Advice for first time turkey hunt?

M

Matt Wallis

New member
So I'm going fall turkey hunting this year for the first time. Got some land to hunt on, got my 12 gauge, got some camo. What else do I need?

Regard,
Matt
 
Find out what the turkeys are eating on your hunting land. Wear camo EVERYWHERE. Your weapon doesn't need to be camoed, but turkeys know what eyes and skin look like. I've held a stainless steel muzzleloader less than 10 yds from a turkey w/o alarming it.
For fall turkey hunting, I usually look for open fields with wild grapes, other berries, grasshoppers or acorns-roughly in that order. Later in the fall season, they move towards an all acorn diet. They'll also be in big flocks during fall. You'll either see them or not. Assembly calls can be usefull, but you won't hear as much gobbling. Whenever I call in the fall, I usually end up calling in other hunters :rolleyes:
Oh, and I rifle hunt BTW.
 
I only shot one turkey and that was about 30 years ago. I was sitting in a stump hole, wearing a hunter orange hat, with just my head out of the hole. I guess the turkey didn't believe that a hunter could be so short so it walked up to take a look. :eek:
 
Is "calling" a must? I heard somewhere that calls are usefull for Spring Turkey, but you don't need them in the Fall. True?

Thanks for the responses. I can pretty much camo up from head to toe. Even have camo gloves. Only problem I can think of is my face mask does leave the eye area open, and I wear glasses. Is that a problem?

Thanks,
Matt
 
Last year October the 19th I was gutting out my deer wearing blue jeans, hunter orange jacket and hunter orange cap. This was in a valley of an older, upland forest with a clear floor. Visability was good to 175 yards or so for me. While I worked I had a flock of about 15 turkeys walk up to about 25 yards. I scared the crap out of them when I waved my arms and yell "hooooo ahhhhhh.' :D
 
Matt, the spring is mating season, so calling is more effective. During the fall, about all a call would do is indicate "Here's food!", if you know how to make that kind of sound...

I've used a sort of mesh hood deal, when having to sit and hunt for deer and looking into the sundown direction. You can see through it okay, and it masks face and glasses.

The shadow of a long-billed cap will keep glasses from shining...

I've read that turkeys, more than any other North American game critter, are superlative at what's called "Pattern Recognition". If a stump wasn't there, yesterday, it shouldn't be there, today. Whatever is new in the pattern of the countryside is a Bad Thing, and therefore Mr. Turkey thinks he oughta practice being elsewhere.

And that's about all I really know about deliberately hunting turkeys.

:), Art
 
Also turkeys have eye sight 3-4 times better than a human. So the smallest of things stand out. They might be a big dumb looking bird, but they are not dummies. Remember this bird missed a vote for
becoming the national bird over the Bald Eagle.
 
Hmmm. My hat has a bill, and the face mask I have is mesh, so I should be okay there. And no call needed, it sounds like, which is good because I've never used one before anyway! Heh, heh.

As far as recognition goes... What about hunting from a tree stand? Any good for turkey?

Matt
 
A doggoned turkey will spot you in a tree probably quicker than if you're on the ground. Pattern recognition, again.

The idea is that you find a location where you blend in with the background. You don't want to look like a new stump or rock that wasn't there yesterday. Sit back against a tree, for instance; this is why folks are picky about what sort of camo. Or, sit sorta backed into a bush. You become--visually--part of the tree or bush.

And when you sit, plan ahead about your probable lane of fire. You sit somewhere around 45 to 75 degrees to the most probable direction, since you shoot pretty much across your body, not straight out in front of you.

If you're walking and looking, move slowly, and look through brush, not from in front. Don't wander around out in the open.

Art
 
Get a good old box call & learn some yelps & clucks & you will be fine in the fall. Find a flock & break them up & use the yelps to bring some back for some easy shootin.... :)
 
If not done already, get some of the "Shoot 'n See" turkey head targets and use 'em to check your point of aim/point of impact and learn your capabilities/limitations on effective range. The major ammo mfgrs. all make special turkey loads that are well worth the $ if your see need to possibly take a shot beyond about 35 yards. Start at about that distance with targets above and move back in about 5 yard increments until you are no longer getting at least one pellet (4s, 5s, 6s) on spine or brain pan. At that range and beyond, you'll know it's not an ethical shot. Ya might test with more than one brand of ammo as your gun/choke may like one better than another.

My 870 (3") with super full choke good out to 45-50 yards with most brands. Got a box of the new "hevi shot" (almost $2 a round!), but no chance yet to check it out thorougly. FWIW, the "premium" turkey loads mentioned above also work great on ringnecks. Copper plating helps pellets penetrate feathers better than rough lead. Clean kills with 4s and 6s at 50 yards with modified choke.

Good with your pre-Thanksgiving "ambush".
 
Sitting against a big tree breaks up your pattern and also protects you from shots from other hunters (you're all camo'd up ya know).

I went out Fall turkey hunting for the first time last week. 4 day, either sex lottery seasons in MN. I got out before the season and scoped out some turkeys near a big tree. For the opener, I got out 45 minutes before sunrise and started setting up -- I thought I'd try some decoys. A female was yelping at me the entire time I set up in the dark. I tried to be quiet but I still banged around.

As the sun came up, I heard a few turkeys and saw a turkey head for a fraction of a second at about 30 yards in some tall grass. Thinking "this is easy...", I waited for her to come in closer.

Needless to say, I never had another shot. When I quieted down, the turkeys disappeared. In the Fall, they seemed to respond more to my human sounds than any turkey sounds I could make, but I wouldn't necessarily rely on this tactic.

In Minnesota, you need to use a shotgun for turkeys, so you need to be very close. I'll probably put a scope on my Mossberg 835 for my next lottery turkey hunt and dedicate it to the 2nd place Nat'l bird so I can scope the thick stuff easier.

In the Fall, take a shot when you can. Regardless, it's great practice blending into the woods and it makes you a better hunter for everything else.
 
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