Late Season Tactics

[haus]

I haven’t been out to hunt yet, but it’s looking like this weekend I’ll finally get a window to go. Have you guys found that certain tactics work better in the latter part of the season? If so which one(s)? Also is there some elevation movement with the bird concentrations? I’d seen a few consistently down low while working but haven’t been seeing them as much over the past week or so, didn’t know if that was related to our snow line receding higher.

I’ll be hunting in the Kittitas County area.

[Wphunt]

I’m getting out Friday also. Not much experience late season either. I’m going to bike in a ways on closed roads to get to some unpressured birds and do a run and gun type hunt. Cover a lot of ground calling and try to locate some birds that want to play. See how it goes. I’ve been seeing hens alone and hiding, so there might not be many that haven’t been bred. Could be good or bad.

[brokentrail]

Late season, my best advice is early mornings they usually have hens, but if you get one to gobble later in the morning, it can be game on as they may be alone and lonely.  I hunted last week and every bird I found was henned up until the hens moved off to the nest.

[Russ McDonald]

They will feed with hens in the morning coming off the roost.  The hens will then go off to lay eggs.  Hens that nest or are incubating eggs will not go to a roost they will stay on the nest and only leave to feed and do their thing for a bit during the day.  If they roost they will do it really close to their nest.  Hens that you might be seeing now may be infertile hens.  I would say breeding for themost part is done but the boys will still be looking for love. I would say best times are after 10am unless you can find the roost tree.

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[hal]

early nesting this year in 204. Hunted last wed, thur and fri. not one gobble. Talked to a local he killed one and heard many two weeks before we arrived. Last year got one first 5 hours and had many every day. It was warm and drier than normal. our creek is half the level of normal. gonna be a long dry summer.

[10Key]

Hit up a spot yesterday, the 23rd. Had multiple gobblers and some hens 10 days ago. Dead silence and no fresh sign. I told my buddy, either they were off in the woods mating or dead

[Russ McDonald]

If you not around ag they will go further up in the mountains or higher elevation.  They are way past mating.  Tom's will keep looking byt hens most likely aren't receptive anymore.  People are seeing poults in places.

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[bearpaw]

We got a good one that was still gobbling a couple mornings ago, and have heard gobbles since then, but the brakes are definitely on, the normal amount of spring gobbling is winding down. Turkeys can still be killed but you will have to work harder to find them, you should be mentally prepared to go home without notching a tag, that's more likely to happen now! 

[10Key]

If you not around ag they will go further up in the mountains or higher elevation.  They are way past mating.  Tom's will keep looking byt hens most likely aren't receptive anymore.  People are seeing poults in places.

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That makes sense then, thanks

[th3rug25]

I know this doesnt help you with the spring season now, but I had success a week and a half ago with the same tactic at 2 different times and habitats on the same day.
In the early morning, we hunted the higher elevation hillsides with ponderosas. We saw where the toms were strutting just before dark the night before, and got up there at about 4:30am. They were already all down from the roost and out on the hillsides. We set up around a bend from one that remained in the roost and just gave very intermittent calls. By that I mean about every 3 minutes. We had a jake, hen, and tom decoy. We knew there were birds all around us, but we sat and waited. Took about 3 hours, but in rolled a pack of 8 between our calls. They came over a rock less than 10 yd away, so if we had been calling any more frequently i think we might have spooked em.

Same thing for the late morning/early afternoon. Moved down into some sage, and although the birds were no longer gobbling, knew they were around from all the scat in the area. Set up with same decoys and did the very intermittent calling. Two came sneaking through the brush, only heard em snap a few twigs before they charged the decoys to fight.

I think any more frequent calling or less willingness to sit and wait, and we would not have been successful.

[haus]

I know this doesnt help you with the spring season now, but I had success a week and a half ago with the same tactic at 2 different times and habitats on the same day.
In the early morning, we hunted the higher elevation hillsides with ponderosas. We saw where the toms were strutting just before dark the night before, and got up there at about 4:30am. They were already all down from the roost and out on the hillsides. We set up around a bend from one that remained in the roost and just gave very intermittent calls. By that I mean about every 3 minutes. We had a jake, hen, and tom decoy. We knew there were birds all around us, but we sat and waited. Took about 3 hours, but in rolled a pack of 8 between our calls. They came over a rock less than 10 yd away, so if we had been calling any more frequently i think we might have spooked em.

Same thing for the late morning/early afternoon. Moved down into some sage, and although the birds were no longer gobbling, knew they were around from all the scat in the area. Set up with same decoys and did the very intermittent calling. Two came sneaking through the brush, only heard em snap a few twigs before they charged the decoys to fight.

I think any more frequent calling or less willingness to sit and wait, and we would not have been successful.

Certainly helps for next season, thanks for the info. One of the things I’d noticed when I got out at the end was attempting to locate the birds on public land that had a significant increase in human activity, and not from hunters really. Just the overall frequency in nice weather bringing more people out to recreate. I went with the must be further back approach, but it seemed to be more of an exodus to areas they weren’t in early.