Find out about wild turkey habitat, habits, and searching methods earlier than embarking on a hunt.
Wild turkeys are powerful birds. You would possibly hear hunters name them every thing from bird-brained to a string of expletives. But, regardless of being virtually pushed to extinction within the early 1900s, wild turkeys are extraordinarily good at what they advanced to do: survive. Their spectacular skill to keep away from predation is what frustrates so many turkey hunters 12 months after 12 months.
Filling a turkey tag doesn’t come simple, particularly once you’re unprepared. Fortunately, there are a couple of easy issues you are able to do to extend your probabilities of success if a gobbler walks inside vary. They embrace understanding your native turkey species, figuring out turkey habitat, and being acquainted with a couple of tried-and-true searching ways.
Study Your Native Turkey Species
There are 5 subspecies of untamed turkeys in the US: Jap, Merriam’s, Rio Grande, Osceola (Florida), and Gould’s. Right here’s a fast breakdown of their ranges:
Every subspecies of untamed turkey has its personal habitat preferences and quirks. Do a little analysis and name your native state fish and recreation workplace to get intel about your regional subspecies. If you happen to’re planning on turkey searching in a distinct state, name the workplace closest to the realm you’ll be searching in. They’ll doubtless share some priceless details about what meals the native birds want, insights into their each day actions, and the place you might discover birds.
Determine Turkey Habitat
Turkey habitat accommodates the three issues turkeys have to survive: meals, water, and shelter. Discovering a searching spot with all three will reap rewards for savvy turkey hunters.
First, hone in on what meals your native turkeys favor. Wild turkeys are omnivores and can capitalize on any plentiful meals supply in the course of the breeding season. Do crop fields dominate your searching space? Are you aware of a hidden meadow within the dense woods bursting with new development and bugs? Checking calorie-dense areas near water sources for turkey signal is a good place to begin.
Once more, I all the time advocate calling your state recreation company to study extra about what meals your native birds goal. They’ll have precious insights about which vegetation, bugs, or tree mast wild turkeys are clued into.
Turkey shelter can appear like a variety of issues. Within the night, it could appear like a roost tree. Throughout the day, shelter is usually a enormous discipline the place a flock of turkeys has a 360-degree view. Areas the place turkeys can hang around whereas feeling secure which can be additionally inside shut proximity to main meals and water sources is usually a great place to focus on come turkey season. Moreover, the corridors birds use to journey from roosting to feeding areas are nice locations to hunt as properly.
Understanding Turkey Habits
Turkeys breed and nest within the springtime. Gobbling and strutting are how male wild turkeys appeal to mates. Mostly, males show in open areas, and females journey to them. Hunters normally try and reverse this pure habits. Hunters stay in a single place, oftentimes utilizing hen calls and hen decoys, to usher in a male turkey. Generally, this system works flawlessly. Different instances, toms can get “hung up” out of taking pictures vary, doubtless as a result of they’re anticipating the feminine turkey to strategy them.
Turkey sounds may help people perceive turkey habits. A peaceful, feeding hen that wanders into your decoys can be a significantly better “reside decoy” than an alert hen emitting warning calls.
Turkey Sounds
Wild turkeys make a wide range of sounds, however hunters sometimes hear six of them. onX and the Nationwide Wild Turkey Federation present examples of those sounds in Turkey Name Historical past and Calling Suggestions:
Gobble: Male turkeys gobble to draw females and talk with different males. They can even gobble if they’re stunned, which known as a shock gobble.
Spit and drum: One other sound made by displaying toms, the male turkeys will make a spitting noise adopted by a gutteral drum. Hunters have to be very near displaying males to listen to this sound.
Putt: A single putt acts as an alarm name, speaking to different turkeys that hazard is close by. Listening to a collection of putts out of your searching blind doubtless means your cowl is blown.
Purr: Purrs are generally heard by feeding wild turkeys that really feel secure.
Yelp: Yelps are the most typical wild turkey name. Hens use them to find different birds and encourage different birds to affix her.
Lower: Normally fired off in a speedy collection, cuts normally point out {that a} hen is happy and desires to get a male turkey’s consideration. They can be emitted from an indignant hen.
Clucks, yelps, and purrs can all range in quantity and depth. Delicate, quiet turkey sounds usually symbolize contentment. Loud, frantic-sounding calls emit a way of urgency, which might inform different turkeys that hazard is afoot.
Wild Turkey Day by day Habits
On the whole, turkeys reside in flocks. Flocks roost at night time, fly down every morning, feed and loaf in the course of the day, then fly again up right into a roost every night. Since their each day habits are so cyclical, they are often comparatively simple to sample.
Wild turkeys can journey wherever from one to 5 miles in a day. Whereas this isn’t an enormous distance, it’s far sufficient that they doubtless gained’t use precisely the identical fields or roost timber each day. Nonetheless, they’ll nonetheless be in the identical normal space.
If you happen to find a flock of turkeys previous to spring turkey season, spend a while patterning their actions. After dinner, think about driving round with some binoculars to find their roost tree that night. Earlier than lengthy, you would possibly discover their 4 favourite timber and their most well-liked methods of coming into every roost. That’s necessary info for a turkey hunter trying to fill their tag.
Turkey Searching Gear
The gear you utilize to hunt turkeys ought to suit your most well-liked searching methods, native setting, and outside wants.
Clothes
Arguably, camouflage is critical for searching turkeys. Like all birds, wild turkeys have unbelievable imaginative and prescient. Not solely are they wonderful at detecting small actions, they see in coloration. In truth, birds truly see extra colours than people do. Which means that mixing into the setting is crucial.
Moreover, blaze orange is exceptionally brilliant to birds, together with small logos or decals on in any other case camo or earth-toned clothes. Ensure your turkey searching garments haven’t any brilliant marks or options on them. In the event that they do, don’t even twitch once they come inside taking pictures vary.
Vests And Backpacks
Many hunters make the most of a turkey searching vest. Like a fly fishing vest, they’ve many pockets on the surface for holding calls, shells, and snacks, and a few actually have a built-in cushion you may sit on whilst you look forward to birds to return in.
If you happen to’re searching lower than a mile from the truck or home, turkey vests are superior. Nonetheless, when you plan to hike a number of miles or keep out all day, think about carrying a backpack. For instance, I reside in western Colorado, which is Merriam’s nation. Right here, turkey searching is extra like elk searching. When searching Merriam’s, a backpack permits me to “run and gun” with my turkey decoys, water, a meal or two, emergency provides, additional layers, and discipline dressing gear.
Firearms
On the subject of strategies of take, most turkey hunters wield a 12 gauge shotgun. Many others hunt turkeys with a 20 gauge. Some hunters bowhunt turkeys. Only a few states permit turkeys to be taken with a rimfire rifle within the spring. On the whole, all the time test your state’s turkey searching rules earlier than going into the sphere. Use a firearm you’re comfy with to chase turkeys.
Decoys
The one piece of substances that may make or break a turkey hunt is a turkey decoy. Normally made out of exhausting plastic, foam, or a compressible materials, turkey decoys trick actual turkeys. Producers make tom, hen, and jake turkey decoys. Planning your decoy unfold upfront may help you achieve success.
To successfully use decoys, think about wild turkey habits. For instance, a lone hen decoy nestled within the grass sends a distinct message than a standing hen decoy with a jake decoy positioned proper subsequent to it. An aroused male turkey can be excited to discover a lone hen. Nonetheless, a mature male might really feel angered by a jake claiming a hen. The tom might change into aggressive and assault the jake decoy.
I’ve by no means heard of somebody utilizing an expansion of all mature toms, however I’m positive somebody on the market does.
Sample Your Shotgun
Very similar to how large recreation hunters sight of their rifles, it’s necessary for turkey hunters to sample their shotguns. Patterning your shotgun is straightforward and easy. By doing so, you’ll perceive how your turkey load spreads patterns at completely different distances.
If you happen to’re an upland or waterfowl hunter, you’re doubtless already acquainted with your favourite load’s unfold at completely different distances. Turkey hundreds range between shot dimension, shot materials, and shell size, making it additional necessary to check your shells on the vary previous to searching. Plus, issues get extra sophisticated when you use a choke.
How To Sample A Shotgun
To sample your shotgun, first, arrange turkey-shaped paper targets at staggered distances, ideally 15, 25, 35, 45, and 55 yards away. Write every distance onto the goal so that you don’t unintentionally combine them up later. Understanding your load’s efficiency at these distances gives you an excellent understanding of your shotgun’s sample. At a minimal, arrange three targets: one at 10, 25, and 40 yards.
Subsequent, shoot every goal precisely as you’d when you had been within the discipline. Elevate your gun to your shoulder, intention on the base of the turkey’s neck, and pull the set off. Whenever you’re completed taking pictures, acquire every goal. Lay them out and observe how tight your gun’s unfold was at 15 yards and the way open it was at 55. Rely what number of pellets struck the picture of the turkey on every goal, and write that quantity down, too. Take a minute to match what number of pellets hit the hen at 25 yards versus 55 yards.
What did you study? Maybe you’re a horrible close-range shot, and your 15-yard hit practically missed the hen, however the 25-yard turkey goal had 23 hits to the neck and head. Take this precious intel into the sphere with you.
Repeat this course of with different chokes and turkey hundreds to study which setup you shoot finest.
A superb rule of thumb is that an efficient, well-placed shot equals not less than 15 pellets to the top and neck space of a turkey goal. Pack your rangefinder in your upcoming turkey hunt and have a strong understanding of your shotgun’s efficiency.
Utilizing Turkey Calls
There are six normal sorts of calls turkey hunters use:
Field calls
Slate calls or pot calls
Push-button calls
Diaphragm calls, also called mouth calls
Locator calls embrace non-turkey sounds imitating crows, owls, and coyotes
Wing bone calls are sometimes handmade and unusual
Friction Calls
Field calls are the preferred kind of turkey name. They’re friction-based and might recreate each sound a wild turkey makes from gobbling to placing to purring. They’re broadly accessible, reasonably priced, and newbie pleasant.
One downside to field calls is that in excessive stress areas, turkeys develop accustomed to a field name’s particular sound, quantity, and pitch. They realize it’s not a wild hen. One other one is that field calls are usually very loud. Their quantity makes it troublesome to recreate calm, quiet turkey sounds. Observe that you just’ll should preserve your field name from making noise if it’s in your pack or pocket. I preserve mine shut with a rubber band (which additionally permits me to make loud gobbling sounds).
Slate calls, or pot calls, are additionally friction calls. Nonetheless, they function a easy slab of slate {that a} hunter rubs with a wood striker to create a squeaky, turkey-like sound. Nice slate callers could make each turkey sound recognized to man with one in every of these. Like field calls, they’re additionally simple to seek out in shops and are fashionable. In addition they can’t squeak in your backpack.
The third kind of friction name is a push-button name. They’re similar to a field name, however use a bit wood button to scrape chalked wooden collectively as a substitute of a sweeping hand motion. They are usually quieter and fewer versatile than a field name, however they require much less motion to make use of. I discover that they’re exceptionally good at recreating purring sounds.
Diaphragm Calls
Diaphragm or mouth calls are the lightest turkey name in the marketplace. They’re additionally broadly accessible, reasonably priced, and fashionable. Mouth calls are fabricated from a skinny slice of rubber stretched over a horseshoe-shaped piece of sentimental plastic. Diaphragms cosy up towards the roof of the caller’s mouth, and the caller makes use of air and tongue actions to create vibrant turkey sounds.
It takes a minute to get good at utilizing a mouth name. Make sure to follow with it at residence earlier than you utilize it in your searching spot.
Locator Calls
Locator calls aren’t used to make turkey sounds. As a substitute, they’re meant to induce a shock gobble, or an eruption of gobbles on account of being stunned, in male turkeys. Normally, they’re reed-based mouth calls that imitate crows, owls, or coyotes. Locator calls are usually used probably the most by hunters making an attempt to roost turkeys or spot-and-stalk birds.
Roosting Turkeys
Roosting turkeys refers to finding a tree or different roosting space that turkeys use as a secure place to sleep. Wild turkeys go to roost each night and fly down each morning. Wild birds solely like particular sorts of roosts. Usually, they’re outdated, large-limbed timber able to holding a flock of 20-pound birds.
Hunters “roosting turkeys” are scouting their searching space seeking the timber wild turkeys are utilizing. If you happen to hear somebody say “they put the turkeys to mattress,” they watched a flock of turkeys fly right into a tree. These birds will nonetheless be there within the morning, so establishing close to the roosting tree is an effective way to extend the percentages of connecting on a hen.
Turkeys habitually use a handful of roosts in a single space. They gained’t all the time be in the very same roost, however it’s doubtless they’ll keep in that normal space. Keep watch over the flock to study which timber they use and when, and plan your hunt accordingly.
Traditional Wild Turkey Searching Methods
No matter the place you’re searching, there are two common turkey searching methods hunters use: ambush searching and spot-and-stalk searching.
Regardless of which turkey searching fashion you utilize, intention on the decrease portion of a turkey’s neck, proper above the breast, when taking pictures at one. The pinnacle is a really small, fast-moving goal. You optimize your shotgun’s unfold when aiming on the largest and most deadly goal accessible to you. Ideally, your hen will die shortly and no meat can be harmed with an on-target hit to the decrease neck.
Ambush Searching
Ambush searching is by far the preferred kind of turkey searching. When utilizing this methodology, hunters arrange a floor blind, set turkey decoys in a sensible unfold in entrance of it, and use turkey calls to persuade toms to stroll into taking pictures vary. Ambush searching is an effective way to hunt birds you understand roost in a selected space or habitually use the identical feeding space each day.
Spot-And-Stalk
Spot-and-stalk turkey searching is strictly what it seems like: you notice a wild turkey (or hear one gobbling within the distance), and also you creep up on it. Generally, you may sneak up inside taking pictures distance of a very distracted, strutting hen. Extra typically, you’ll be capable to stalk inside 100 yards, then use turkey calls and decoys to get the hen to shut the ultimate distance. Doing so decreases the possibility that the hen will see you earlier than you get a shot alternative.
Take into account that spot-and-stalk searching is mostly used within the West. In truth, it’s frowned upon to stalk turkeys out east or in areas the place different hunters could also be current. Stalking birds that develop into one other hunter utilizing turkey calls may be unsafe for everybody concerned.
Wild Turkey Conservation Teams
The Nationwide Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF)
Turkeys for Tomorrow (TFT)
Michigan Wild Turkey Hunters Affiliation (MWTHA)
Wild Turkey Lab
Learn Extra
Hand-Carving Turkey Pot Name Strikers
Find out how to Butcher a Wild Turkey
The Combating Hens – A Lethal Turkey Calling Tactic
Is Unhealthy Calling Good Sufficient to Hunt Turkeys?
