you're yelping to. If the bird works in and stops 50 yards from the impostor, great! He's 30 yards or so off the end of your shotgun barrel.
A few final notes: Pack two foam hens and a foam jake from Feather Flex, Carry Lite, or BuckWing in your vest. Set the trio on their stakes; they'll spin enticingly in the breeze to catch the eye of a gobbler. Setting a jake with a hen or two is important; as a mature gobbler will sometimes see him and come in to kick his butt. Decoys work best in fields, logging roads and other open areas where gobblers can spot them a long way off.

Decoy Safety

While decoys increase chances, they can also increase danger. Today's decoys are very real looking and can draw fire from unknowing hunters.

When using decoys, be sure to:

• Never transport decoys uncovered. Many of the new decoys fold up for easy storage in turkey vests.
• Always set up against a tree that is taller than your head and wider than your shoulders.
• Establish a clear line of vision for at least 100 yards and then set up the decoys 20 yards from your position on the line.
• If you see another hunter, call out in a loud, clear voice to alert them to your position.
• Always check carefully that no one is stalking your decoys before leaving your position.

Putting the Turkeys to Bed

One of the oldest tricks in the book in to "put a gobbler to bed." On spring evenings hit the woods and listen for a turkey to gobble when he flies up to roost at dusk. If a bird doesn't roar on his own, utilize a owl hoot, crow call or hen cutt. Hopefully one or more birds will gobble and give away their roost trees. Even if no toms talk, you should listen for heavy wings thumping up into the treetops.
If you hear a turkey gobble or fly up, you know where to hunt the next morning. Slip into the area well before first light, set up 100 to 150 yards away from a turkey's roost and wait for tom to roar. Then give him your best calling.
"A roosted turkey isn’t a roasted turkey!" You might come back the next morning and a turkey you roosted won't gobble. Or he might gobble his fool head off, fly down and run straight away from your calling. You just never know. Still, you should try to roost a few birds each spring. It sure never hurts to plan a morning hunt in an area where you put a gobbler to bed the night before.

Set-Up Specifics

When calling to a turkey, most of the time you should sit with your back against a wide tree. This helps to break your outline and hide you from the probing eyes of incoming toms. It also provides the foundation for a rock-solid shooting station.
Try to set up against a tree that sits slightly above a flat, hillside or bottom. Gaining an extra foot or two of elevation increases your visibility as you scan the foliage for approaching turkeys.
If you shoot right-handed, twist into a set-up tree so that your left shoulder points in the direction you think a gobbler will appear (vice versa for southpaws). Pull your knees up into your body and rest your shotgun over them.
From this "turkey hunter's coil" you're ready to call in and shoot a gobbler.

Flow With a Turkey
Fine-tune your shooting form before laying eyes on the turkey that you're calling. Each time a bird gobbles (or yelps or kee-kees in the fall) out in the foliage; shift your coiled body and shotgun in his direction. Continue to flow your body and gun with subtle sounds like drumming and the shuffling of leaves as a turkey draws nearer. Don't make fast, foolish moves; just ease your body and shotgun around to cover a bird as he comes in. When a tom's read-white head pops up in the brush, you'll be on it and ready to shoot.

Making the Shot

• When you spot an incoming turkey take a deep breath to calm your frazzled nerves and racing heart.
• Identify the target. Look for a gobbler's red, white or blue head and red neck. Check for a beard (the longer the better!).
• In the spring if a turkey struts before your eyes, examine his 18 tail feathers. If they are even in length you're looking at a mature gobbler. The middle rectrices of a jake's fan are noticeably longer than the sides of his tail.
• Don't be scared to move a little bit to fine-tune your aim. When a turkey's head ducks behind brush or a tree, ease your shotgun around to cover an opening where it should reappear.
• Look for foliage between you and a turkey. You'll have to shoot through some small stuff most of the time, but don't let something like a 2-inch sapling destroy your shot pattern and cause you to miss. Slide your gun barrel left or right to take a pattern-busting obstacle out of play.
• Wait for a turkey to close within 40 yards before firing. Letting a bird walk inside 35 paces is better yet.
• Aim for the lower third or middle of a tom's neck. This way a shot pattern covers the entire head/neck vitals. ·
• Dig your cheek firmly into your shotgun's stock. Keep your head down to keep from pulling the shot high.
• If necessary break a turkey's strut before firing. Cluck on a diaphragm or even yell "hey!" to make a bird run up his neck.
• Wait until a shot looks and feels just right. But if a turkey putts and gets jittery you'd better shoot if you can. Sensing trouble or seeing something that he didn't like, a gobbler is fixing to duck his head and leave.
• Press the trigger. Don't yank it or you'll pull the shot high.
• You don't have to sprint like Michael Johnson, but get on a flopping turkey fast after the shot. Don't let a "dead" bird roll over, run off and fly away.

Turkey Recovery
I once called up a big gobbler for a friend of mine. He fired. The bird catapulted into the air and flew away! While my buddy threw down his hat and stomped around and cussed, I kept my eyes glued on the tom. A hundred yards out it dropped a wing, folded and fell stone dead. We ran over and recovered the bird, which made us both feel a lot better.
Strive for one-shot kills. But if you shoot and mess up, keep your wits and watch the turkey. You might get lucky and see him fall from the sky. Listen close for a 20-pound tom to fold up and thump to the ground.
If a wounded bird runs away, track it. Follow upturned leaves and scattered feathers. You might find a turkey buried in thick brush. He might try to run or fly away, so be poised for a follow up shot.

Cleaning Your Wild Turkey

If you're a turkey hunter, you're used to making decisions. And, after choosing the right turkey loads, camouflage, decoys and calls before entering the spring woods, it's a relief when the final decision of the hunt is how to care for and cook your bird.

Plucking vs. Skinning

Considered the traditional style of cleaning a wild turkey, plucking is a perfect way to prepare your bird to be roasted, smoked or whole deep-fried. Before you remove the entrails or field dress the turkey pluck the turkey's feathers to help keep the moisture in the turkey while cooking it whole. Remove the feathers after dipping the bird in hot water. Some people use boiling water but it has been said that 140-degree water is optimal for plucking a bird. Plucking does take time and produces more of a mess than does skinning; however, the taste of deep-fried or roasted turkey skin is worth the effort.

Many of today's turkey hunters prefer skinning to plucking. Skinning a turkey allows you to cook the bird by frying or grilling the pieces of meat. You can skin and fillet the turkey breasts, and slice as much meat from the legs and wings as necessary. Make a cut just along one side of the breastbone. Then, it's just a matter of working the skin off the breast halves, down the back and over each of the legs. In some states it's illegal to only fillet the breast out, leaving the rest of the carcass behind. Always check your state's hunt regulations, and make sure your turkey is properly tagged for transportation.

Field Dressing

In hot weather hunting conditions, field dressing your bird is a good idea before you clean it for the table. If you decide to field dress your bird, start by placing the turkey on its back. Find the bottom of the breast plate and insert your knife, making a cut to the anal vent. Remove the entrails from this opening and then reach into the cavity to sever the windpipe, heart and lungs. Cool the cavity by placing ice inside the chest.

Cleaning your turkey is the first step, and regardless of whether you plan to skin, pluck or breast out and cut up your bird, doing it properly is both quick and easy. Just follow these simple steps.

1. If you don't plan to cook your bird whole, start by laying the turkey on it's back. Remove just enough breast feathers so as to expose the skin.

2. To remove the breast filets, pull or cut the skin back from the breast. Make cuts along each side of the breastbone as well as on the inside of both wings or the clavicle. To save the wings, peel the skin back and remove the wings from the cavity by cutting through the joint.

3. Find the breastbone and make an incision down each side of the breastbone to loosen the breast filet from the bone. Work from the rear of the breast forward, filleting off the breast by pulling the filet and using the knife as needed. Repeat this for the other side of the breast.

4. To remove the thigh and leg, cut through the thigh muscle where it attaches to the back. Then grab the thigh or leg and pull up until you can feel the joint pop loose. Keep cutting through the thigh until it comes free from the turkey's body.