Fall turkey hunting is a bit different than spring turkey hunting. Any birds (including hens) are fair game and hunting hours are generally a half hour before sunrise ’til a half hour after sunset. However, fall turkey hunting can be just as addicting as chasing turkeys in the spring months.
For those hunters who haven’t given fall turkey hunting a try, you’re missing out on an exciting hunt that may very well have you out every fall in pursuit of these birds. Turkeys gather in large flocks to help their chances of surviving winter, and their feeding and roosting patterns are easy to follow — as long as they’re not interrupted by too much human interference. This is why scouting is crucial to success, just as it is when hunting spring birds.
There’s not much (if any) gobbling in the fall. This makes it difficult to locate birds without pre-season scouting. The two main areas to scout are feeding and roosting sites. The best ways to find roosting sites is to use your binoculars from a distance and watch what trees they fly into. Learning which exact trees they’re using can be determined by walking the area. Finding turkey droppings and feathers beneath trees is a good indicator of a tree that’s used as a roost.
Finding a roosting tree or two is only half the battle. The next step is locating where they’re feeding and the path they’re taking between the roost and the food. Like roosting sites, feeding areas can be found with a good pair of binoculars or by doing the legwork and looking for signs of turkeys. Good places to look are harvested grain fields, oak trees in timber, and food plots.
The most difficult part of having a successful fall turkey hunt is the scouting. The biggest reason fall hunters fail to fill their tag is that they don’t scout. Once you do have the birds patterned, the next step is to decide which tactic you want to use to fill your turkey tag.
If you have the patience to sit and wait for turkeys to come to you, that might be all it takes for you get a bird. Waiting in ambush for a bird might not be an exciting way to spend the day, but this method gets me a lot of birds every fall, probably more than any other method. I’ve had the most luck with this tactic when I’m able to set up and hunt from a portable blind. The reason I’ve had so much luck hunting from blinds is that I often get antsy sitting for hours and make a lot of movement. The blind will hide any movement I make, and it also affords me the opportunity to read a book or play a hand-held game until a bird presents an opportunity.
In the spring, many turkey hunters succeed with the run-and-gun style of turkey hunting. If this appeals to you, you might consider busting up a flock and calling them back in during your fall hunt. Busting up a flock is nothing more than finding a flock, running into it ,and scattering birds in all directions. This is everything a spring turkey hunter has been taught. Remember that you’re now hunting in the fall, and the rules change. As crazy as this tactic might sound, it does work, and it’s a very exciting way to fill your tag.
The only way for this technique to work is when the birds fly in opposite directions of one another. The key to this is separating the birds and calling them back together as a flock. If the birds fly off together, there’s no point in calling the birds back together.
If you’re able to get a good bust on the birds, you need to immediately get in a good spot, close to where you made the scatter that will allow you to shoot in most directions. Within a few minutes, the birds will start calling to one another. The most popular call that hunters use to call in birds is the kee-kee. At times, a hunter will have to use a call sounding like an adult hen; do this when the adult hen in the flock starts to pull the other birds away from you.
The time of the day is an important factor when busting up a flock of turkeys. If you attempt a bust too late in the evening, chances are they’ll just go to the roost and wait until daybreak before regrouping. When this happens, all you can do is call it quits for the night. You’re better off sneaking back in the next morning and setting up near the original bust from the night before; then, try again to call them in. A hunter stands a good chance at calling the birds in if he can get there early enough without being detected.
Whichever method you choose to fill your turkey tag this fall, you’re sure to have plenty of time to fill your need to hunt turkeys between spring turkey seasons. Deer hunting is a fun way to spend the cold fall and winter months, but for a change of pace, try your luck at getting a Thanksgiving turkey. You just might like it.
Photo: Howard Communications
