This may be common knowledge, though it's fairly new news to me. For years, I've known that you can pattern whitetail deer. Being a fairly new turkey hunter, I had no idea how easily fall turkeys are to pattern! This fall, while deer hunting, I made some great observations.
One morning, before daylight, I was sitting in my treestand. About 15 minutes before daylight, I started hearing nearby turkeys waking up. After a few moments, I realized they were roosting in a tree about 10 yards from my treestand. My first thought was, now I've gotta be extra quiet and still. If I spook the turkeys it may damage my chances at a deer! Well, about 20 minutes after daylight, the turkeys started flying down, landing about 20 yards in front of me. They'd hang out there for about 20 minutes and then make their way through the trees into a field. They'd hang out in the field for about 45 minutes, before crossing the field into a wooded area, then onto the neighboring property. At about 10:00 AM, they'd return to the field, again hanging out for about 45 minutes, before making their way back towards my treestand. Unfortunately, this happened as I was about to leave the stand for the morning...Ugh. So, there I sat, waiting for them to clear the area. That didn't happen. Instead, they all huddled together, actually piling up in a mound (I'm assuming for warmth) and falling asleep. There they slept, 15 yards from my stand, while I waited. After about an hour of napping, they followed the same routine as just after daylight. Then, about 2 hours before dark, they returned to the field, where they'd hang out for about an hour, before making their way back to roost, in the same tree.
This all got me thinking. For the next week, I paid close attention to this flock, and another nearby flock. They followed almost the exact same routine every day. One of these days, instead of sitting in the stand, I was in my blind, at the edge of the field, about 80 yards from my stand. Once again, the turkeys followed the exact same routine. As they approached the field, the flock actually split in half, each half going around one side of my blind. Some of them even rubbed against the blind as they passed. A couple days later, I moved the blind to the other end of the field, where they'd enter the far wooded area. Same routine.
Full disclosure, I did have a bait pile for deer set up in front of my stand. A grain block, a mineral lick, some alfalfa, corn and apples. The turkeys paid particular attention to the grain block, but did also pick at the corn and apples. Needless to say, this eliminates by ability to hunt turkeys there. While the corn, apples and alfalfa are completely gone, the grain block and mineral lick are still there.
So, if I do decide to hunt this flock, I'll do so across the field, as they re-enter the far wooded area.
Anyway, since I was having so much fun just watching this flock, I also realized that fall turkeys can be patterned. It was an eye opening experience for me!
