Methods For Fall Turkeys

METHODS FOR FALL TURKEYS

By Freddie Mcknight

With the ever increasing numbers of turkeys across the nation, more hunters are taking up the sport of chasing these fall flocks. Since they mostly run into one or two hens with their brood of the year, it is fairly easy to scatter and call the birds. That is not to say it is too simple though. A little bit of hunting pressure and those young of the year can be as tough to call as any hunter-wise spring tom.

The key to finding birds in the fall is food. Turkeys are on a constant feed during these times. They cannot store up much in the way of body fat and are forced to eat on a daily basis to survive. They home in on the most abundant and easiest of food sources in the area. Depending on the availability of a particular food, they may stay in that region or travel in an effort to find another source. If you find that food source half of your hunt strategy is already accomplished.

In years of a vast acorn crop, the birds are liable to spend an entire fall in one oak grove cleaning up the dropping nuts. In this manner they do not leave as much sign as they would in leaner years, so you need to employ your hearing to help find the birds. In the mornings, the old hen will often leave the roost and use an assembly call as a key for her young to join her. Even while on roost, the birds can often be heard conversing back and forth as the daylight grows stronger. If you can key in on these sounds, then you can move in and catch the birds in one of the best situations to scatter the flock.

Even if you do not hear the birds at first light, do not give up on your ears. A fall flock makes considerable noise when they are scratching in the leaves. Just their scratching along will carry a long distance in the dry fall foliage. Add to that the usually talkative birds, and your hearing will enable you to key in on a flock. It is then a matter of looking over the terrain to decide if you want to try to get ahead of the birds or rush them from behind to scatter them.

In the leaner years of food supply, the turkeys can be tracked down by the sign they leave behind. Roost sites are used year after year when the birds pass through the same areas, so if you know where the birds have roosted in prior times, that can be a great place to start your morning's hunt.

If you are not that fortunate, start looking for signs of their scratching in the fall leaves. This will literally point you to where the birds have gone. As they feed, they scratch away at the forest debris which accumulates behind them. You find their scratching and go in the direction that they have fed. It does not always work, but will give you a good idea as to which direction they are headed and what types of foods they are keying in on.

Farm fields are a great place to locate fall flocks feeding. It might be in a picked corn or grain field or simply a hayfield with some late season grasshoppers still in it. Regardless, this mixture of agriculture and hardwoods is perhaps the best type of turkey habitat and we are well blessed with that in this region. Scout by sight, and once a flock is found, you can maneuver into position to ambush them.

While you can take a bird on the initial ambush, I love to call them in. For this reason, I rarely shoot at the turkeys when I am scattering the flock. Just yelling at them, or simply running at them to scatter the birds to the four winds will suffice.

Remember safety here too, you don't want to be running through the woods with a loaded gun in your hands. That is an accident just waiting to happen. Try to get as close to the birds as you can get undetected before rushing them. The closer you get, the more of a surprise it will be and the more of a scattering affect you will get. Should you just get one or two birds to break from the flock while most of the others stay in the same general flight line, you may not get a chance to call a bird in.

In a good scatter, always try to see which way the majority of the birds run or fly. I like to move a hundred yards or so in that direction, then find a good place to set up and call. This means an area where I can see at least thirty yards in the forward direction. If you cannot get a place like this, they will often become wary of calling and not being able to see and will instinctively work their way around you. Use of a decoy can be a boost to your hunt in this situation.

Kee-kee runs, the whistling type call of a young, lost turkey are the best calls to use for the fall birds. Just be alert if you hear the old hen making her assembly call. If you hear this, you need to get to that area and spook her off, because all of the young will ignore you and go to her. You may get fortunate enough once in awhile to pull a young one in on its way to the assembly call, but they tend to make a beeline for the hen and bypass you.

Just because they are young, does not mean they are dumb. Given the fact that predators have been trying to make them lunch since the day they were born; these birds are wary right from the get-go. You must take this all into account when figuring your game plan for success with them.

One of the most critical factors of success is often overlooked. I don’t care what type of camo you have, you cannot move when these birds are in sight. One wrong move at the wrong time and you might as well have a flashing neon sign in your hands rather than a scattergun. The birds will spook and all that will result is a more educated turkey, and there are far too many of them in the woods already.

Don’t think that you are just going to go out for a day and have success. I have hunted these birds both spring and fall for 25 years now and have often found myself going into the last few days of the season with the turkey tag still attached to my license. The one thing you must never do is give up. Keep on trying and success will be yours.