1st time fall turkey hunting.

What’s your best advise for fall turkey hunting?

Go deer hunting! Seriously though, I’ve never really hunted turkeys in the fall, but if I were I would look for where they roost and the nearest food source. Set up as close to them as possible and use soft calls to try to pull them in. I’ve also heard that if you scattered the flock in the woods and then sit down and wait a few minutes, you can call them in with soft yelps.

On a side note, coming home from the GTG yesterday I spotted a tom and a hen in the field. I think the tom thought it was late April/early May. He was strutting like there was no tomorrow!

Joel, may have a more complete answer, but what I have heard is when the roost the night before go bust them up so they seperate and then come back in the morning and get set up near that tree. They will be calling to relocate each other.

Firegetter:

Thanks for the post, and glad to hear you were drawn for this year’s fall hunt. We’ll be releasing an article or two regarding fall turkey hunting in a few short weeks that might help with a few tips and tricks.

However, could I ask you a few questions that might aid us giving you some more helpful suggestions?

-Private or public land? How much roughly? Agricultural, Woods, Mix?
-Any time to scout? Lots of turkeys on this property throughout the rest of the year?
-What season – A or B?
-Bow or shotgun?

Joel

Joel, I hunt on private land, approx. 200 acres 1/2 hard woods 1/2 agricultural with no other hunting pressure. I have seen them this summer but did not see them this spring when I hunted. Same thing last year, I see them in the summer to fall months but not in the spring. Largest count was about 25 birds. I will be hunting season B with my 15 year old boy with shotguns.
Thanks for your help.

Sounds like you’ve got a great foundation laid for a successful hunt already. A good mix of ag/woodland in the fall esp. is preferable, as the food sources will vary and change dramatically throughout your scouting and then hunting season.

Hunting on private land, you’re a leg up also, as patterns will establish themselves based on food primarily, and you won’t have to worry about that pattern changing due to human pressure. If/when it does, there should be rhyme and reason to it that you’ll be able to capitalize on.

Corn is king IMO, but not to turkeys that would have to risk life and wing to get it. I’ve seen birds feast on oak flats all fall because the closest available corn is across a busy highway. Likely however, you’ll have different turkeys making different rounds on the food sources, so it’ll really pay to inventory and map what you’ve got in terms of turkey food. The toms might stay in the acorns all fall, and wandering groups of hens will make their way out in the open to get at fields of alfalfa and corn.

You’ll likely hunt a bit differently if you’re after a tom-only, and if that’s the case, you need to locate them and treat hens separately. Gobblers will be grouped up or nearly-so by the time your hunting season rolls around, so you need to scout gobblers, hens, or both; keeping in mind that different spots will likely find you different birds.

Keep an eye out for the articles that are coming out, specifically, one on food sources, as these birds will do funny things for preferred food in the fall. Last year, I had birds come in like clockwork to a bumper crop of plums. It’s all about food and survival in the fall.

Joel

LOVE your avatar Is that your mount ???

I wish! Found it online but I can’t remember where.

i am not disputing anything rob or joel said – all good advice – i just wanted to say i have had good success in the fall targeting roost sites.

find out where they are roosting by listening in the morning – yes, they often will gobble in the fall. if you dont hear anything, try to get them to shock gobble with an owl, crow, coyote or a gobble call, or try to find the roost by scouting ridges in the morning and/or evening before season. listen for them to fly up or down and for scratching and/or turkey talk, and looking for sign like scratchings, feathers and droppings.

(i’m lucky in that i have several places where toms roost every fall. but it did take some work to find those spots. they dont always roost the same places spring and fall.)

then set up early or late and try to coax one in. use gobbler clucks and yelps for toms, a variety of yelps and clucks if its a mixed flock or hens, or kee kee for jakes. just match their calls. if you can slip near the roost site undetected, sometimes you can get one without calling.

if i strike out in the morning near the roost, then i head for feeding areas. in the evening, i set up between a feeding and roost area but within a hundred yards of the roost.