Fall turkey hunting is all action. If you need a break from sitting like a stone in your tree stand, why not grab a shotgun, or your bow, and head into the woods for a real challenge. Fall hunting requires plenty of exercise and its better to crunch in leaves for miles than sneak silently a short distance. You want to locate a flock of birds and they leave plenty of sign as they scratch for acorns in the leaves.
Special Memory
As a teacher I didn’t get vacation days and was really bummed as my uncle and father hunted opening day of the fall season. When the last student left school, I headed for the mountains and arrived with the sun on the horizon. My father told me that he had scattered a flock of gobblers high on the mountain and one might call in at dark.
Grabbing my gobbler box caller, I climbed mid mountain, stopped on a logging road and gave several harsh yelps. Suddenly I saw motion 200 yards down the slope. In seconds, I could see it was a turkey and it seemed to be headed right toward me. Standing in the open logging road, there was no place to hide so I kept a large oak tree directly in the path of the approaching turkey. I expected the bird to deviate from its course, yet it seemed to have a lock on the tree and came as straight as an arrow. As the rustle of leaves grew closer, I slowly raised my shotgun and waited for the bird to emerge. At 20 yards, it peeked that big red head around the tree and BOOM. A mature fall gobbler on a 20-minute hunt. Talk about bragging rights.
Scouting Too
If you worry about giving up prime deer hunting time to hunt turkeys, you can bet your time in the woods is a great investment. If you don’t bag a turkey, you’ll find a ton of fresh deer sigh.
If getting time to hunt turkeys is a challenge, this post is designed for you:
Time is at a premium for many turkey hunters. Still, you miss hearing birds waking up on the roost, then drawing closer and closer to your setup after fly-down time. You need to hunt.
Try these five tactics for your busy schedule and tag a bird this fall.
https://www.realtree.com/turkey-blog-with-steve-hickoff/5-fall-turkey-hunts-for-your-busy-schedule
