You’ve made the decision to hunt turkeys, and you must be ecstatic about it. You probably can’t wait to bag a huge gobbler and gather those coveted tail fans. Let’s address the big issue first: are turkeys really that simple to kill before you venture out into the field?
The answer, as with most things in life, is it depends. Turkeys can be surprisingly easy to put on the ground when you approach them with the right strategy. However, underestimating their cunning and adaptability can quickly turn your hunt into a frustrating exercise in futility
This guide will explore the intriguing duality of turkey hunting, delving into the factors that make them both easy and challenging to bag. By understanding these nuances, you’ll be well-equipped to approach your next turkey hunt with confidence and a realistic understanding of what to expect.
The Elusive Allure of the Easy Turkey Kill
Let’s start with the good news: there are several reasons why turkeys can be considered relatively easy to hunt compared to other game birds,
1. Abundance: With an estimated 6 million wild turkeys roaming the US, finding birds to hunt isn’t usually a major hurdle. A little scouting and observation can reveal their presence in your chosen hunting grounds.
2. Predictable Patterns: Turkeys are creatures of habit, often following consistent patterns in their daily routines. This predictability allows you to anticipate their movements and set up strategic ambushes.
3. Curiosity: During the spring breeding season, male turkeys, known as gobblers, are driven by a powerful urge to mate. This makes them highly susceptible to calls and decoys, readily responding to the allure of potential mates.
4. Vulnerability: Turkeys have relatively poor eyesight, relying heavily on their hearing and keen sense of movement. This means that with careful camouflage and stillness, you can often get surprisingly close to them without being detected.
5. Accessibility: With the right licenses and a basic shotgun, most hunters can hunt turkeys, unlike some other game birds that call for specific gear or permits.
The Challenging Flip Side of Turkey Hunting
While the factors above paint a picture of relative ease, don’t let them lull you into a false sense of security. Turkeys are also incredibly smart and adaptable, capable of outsmarting even seasoned hunters.
1. Sharp Eyesight: Despite not having the best vision, turkeys can still distinguish movement and strange shapes, particularly in open spaces. This means you need to be meticulous in your camouflage and concealment.
2. Wary Nature: Despite their curiosity during breeding season, turkeys are naturally cautious birds. They are easily startled by even the smallest sound or strange smell, so you must approach them carefully and patiently.
3. Weather Dependence: Turkey activity is heavily influenced by weather conditions. Rain, wind, and extreme temperatures can significantly impact their movements and vocalizations, making hunting more challenging.
4. Terrain Complexity: Turkeys thrive in diverse habitats, from dense forests to open fields. Navigating these terrains while remaining undetected requires skill and experience.
5. Calling Expertise: Mastering turkey calls is an essential skill for attracting gobblers. Ineffective calling methods can quickly startle the birds or not get a response.
Striking the Balance: The Key to Turkey Hunting Success
So, how do you navigate this duality and consistently bag those elusive gobblers? The key lies in understanding the balance between the easy and the challenging aspects of turkey hunting.
1. The key to success is preparation: doing extensive scouting, learning about turkey behavior, and honing your calling techniques
2. Patience is a Virtue: Turkeys often test your patience, but staying calm and composed will increase your chances of a successful shot.
3. Adaptability is Key: Be prepared to adjust your strategy based on the terrain, weather, and the turkeys’ behavior.
4. Respect the Bird: Turkeys are magnificent creatures, and responsible hunting practices ensure their sustainable populations for future generations.
5. Embrace the Challenge: The thrill of outsmarting a wary gobbler and bagging your prize is what makes turkey hunting so rewarding.
Additional Tips for Aspiring Turkey Hunters:
- Invest in quality camouflage: Blending in with your surroundings is crucial for avoiding detection.
- Practice calling: Mastering the art of turkey calling will significantly increase your chances of attracting gobblers.
- Choose the right gear: A comfortable and reliable shotgun, along with appropriate ammunition, is essential.
- Seek guidance: Learning from experienced turkey hunters can provide valuable insights and tips.
- Enjoy the experience: Turkey hunting is as much about the journey as it is about the kill. Embrace the challenge and appreciate the beauty of the outdoors.
Turkey hunting presents a unique challenge, demanding a blend of strategy, skill, and patience. By understanding the factors that make turkeys both easy and hard to kill, you can approach your next hunt with a realistic perspective and the necessary tools for success. Remember, preparation, adaptability, and respect for the bird are key to unlocking the rewarding experience of bagging a magnificent gobbler.
Experts weigh in on whether the turkeys of today are more difficult to hunt than the turkeys of a decade ago
You’ve worked many longbeards on your favorite ridge over the years, so you decided to take a long, dark walk up there. As daylight slowly breaks, you owl hoot, almost shivering with anticipation. The show is about to start . except, it never does. You dont hear a gobble. It seems this is happening more and more in your neck of the woods. What the heck is wrong with these turkeys?.
Its April right now. Plenty of turkey tags have been filled. Many more will certainly follow. But many, many tags will go unused. Its simply because turkeys are difficult to hunt. If you ask the average coffee shop customer wearing camo, many of them will say that the modern turkey is tougher than it was ten years ago. But are they harder to hunt now than they were, say, ten years ago?
So we took the question to some of the top turkey hunters in the business. Quite a few of them work for or with Realtree. Several of them dont. None were shy with opinions.
Guys have told me that even though the Merriams are easy to hunt, or that the Rios are always productive, a henned-up turkey is still a henned-up turkey. Regardless of the subspecies, under ideal circumstances, you can typically wear them out in a few three- or four-day windows. It’s like deer hunting, except instead of getting your ass kicked every two weeks, it’s like a light switch turns on and bucks start doing everything. When turkeys get into what I call the kamikaze stage, theyre easier to hunt.
In my experience, that happens twice a season. Once early on, when the flocks first begin busting up, and again late in the season. Here in Georgia, the last week of April is one of my favorite times of the season.
I dont think turkeys are any tougher to hunt now than 10 years ago. I believe that some areas have seen more hunting than others, making them a little harder to call.
But I think a big factor is the way we call turkeys. It really has changed because of the access to information. Our calls are better now than ever before. Competition callers have really changed the way we call. It used to be you had a basic cluck and yelp. But now even our yelping is different.
All of this means we are more successful now than ever before. Sure, the turkeys are hunted more often by more hunters. But thats a good thing. Its a good thing for our sport, good for our industry and good for turkey hunting overall.
In many areas where the population is relatively young, where I have gone turkey hunting, during the first few hunting seasons, every hunter is an expert. But after three or four years, they get tougher. Although many believe that a turkey forgets his encounter with a hunter, I don’t think that’s the case. You call in a 2-year-old bird and miss him. He’ll be a clever three-year-old next year, and hunting gets harder when there are lots of those kind of birds in one place. So in some ways, I think the hunter is changing the turkeys. Yet, todays hunters are more effective and successful than ever. They are better educated, have better tools, and have more opportunities due to the abundance of the resource.
I suppose theres a reason Im not the turkey editor. And that reason is pretty obvious by the pile of unfilled turkey tags in my files.
The problem is that not many people are aware of this truth, and even I am starting to have my doubts about it. I once assisted with 27 successful hunts in my native Michigan during one spring season while phoning friends, and I once killed 11 turkeys in five different states.
In the words of legendary Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell, those days are looonnggg goooonnnneeee.
I think there’s no denying that turkey hunting is harder now than it was ten years ago.
I dont know that turkey numbers have significantly declined. I suppose they have in some areas. But its more an issue of turkeys simply refusing to gobble. I dont hear half of the number of gobbles in a spring that I once did. And that, in my opinion, is a direct result of both the pressure to hunt and the ignorance of hunters about the repercussions of their actions, particularly their miserable calling. In other words, they booger birds and make them pretty darned tight-beaked in the process.
Many will argue its because Im hunting when the turkeys are henned up. Well, if thats the case then the birds have been henned up since 2005.
If youre hunting a turkey thats older and more pressured, of course its harder. Thats why everyone loves dumb 2-year-olds. We had a tough gobbler on our Missouri farm that I believe was at least five years old. When youd call at him, hed turn and leave. After trying to kill him for eight days, I had to show him a dummy with no calling at all.
But its not always pressured gobblers that make the hunting more difficult. Think about a hen that is shot alongside a gobbler, or a hen that calls out on her own and gets scared by a hunter. Pretty soon, when she hears a certain type of calling, she wont come to it. And if shes with a gobbler, he wont either.
Pressured turkeys get increasingly harder to hunt because people dont use the correct tactics. They call too loud and spook hens and dont adequately conceal themselves. All of those mistakes educate turkeys quickly.
I think a lot has changed, but habitat and population changes affect turkey behavior more than anything. Along with that, hunting pressure can definitely affect them, as can any increase in predators.
Another huge factor is age structure. Just like whitetails, birthdays can make gobblers much keener and their moves and actions more precise. Thankfully, at some point during season, old turkeys may let their guard down. Hunters need to capitalize when the time is right.
Though there are many variations, gobblers will continue to gobble in order to locate and/or attract hens. Their surroundings and phase of breeding, laying or incubating will determine how much a gobbler will gobble. Indeed, turkey behavior is always changing. The constant butt-kickin’ they get from mature gobblers may ultimately result in the elimination of the number of hens and sub-dominant gobblers! It always has
It is true that compared to ten to fifteen years ago, working with turkeys today is more challenging. On the other hand, some areas now have significantly higher turkey populations than they did in the past, making those areas the best they’ve ever been.
But there are also a lot more turkey hunters these days, and I think that has greatly impacted our perception of reality. There are just as many turkeys in most places, but those turkeys are getting educated pretty good.
There are more predators now as well, and I think that keeps the turkeys from gobbling. You might find that hunting turkeys is more challenging when those predators are taken into account because they don’t gobble as much.
But lets not give them too much credit. Theyre turkeys and theyre not the smartest critters in the woods. But, yes, I do think theyre getting a little bit smarter.
While I do not think that the mental makeup of a turkey has changed in the twenty years since I began hunting them, I do think that certain factors, such as the level of hunting pressure and the timing of the breeding season, can influence how easy or difficult it is to hunt particular populations of turkeys in a particular area.
Think about the turkeys at Land Between the Lakes in western Kentucky and Tennessee; they are consistently the hardest to hunt that I have ever seen. Although numerous, those are big-woods birds, which makes seeing them difficult. They also have a lot of pressure from hunters, probably because so many outdoor writers, who have never been to the area, have nothing but positive things to say about it.
Any turkey that spends an hour gobbling in LBL on the same ridge during hunting season will almost certainly run into a hunter. So they quickly learn to shut up. I think the same effect, at least to some degree, can be seen anywhere turkeys and hunters exist.
Are turkeys more difficult to hunt these days? Not when compared to my start in the 1970s. Guys used to go years without getting tagged and not think it was all that strange; getting tagged by the feet was a big deal. I say this as a beginning turkey hunter back then. Killing a juvenile spring gobbler or a lawful fall hen was even regarded as a trophy moment, as it should be. This was before elaborate pop-up blinds and hyper-real decoys, of course – assets to the modern turkey hunter. Even after their numbers had decreased elsewhere, there were still some birds on the ridge tops in north-central Pennsylvania where we hunted, but those wild turkeys were hard in the years prior to restoration and occasionally uncommon.
Is it harder to hunt turkeys these days? It might be, but it doesn’t always depend on the hunters and birds involved. I think in some ways were spoiled here in the post-restoration golden years. Punching tags is expected. Too much emphasis is sometimes placed on killing and not enjoying the hunt. Turkeys are supposed to be tough. Thats why its the best hunting tradition for some of us – the difficulty adds to the pleasure. Its all good – the scouting, locating, sitting on birds, calling to them and sometimes even tagging one.
Some final thoughts: Many of us start out down south and out west each spring season. Floridas Osceolas see a lot of pressure, so they arent always pushovers. Texas Rios can be challenging, but you might only have to travel a short distance to find forgiveness if you make a mistake. But there are enough hybridized flocks in Nebraska to allow you to harvest a few for your early season while looking like a super hero. Later on, you can hunt Easterns, which are, in my opinion, the hardest subspecies, hands down. Hunting pressure in the eastern half of the United States makes them this way.
I love em all – the easy and hard ones. Grateful for the former, I know dues will be paid to the latter. And sometimes even those low-pressure Merriams birds can be tough to figure out. Im cool with that.
Why they say ALABAMA Turkeys are Hard to Kill
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