Tough weekend of Turkey hunting – Help needed

The daughter and I had a tough weekend of Turkey hunting last weekend. Headed back up next weekend for another shot at them. We heard a fair amount of gobbling early on Sat. Morning. There were mostly to the East of us on land we do not have permission to hunt. With the wind rather hard from the east I don’t think my calling could reach them. Only say 1 solo hen come to the field we were hunting ( did well on this field last year so started there ) Nice sunny day so we decided to take a break and do some scouting to see if we could locate some birds in fields. Lots of driving around the area and saw 0 birds- Really strange. Decided to do some scouting Sat. evening – Saw a lot of birds on the evening drive. Sunday morning was a rainout ( THEY REALLY NEEDED IT IN THE AREA I WAS HUNTING ) We headed out around 9:00 after the rain had letup. On our way to where we were hunting we got a call from the landowner telling us there was a Big Tom and 2 hens in a field we had hunted the previous year. My plans were to setup in a small field just a short way thru the woods from where they were. When we got to where the had been seen they were gone. We setup in the spot thinking they should still be rather close since they were there only 15 minutes ago. I thought we had a chance to call them back out. No luck. After a 1 1/2 of no luck and hearing no gobbles we decided to go check the field we had hunted the day before. While trying to sneak up on the field to see if there were any birds out there we got busted by a solo hen ( I think the same one from the previous day ) we tried one more setup and called it a weekend. Heading back up again this weekend for another shot at them. I have a feeling that there are a lot of Hens already on eggs. Just not enough birds out in fields that they normally are. The gobble Sat. morning tended to stay in a small area all morning ( Probably with Hen’s and not willing to leave them. My question is how to you go about hunting them in the evening. I’ve always only hunted mornings and did my scouting for birds in the evening. Other than setting up near where you think they are heading to roost what is different on evening hunting. Is it worth setting out decoy’s or are you better off without them. I normally just hunt field edges. I have not had time to pattern the birds on the land we are hunting so I have no idea of where to start my look for birds in the woods. The birds in this area tend to not gobble much after the 1st hour or so of the morning. I hope next weekend brings more active birds. Maybe if most hens are on eggs the toms will get on the move looking for any hens that were missed.

We have not been seeing birds in the fields regularly either until last Friday morning. Then all of a sudden they started showing up.

kooty wrote:

We have not been seeing birds in the fields regularly either until last Friday morning. Then all of a sudden they started showing up.

Hopefully that will be our case as well next weekend.

fishthumper:

I hunt mainly p.m.’s because I don’t have time to get out in the a.m. before work… That said, this past week I hunted the Northwoods of WI and after Wed., Thurs. & Fri., I had not heard a turkey nor heard any shooting to signify that anything has been happening. I usually go where I have seen birds and try them out. I always set a lone hen out and only change if I think I might get to see the same birds again after having seen them. I do have a story to tell but am going to do that in another thread so as not to hijack your regarding the info on p.m. hunts…

Ben Brettingen and I were just on a tough hunt in Nebraska, where the only bird we took was a late afternoon bird. That bird in particular was simply strutting for his hens on a green field corner, which is somewhat common during the peak of the breeding season. There’s a slight spike in activity around that 5-6PM period in most areas as toms do their best to draw in hens to go up to roost with. The more he can gather, locate, and generally associate during that time of the evening, the more likely he is to roost and eventually breed that following morning.

The tough part there is it pays to get out by 4PM or so at the latest, such that you’re already in the woods or a sneakable position by that time. I would get out into the woods near these field edges (corners that cannot be seen from roads are great) and just do some light calling providing the wind is also light. Another play is simply to setup a blind in these areas. The more you hunt that spot, the more you’ll find out where they like to strut and/or loaf in the late afternoon. Keep in mind that these locations are typically not too terribly far from where they roost, so working your way backwards from the roost to the closest field edges is a good first bet.

I wish you luck!

Joel

It sounds like the Bird activity in my area has picked up some during this week. Hopefully we will have better success this next weekend. The daughter really wants to get a shot at her first bird. She’s been hanging in there fairly good, but like most 11 year olds her attention span is rather short. I;m sure if we could stay in one location long enough we’d get a chance or at least learn more info. to help it the following day. With 3 days of hunting planned this weekend, hopefully we can get the job done on her 1st bird. I’ve never hunted the evening in the past. Normally had the birds patterned rather good and got the job done in the morning hr’s. May have to get out there and learn the afternoon /evening time periods as well. The birds we are hunting have not seen any pressure yet this season so that should help. Thanks everyone for you information

The hardest thing for me during these hunts is keeping it fun for the kids. Going out for breakfast, letting them order anything they want from the “grownups” menu, and generally taking their lead on the pace of what we do that day is always a challenge. Especially when you know you can likely kill during the very times and conditions they want to sit it out.

I wish you luck on both the hunting and the fun, let us know how you do!

Joel

In the Alexandria area it rained all day. In the evening when it quit I went for a drive and was seeing turkeys everywhere.
DT

I hunted this week and noticed that the Tom’s were henned up. Being new to the game it created some challenges for me as I the day I should have got out earlier in the afternoon, I didn’t. 4 Tom’s were already in the field and I didn’t feel comfortable that I could get close.

Good luck to you and your daughter ‘Thumper!