Hunting Washington Forum
Other Hunting => Turkey Hunting => Topic started by: HoofsandWings on March 30, 2009, 04:50:44 PM
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Looks like the turkeys are in a 100 yard wide strip of land. It is about a 30 degree slope with disced fields on the upper edge and pasture on the lower edge. The strip appears to be about 300-400 yards long.
I read an article that stated toms that had no hens roosted on the upper edge of the woods and the hened up toms on the bottom of the slope. Should I set up in the disced field closer to the toms without hens or
in the pasture below the hened up toms?
As I said the strip of forest is only 100 yards maximum wide. I am probably erecting a ground blind since there is no cover. Last time I checked the turkeys were roosting about 40-50 feet into the forest.
Thanks
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I would set up on the toms that have no hens near them. As it starts to get light, call with some soft tree yelps. You want to be the first hen he hears. :twocents:
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I have never noticed that gobblers with hens roost any higher or lower on a ridge that gobblers without. But the gobblers without hens should be easier to call... key word being "should be." :twocents:
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I too would focus on the henless toms !! Get to know where they want to be with as little pressure on them before the season opens.....Learn their habits well. Then on opening morning get your deke out there where they like... I would set up a portable blind the day before if possible or during the cover of darkness and as quietly as humanly possible.
When Slayer says soft yelps, make them soft !! They will hear them and know where the hen is. One key is not to give up the soft yelp too early. One of the things in scouting is to learn what they do. If you can get out there early in the morning before season, and watch your clock as to what time they come alive......the better off you will be.
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Looks like the turkeys are in a 100 yard wide strip of land. It is about a 30 degree slope with disced fields on the upper edge and pasture on the lower edge. The strip appears to be about 300-400 yards long.
I read an article that stated toms that had no hens roosted on the upper edge of the woods and the hened up toms on the bottom of the slope. Should I set up in the disced field closer to the toms without hens or
in the pasture below the hened up toms?
As I said the strip of forest is only 100 yards maximum wide. I am probably erecting a ground blind since there is no cover. Last time I checked the turkeys were roosting about 40-50 feet into the forest.
Thanks
You said you read an article......but is what you stated about the article the same situation your birds are in? In other words....do you have both gobblers without hens roosted on the upper edge of the woods and those you saw with hens roosted at the bottom of the slope?
If so, and if I understand you correctly, I would get myself somewhere in between the gobblers if you can do so without bumping birds...hens or otherwise. Soft tree yelp and if you get a response before fly down ....shut up and wait. Had a similar situation years ago on Easterns. The dominate gobbler was not going to come after reponding to my tree yelp and flying down to a spot where I could see him on the edge of the field. He had spotted the decoy I had placed about 10-15 yards past me in the opposite direction from him.
He started stutting and gobbling....you know...."hey Babe...I ain't coming to you, you know the drill.....come on down". Well would have been a stalemate except the other two gobblers....one across the field on another ridge and one behind me on the ridge I was at the base of, decided they might have a chance at this sweetie. As they gobbled and started coming in my direction, it got the better of that big guy and here he comes. He ended up dead in front of us before he reached the decoy. I could clearly see the gobbler from across the field coming slowly at about 130 yards or so. Never saw the one behind us.
Moral of the story...use a situation like that to your advantage and change the game plan hopefully. Competition can be a wonderful thing. :chuckle:
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Absolutely correct there Wa... If you get a dominate tom that hangs up the best thing that can happen is some young birds working and calling past your set up.. He gets to thinking that something else is going to get his goods.
I called a tom a long ways using that tactic.... I made him think there was a jake making a move on his girl..
BUT you have to be very careful using that tactic.... could get you shot if some knuckle head sneaks in on you.
Use your own descretion on using a gobble to call in a tom.
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I like what I have read...Most turkeys will pick high ground to fly into a roost. I have seen toms fly off a bluff or ledge to get to the top part of a tree vs. flying from bottom up. I also have watched a dominate tom with hens tend to the hens until they are all roosted and then fly up. Sometimes subdominate toms will roost in the same area or close enough for a shot to steal them ladies away in the Morning. The problem I see is one setting up blind in the perfect position...I would watch flock and find out if there are any common denominators..a field corner they use more than not, a low spot in a fence, a trail, etc.. Then set the blind up in that location. The other problem is due to the size spooking birds on the roost..when you come in..I would go in and be in blind by 4:30...fly down usually is around 5:30 to 5:45 ideally...sometimes later depending on weather, etc....Most likely I am assuming that the hens will head toward the disced field in the am for scratching etc...I would put out a tom and hen decoy..Put aTom humping the hen (put the tom on top put stake through her back)..A little spring jealousy yeah baby :chuckle:...Two things may happen..the subdominate toms will run in wanting a piece of the hen or the big tom will get pissed a jake has one of his hens all to himself and come over and check it out. I would call very minimally..you knwo what the birds are doing...and where they want to be..so I would call a little in the morning just to let them know where you are...then wait and watch and call accordingly...You will be tempted to call try and resist the urge...A few soft yelps and some content purrs should do it....I hope it works out..for ya..sound like a good spot. Oh and set decoys away from you and with the ass of the tom decoy pointing at where you think the turkeys will see it. THis is a dominance thing...If you don't have a tom or jake decoy go with a single hen..
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Here is a curiosity question. One year I scouted and found a nice roost tree that was being used by quite a few birds.
Then come opening day, I go there and nothing. It was a real head scratcher. The next day I arrive and in the dark I hear a gobble. It turned out the whole flock moved to a new tree about 50 feet from where I park. I had walked past them in the dark the day before. It looked like the best place to nest was accross the road, so the flock moved closer to the nesting grounds. Now they were wary and never came in.
How often do you experience this situation? There was no pressure.
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Can't say anything about that particular situation, but I can say a flock will have multiple roosts that they choose to use depending on the situation when dark comes. They will go through a routine everynight and if anything is abnormal, they will change what set of trees they want to go up.
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Bone is right..roosts can change...Most of it in my opinion is because of the "Grab Ass Factor" Most hens are playing it or trying to get away from it...most toms are looking for it and if you have an annual roost will always come back to that area if they lost the hen while she was trying to lay eggs etc... Most communal roosts are always used at sometime in the Spring. I hunt in the afternoon and usually kill my birds then because of this Grab ass factor. Most hens shake the tom about 10:00 to 12:00 and go and try and lay and egg, get nest ready, etc..The toms are wandering around looking for an available hen. We have a ton of hens..there doesn't seem to be a shortage of them..but in certain areas Toms will compete for hens stealing them from another tom...his choice is to roost in other areas. There are lots of reasons why turkeys roost in seperate areas. I know of three communal roosts where I can guarantee a turkey is roosted there..They are there every year..Merriams seem to be more sporadic in roosting than Rio Grandes..IMO. Hope this helps...just remember that when you are out there ask your self who is the real turkey..LOL..Once you think you got them nailed down they pull the switcheroo...LOL..Good Luck
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We hunt a property of several hundred acres in the NE every opening week and the Merriam's roost on this property only every 3 to 4 days. Very sporadic like Yelp explained. So our only choice is to hunt multiple areas and keep looking and listening for the presence of birds. The breeding flocks in this area move around alot and at times we have heard them suddenly decide to move out and go right up the mountain, usually leaving us to start all over again to try and re-locate them. :bash:
