Preparing for 1st time Spring Turkey Hunt

[Russ McDonald]

Keep a eye out and I will post dates here.  Lining up how to turkey hunting classes.  I will be at the sports show in Puyallup doing a few and working with Tacoma Sportsmens Club inndoing some there.  I have hunted in a lot of areas around WA.  Cle Elum and Teanaway.  Turkeys there but most are on private property. West side put in some work for finding those easterns.  Most common thing I will get asked is where are the easterns.  Heck I don't even know.  I know general areas.  NE corner has the largest population of turkeys in the state.  Knock on the farmers doors they hate them out there.  I have a property that allows me to mentor hunters on and I have been pretty successful there.  Plus in my travels there I will see lots of birds.  I use decoys in the spring. Early sping you could do a jake/tom and a hen.  Later season just stick with a hen or 2.  One alert hen and one feeding hen is what I have used.  What happens isnlater in the season males are tired of getting there butts kicked my the dominant tom in the flock so having a jake or tom decoy might be a hindrance.  Camo head to to and be still.  9 times out of 10 a turkey probably sees you before you see them.  Don't over call.  If you call and get a gooble back try a time or to.  If he goobles again and is getting closer shut down and be still.  In nature a tom does not come to the hen the hen comes to the tom.  What he is doing if you get him fired up is he is saying why is that lady lost and I need to get her back to the flock so I can have my way with her.  Huge thing to pattern you gun like has been said.  Different loads pattern different in guns. Full choke or turkey chokenis best.  If you shooting non toxic or TSS loads make sure that you choke is good for that.  If they are non tss chokes you can split the choke and barrel.  Good luck and welcome to the forum.  This is how I started out hunting in WA was joining this forum.  Lots of good info amd people.

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[brokentrail]

Put some tick spray/deet on yer list. 

My suggestion for ticks is to spray all of your gear, pants, shirt, vest, boots, gaiters, etc with Permethrin.  It flat works!

[Lady Grouse hunter]

N.E. CORNER Is mostly Private land.. Good luck unless one knows their Uncles Wheat field....

[Russ McDonald]

There plenty of public la d in the NE corner.  Federal and state and they do ha e turkeys on them.

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[HillHound]

Put some tick spray/deet on yer list. 

My suggestion for ticks is to spray all of your gear, pants, shirt, vest, boots, gaiters, etc with Permethrin.  It flat works!

This is no joke. Arrived in the northeast for a hunt a couple years ago and just walking in the knee high grass around the truck to get to my permethrin treated hunting clothes I had over a dozen ticks on my pants. This will ruin your day and it’s impossible to stay still when you have all them blood suckers crawling around on/in you . We are successful in the Cle Elum area in the spring but it’s on private property. And due to the limited bag limit in that area I try to get my wife or son on them first if schedules allow. If they get blown out after shooting a couple I can always head to northeast for a weekend and get two birds. Way more birds over there. Cle Elum area has birds but you have to find the draw, ridge, etc they are holding in. Northeast there are basically turkeys in every draw, ridge, etc. Get out and try to roost the birds the night before or head out early to see if you can hear them making all their noise before they fly down. Some use shock calls like owl calls etc to get them to sound off in the dark.

[hunter399]

N.E. CORNER Is mostly Private land.. Good luck unless one knows their Uncles Wheat field....

Yes this is so true ,don't come to the NE corner ,all private,And bad spot for sure...  
Wheat fields everywhere and not one 🦃   

[hunter399]

Bought these today,buy them when you see them.

[HooknoseHunter]

N.E. CORNER Is mostly Private land.. Good luck unless one knows their Uncles Wheat field....

Yes this is so true ,don't come to the NE corner ,all private,And bad spot for sure...  
Wheat fields everywhere and not one 🦃   

I can’t agree with this enough, there aren’t any turkeys in NE WA. I wouldn’t waste your gas driving over here when you can hunt in the unpressured forests of Western WA. Also, you don’t need a ton of gear, just cruise logging roads until you see a flock, drive past them, get out and setup an ambush.

[highcountry_hunter]

NE WA ...........
That's all I'm saying bro .
Welcome to the forum.
Goodluck
Mark any area off the list ,head to NE WA.

Agreed. But you have to take 5 with you when you leave