Minnesota Spring Turkey Report – Transition

There have been some reports of birds breaking up throughout the Southeastern parts of Minnesota. Large winter flocks of as many as 100+ birds are now turning into smaller groups of as few as a handful of strutters with their hens. While this has been happening off and on, with the recent weather patterns, I think it’s safe to say that breakup is upon us in a bigger way.

Does it matter? Not that much, really, but it is a bunch of fun to track their movements/changes. Flock break-up usually happens around the middle-end of March here in MN from my experience, depending on weather. It simply means that birds will be venturing further away from their winter grounds until only one group, or sometimes no group, roosts there for much of the remainder of spring.

What it does signal is the start to another phase of scouting. While the winter birds were somewhat stationary in their movements, you’ll hopefully start seeing birds "everywhere." This term is relative, as it still means they’ll be frequenting only selected roost, strut, and feeding sites; but they’ll be much more visible in more locations than they were previously. During this period, I ramp up scouting efforts a tad bit as I try to get some windshield time in, as well as some time out listening for early morning gobbling on-foot.

Wait until the forecast calls for a dead-calm morning with some good sun and mild temperatures, and get out there early! Try to position yourself in the center of a valley, so you can hear gobbling from all directions. Locate groups of roosting birds, and move on to the next valley! While it’s wonderful sitting there listening to the gobbles ring through the hollows, your goal here is to locate as many groups of gobbling birds that you can. Ultimately, the goal is to have some likely roost locations should your birds clam-up come hunting season.

Ultimately, familiarizing yourself with patterns of movement, roost trees, and strut locations makes it much easier to hunt from a position that the birds want to be in.

Good luck and enjoy the weather,

Joel