How to Make This Your Best Turkey Season Yet

As turkey seasons across the country get rolling, hunters everywhere anticipate the annual spring ritual. It’s a time for new adventures and the promise of heart-stopping action.

Moreover, the spring season offers another chance to pit your skills against the ultra-sharp eyes and wary nature of a longbeard. That can be tough, especially if that bird has been messed with before. But a quick review of turkey hunting’s best practices can make the job easier. In fact, by working on these critical skill sets, you can make this spring turkey season your best ever.

Plotting the Path

Every turkey hunter knows that scouting is important. But many folks probably don’t go beyond reviewing a few trail cam photos or taking a quick walk through the woods before opening day. Going to the next level can make a big difference.

Pre-season scouting really begins the day after the previous spring’s hunt ends. You have months before the next campaign to scour aerial photographs and mapping apps for potential new spots. Look for areas within driving distance that might offer turkeys everything they need, including big roosting timber, food plots or ag fields, good nesting cover, and poult rearing habitat in the form of grasslands or other edge cover. Then, as time allows, visit those spots in person to get a feel for the land and its terrain. Some spots will turn out to be duds, but that’s OK, as you’ve eliminated an unproductive area. Others, however, will display potential, and finding even one or two new prospects per year can really open up your options.

As the season nears, visit as many potential hunting areas as possible to observe and listen for turkeys. Glass open areas from good vantage points to note where hens feed and gobblers strut. Listen in the pre-dawn for roosted birds sounding off. Learn as much as possible, but take a low-impact approach. Don’t blindly bumble through the woods and risk spooking turkeys. And continue these efforts right up to opening day. Depending on when the season opens in your state, turkey flock dynamics can change almost overnight before the opener, as big winter flocks and bachelor groups break up, and birds expand their range and fill their habitat. You’ll likely see and hear birds at spots where there had been nothing days earlier.

Find Your Calling

Some folks geek out about calling and practice almost year-round. Many others, however, probably dust off their yelpers a week or so before the season and reason that they sound good enough.

It’s true that you do not need to be a championship-level caller to kill turkeys. Further, many argue that other elements of the hunt — woodsmanship, experience and land access — are more important. But it’s also true that being a skilled caller never hurts you in the turkey woods. In fact, when you combine realistic calling with turkey hunting’s other skills, you’ve reached a level few attain.

Bottom line: Practice as much as possible. Listen to real turkeys, whether in the woods or via online sound files, and the tone, rhythm, cadence and inflection of those birds. Strive to mimic those turkeys.

Become proficient with many types of calls. Some days, the big three — diaphragms, pots and boxes — are all it takes to make a turkey gobble and lure him close. But other times, especially with pressured birds, new and different sounds from instruments such as tube calls, wingbones, trumpets or scratch boxes can prompt a gobbler’s interest when he’s seemingly heard it all.

And when you’re in the woods, work on presenting realistic scenarios. Too many folks settle into a blind or tree and then blindly blurt out a few yelps or clucks. Instead, think about what turkeys are doing at that moment, and focus on initiating a conversation. Obviously, you’ll want to start a pre-dawn roost hunt with soft tree yelps and tree clucks. If the woods go silent after flydown, mimic a feeding hen with some soft plain yelps, and clucking and purring. If that fails, escalate the urgency a bit with excited yelping and cutting. Above all, see how a gobbler reacts to calling, and give him what he wants. Some days, that might be the aggressive stuff. During other hunts, turkeys might prefer softer, more subtle vocalizations. Figure out what he likes that day, and give him just enough to keep him moving to you.

Be Versatile, Experiment

Many folks hunt the same way year after year, and if that works, fantastic. They’ve obviously found a good spot and determined how to get it done. That doesn’t happen all the time, though. And when turkeys throw you a curve — and they will — it pays to have several backup plans and options available.

Think about how a day of hunting might progress, and make educated guesses about areas where you might encounter turkeys at various times. Try to roost birds the night before your hunt so you have an idea of where to start (hopefully fairly close to a roosted gobbler). If your roost hunt blows up, find a setup where birds might travel, feed and strut during the morning, such as ag fields, food plots, hardwood ridges or timbered flats. As the day progresses and temperatures increase, look for spots where turkeys might loaf, such as cool, shady creek bottoms or deep timbered hollows. During late afternoons, again look for food sources where hens might grab a bite before heading to roost. Also, know where turkeys go when it’s rainy or windy. And throughout the day, think about how turkeys travel between those areas, and identify potential ambush sites along those routes.

In addition, don’t get hung up on one spot or method. It always pays to keep an open mind and try new locales, various calling sequences and different approaches. Some hunters get too hung up on aggressive mobile tactics or, conversely, an ultra-passive approach. Both work, depending on the situation, but don’t fall into a rut. Let the turkeys dictate what might work that day, and be flexible. Move when you need to, but sit still and be patient when that seems more logical. You’ll make some missteps along the way, but everyone does. Through time, your hits will begin to outpace your misses.

Conclusion

A gobbling turkey is on your horizon, set to fill your spring with great memories. Hopefully, you’re up for the challenge, having worked on turkey hunting’s best practices. If so, you’re set to make this your best spring season ever.

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