Category: Turkey Hunting

Is it possible to improve the turkey population in your local area by actually hunting more? Well, yes, yes, it is. But it’s not what you think. Killing more turkeys won’t result in a bigger turkey population, but hunting and trapping turkey predators that have grown to out of balance proportions in your area can make a difference. 

Depending on where you live, predators like coyotes, foxes, raccoons, crows, possums and other predators may be overpopulated and causing undue issues with the turkey population, and potentially the populations of other game animals. Hunting or trapping these overpopulated predators can improve the wildlife balance and give turkeys better odds at survival.

Turkeys are especially susceptible to predators when they are young and unable to fly. They are in even more danger as eggs, before they hatch when almost anything from crows to raccoons can eat an entire nest. After they survive their first winter, they are much hardier. But making it to that point can be very difficult if the predator population is out of balance.

Coyotes are one of the most widespread problems nationally as their populations have been expanding unchecked in many areas. They can not only kill turkeys but also drive them out of ideal habitat which impacts their ability to survive in other ways. If you and a group of friends are able to exert concerted efforts to hunt or trap these kinds of predators you can make significant difference in your area. But it may take some sustained effort before it pays off.

You need to learn about your local wildlife and identify what populations are out of balance first. Going after foxes for example if the fox population is average or below average will not help, in fact it could cause other issues. We do not want to kill all predators, we only want to help restore population balance, especially when the populations have gotten out of balance due to manmade situations, which is often the case.

Then you need to study your local hunting and trapping laws to see what your options are. For many of these animals, trapping is more efficient and easier than hunting. Particularly with racoons and coyotes. Whatever efforts you may take, stay safe, legal, and ethical in all that you do.

If turkeys are not gobbling, moving, or in any way detectible, how do you hunt them and salvage your season? In this episode I dig into the details of how to hunt gobblers when all else fails.

If turkeys are gobbling and not coming in that is one set of challenges, but this is different. This is when all the turkeys seem to completely disappear from the woods and you cannot find any action anywhere. I’ve been there. The answer is simple, but not easy. You have to change your mindset and your tactics from turkey hunting to turkey finding.

Set out looking for birds and sign, similar to pre-season scouting but unique in that you are looking for concentrated movement areas that you can then setup in as if you were ambush hunting. I like to start in the low lands, where there are streams, puddles and soft ground where turkeys will leave tracks. I am not just looking for a stray track here and there but lots of regular fresh tracks that will let me know that lots of birds come through this area on a regular basis and spend time eating, socializing, or trying to find mates in this spot.

The goal of this scouting is to locate areas that have birds that you can come back and hunt, but you also want to move quietly. After all the season is on and you have a shotgun, you do not want to disturb the birds that you discover since you plan to hunt them that day or the next. Instead you want to move quietly, gun in hand but being careful to analyze the ground and watching for turkeys on the other side of every hill you crest and every field you move into.

When nothing is working, you come to feel like there are no birds in the woods and it can be very discouraging, but if you can find the birds, and fresh sign, it will put wind in your sails and motivate you to get out and get after the birds. 

Also keep in mind that as the season goes on, the habits of birds can change. As one area grows up it may push birds into other areas. So a spot that is cold today could warm up in a week or two or three. Do not abandon historically good areas but diversify where you spend your time. Perhaps rotate between spots in order to keep on top of places that might heat up later but do not spend your entire turkey season in a spot with no action.

Listen to the whole podcast episode for all of the details!

Are you taking turkey hunting shortcuts? Most people may think not, but there is good news if you are willing to honestly examine yourself. If you can identify and stop taking shortcuts, you can start taking more turkeys out of the woods and be more effective. In this episode I break down 10 different shortcuts that hunters are taking.

Here are some turkey hunting shortcuts that you need to stop taking right away:

1. Not patterning your gun. This is a major issue. Too many people just get a shotgun, choke, or maybe new ammo and go right into the woods. You need to shoot that combination at paper at the ranges you plan to hunt to find out where the point of impact is and what the pattern looks like. If you do not test it you can easily find yourself in the field missing a turkey because your range or pattern were not as good as you hoped. 
2. Not practicing your calls. You need to use each one of your calls before turkey season starts, not just to become a better musician with them but to make sure they all still work, sound properly and you can do any maintenance that is needed before you are in the woods. Take everything out before season and make sure it all works and sounds right. For getting to chalk a box call, or finding a call is broken, or not surfaced right in the field can be a major issue. Finding out the day before can make all the difference.
3. Not practicing shooting from a sitting position. The moment you sit down, you change your body position, how you mount a shotgun, and potentially where your pattern goes. You need to practice firing from a seated position, and not just a comfortable seated position. A good drill to do is walk out about 20-35 yards from some targets, clay discs on a hillside works well, and close your eyes and spin around a few times in a circle and then sit down. Open your eyes and try to hit the targets without getting up or changing position. You will have to twist, bend, contort, etc to get on target, and this is very similar to shooting at a turkey that comes in from an unexpected direction. 
4. Not sitting in your spot before the hunt. Scouting is one thing but sitting in your spot before you hunt there is another. The biggest issue people run into is they walk up to a tree and sit down and setup in the dark, only to realize they can hardly see anything once the sun comes up. A little bit of preparation goes a long way, especially if you are in an area where it is difficult to move once it is daylight because turkeys may see you. When possible, you should test out and prepare your spot in advance, removing leaves, twigs or other debris that might cause you to make extra noise in the spot. 

Listen to the whole podcast episode for more detail and to hear about the rest of the 10 turkey hunting shortcuts that you need to stop taking right now.

How do you hunt turkeys in the rain? Is it even worth your time to try? On this episode I talk about how rain impacts turkey behavior and I work to help you determine if and how hunting turkeys in the rain could work for you.

Rain significantly impacts turkey behavior, however, that does not mean you cannot hunt them. In fact, you can use their change in behavior to your advantage if you plan well and have the right kinds of hunting habitat available to you.

While neither turkeys nor much else moves in heavy rain, they will move in light to moderate rain, and of course all heavy rain eventually ends. If the weather is very bad, birds may not leave the roost, or if they have already flown down, they may hunker down in thick cover if the storm is bad enough. But once the weather breaks, they will begin to move again, looking for food and company.

The rain creates a lot of noise and reduces the effectiveness of a turkey’s hearing to keep it safe. So, the birds often move to larger open areas where they can see for long distances in order to detect predators by sight. And after the rain ends, the trees still drip so turkeys will move into open areas to begin drying out faster. These could be fields, clearings, burned areas, gas line roads, food plots, etc.

So, you want to try and identify these areas that the birds will move to and get their first if possible or arrive just before the rain lets up. The good news is that if the weather is very bad, you can arrive in the woods hours later and be present when the birds begin moving mid-day. 

People often assume hunting blinds are the answer for poor weather. These have pros and cons. Yes, a pop-up blind can keep you dry and comfortable and keep your calls and gear dry and effective. That is great. But blinds are most often placed in areas that are good turkey hunting spots for fair weather. Often these are not very productive foul weather spots. So, while the blind is a great resource, if the rain turns a good location into a bad location, then you may be better off just staying home or moving out on foot.

Personally, I do not like to hunt rainy days because of the extra gear challenges that rain causes for turkey hunting. But if it’s a Saturday I will still likely go out because those days are fixed, I only have so many weekends in any given turkey season. However, if I am taking time off work and it’s raining, I may reschedule my day off for better weather. If I can shift the day easily, it can be more enjoyable to hunt a nice weather day.

Ultimately you need to decide for yourself if going out on a rainy day is a good idea for you and your hunting style. Listen to the full episode to hear all the details!

Maps and apps are all the rage but how you can effectively use them to scout for turkey hunting? The unavoidable truth is you must put boots on the ground to scout for turkeys effectively. But these tools can help you focus your time on the most promising areas. On this episode I talk about how to read maps and find the ideal landmarks that signify good spots to go and check out.

The single most important part of turkey hunting is picking an area that holds turkeys. If there are no turkeys nearby then it doesn’t matter how good your gear is, how expensive your TSS ammo may be, or how skilled of a caller you are, you will not be taking any turkeys. They must be there. And using maps and apps can help you save time. In truth nothing about this is new, it’s just done digitally vs. on paper. Old time turkey hunters used these same tactics to find good hunting spots. 

Using maps and apps for scouting turkeys is all about knowing what to look for, or rather what can be seen from a satellite photo or topography lines. Understanding how to read a map is critical to doing this but this podcast episode is not on the subject of map reading but rather using the knowledge gleaned from the map.

In order to locate ideal turkey hunting habitat, you must look for numerous features that intersect in close proximity. The first thing I look for is clearings. Turkeys like open spaces in the spring, natural or man-made. They want to be able to see each other and see predators at a distance and often they will spend a portion of the day in these open spaces. They prefer full clearings but will settle for open spaces in the woods, such as under mature oak trees.

Once I find open spaces, I begin looking for water. Turkeys do need to drink periodically but the bigger reason I want to find water is because soft wet ground holds turkey tracks and makes their presence easier to detect. Streams and possibly even better, muddy puddles, make it easy to see turkey tracks, which can give you a very important indicator that they are in the area. And if they are in the area, you can hunt them. You can also setup trail cameras around tracks to get more information about how often and when they are in the area. This intel can help you pick and prioritize spots. 

Streams and clearings are easy to see from satellite images, and often map apps will overlay stream info onto these images to make it easier to see them. To hear about the other things you want to look for, listen to the full podcast episode.

Turkey hunting today is plagued with opinionated self-righteous snobbery about what is right, what is ethical, and what is fun. But there is nothing objective to it. It is just a cauldron of bubbling highbrow tradition, group think, and mythology stirred together. On this episode I cut through the junk that is destroying our sport to help people break away from the judgmental constrictions of our culture. 

There are legal boundaries that frame the sport of turkey hunting, established by experts who have the birds’ best interests in mind. That gives us a strong framework to guide our hunting. Furthermore, we have some ethics established to help minimize animal suffering, maximize hunter safety, and ensure fair chase. But many of things people claim to be ethics are not, they are just simple opinions based on what they like, how they prefer to hunt, and how they want other people to follow their own protocols to make things better for them. 

Sometimes people are just plain selfish and try to pressure others to abide by regulations that limit them so the selfish hunter doesn’t have to work as hard, or they can hunt in ways that would normally not be effective.  Sometimes people have just been doing something a certain way for so long, they don’t want to see change. Other times new innovations come along, like TSS ammunition and people resist the innovation and the new capabilities that come with it and try to malign early adopters. They don’t want to hunt with tungsten ammo so no one should. And all of this gets pass off as “what makes a real turkey hunter”, or what is ethical, or perhaps unfounded rumors are started to dissuade people from experimenting with other strategies. 

No matter how it happens, many people are ostracized, especially on the internet, when they don’t conform to the snobbish cultural turkey hunting norms.  This podcast episode tackles this nonsense head on. I cover topics like how far is it ethical to shoot a turkey? Is TSS ammo wounding birds? Is it wrong to get pellets in the breast meat of a turkey? Is long range shooting really not fun? And why people think 101 things should be outlawed when it comes to turkey hunting.

Some of these things are simply senseless fabrications, others have data we point to in order to find clarity, and some are just garden variety opinions that have no merit and not of importance to anyone else. We need to stop shaming turkey hunters for having fun and hunting in the way they find most fun. 

The turkey tail mount is one of the greatest memorials of a turkey hunt, it can be done at home for virtually no cost and very minimal effort. It is the perfect beginner project. But there is a lot more you can do to make a turkey trophy, some things you can do at home and others require a professional taxidermist. On this episode I talk about most of the options available, what they cost, and what a brand-new turkey hunter with no experience can do for free. 

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When I take a gobbler or any turkey for that matter, after the meat, the tail fan mount is my favorite part. I think turkey tail fans are one of the most beautiful things God made in the animal kingdom. Did you know that turkeys are distance cousins of the peacock? It is no wonder they are so beautiful. No two turkey tail fans are the same, and each one tells the story of an exciting hunt that I will never forget.

Many people often mount the beard with the fan, and lots of modern mounting kits come setup for that. My favorite mounting kit that I buy season after season is the Taxidermists Woodshop Black Walnut Kit with Beard Plate. This kit is utterly beautiful, comes with everything you need, and even includes a packet of borax to help dry out the fan. There are cheaper kits out there but none I’d rather have on my wall. 

When doing a mount, you want to make sure you have salt and/or borax on hand. I typically just use salt and lots of it. I have used borax before and I cannot tell any difference. Some people mix them, I have also done that and noticed no difference. Borax is a laundry soap booster, it helps draw moisture out of the meat and fat and bug proofs it. You can buy it cheap at the grocery store, just make sure it is 100% pure borax and no added scents. Here is a good borax you can order online.

The most common turkey mounts include:

• Tail Fan. Everyone should do at least this every turkey they take. I have two videos at the bottom showing you how to do this, both the easy way and the hard way for you over achievers out there. This costs nothing, except for some salt and/or borax.
• Turkey Rug. This is the tail fan and the back feathers. These look amazing on a wall. They are more of an intermediate taxidermy project though, something I tend to leave to the professionals. But it can be done at home with a little time and care.
• Whole Turkey. If you are new hunter, you probably are not going to be able to tackle a whole turkey mount at home, especially if you want it to look good. Professional taxidermists charge between $500-$1,000 for these and they can include many different poses. I recommend new hunters stick with the free tail fan mount, but this is always an option for a great bird if you have the funds. 
• Beard. The beard is super easy and just takes a little salt, most people mount it with a tail fan. 
• Feet with Spurs. Some people love foot mounts, I am not a huge fan myself, but more power to you if you like them. They are also very easy to do and just require salt and time. 
• Turkey Wings. These look pretty cool when done well and are often mounted with a tail fan to make a very impressive mount. They can be done at home and are somewhere between a tail fan and turkey rug in difficulty. 

Listen to the podcast episode to hear all the details! In addition to looking cool, a mount is great to preserve the memory of the hunt. I can look at every mount from every turkey I’ve ever taken and instantly recall the hunt, the thrill, the details, how it all came together and what a great day it was hunting gobblers. 

The Easy Way

Here is the quick and easiest to mount a fan. I use pins on cardboard instead of staples on wood but either way works. 

The Hard Way

Here is the more exact, professional taxidermist approach. This is great if you have the time, focus, and tools. I never go this far and have never had an issue.

The end of the turkey season brings unique challenges. But you can still absolutely take a turkey, even on the last day. You will need to change your strategy and tactics, however.  On this episode I give you tips to adjust your hunting style for maximum late season turkey hunting success. 

Late season gobblers do a whole lot less gobbling than they do in the early season. But they are still out there, still interested in hens, and still huntable. You will have to break your dependence on gobbling to be able to hunt them successfully though. You will need to become more patient as well and be slower to move. The only way you will have the confidence to do these things is if you are reasonably sure there are gobblers around.

Scouting is the most important part of late season hunting. It is the only thing that will give you the confidence to sit and wait even when you do not hear anything. It gives you the mental fortitude and motivation to endure silent days and always be on guard ready to shoot at the first sign of a long beard. Late season hunting without scouting is like a role of the dice, you might get lucky but usually you will lose. 

For some hunters the late season is their favorite time of the year to be in the woods, and depending on what state you are in, that time can be more productive than others. But some like it because fewer hunters are out and because gobblers are often more lonely and more likely to come in to a call. In some states though the birds are past that point by the end of the season and the urge to mate has begun to fade and birds begin to start to flock back up into small groups. But even then, you can still hunt them.

Even post mating gobblers will come to check out a call from time to time. They are also looking for other birds to join up with. They likely will not do much gobbling, but they may still come in to take a peek. 

Regardless of where you hunt and what phase of the breading cycle your season ends during, you need to adjust your tactics for hunting quiet birds. But can absolutely still hunt them and take them home. Scout hard and hunt strong. 

Listen to the podcast episode to hear it all!

For more, check out this episode as well: How To Hunt A Turkey AFTER You Spooked It.

Turkey hunters often find themselves in situations where a gobbling tom will not come any closer. There can be many reasons for this, but an overlooked factor could be that they are faced with a subordinate turkey that will not behave the same way as dominant bird. On this episode I talk about how to recognize and hunt these turkeys. 

Subordinate turkeys want to breed, they will gobble, they may strut, they will show interest, but stop short. This happens when they are afraid of the dominate tom in the area. Turkeys have a pecking order, and the strongest more aggressive bird is usually at the top and may try to get exclusive breeding rights at times. These birds may attack subordinates if they try to breed a hen in their presence.

Subordinate birds may be afraid of the boss tom in the area and will not breed hens if they think the boss tom is around or if that hen sounds like one that usually comes to the boss tom.

However, there are still ways to hunt these turkeys, but they require different tactics. You will have to change what you are doing if you recognize you are face-to-face with a subordinate bird.

It should also be noted that subordinate turkeys are no less a trophy than any other bird in the woods. They may indeed be as big or bigger than the dominant turkey, they could be smarter or even order, they just may be less aggressive and are not interested in fighting against the dominate bird. Every turkey is a trophy.

Listen to the podcast episode to hear about how to recognize and hunt subordinate turkeys successfully.

Most turkey hunting failures result from three main issues. If you can fix these, you will start taking turkeys. Some take experience to overcome but there are some shortcuts you can take. On this episode I give a very focused strategy to help new hunters overcome their biggest weakness and get their first gobblers.

The three main issues that ruin turkey hunts are:

No Turkeys. No matter how good your gear is or how impressive your calls may be, if there are not turkeys in the area you are hunting then it is all for nothing. There must be turkeys around to have a chance at turkeys. And if you want to take home gobblers, you cannot leave this up for chance. You must scout and figure out where the turkeys spend their time. Look for tracks, droppings, scratches, strut zones, feathers, trail camera footage, or listen for early morning gobbles. Employ any and all means possible to find out if there are turkeys around. This makes all the difference in the world.

Not Stealthy Enough. Turkey hunters are too often careless. Talking while they walk in, breaking branches, pushing through heavy brush, taking phone calls, loudly charging their shotgun in the woods, etc. Stealth is absolutely critical for keeping turkeys unaware and off guard. And then, even once finally situated, many hunters cannot sit still, they move and stretch and open loud candy wrappers. Turkey hunting is a game of stealth, you need to disappear. One movement or sound at the wrong moment will cost you a hunt. Never assume a turkey will gobble far away to alert you to be on guard. So many times, a bird came in, noticed you, and disappeared without you even knowing they were near.

Poor Calling AKA Overcalling. I think that you can get 80% of the benefit of calling with 20% of the skill. The basics are all you need to get turkeys to come in. Do not play with fancy or exotic calls that you are not comfortable with. Stick with the basics, call sparingly and stop calling when a tom is on his way to you and is closing distance. People often mess up a hunt by overcalling. They get so excited that they just call back every time the bird gobbles. Every now and then this will work but you need experience to judge that effectively. Toms want hens to come to them, they are gobbling to let the hens know where they are so the hens can come over. If you are close by and constantly calling, then a gobbler knows where you are and will likely just keep working to entice you to come over for a visit. He will get hung up too often. This is another reason I caution against decoys and did the article: How To Hunt Turkeys Without Decoys.

Each of these issues can ruin a hunt but each can be addressed. You can scout in advance and find good places to hunt. And there are ways to amplify your steal capabilities if you have identified a good hunting location. Ground blinds for example can mask your movement and minimize your sound. They can help you overcome core weaknesses that most new hunters take years to improve. 

Listen to the full podcast episode to hear it all!