As it states, I'm new to turkey hunting. I'm in central Minnesota in an area where I know there is a plethora of birds. I've scouted the areas for deer in the past and never run into any of them in the woods. This was, however, years ago when I don't know if the population was like it is now so I am discounting that fact. What do I look for in terms of sign when scouting... or is the best idea finding them in the fields during daylight hours and back tracking from there. Any and all ideas will be welcomed. Thanks in advance everyone.
During scouting, look for large trees with some open branches that they may roost on. You can check around the base of the trees for droppings and feathers that will tell you for sure. Scratching in the dead leaves is another thing to look for. If you have sandy areas you can obviously see tracks, but also strut marks of the toms wings dragging the ground. If you can, get out early in the morning before the season starts and just listen. The toms should be fired up on the roost just about every morning. Typically, where I hunt anyway, you will catch them in the fields not long after fly down for a couple of hours. One mistake a lot of people make when calling during the season is calling too much. Practice, a lot, on whichever type of call you choose. Watch videos of real hens and try your best to imitate them. Sometimes the soft calling is better than hammering them. If you get a hen to respond you your calling, try and copy what she is doing. Being new, you will probably make a lot of mistakes. I've been turkey hunting for 16 years and I make a ton of mistakes every spring. Take every opportunity to learn everything you can. Good luck and if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask. I can't wait until our season opens.
For a bow hunter, in terms of calls, I'm guessing that the diaphragm calls work better in terms of mobility and usage. But again not having any experience with either makes me ask the question. My dad, who had hunted via gun before, has a, non-box, scratch style call that I'd be able to use. However from what I've heard, the diaphragm calls sound better than the box or scratch calls. Correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks again for your input.
I think a diaphragm is probably the most realistic sounding call if you put the time in. It definitely helps because you can be hands free obviously. A box call is the probably the easiest call to run and can also sound great. A scratch or pot type call is in the middle of difficulty in my opinion but can be great for the soft sweet type calls that you may want to make as the tom is getting close to try and coax him in the last few yards. Box calls are great for reaching out long distances to try and locate a distant bird or to cut through on a windy day. It's probably all personal preference as to which type to use, but learning a diaphragm can definitely help a bowhunter. Clucks and purrs on a diaphragm can be deadly for getting the bird to close the last few yards needed for a shot.
From one rookie turkey hunter to another. This will be season 3 of my hunting turkey. I was able to get one last year, I'll give my best advice. 1: Expect to go without a bird this season. Just do it, set your goals low, anything over is a success. 2: Get a Blind. 3: Get a box/slate call. I use a diaphragm and I suck, I can make a sound that resembles a turkey, it worked last year though. Practice a lot if you go with diaphragm. Buy different diaphragm calls, I have about 12 of them, I love new turkey call season. 4: Do not be afraid to make mistakes, I made plenty in season 1 and learned from them. Ialos made plenty in season 2, and will probably make more this year. 5: HAVE FUN, no matter what, once you get talking to birds, you will be hooked, I look forward to turkey season more than deer season. YouTube is your friend, watch a billion turkey videos and you will start to see some ideas. Keep things simple, do not over think it. Turkeys are dumb as crap, they can see extremely well though.
Thanks for the advice guys. As I mentioned above, my dad has some of the gear necessary already, we've got the blind, a couple of slate calls and a hen decoy. I know that he's had success at least once with this set up, but again this was with shotgun, not bow. I'm guessing, knowing shot patterns, that the distances are probably similar, but the closer the better with a bow I would imagine. Again keep the tips coming, everything is welcomed.
get comfortable and plan to spend all morning in the blind. got two turkeys last spring (shotgun not bow due to injury) and both were after 11 AM.
In my experience, birds are easier to scout for than deer. More often than not they roost in the same location. They typically also feed in the same wood lots/fields day in and day out. Occasionally a subordinate tom will wonder off and look for a new group of hens. The past few years I've successfully taken birds only because I was able to set up near their roost and intercept them before they went off to the fields. On the other hand, my neighbor and I were able to strike up a tom midday far from where we thought the birds would be. Clearly he was on the search for a new hen. Bottom line is find where they roost and have multiple plans of attack.
So I was out in the woods on Sunday with my wife when she called me over to her. I was eager to see what she was looking at as we were more or less on a shed hunting excursion (which failed, though we did find a pile of bones, skull included) and said, "are these pheasant tracks?" They were much larger than any pheasant tracks than I had ever seen so I quick googled turkey tracks in snow and it was as if the first picture that came up was the scene unfolding in front of us! They were the same size (the photo had it scaled with a dollar bill sitting next to the track). We followed the trail as far as we could and I believe that I found the roosting tree! I'm not anticipating that it/they will consistently roost there til the season in later April, but I was excited none-the-less. Leave it to the non hunter to make both the exciting finds of the day... she found the pile of bones as well. Apparently I need to rid my mind of pre-conceived notions and simply keep a better eye on the ground. I didn't see any feathers or anything on the ground, but it was a very abrupt end to a good trail of tracks we were back tracking so I'm assuming that it came out of the tree there and started walking about.
I just got the best news today! I've been wanting to ask some people I know for permission to hunt their land for birds this spring. I want sure if they did or didn't hunt turkeys but I knew they are avid upland, waterfowl and deer huntersso I had my reservations about whether they were going to let me hunt they VERY private land (only immediate and married family members allowed), the only two people that have gotten permissible have married the owners daughters. However, I waddled into their store, confidently asked the question and was given an "well we don't, so of course!" Not only that but they are going walk me around the property and show new the good spots! The son lives on the property and says he and his young son go for hikes and see turkeys all the time. Now if only I could talk them into letting me bow hunt after slug season is over, but I'll take the initial victory for now.
Go early in the morning and listen for birds. Look for poop on logging roads and field edges. Find birds, slip in, don't call too much and have patience. If your looking for a call start with a box call or paddle call. They are easier to become proficient with than a diaphragms or pot call. Also want to pattern your gun if that's what your using. If your using a bow get a blind and a decoy.
I'm going to be using my bow so no need to pattern anything, I've already acquired a couple of diaphragm calls and have been practicing a little. I've got a month to work on them. I'm lucky in that my dad has done some turkey hunting in the past and had a decoy and the blind so I'm good there. The only other thing is whether to try a regular broadhead or use the kind that is designed to chop heads off. Any thoughts?
What ever your shooting for deer and hit him in the wing butt. Seeing a head fly off is cool, but it's a low percentage shot. A turkeys ahead is almost never still.
I was out at my local outdoor range yesterday and tried shooting with both eyes open. I've really only ever really shot guns and always shot with only one eye open so I naturally brought that to shooting my bow. After spending time shooting with both open, I noticed that my arrow flight, upon release,"jumped" off the string and banked to the right but straightened out during flight. Is this normal or something that I should be concerned about. Every arrow fired enters the target straight, but I'm shooting at distances of 20 yards or greater so the arrow has"time" to correct itself. Any thoughts would be helpful.
I would try and paper tune your bow. That will give you a better idea of what your arrow is doing coming off the rest and you adjust until you are shooting bullet holes with 3 little rips from the feathers. Once you have that down, then you will have to resight, but you should be shooting even better and pick up a little speed as well.
As I stated, my arrows are sticking straight out of the target when they come to a full stop, it's just the immediate jump off the string. And this question is coming from a novice, how do you paper tune? How far in front of the stopping target do you set up the paper pass through target? Thanks for your input.
The paper should be a few feet away from the stopping target, enough that you arrow completely clears the paper before hitting the target. You should be maybe 5 feet from the paper.. just enough that you arrow stabilizes from the initial launch. Don't worry about hitting a certain point on the paper, just concentrate on making a good, clean shot without collapsing (letting down before your trigger goes off) or punching (yanking the trigger) or whatever. Once you get a bullet hole with 3 fairly equal rips from the fletchings, you are golden. If you have 2 small rips and 1 large rip.. you arrow is coming off at an angle. If you aren't 100% sure about doing the paper tuning yourself, go to just about any bow shop and they should be able to help you out. It could also/or be that the rest is not clearing fast enough and you arrow is hitting it. A few years ago, I had 2 shots on 2 bucks and missed them both by about 3' to the right and 1' low. Couldn't figure out what I did wrong, but I was convinced it was me. I went home and look at my bow to try and rule that out.. noticed the rest wasn't dropping as fast it should and it was throwing my arrows to the right and down. Anything I can help with, just ask.
@bowhunter0132: just so I'm getting the idea as I'm slightly confused by the last part of your comment. I am not shooting inaccurately; at 20 yards, attached you'll see my grouping. I only noticed that the arrow isn't flying in a perfectly straight fashion the whole way when I started shooting with both eyes open. Also, there was a breeze that was flowing from left-right that day. I guess the true test would be to go back to my indoor range and shoot some arrows without the outdoor variables. I'm not doubting your advice in the slightest, just to be clear. Again, I'm just confused about how you missed a few shots low and to the right and how doing some paper tuning fixed that. Please advise. Thanks in advance for your thoughts
Most "real" turkey hunters don't like how I hunt them because it's not "real" turkey hunting (as they say), but, I kill birds. I do a some scouting a week or so leading up to the season by getting out there before daylight and listening to where they're roosting. If I can see a pretty good ways, I'll hang out for a few hours to see where/if they're entering the fields, otherwise, I'll glass from my truck. Once the season is open, I've got a pretty good idea where the birds are. I set up in a highly visible area, normally a pasture or field, using 3 or 4 decoys....1 jake and 2 or 3 hens. Ideally, any turkey within a few hundreds yards will be able to spot the decoy spread. I call only enough to get the bird's attention and once he's committed to the decoys, shut up and let him come. I'm not a great turkey hunter by a turkey hunter's standard, but between myself, my kids and a few other people I take turkey hunting to get video, we'll kill 3 or 4 birds per year. Basically, I'm hunting turkeys like I hunt deer...I find a good area and sit still. Gobblers will cruise like bucks do. They're with the hens in the early morning, but hens will break away from the gobblers in the late morning hours to tend their nests and the toms will start searching for other hens. I've killed most of my turkeys after 9:30. Some things to think about when setting up your decoy spread....from my experience the gobbler will go directly to the jake decoy to challenge him. Set the jake decoy up where you want to take the shot. Put the hen decoys closer to your blind, or if you're just hunting on the ground, set them where you won't be in the line of sight of the gobbler is focused on them. There are a lot of ways to hunt turkeys. This method works best for me...mainly because I mostly self video and can't run and gun...but again, I'm not a great turkey hunter so I found a way to kill birds so this is what I do. Here's an episode from my show. The majority of it shows how I hunt turkeys.
