late season tactics

[Gametaker23]

Just curious and interested in any good tips for late spring season  like decoys calling strategy anything is appreciated thanks in advance

[tlbradford]

No strutter decoys. Stay out during mid-day when hens go to nest and toms look for some action.  Less calling.  Try to put them to bed the night before and know where they want to fly down.  If they fly down the wrong way, and you can't hunt all day, try some super-aggressive cutting to pull them in.  However, less is more is the general rule when it comes to calling.  I'm sure their are some good articles out there to read.

[Gametaker23]

Think it would be worth setting up a Jake and hen setup
?

[tlbradford]

It depends.  Are you running and gunning, or hunting located birds?  I like decoys for 90% of my hunting.  I am a stickler that they are realistic.  However, if I am out for two hours before work, I try to go fast and cover a lot of ground.

And just in case he doesn't post this, a buddy just nailed two large Tom's with a full strut decoy.  Shows how much I know!

Hopefully some of these old dogs that hang around here can chime in with their opinions.

[Gametaker23]

How long do u sit on a setup for all day or u give each set up a certain amount of hours?

[whichwaydidhegogeorge]

If your open to a slightly unorthodox Turkey hunting style, then spot-and-stalk for sure.  An even more DANGEROUS (some might say foolish) method is spot-and-stalk while incorporating a puppet show. Please keep in mind that more turkey hunters get accidentally SHOT every year, than all other seasons combined.  Full disclosure, this is not a late season tactic for me, this is how I hunt all the time.  Because I am concerned about getting blasted in the face with #4 or smaller, I have to take safety measures.

- 1 mile is good, 2 miles is better, 3 miles is Best!  3 miles is my preferred hunting distance from any/all vehicle access points.  I find that 3 is the magic number to thin out the crowd (on public land).  I spend countless hours Geo-mapping/Digi-scouting.  This is in addition to averaging 25 miles on foot per weekend, 26 weekends a year.

- Tech is my friend.  I deploy 3 Cell cams at what ever point of least resistance could be used to gain access to my location.  A friend of mine put together a gsr/gsm dbi booster for me( I might have described that wrong). With 30 feet of cable I pretty much turn a tree into an improvised Cell tower(switching to Mill SAT gear soon).  Security for my rig is an added benefit.  I can cover 4.82 klicks in a heartbeat, with the right motivation.

   Keep in mind none of that is necessary to hunt.  It is to stay safe form the odd balls that shoot at any sound or movement.  Otherwise spot-and-stalk w/puppet show would be a great way to bag birds.  My wife and I have tagged 1 bird each, on two different days, with no missed days this year.  Lapsed time from hearing or spotting was about 15 mins each.  Only 15 mins of play may not sound worth the hour ingress and 40 min egress, but we get the rest of the day to muck about.  We only permit ourselves 1 kill a day to make the season last longer. 

   What I just described is not ordinary, and has taken us a year to start paying off.  We have had many close calls, especially when going into deep country.  It's what works for us.  If you think you can try this safely then I highly recommend it.

[whichwaydidhegogeorge]

I forgot pics.  Yes my wife's bird is nicer than mine

[Spurdaddy]

Nice birds Mr. and Mrs. Whichwaydid theygogeorge!! I find that you sometimes had to get inventive. Some folks say you can't stalk or ambush a turkey....well you can't if you don't try. I would never shoot one out of a roust tree but I did shoot a Tom once that I was stalking and he flew up into a tree to evade me. Danger does exist hunting turkeys that is for sure. Lots of accidents happen each year. Most prevented if the shooter would just take the time required to understand exactly what you are shooting and what lies beyond your target. I hunt the entire day in the late season because I know those Toms are out looking for that last hen who needs breeding. Jake decoys on a hen have worked for me in the past. In the late season I will normally set these up when I settle down under a tree in a thicket for my afternoon nap....I figure can't hurt and will keep the attention off me layin' there snoring. Once I had a Tom come running in and bowled over the Jake decoy....pretty good show. Anyhow that my thoughts....Good Luck folks...

[tlbradford]

How long do u sit on a setup for all day or u give each set up a certain amount of hours?

If turkeys are undisturbed they are creatures of habit.  They will roost in the same area, fly down in the same area, feed, water, dust, strut, in the same area....you get the point.  If you have patterned birds, and they are likely to not be disturbed then your length of set-up will depend on your ambush point.  If you are close to their roost trees you can get 10 minutes of action or 2-3 hours depending on how receptive they are to calling and how close you are to any of the areas described above.  Then once they wander off you might not hear a peep until sundown when they return to roost.  Whether or not they return to roost in that area will depend on how much you interrupted their daily pattern.

If you set up in a dusting area they could be there at any point during the day.  Same with strut zones.  If you don't have birds patterned then you will be locating birds, getting as close as possible without being detected, and will hunt that gobbler as long as he is around.

[Gametaker23]

Well I got it done Sunday morning the rain was coming down hard which had the birds in the roost a little longer I got over to where I had been hearing them gobble almost everyday and sat and did some periodic calling with just a few distant birds sounding off. After about three hours of nothing but the great views and entertainment from.all god creations I decicided to move and check a spot out through a thicket as I broke to a meadow I spotted twe birds a tom and Jake they caught me so I busted back behind a little ridge and began stalking them thru the trees as I rapped back I caught the Jake working back to the meadow and I was able to get the job done I was always taught never pass up an opportunity especially when the season is close to the end. I wanna thank everyone for the the awesome advice and awesome pointers I always seem to learn a lot on hear I appreciat it

[whichwaydidhegogeorge]

Congrats!  I take jakes over toms any day.  My wife's bird was 1.5 times larger than mine.  But, the meat on mine was in a lot better condition with tons of fat.  Her bird even had bruises and spur wounds from fighting.  Generally I prefer younger game, I leave trophies for people with something to prove.  Hands down the tastiest looking critter is fat calf elk during late fall.  Congrats again on that jake!

[Gametaker23]

Thanks man appreciate it I am always happy just being out there to harvest is a plus the meat is great I love it I agree younger birds are better eating