Fall turkey seasons often play second fiddle to the quest for a trophy buck. However, there’s no reason that you can include a fall turkey tag along with a deer hunt or chase a wild turkey dinner once you fill your deer tag. Normally, most fall turkey hunters employ the scatter-the-flock strategy where they do everything they can to bust up a flock of birds including shooting over their heads at long range. If you’ve never tried this tactic, it’s a bit like rabbit hunting where bunnies jumped and chased by dogs tend to circle back to the starting point. Likewise, turkeys often return to the flush site and you want to be well concealed and have your caller ready. Many hunters try to call in the boss hen, since she is the largest in a young-of-the-year flock, yet from a conservation prospect, it’s better to take a jake or young hen. That mature hen nested in a place
where she survived coyotes, foxes, opossums, raccoons, skunks, and who knows what other predators and still raised a brood. We want her out there doing her job next spring as well. If a gobbler is your quest, you can employ a spring turkey trick that may work even better in the fall than in May. Gobblers are just as territorial in the fall as they are in the spring and by late season are usually in bachelor groups. If one old tom resents a newcomer to his territory, imagine the aggression of a group. The key to exciting this kamikaze-like behavior is a gobbler decoy. Fall toms don’t give spit about a hen in an open field, yet show them a strutting tom and the spurs come out. One hunter described how he and his daughter filled a two-bird limit on gobblers in Kansas every year. The hunting is exciting and extremely productive. Just remember that a gobbler decoy is “fair game” to other hunters and you want to be sure to use the decoy safely. Steve Hickoff speaks directly to the great fall turkey potential on the Realtree website:
Many of you are thinking of one thing these days: deer. While some of you hardcore fall turkey hunters have chased flocks this October, some others may wait until after they’ve filled the freezer with venison to even begin to think about turkeys. Fortunately many opportunities around the country allow you to chase the big birds in December; even after the New Year.
Plan now. Hunt later. Where to go? We’ve taken the liberty of making some suggestions
