FIRST TIME TURKEY HUNTER

  • ford1326
    WHITE BEAR LAKE,MN
    Posts: 44
    #211014

    I put in for a turkey for next year. Sounds like the chance maybe good to get drawn. My question is where in 601 can a newbie hunt. I have seen turkeys near my deer stand in East Bethel. Just dont know if they will be there this spring. Any help and or videos you can recomend would be wonderful.

    THANK YOU

    swimingjig
    Waumandee, WI
    Posts: 695
    #72992

    No telling where the turkeys will be in the spring. You will need to do some scouting. I actually use my trail cameras to help me. If you can get out in the mornings before your season and listen it will be a big help. As far as the videos go they are helpful as far as the particular calls but they make it look way easier then it really is. A lot of them make it look like every time you make a call they come running, this usually is not the case. Good Luck you are going to have a blast.

    mpearson
    Chippewa Falls, WI
    Posts: 4338
    #73094

    Scouting is the key here. If you have a particular area you want to hunt, then maybe you should be getting permission from land owners now. They can offer some very good advise on where to possibly set up and where their strutting zones are. Then a few weeks before your season, start scouting the area(s) for birds and their movements. Try scouting early mornings and evenings to find where they fly down and where they roost. Good luck next spring and congrats on making that first step towards turkey hunting…you WILL be hooked for life!

    alanmdk
    Posts: 222
    #73153

    I have to agree with Mike about the getting permission early. Lots of guys will wait until they get a tag to start trying to get land to hunt on. I don’t like to wait until the lottery results are back to start making contact with landowners. I just let them know that it is a lottery and after the drawning I’d stop back in to talk to them. Having land lined up for the spring is the best place to start.

    If the birds winter in an area I would bet more than a few of them will be using the same roost next spring. Scouting is pretty easy right after a light snowfall and birds are very easy to spot scratching out in the fields.

    CW

    Joel Nelson
    Moderator
    Southeast MN
    Posts: 3137
    #73867

    Ford:

    Glad to have you aboard the ranks of us turkey hunters!

    As for the question, there’s lots of sound advice here, esp. regarding urgency in the scouting/permission game. Esp. in your zone, depending on which portion of 601 you choose to hunt, you’re fighting a rapidly dwindling supply of hunt-able habitat.

    My advice to you would be the same as I follow when scouting in the early season. Locate several groups of different birds. Not the same birds that range to different places, but a completely different set of birds, at least a mile or more apart.

    This will be difficult in the suburbs, hence the time crunch. Become well-versed in your surrounding city’s ordinances regarding firearms. You’ll have a leg-up on the competition by choosing to bowhunt, but make that decision soon. Taking a turkey with a bow is a challenging affair, and probably not best attempted on your first hunt. If you’re a proficient bowhunter already, this may open doors and full-cities that otherwise may not have been available.

    After you find some groups of birds, secure what land you can, including all adjacent available chunks that look like good habitat – even if you don’t see them there during the winter. Public lands in the cities can be relatively un-hunted, but be careful when doing so. What hunters are there, will usually be locals that are coming from a home or other location where you can’t readily tell whether or not you’ll be alone out there. In other words, don’t let your hopes hinge on one group or even two of public land birds here.

    Ideally, find groups of birds towards the very outer edges of the zone that are less populated, with larger private land blocks, gaining you maximum access for minimum effort. This will allow you the luxury of having several groups of birds to hunt.

    As for the hunting, find a mentor and continually question him/her. It’s the single quickest way to attain knowledge, as long as you don’t become a pest. Be willing to pay for the knowledge. Whether it be a gift card or some other token of your appreciation. I was lucky enough to be tutored by a true turkey hunting professional and guide of over 20 years. Though the road to a harvested turkey will never be an easy one, his experiences saved me hundreds of hours of frustration, and truly heightened my excitement for turkey hunting. The more I learn about turkey hunting, the more I value the countless experiences of which I will always be indebted to him for.

    Joel

    lick
    Posts: 6443
    #73946

    Well said Joel

    I completely agree with finding a mentor it helps increase the learning curve

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