Spring Turkey Hunting - Lessons Learned

Oh heck yeah. Spring turkey hunting is like Christmas for me. And this year did not disappoint.

I don’t have turkeys where I live. It’s too high in elevation and too cold. I hunt approximately 60 miles from my home, so this means a 4:00 am departure for me to hit the birds coming off the roost. Fire me up a cup of coffee and I’m hitting the road.

Opening morning was promising. I had gobbles right away off the roost in my public land area I like to hunt. I set up and waited. As dawn drew, I fired off some hen clucks. I was met immediately with gobbles. This was a great sign. I waited and listened. I felt the birds were out of the roost and hit some hen calls. I had response and I felt three to four gobblers were in the area on the ground. I waited. I called. I got responses. Then it went silent. I overcalled that morning and noted that as another lesson.

I headed out the next morning with coffee in hand for my hour drive. I set up again, but decided to move my location a bit as I was close to private land and felt the birds would be rolling in that direction. I got in at dark. Set up my decoys. I decided to call minimally. I set off a crow call for a shock gobble and was immediately rewarded. I felt my decoys were in a good line of vision from the roost. I made a grave error. I had actually set up closer to the roost than I had planned. I stayed still and called minimally, but I believe I came in too close and drew alarm. I abandoned post and hunted a nearby ravine. The birds were silent. Absolutely silent. The hunt was over and I went home.

I gave it another try the next morning. Yep, coffee in hand and a dark thirty drive. Due to the silence of the previous day, I had decided I would take this morning to scout out an area that looked promising that was nearby. The birds were quiet. Once it was light and I knew there would most likely be no action, I hiked the area for a couple of hours. I found tracks and sign, but I just didn’t feel like this area would be optimal. As I headed back to my truck, I dusted up a couple of jakes right by my truck. Of course!

Day four. I set up in my original area. I decided to experiment. I used a gobble call early in hopes of getting a shock gobble. Holy shock gobble! I stayed silent until I felt the birds were out of the roost. I decided to avoid any hen calls as there were hens everywhere. I used the gobble call periodically. Just as I was about to give up, two hens came within ten yards from me. I sat quietly. A tom was not far behind and he was riled up if I hit a gobble call. Sadly, he came in from behind me and I wasn’t able to move into shooting position. I decided to set quietly and let them pass as I didn’t want to educate the birds. I built a plan for the next day.

And again, coffee in hand and an hour drive got me into position while it was still dark. I decided to leave the hen decoy behind as the toms seemed to be more responsive to the gobbles. I set up a jake decoy. Got myself in better position that I was the day before. I got good shock gobbles early and decided to sit quietly. Once I knew the birds were off the roost I hit the gobble call and got immediate responses. A tom was working his way in and I was psyched. I tried not to overcall and again, did not do any hen calls. As suddenly as it started, the commotion stopped. I waited an hour or so. I hit my call periodically but there was literally no response. However, I heard a gobbler down the ravine I had explored a couple of days before. I decided to head out after that gobbler to see what might happen.

I didn’t want to go back to my truck, so I left my jake decoy and set out down the ravine. I had great response from 2 different gobblers and brought one just to the outside of the clearing I was sitting. The problem? In my laziness about not wanting to go back to the truck, I did not have a decoy. The bird didn’t hit the clearing and the ravine became silent. Dangit.

I was listing all of learning lessons in my head as I climbed out of the ravine. I had a long drive to get back to work and still needed to pick up my jake decoy at my first set. I had to literally laugh out loud when I reached my decoy. It had been beaten up like nothing I had ever seen. There were feathers all about, the decoy was off the post and the post was actually bent. A clear indication that my impatience got the best of me again. Had I sat one hour longer, I would have clearly had that gobbler in my sights. I decided to ditch work for the day and give a little extra effort for those late morning birds.

I packed up and drove to another area I like to hunt. It was silent and there was really no sign around. I headed toward home but decided to hit the area I hit early in the morning. It was now 9:00 and I felt it was unlikely, but since I was there I’d best try. I
parked and grabbed my pack and shotgun. As I felt any success was unlikely, I slammed my truck door without thinking. And wouldn’t you know- shock gobble. Close! I cycled a round and ensured my safety was on. I settled into some brush not far from
my truck. I hit my gobble call and holy cow, there was a response. Super close.

I know I have mentioned my impatience. I couldn’t see in the direction the gobbles came from, so I opted to get to my knees and try too look over the brush. Oh man…he was literally 10 yards from me. I waited until he turned way before I brought up my
shotgun. As soon as I was able to get a clear shot, I took it! Success!

5 days of early mornings, a lot of driving, a lot of failures, a lot of lessons and just a little bit of luck made this season one for the books.

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