This is just an magazine article I wrote. It is not from my book.



It was three days before the opening of my turkey hunting dates. Unseasonably cold weather for the time of year, and an early spring snowstorm meant there was still snow on the ground. Although snow would make looking for turkey sign easy, especially tracks, I had no idea where the turkeys were. I generally try to locate the areas the turkeys are using no more than a week before my hunting dates, so that I am fairly sure they are then when I hunt.

    After I have located the areas the turkeys are using, I go out during the evening (generally the night before the hunt), and try to watch the birds fly up roost, or get the toms to "shock gobble" in response to a loud call. That way I now the general area where they are roosted. If I can't actually see the birds roosted in the tree I walk into the area, calling and listening as I go, until I locate the tree or trees the toms are in. Then I look for an open area (often by using a topographical map) where I think the birds will be the next morning, so I cant set up to hunt them there.    

However, for several reasons, I was unable to scout for the birds during the last month, which meant I had a lot of scouting to do before I could find out where the birds were, and locate the best places to hunt them.     Fortunately I'd previously spent four years researching turkeys in this same area.

    Because I'd kept track of several different flocks from early spring through the following winter, I knew, that depending on how deep the snow was, and how much forage was available in each area, the birds moved between winter home ranges and spring/summer home ranges, between spring/summer home ranges and fall home ranges, and between fall home ranges and winter home ranges.

   Since I had watched and listened to the birds almost every day in the winter and spring I was often able to see them as they moved from the large wooded area they used for protection in the winter, to the semi-open and mixed hardwood and agricultural areas they used as spring foraging and strutting/breeding areas.  I'd also watched both groups of hens, and toms and jakes, move back to the wintering area after a few days if the snow was too deep or there was not enough forage in the springtime areas.

    During one early spring week I watched as a group of hens left the heavily wooded wintering area, crossed the road within fifteen yards in front of my suburban, and walked to the mixed hardwood and agricultural area where they spent the spring, which was about a mile away. A day later, while I'd been conducting turkey gobbling counts, a group of three long-bearded toms left the wintering area, and headed for the spring range.

    Because I was able to hear both the toms gobbling, and the hens cackling as they flew down from the roost in the morning, I suspect the toms had also hear the hens, and had gone looking for them. Three days later the hens moved back to wintering area for some reason, and the toms followed them. A week later they had all taken up residence on the spring home range, and the breeding season was in full swing.  

As I expanded my hunting area in subsequent years, looking for more birds to hunt, I began to realize that the flock of up to seventy birds I'd seen in the wintering area, broke up in the spring, with some birds moving north, some east and some south, generally to mixed hardwood / agricultural areas.
   
    They did not move west because it was primarily agricultural land, with very few trees the birds could use as roosting sites. Some of those birds ended up as far as two miles away from the wintering area. Interestingly, one research paper I read mentioned that a group of turkeys had moved 10 miles during one week during spring migration.

When I hunted Merriam's turkeys on a 15,000-acre ranch along the Niobrara River, near Valentine, Nebraska, the turkeys wintered near the rancher's house, and fed in the pasture where he fed the cattle corn silage and hay. But, they moved east and west along the river for the spring, as much as five miles form their winter home range. The rancher regularly kept track of the turkeys for me as he checked the cattle and fences on a weekly basis. Knowing where the turkeys were before we drove out from Minnesota every year made it a lot easier for me to locate the turkeys before we hunted.

    If I had not known that the turkeys migrated several miles between their winter and spring home ranges, and where those ranges were, I would have had to spend a lot more time (in Nebraska instead of Minnesota) trying to figure out where the turkeys were when I had hunters in our Nebraska hunting camp. Obviously one of the secrets for successful turkey hunting is to know where the turkeys are before you hunt. If you hunt far from home, or out of state, try to find out where the turkeys will be during your hunt dates, by contacting the local wildlife managers, and the local residents.    

One of the ways I keep track of the turkeys during the hunting season is by using a pair of electronic amplified hearing aids designed for hunting, so I can hear the toms gobbling and the hens calling from as far away as a mile away. In order to watch the turkeys, I drive along the county roads in the area, stopping at likely locations, where I listen until I hear the birds.

    If I do not hear any gobbling, I often use a barred owl, crow or pileated woodpecker call, a coyote howl, a fly-down cackle, loud turkey yelping, a fly-down cackle or a gobble - to get the toms to "shock gobble" in response.

Since there was a small game farm in the area that had peacocks and guinea hens, and I'd heard the toms respond to their calls, I also used a peacock call to get the toms to sound off. If I was trying to locate the birds to the roost, before sunrise, or after dark, I generally used a barred owl call.  

    Once I locate the birds by sound, I either either drive as close as I can, or get out and walk to where the birds are, so I can could figure out which calls they use and I ccan watch them to figure out their daily activities and movement patternsr. As a result of this I discovered how to tell what a tom was doing by the frequency of its calls, and which calls the hens used most frequently during the breeding season.

   While many hunters believe that toms gobble to get the hens to come to them, and it does happen, the hens are often at the feeding/strutting areas before the toms, the toms hear them, gobble to the hens, and then go looking for the hens. This means that hunters can attract toms by using the calls hens use during the breeding season.

    As the hens wake up in the morning they often use what is referred to as the "tree yelp", which is basically a quieter form of the yelp, used by turkeys to announce that they are awake and where they are, and possibly as a means of getting other birds of the flock to respond as a security gesture. Other hens often respond to the tree yelp with their own tree yelp, toms (that may be roosted with or nearby the hens, or somewhere farther away by themselves) often respond with loud yelps and gobbles, to let the hens know they have heard them and that they are nearby. When the hens eventually fly down they often start off with a few loud yelps (that sound similar to alarm putts) to announce their intentions, and then perform the loud, excited fly-down cackle as they leave the roost.

    The loud yelps of this call occur in unison with the downbeats of the turkey's wing beats, which is when the turkey exhales as it uses it chest muscles to flap its wing, and performs this call. The call starts out slow as the turkey launches itself into the air - and then speeds up as its wing beats become faster. Once the bird is on the ground it may emit one, or a series, of loud yelps or clucks. I suspect these calls help the birds locate each other after they fly down, so that they can get back together.    

The toms often remain on the roost later than the hens, but generally fly down from fifteen minutes before to fifteen minutes after sunrise, depending on the amount of light in the area. If the birds are on the shaded side of a hill, or when there is cloud cover, they often wait until there is enough light to detect any danger in the area. When they toms hear the hens fly down, they often gobble in response for a few minutes. And they may continue to gobble if they hear other toms gobble.

   Once the toms fly down they often gobble within minutes of landing, again probably to let the other males where they are, so they can get back together. The hens may or may not respond to their calls. Either way, the toms generally head off in the direction where they last heard the hens, intermittently gobbling as they go.

One of the things I have learned over the years is that a tom turkey may not be able to gobble and walk at the same time. Toms often walk in a strut or semi-strut position as they walk. But, because they have to stick their necks out to perform the gobble, they generally stop moving before they gobble. The result is that toms often gobble less frequently when they are traveling to a strutting / feeding area, than they do when they are strutting, spitting, humming and gobbling when they are in the presence of hens, which is often on the feeding / strutting areas.

    If a tom gobbles more than five times in one minute, for several minutes, may be with hens, possibly at or near a feeding / strutting area. If a tom gobbles less than once a minute, it may be traveling, possibly looking for hens. Gobbling is primarily used by toms as a long-range expression of dominance among males, and to let females know where they' possibly to attract females

Once the toms find the hens they gobble less, because the gobble is a long distance call, and strut more. While they strut the toms may use a variety of sounds. When they strut they often perform the "spit" and "drum". They perform these calls by inhaling air into the air sack (commonly referred to as the breast sponge), and once it is full of air they expel some of the air in an explosive "spit", or they slowly release it (like prairie chickens and sharp-tailed grouse) which results in a booming or humming sound (commonly referred to as a drum). These calls are mainly used as a short range expression of dominance (to other males) and as a mating sound to attract females.      

    When you are calling to get toms to come to you  duplicate the calls the hens use when they are in the tree and on the ground. Try to setup between the area where the toms are roosted, and where they go to feed or find the hens. Look for game trails or other semi-open areas the big birds can travel through. Then set up in a semi-open location, where you can hear or see the birds as they approach, and where you can have a clear shot at them. You can call and use decoys to get them into shooting range, or you can ambush them when they walk by.      

Sooner or later the hens will leave the early morning feeding /strutting area, either to look for more food, to loaf during midday hours or go to the nest. If they have not begun nesting yet they may all leave together, in which case the toms may or may not follow them for the next few hours, or for the entire day. If the toms stay with the hens for the day they often roost in the same trees with the hens, or in nearby trees.

    If breeding has begun, and the hens have begun nesting, they often leave by themselves (to go to their nests), or in small groups. If nesting has begun, the toms may not follow any of the hens, with the result that they are eventually left alone on the strutting site.

    If toms are left alone at the strut, they often gobble 1-5 times a minute, every five minutes or so, for the first 10-20 minutes. After twenty minutes they may gobble less frequently, and they eventually stop gobbling. One they stop they often move to another feeding /strutting area, probably looking for more hens.  If you don't get a tom at an early morning feeding / strutting site, you may still be able to set up in a late morning site, provided you either hear the toms gobbling from a late morning site, or you know where the toms often go later in the morning.  
     
With three days to locate the areas used by the turkeys as roosting sites, travel routes and feeding / strutting areas, I had to do a lot of last minute scouting to do. I generally scout no more than a week before the hunt, because I want to be fairly sure where the birds are during my hunting season. My research and hunting experiences have taught me that if I scout more than two or more weeks before I plan to hunt, the birds might move to another area, and I would have to start scouting all over again.

    So, for the next three days, every morning from an hour before sunrise to about 10 AM, and every evening from about an hour before sunset to an hour after sunset I drove the roads in the area. I'd stop the suburban, then look and listen for the birds. I checked both the areas where I had seen the birds roosting, traveling and feeding in the past, and in other areas that looked good.  If I did not see any birds, I used a barred owl call when it was dark, and a crow call, a loud flying cackle or loud yelping, to try to get the toms to shock gobble.

    Sure enough I found several flocks of birds in areas where I'd seen them feeding and strutting in past years. I also watched them fly up roost, or roosted, in the several of the same areas I'd seen them in during my studies. All I had to do now was set up in the right spot, and wait for the turkeys to come to me.    


I hope that helps some of you,

May God bless you and yours,

T.R.

Thanks T.R. some great strategies to try.