Spring Turkey

Well, No luck yet but I am going to go out sometime once or twice this week maybe Wednesday, and Friday and probably once on the weekend too. I went out Friday morning and saw one hen, left around 9 and went out fishing instead. Managed to catch 21 sunnies and 6 crappie. Had a nice 11in crappie but anyway that's how that went.
 
Henrick Lind said:
Well, No luck yet but I am going to go out sometime once or twice this week maybe Wednesday, and Friday and probably once on the weekend too. I went out Friday morning and saw one hen, left around 9 and went out fishing instead. Managed to catch 21 sunnies and 6 crappie. Had a nice 11in crappie but anyway that's how that went.
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Henrick,
Some days the turkey woods can seem pretty dull with not much going on. On those days I just trust the process and match the quiet woods with some real soft calling. If I yelp at all, it will be very subtle. Try content feeding clucks, whines, scratching in the leaves, etc.
If you get a response, ramp up the calling at that point. Alot of times I believe a dominant tom will suppress the subordinate birds from answering and will come in quietly. Since you are seeing hens, your location can't be far off. Fully half our birds have come in after 9am. Keep the faith, RM
 
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RM Anderson said:
Henrick,
Some days the turkey woods can seem pretty dull with not much going on. On those days I just trust the process and match the quiet woods with some real soft calling. If I yelp at all, it will be very subtle. Try content feeding clucks, whines, scratching in the leaves, etc.
If you get a response, ramp up the calling at that point. Alot of times I believe a dominant tom will suppress the subordinate birds from answering and will come in quietly. Since you are seeing hens, your location can't be far off. Fully half our birds have come in after 9am. Keep the faith, RM
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They have to win every round. We just have to win once and they have a lot more at stake.
 
Pattern your gun (start with cheap target loads to save money and shoulder)

Scout

Get in early and sit tight.

I didnt start turkey hunting until later in my life, like most said it is a steep learning curve. Time spent in the field and proper preparation along with persistence pays off.
 

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Henrick Lind said:
Well, No luck yet but I am going to go out sometime once or twice this week maybe Wednesday, and Friday and probably once on the weekend too. I went out Friday morning and saw one hen, left around 9 and went out fishing instead. Managed to catch 21 sunnies and 6 crappie. Had a nice 11in crappie but anyway that's how that went.
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Sunfish/Bluegills & Crappies my favorite Food Fish. Ya did good. Spring turkey hunting and fishing go hand in hand. That said many a gobbler is killed late in the morning and especially if ya gotta stop hunting at noon. "Stick and Stay it's bound to pay." More than once I've had to leave the woods at noon and the gobblers were in full throat.
 
Mark Belknap said:
I've always figured the later I stick it out the more likely I am to kill a bird. Every gobbler I've seen this spring was after 9:00. One of the gobblers I killed this year was at 11:10.
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Mark,

My hope is that NY goes to a all day hunt in the Spring at least part of the season as PA and other states have done. The latest that I've killed a gobbler is 11:50 am. My in at full dark days for Spring turkey are just about over. I have plenty of enjoyment from 8am until noon. It is amazing how far and how long it can take for a gobbler to come and check ya out no matter if your up hill or down. That thing about turkey not liking to cross water is a load of dung. Old birds like to roost over water at times when weather permits.

Best regards
Vince
 
Hoping to go out tomorrow morning for a bit. Supposed to be a chilly one but we'll see what I can do. Only hunting till probably 8 tomorrow morning. As for this weekend I don't know yet because I got yardwork to do and chores to get done and I have church, and trap shooting Sunday, so if I do get out this weekend it will be Saturday morning or evening. I will let everyone know how it goes.
 
Henrick Lind said:
Hoping to go out tomorrow morning for a bit. Supposed to be a chilly one but we'll see what I can do. Only hunting till probably 8 tomorrow morning. As for this weekend I don't know yet because I got yardwork to do and chores to get done and I have church, and trap shooting Sunday, so if I do get out this weekend it will be Saturday morning or evening. I will let everyone know how it goes.
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Good luck Henrik! Heather and I are headed to the Black Hills in the morning for some South Dakota Merriams.
RM
 
I took a buddy to the property I killed my bird 2 weeks ago. He must be bad juju because we heard nothing for the first morning this season. No way off gobbles, no hens, nothing. I usually hang in there until I’ve got to be somewhere but we covered 2.5 miles and hung it up at 8:30.
 
No luck this morning I did see 2 hens picking grit on the gravel road though. I also found a bunch of tracks going through some mud and some did have spurs but not too big assuming jakes. I might go sit the mud pit tomorrow morning because if they are using it early morning they should be there. I also set a trail cam for daylight going to pick it up tonight and see if anything moved during daylight.
 
Went out yesterday morning and located a bird gobbling. I got set up and waited a while before I started calling and he answered me a number of times. I'm guessing he was 60-70 yards away. Although he answered me I never saw him and he never got closer. I'm guessing he had a hen or two with him. No luck. Hit a few more spots after that and never heard a gobble. Oh well there's plenty more days to go.
 
Knocked Down But Not Out; Black Hills Recap:

Saturday morning Heather and I were greeted with an unexpected development: logging taking place in one of our favorite areas. How this would affect the turkeys we didn't know but we were about to find out. Sure enough, our first morning we were greeted with only a fraction of the gobbling heard in past years.
Sunday was a comedy of errors on our part. We had located another roost quite by accident while walking to our original location. We quickly dived for cover in whatever cover we could find which wasn't much. Sure enough, busted by a nice tom about ten yards away as he crested a small ridge as I looked the other way. Later Heather and I tried spot and stalk on several small groups of jakes that were climbing into the high country but in every case we were unable to connect because they would not commit the last few yards.
Monday morning we sat on the opposite side of the roost to intercept them before they headed to the tops of the ridges. About two minutes after they started gobbling we were startled by two shots that rang out from their roost area. Sure enough, another hunter shot them from their roost before they even had a chance to fly down. No gobbling or sightings the remainder of the day.
Tuesday was below freezing and the woods completely quiet. We elected to go home early and come back the week of Memorial Day for round two.
RM
 
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RM Anderson said:
Knocked Down But Not Out; Black Hills Recap:

Saturday morning Heather and I were greeted with an unexpected development: logging taking place in one of our favorite areas. How this would affect the turkeys we didn't know but we were about to find out. Sure enough, our first morning we were greeted with only a fraction of the gobbling heard in past years.
Sunday was a comedy of errors on our part. We had located another roost quite by accident while walking to our original location. We quickly dived for cover in whatever cover we could find which wasn't much. Sure enough, busted by a nice tom about ten yards away as he crested a small ridge as I looked the other way. Later Heather and I tried spot and stalk on several small groups of jakes that were climbing into the high country but in every case we were unable to connect because they would not commit the last few yards.
Monday morning we sat on the opposite side of the roost to intercept them before they headed to the tops of the ridges. About two minutes after they started gobbling we were startled by two shots that rang out from their roost area. Sure enough, another hunter shot them from their roost before they even had a chance to fly down. No gobbling or sightings the remainder of the day.
Tuesday was below freezing and the woods completely quiet. We elected to go home early and come back the week of Memorial Day for round two.
RM
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That really sucks, sometimes others are uneducated and can't make great decisions for other hunters nearby, but that's just how it is on public sometimes.
 
Henrick Lind said:
That really sucks, sometimes others are uneducated and can't make great decisions for other hunters nearby, but that's just how it is on public sometimes.
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Henrick,
We still had a great hunt; just didn't end like we had hoped. On a positive note, we learned alot and were able to try a few tactics that we've only read about. One turkey that would not commit would pace back and forth; sometimes 50 yards away, then 100 yards. So we thought we would try to advance when he was going away. Only one problem, he never came back! That's OK, we'll get the next one.
RM
 
RM Anderson said:
Henrick,
We still had a great hunt; just didn't end like we had hoped. On a positive note, we learned alot and were able to try a few tactics that we've only read about. One turkey that would not commit would pace back and forth; sometimes 50 yards away, then 100 yards. So we thought we would try to advance when he was going away. Only one problem, he never came back! That's OK, we'll get the next one.
RM
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It's a blast to shoot birds and have success, but in the end it is about spending time outside with family, getting exercise, learning new areas, and having fun.
 
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