Identifying Turkey Turnoffs - Where You're Least Likely to Find a Spring Gobbler

You can improve your odds of bagging a long-bearded spring tom by concentrating on the best habitat areas. But another way to up your odds of killing a bird is to identify the WORST locations—types of habitat gobblers rarely venture into during spring. Then don’t waste your time hunting those spots.

For many years, the 3-inch, 12-gauge ruled the roost with turkey hunters, but with the introduction of the 3 1/2-inch shell, the 12-gauge upped the ante with a whopping 2 3/8-ounce payload of shot. However, these behemoth shells come at a price — in both cost and punishing recoil.

A match made in conservation heaven. Bass Pro Shops and the National Wild Turkey Federation have influenced wildlife conservation and our hunting heritage like no other over the past four decades. Thanks to Bass Pro Shops founder and CEO John Morris, the NWTF's Save the Habitat. Save the Hunt.

The purpose of a turkey vest is to securely, comfortably, and accessibly carry the essential gear needed for turkey hunting.  In selecting “essentials” there often seems to be a miniature Boy Scout standing on one shoulder telling you, “Be prepared.” While the chiropractor clicks their pen on the other, reminding you, “Go light.” In between, you end up a quivering, indecisive mess.

The sound — or lack of sounds — was frustrating to say the least. A gobbler that I had in my sights roosted the evening before had simply glanced around him in the faint morning's daylight, and then he stepped off the thick limb where he was perched. On outstretched wings that silent gobbler glided over to mingle with a large flock of turkey hens that were flying down from roosts and gathering on a distant hillside.

Getting as close to your targeted turkey as possible before making your first call is one of the most significant advantages that you can have when trying to call to a gobbler. When a hunter is able to get within a so-called ‘imaginary bubble,' it seems that magic is in the air, and the commitment of a tom coming to the call increases dramatically.

On a clear, calm day from a prominent ridge you can hear a turkey gobble a mile away. But how many clear, calm days do you encounter during spring turkey season?

A few, yes. But quite often, particularly in the early season, a howling wind is the norm. If you hunt in western states, this is a particularly common weather situation.

Will You Have Wild Turkey on the Table for Thanksgiving?

Let’s test your fall turkey hunting knowledge with this quiz and see if you’re ready to put a wild turkey on the table like the Pilgrims and Indians did instead of that store-bought farm-raised Butterball.
 

A three a.m. start to get here in the dark and a headlight handshake introduction. Sitting in the dewey stillness of the morning hunt, with a front pew view of the world as it wakes. Listening to the rise and swell of a rural orchestra, straining to hear a single note in the dazzling crescendo of sunrise - the gobble. It’s the waiting, and willing my heart to slow its race.