Turkey Tactics - How Do You Play?

[ShedHead20]

With the season approaching, turkey thoughts are beginning to drift into my mind at a steady cfs. I thought I would start a thread about spring tactics and what method guys enjoy the most and why.

For years and with high success, I have used the Run and Gun method with no decoys. And have almost exclusively been a mountain/timber terrain turkey hunter. My typical turkey hunting day starts with boots on the ground anywhere between 6:00am - 7:00am, depending on weather. Sunny clear morning - a little earlier, overcast/raining - a little later. After a good listen at the truck for about 5 minutes with no calling, I'll start my loop. I purposely try and do a loop that is hundreds of yards wide - to half a mile (topography allowing) and end up where I start. During the loop, I will always begin where the AM sun is at my back and stay in the shadows and edges of timber. I feel like walking with the sun in your face in turkey season is a sin. I will try to gain the higher ridges or tops and stay above where I either know or think the turkeys will be.

I typically will do my first call sequence from higher elevation and use it more as a shock gobble tool. A hand full of loud yelps, mainly from a mouth call to get the loud volume. This sequence will be 5 seconds of yelping, 30 seconds of listening, then repeat two or three times. I will walk around 100 yards or so along my loop and repeat it again after about 15 mins of still hunting and listening.

If I get a gobble in response, I really do not waste any time in the set up. I will not call again until I am in the set up. Depending on how far away the bird is, or what topography/cover is between the bird and I, I will try to cut that distance in half by walking/sneaking straight towards the gobbler. As I am heading in his direction, I am always aware that he is heading in mine. I will use my binos the most during this time. Quickly scanning very few steps for a head bobbing through the timber. Ideally, I won’t see him until I’m already set up.

My ideal set up will look like this: I have the high ground, sun at my back (in the turkeys face when coming into the set up), a larger tree with brush near the base or brush breaking up your background when you are sitting at the base of the tree, and of course, in the shadow of the tree. A lone single tree with nothing around can work sometimes but you are a bit exposed. With no decoys, using topography is the keystone piece for the set up. Much like calling in a big bull in September, if he can see where the sound is coming from, more than likely he will hang up and watch. But, if you are set up on the edge of the uphill slope, that turkey will keep coming to the sound because he can’t see it yet. He thinks that once he crests this hillside, miss hen will be there waiting for him. But instead, it’s me. Its best that the edge of the hill is in gun range so when the first time you see the bird, he is already in range. Curiosity kills the tom in this scenario, and I have learned this way to be highly effective. I have killed many toms at the end of my loop within 100 yards of from where I started calling at the beginning of my loop hours before. It seems as if the birds heard me the whole time but took a few hours to want to talk back. The last few years, between myself, my wife, and friends I have taken, the farthest shot using this method was about 40 yards. Most are under 20.

The majority of my kills are between 9:00am – 11:00am. I believe it is in this timeframe where the toms have broken away from the group of hens they roosted with and spent the first few hours of daylight with. Now, they are on the move and actively out searching for hens. They seem to be way more responsive to calling at this time than earlier in the morning.

I like to use a David Halloran crystal pot call and Woodhaven mouth calls. The classic bat wing cut is a great all around cut to use. As said earlier, I will use the mouth calls for loud locators, but I will also use them as a handsfree method when I know the bird is too close to be moving around too much. And will typically put in a different cut call that is better for soft calling in the set ups. If I am calling a cautious bird into my set up, I will be using my pot call until I know he’s committed. Once learned, they sound really good and clucks and purrs sound great and you can do it very soft. If I am calling for someone else, I prefer to stay way hidden and use the pot call the entire time for the nice soft sounding tones. Much like elk, the toms energy when calling needs to be matched. Not a heavy hard gobbling bird? Then your calling must be soft and easy. Speak when he speaks. Opposite for a mountain gobbletron, tear him a new one with cuts and fighting purrs. I will really pour it on sometimes when they are like this. It’s pretty cool to get the birds so fired up that you are hearing triple and double gobbles out of one bird. I took a double one season with two fired up toms who literally ran to my feet. I had to whistle to stop them like a deer and killed both at approx.. 10 ft.

I really enjoy this run and gun deocyless method and really do not see this method changing for me for many many years.

What is your go to? 
77 days left!

[ASHQUACK]

I combo hunt.
Start the days off by sitting in a blind or a set up where I know the birds are. Then after fly down if I haven't gotten any action I switch to run and gun with decoys.

[MADMAX]

Come on it’s not that hard 

[ShedHead20]

Come on it’s not that hard 

To some extent, I agree. Its definitely no high mountain mule deer hunt that's for sure. I would put turkey hunting in the easy to learn hard to master category. More of a "fun" type of hunt to me that I've really began to deep dive into over the last 15 years. 

Now, if turkeys could smell and play the wind, you'd never get one.

[birddogdad]

the turkey hunts i remember most are the ones that i dont get! trying to understand what went wrong. was it me? setup, calling, movement? was it hens pulling away? area pounded by hunters? learning from that and trying later or the next year in that spot to try hand at that educated tom again!

move around, work lots of different areas, dont over pound an area, pass on young birds. plenty of season to harvest but to me, the game is where its at~

[Pathfinder101]

I've always been more of a Find the Roost, Set up Decoys in the Dark, Call'em out of the Tree and Whack 'em First Thing in The Morning kind of guy.  I've killed a few runnin' and gunnin' style, but I'm not good at it. 
And I prefer dumb birds on private land if I can find 'em 

[mboyle0828]

I've always been more of a Find the Roost, Set up Decoys in the Dark, Call'em out of the Tree and Whack 'em First Thing in The Morning kind of guy.  I've killed a few runnin' and gunnin' style, but I'm not good at it. 
And I prefer dumb birds on private land if I can find 'em 

 

[Kingofthemountain83]

I turkey hunt where there is a low population of turkeys but know the land well... I don't decoy but do use a push box call and a locator and stalk and ambush... I really enjoy it... Don't get to go every year but have managed a couple birds out of Cowichie with the old 410...

[ShedHead20]

I turkey hunt where there is a low population of turkeys but know the land well... I don't decoy but do use a push box call and a locator and stalk and ambush... I really enjoy it... Don't get to go every year but have managed a couple birds out of Cowichie with the old 410...

South Central Washington birds are tough. Good on you for the cowiche birds. I was able to tag a hand full of birds over the last years in that PMU. For sure one of the hardest to find and lowest success rates in the state. But once found where they like to be, I was able to kill those birds in a 500 yard circle a few years in a row. They are definitely in pockets around there and not widespread.

[Kingofthemountain83]

I turkey hunt where there is a low population of turkeys but know the land well... I don't decoy but do use a push box call and a locator and stalk and ambush... I really enjoy it... Don't get to go every year but have managed a couple birds out of Cowichie with the old 410...

South Central Washington birds are tough. Good on you for the cowiche birds. I was able to tag a hand full of birds over the last years in that PMU. For sure one of the hardest to find and lowest success rates in the state. But once found where they like to be, I was able to kill those birds in a 500 yard circle a few years in a row. They are definitely in pockets around there and not widespread.

Yeah, it's definitely a challenge... A lot of the birds hold on private and are being fed... I got into a flock one morning of about 50... Toms, bunch of jakes, hens  out in the sage feeding through all spread out... Moving downhill steadily 300+ yards... I followed them to see what they're going to do so I can make a plan... So many eyes... I stayed back scared to blow them out by getting too close... I shadowed them for 3 1/4 miles... They went through a cattle fence single file and picked up the pace down in the timber... I knew I couldn't catch them or cut them off now... Went all the way to another fence that was private property... They were loud... Gobbling, yelping, strutting, running around and fighting... Then I hear this lady talking in a baby voice ahhh nooo don't do that! Put the binocs up and she's surrounded by turkeys throwing out feed... I was like damn!!!

So I came back to cattle fence crossing and shot a tom at 27 yards on their way back to roost at 4ish pm...  But the last time I was there no birds to be found on that ridge... Even went and glassed her house from the fence line lol! 

[lewy]

  I think I've killed a tom in every way you could come up with and I think that's why I have been successful. 

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Id share my tactics? And no not illegal but the turkey police would not approve........

[Ridgeratt]

When I used to go to Oklahoma to hunt turkies. My buddy who used to say that he had a special call. It was a 3-pound coffee can half full of whole corn.