Although hunting fall turkeys isn’t as popular as hunting spring longbeards, many states find that going after these birds in the late season is an enjoyable and difficult hunt.
Mention turkey hunting to most folks and they immediately think of the gobbling longbeards of spring. But, for hunters in 42 states and a few Canadian provinces, there’s another season for chasing turkeys.
Although spring turkey hunting receives more attention than fall turkey hunting, fall turkey hunting was originally a fall activity.
Steve Hickoff, author of Fall & Winter Turkey Hunter’s Handbook and Realtree. com’s turkey hunting editor, started his turkey-hunting career on fall birds. “The turkey-hunting tradition has its roots in autumn and winter hunting,” he explained. Prior to the popular belief that “fall is for antlers, spring is for beards,” hunters who pursued flocks of game during the woodstove months The common belief back then was that it was simple, even unfair, to take a breeding-minded gobbler in the spring.
“A Pennsylvania native, I first hunted wild turkeys in 1971. When I was younger, I used to hear older folks (who are now my age!) say that spring turkey hunting was completely incorrect. They were all avid fall turkey hunters. Back then, Pennsylvania had legalized spring turkey hunting only in 1968. ”.
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How It’s Different Than Spring Hunts
While most of the equipment needed for spring turkey hunting is also needed for fall hunting, hunters accustomed to calling gobblers during the breeding season may find the later season’s hunting tactics somewhat strange. Fall turkeys travel in large groups, often consisting of a mix of mature hens, nearly grown poults of the year, and occasionally young or even mature gobblers, in contrast to the small flocks and lone longbeards of spring. Before the upcoming winter, these flocks are only thinking about stuffing their bellies and gaining as much weight as they can. Finding fall birds can be aided by focusing on food sources such as standing or harvested crop fields, hardwoods that produce masts, and grasslands that are abundant in seeds and insects.
This time of year, flocks have a natural tendency to stick together. To capitalize on this, many hunters will locate and scatter the flocks, then sit quietly and call the birds to come back together. “As strategies go, there are two primary fall turkey hunting approaches,” said Hickoff. “You can actively locate a flock and try to disperse them, or you can wait passively for patterned wild turkeys to appear in the area. This traditional find-and-flush approach is full of action. Because flocks of turkeys prefer to be together, you can scatter birds and then position yourself to attempt to draw them to your location. I love it as much as spring turkey hunting!”.
While hen yelps, clucks and purrs dominate the spring turkey hunter’s vocabulary, fall calling can be more complex.
“In short, fall call like the turkey you want to kill,” said Hickoff. “A kee-kee or kee-kee-run can help bring in a bird if you’re hunting a family flock of dispersed birds.” However, because her attention is focused on keeping her young charges together, the brood hen is less likely to respond to your plain hen clucks and yelps, and you probably want to leave her alone anyhow. But if you’re pursuing a group of brood-less hens and hunting fall birds of either sex is allowed where you hunt, then the hen yelps and clucks you used to entice gobblers in the spring will still work for these birds.
Use gobbler calls to get male-only flocks in autumn moving: deep, raspy yelps, low-pitched clucks, gobbles, and even fighting purrs can agitate the group. You can also call up an entire intact flock using vocalizations of the birds in that group. ”.