Turkey hunting help.

I got permission to hunt a new property this year. did not have much time to scout it prior to taking the daughter out last weekend. Had some general Info. from the land owner on a field that he had been seeing birds in several times. We set up the 1st day in a field about 200 yards to the east of the field the birds had been seen in ( the field they had been seen in was closer to the family house than I wanted to hunt ). My thought was I could call them over from the field to the West – there was even a nice logging road running between the 2 fields. We heard a few gobbles on the field they had been seen on but they never came far enough up to field to get in hearing range of my calls ( Heavy poor wind direction did not help. ) We tried the same setup both days and had the same results. On a side note the daughter hung in real well each morning given how cold it was ( 29 and 27 Deg. the two mornings ) I am heading back up this Thur. to hunt myself. Each morning after we picked up in the field we did a little scouting on the property ( over 300 acres ) ran into birds in several different locations – different field and also on the logging roads that run thru the woods on the property. It appears like the bird move around alot on this piece of land. My question is what is the best way to go? Run and Gun or pick a field and hope I guess right? I have never really done the run and gun thing. I have always been able to pattern them to where I had a good idea of where to set up and wait for them. My thought is to walk mid way up a logging road that runs from one side of the land to the other ( River on one side and large field on the other dide ) and wait to hear a few gobble and try to get in close and setup in the dark – How early will birds usually start to gobble on the roust? how close can you usally get to them in the dark? given how many birds I saw on the logging roads i think mid woods may be a better option than the field edges. The problem I had last weekend was after the 1st Hr. of morning most all of the birds seemed to go silent. Even though I tried to walk slowly thru the logging roads doing some light calling I never got a bird to gobble even though I did spot several Toms and Jakes. I tried to call with soft clucks and a few yelps and tried a crow locater call all with no success. Need help with a new plan of attack for this next go at them. weather is looking alot like last weekend ( Cold, and damp ) hopefully with less wind. HELP !!!!!!

Wacker, you are fighting a losing battle because of the late spring. As you know it is extremely difficult to lure Toms away from breeding hens, at best you will call in some Jakes. The hens will leave for the nest in mid to late morning and the lonely Toms will be much more receptive to calling. Worst thing of calling when they are henned up is the Boss Hen will often lead the flock in the opposite direction when she hears you calling. For this time of the year I don’t bother getting up early to try and get them after flydown. They have 360 degress to choose from and you have to correctly guess the 10 degree window that will bring them to you. I don’t like 1 in 36 odds.

I prefer to head out around 10 am to an area where I can quietly set up a hen or jake mounting a hen set. I will then sit quietly for 15 minutes listening for where the birds are. I start out with some soft clucks and purring but no Yelps for the first half hour. If that doesn’t bring in a Tom I will use some Kee Kees and yelps but not over calling. If after one hour in that spot I have no action I move and repeat the process. I don’t get serious about first light hunting until the Morels are out, that is a good indication that the flocks are scattered at fly up and your chances of finding roosting Toms without hens nearby is much higher. Good Hunting!