New to Turkeys

[ilhnter]

Last year was my first season really chasing Turkeys. I don't know much about turkey hunting and my dad and I tried our best last year, but it just didn't work out. I read up and tried to learn what I could, but it seemed like the birds did the exact opposite of what I had read and heard from people. I've heard and read that turkeys like to fly up hill when leaving the roost. Every bird we saw flew downhill when it left the roost. What are your experiences? We were using a single hen decoy. I've seen and heard a lot of people using a few hens or a single hen with a jake. What's everyone's thoughts. Just trying to get more info and see what has worked for everyone else. Thanks in advance for any advice and for sharing what you have seen.

[VermontHunter]

I've learned one 100% thing about Turkeys since I've been hunting them and that's they'll do the exact opposite of what you expect most of the time ... lol Just keep after them and learn as you go, and just about the time you want to give up everything seems to come together and pay off .....

Here's the setup that was suggested to me and it worked like a charm. It consist of 3 hens and a jake.

And this was the end result ...

One other good piece of advice I can offer is NOT to over call, I know first hand how difficult it is to want to call everytime I heard a gobble ,,, but this can hurt you more than help ... once a Tom has responded to your call, he knows just where you are more then likely ....

Good Luck this season ...

[RangerClay]

Its hard to give advice when I'm not familiar with your territory.

Turkeys are funny creatures. One day all you have to do is cluck a couple times and they come a running, the next day you can scream turkey calls and nothing.

Are other people hunting the property? Do you have coyote problems? What style of calls are you using? What calls are you making? How long do you sit and call for? Are you fully camo'd?

[ilhnter]

Ranger I completely understand its hard without knowing all the details. We own 80 acres and are the only ones that hunt it. We have not seen very many coyotes at all and our trail cam pics are full of turkeys. We have one pic that has 50+ turkeys in the frame. I'm not much of a turkey caller, but we use a slate call and also a box call. We try to call as little as possible since we aren't the best. We currently use just a single hen decoy and may sit in a location for an hour or so. We are fully camo'd up with face masks and gloves and it all. Every morning we have anywhere from 1 to 5 jakes/gobblers roosted on top of a ridge on the property. Every single day we hunted last year there was at least one roosted there. We have set up above them, below them, close to them, and away from them and no luck. We have tried to bring them out into our little field and have set up in the woods.

[jesse8953]

sounds like you got a good place to go. patience is the key! keep after them and it will pay off.

[Rhino]

First of all...get a jake decoy to go with that hen. Gobblers are far more apt to go to decoys when they see an upstart in the decoy flock. When they come in they will usually ignore the hen decoys & go right to the jake to whip his butt. I've used a jake decoy or a mature gobbler decoy in MO. The results are the same...they go to open a can of you know what on the intruder. More often than not they come running in but I also use a gobble call when I use male turkey decoys (discussed below).

I would think Illinois birds are probably similar to Missouri birds. What I've seen in MO is they tend to go toward fields shortly after leaving the roost. They may not actually enter the field early in the morning but they won't be too far from them. It all depends on where the hens are when they get close to the fields.

In Mississippi it's the usually the opposite. Birds tend to go toward open wooded areas and might later go to fields. Some gobblers rarely seem to make it to fields until afternoon hours. If they didn't get with hens right off the roost, more often than not they will make their way to strutting areas where they can see for long distances (hear better too). That way they can locate hens easier. Sides of ridges and points of ridges are prime strutting spots for birds in MS. Once they get with hens they are going to go wherever the hens choose to go until those hens either leave them or stop being receptive to them. Then they're off to find more hens.

I've found that a gobble call works great in MO. I suspect it would probably be effective in Illinois too since you're just across the river. I've used them effectively in Mississippi and other southern states but they are far more effective in MO than they are in MS. To be perfectly honest, in MO my gobble call is my "go to call" for every setup. That's not the case in MS. My "go to call" in MS is a slate call making hen talk. Granted there are specific situations in MS when a gobble call is very effective but there's more of a tendency for birds (especially 2.5 year olds) to hang up in MS. From my experience hunting MO gobblers the past 2 springs, the chance of 2.5 year old birds hanging up is far less. We hunt the opener & several days during the 3rd week due to the timing MO makes you wait before you can kill your 2nd bird, so...all the birds can't be killed right at the start. You may ask...how effective are you talking about? Well at the risk of giving away the golden goose, it took me 4 mornings the past 2 MO spring seasons for me to kill my 4 birds hunting on my own. Yep...100% success on MO hunts so far hunting on my own. I didn't use any decoys the 1st year...just my gobble call mixed in with some occasional hen talk. Had to work harder into the late morning on the 2nd bird (killed ~10:30 a.m.). Last year I used 1 or 2 hen decoys along with either a jake decoy (1st bird) or a gobbler decoy (2nd bird) & it made it almost too easy to kill my 2 birds in 2 morning hunts last spring. Had each one of them flopping on the ground less than 45 minutes after flydown. I spent 4 mornings the past 2 MO seasons doing buddy hunts where my buddy was the shooter. The 2012 season I made 2 buddy hunts with him, no decoys and my buddy missed a bird inside 30 yards that came to my gobble call ~9:30 a.m. (terrible shot!). Last year I made 2 buddy hunts with him again where my buddy was the shooter using decoys, including a jake & my buddy killed 1 bird. Hummm...only 50% success rate on shots. Can't help it if he missed...not my fault. My buddy also made a buddy hunt last year on opening day with a client of ours using 2 hens & a mojo jake decoy and the only call he used was a gobble call...they each killed a gobbler (yep doubled up) out of the 3 birds they called in ~20 minutes after I'd killed my opening morning bird. The previous season, he killed his 1st bird ever hunting on his own using just a gobble call with a couple of hens & a gobbler decoy on the 2nd day of our hunt during the 3rd week of the MO season. That's about as close as you can get to being skull & crossbones effective on MO birds. Now...if there's a risk where you hunt of bringing in other hunters using a gobble call you may want to consider that risk before using one. I don't have that problem to worry about. Not only does it present a potential safety risk from a dumb hunter moving in on you, that hunter coming to your gobbling can easily mess up your setup by the spooking birds you're working out of the area.

With all that said though...I always try to put myself either (1) between where a gobbler is (or gobblers are) and where he (they) want to go or (2) where I believe they are going to go (be there 1st). Many years of turkey hunting experience has given me a good feel for figuring that out.

[Zizzer59]

Rhino, I'll second that about the gobble call. They come running to it down here in south MO. My problem is that I can call them up all day long, but they hang up right before they step out. I might try using a jake decoy, all I use now are hen decoys. Last year I had a gobbler about 30 yards away from me over a hill, and it seemed like he was just about to come over when it started pouring down rain. He shut up and after about 15 minutes I snuck up to the top of the hill and he was gone.

[RangerClay]

Ranger I completely understand its hard without knowing all the details. We own 80 acres and are the only ones that hunt it. We have not seen very many coyotes at all and our trail cam pics are full of turkeys. We have one pic that has 50+ turkeys in the frame. I'm not much of a turkey caller, but we use a slate call and also a box call. We try to call as little as possible since we aren't the best. We currently use just a single hen decoy and may sit in a location for an hour or so. We are fully camo'd up with face masks and gloves and it all. Every morning we have anywhere from 1 to 5 jakes/gobblers roosted on top of a ridge on the property. Every single day we hunted last year there was at least one roosted there. We have set up above them, below them, close to them, and away from them and no luck. We have tried to bring them out into our little field and have set up in the woods.

Wow! Sounds like you guys have the cheese touch.

Are the birds responding to your calls?

One thing I noticed from your description got my attention. If you are getting 50+ birds in your cam pics but are roosting 1-5 toms it may be your tom/hen ratio is outta whack. If I had 30 hens at my disposal I wouldn't come to any calls either.

When birds get picky in my woods I like to scout where they go after they fly down. I will set-up between where they are and where they are going. I try to find a pinch point or a ridge that they use and set-up there.

Took me years before I got my first bird. Keep at it and you will get the hang of it.

[abrown]

Two things I haven't heard meantioned is, 1) Be patient, even after you hit the call, and no response, there's a good chance they might be coming in quiet. My first turkey, btw was a jake, I did not even know was in the area, until he gobbled at the cows! I have also had more than one tom come in quiet after his first couple of gobbles. 2) Be mobile, sometimes a big setup is good, but alot of times it is just a waste of time! I have shot several toms by running and gunning, or sneaking around the land features to intercept them, because the hens are pulling them away from the calls. Which means, you have to find out when the hens are nesting, usually toward the mid or later part of the season, meaning they leave the toms about mid morning to nest, which usually the toms will be gobbling their heads off during mid day. The main thing is, it is ALWAYS a learning experience! OH, and if you go elk hunting, pretty much the same tactics apply except you add scent control.

[Rhino]

Rhino, I'll second that about the gobble call. They come running to it down here in south MO. My problem is that I can call them up all day long, but they hang up right before they step out. I might try using a jake decoy, all I use now are hen decoys. Last year I had a gobbler about 30 yards away from me over a hill, and it seemed like he was just about to come over when it started pouring down rain. He shut up and after about 15 minutes I snuck up to the top of the hill and he was gone.

Took a lot more patience and coaxing to get the 2 MO birds I killed 2 years ago in range without using decoys. Great hunts but my butt was numb on the 1st bird because I couldn't move for ~2.5 hours with him, his 2 buddies, and a hen anywhere from 80 to 100 yards away until finally I was able to coax the hen closer using soft clucks & purrs. She pulled them into range. Same problem with the 2nd bird coaxing him into range after 1st calling him into sight. Only took about 30 minutes for him to get in range though. Worked quite a few more MO gobblers that season that I saw too that never came within range.

Last year using a jake decoy (1st bird) the gobbler came running in with 2 hens. Shot him standing on top of my jake decoy working it over. Used my full strut gobbler decoy on my 2nd bird...2 gobblers came running in when they saw the full strut decoy. Shot the one with the thicker beard at 22 yards, which happened to be the trailing bird. The survivor still went to my full strut decoy that was only ~12 yards from me. He proceeded to attack it. Yep...his buddy was already dead! I sat up with my back away from the tree & that didn't bother him. I finally had to start getting to my feet to run him off before he tore up the real turkey fan I had attached to the back of that decoy. My jake & full strut decoys are DSD decoys...not cheap but look great. I think MO gobblers will do the same thing to any decent looking jake or gobbler decoy though. Easier using a jake decoy since they are a little smaller than a full strut decoy. My buddy's mojo jake decoy worked just as good but with the battery operated movement and the remote control, they aren't cheap either...little cheaper than DSD decoys though. The mojo jake decoy's motion action is pretty cool and gives the hunter something to fiddle with instead of overcalling. I don't think the motion of the mojo decoy would ever spook a gobbler. The motion is too realistic. You might want to have a 2nd set of batteries handy though just in case you're having too much fun using it.

[ilhnter]

Ranger, I know our tom/hen ratio is all out of whack. We bought the property two years ago so this is the 2nd year we are going to turkey hunt it, but before us it wasn't turkey hunted in about 8+ years, so that makes 10+ years since a turkey has been taken off the property and I know that nobody turkey hunts the neighboring properties. I do believe that our biggest problem is that they are roosting with or very close to the hens so it is about impossible for us to get the toms away from the hens. I should have mentioned this earlier, but the property to the south is mostly fields and the property to the west is crop field, the east is the an interstate, and the property to the north is a wooded ridge bordered by crp. So most of the turkeys roost on us, so the hens and toms are very close.

Edited February 6, 2014 by ilhnter

[abrown]

I'm pretty sure you don't manage turkey like deer, meaning you don't try and get the tom to hen ratio down! More hens, more clutches, which in the end produce more turkey. Maybe it is harder hunting, but hunting is not our priority, management is.