Spring Turkey Hunting Tips
Springtime…. A time of beautiful wildflowers, wild thunderstorms, and the itch to get back outside. We’ve recovered from the sleepless nights and early mornings of deer and waterfowl season but we want to get out and chase something in the beautiful weather. There are a few options to get outside. However, one rises above the rest in my mind, turkey hunting.
Turkey hunting is one of my favorite hunting seasons each year. It is cool to get to hunt a species that has all of the fun aspects of the other game we chase. When turkey hunting we don’t have to worry about scent control, it’s rarely frigid cold, and we get to interact with the game we are chasing.
Turkey hunting is pretty simple but if you have no idea where to start, it can be hard to get off high center and feel like you have a chance. While there is no substitute for experience when turkey hunting, I wanted to give you a few tips for chasing these fun and rewarding birds.
People love to overcomplicate things and I am the exact opposite. When turkey hunting I like to keep my gear simple and light. The first thing you need for a spring turkey hunt is to make sure you have the right hunting licenses. The next (and just as important) thing is to make sure you are in an area where turkeys are present. I like to focus on an area near a creek bottom. The best ones are those with tall cottonwoods that provide a great roosting area for the turkeys. Scouting is one of those things that can only increase your chances of killing a spring turkey. Check out the Vortex Crossfire binoculars for a high-quality binocular at a great price. If you can see them and confirm they are in the area before you hunt it helps both morale and the likelihood of killing one.
Once you are in an area where turkeys are present, you need to make sure you got something to knock them down with. I would highly recommend using a shotgun with high-quality loads and a tight choke to keep the pellets from spreading out wide. Make sure that your ammo and choke are compatible with each other and your shotgun (it will say on the box of the choke you buy).
Once you've got a gun and an area with turkeys it's time to camo up and get out there. Make sure you are covered in camo head to toe. A face mask is really important. Turkeys have incredible eyesight and amazing hearing. In order to put as many things in my favor, I like to find a big tree to settle up against that covers my whole silhouette. If I am going in after sunrise, I like to sit near the areas I believe they may be but I try not to be too aggressive at the start. If I am there a long time before sunrise, I sneak in a little closer to the trees they are roosting in.
When I am set up, I try to call pretty infrequently. My rule of thumb is roughly 10 minutes (if I can be that patient). Unless turkeys are really fired up, one of the biggest mistakes a new turkey hunter can make is calling too much. I like to use a box call and give a few loud yelps to get their attention. Box calls are super easy and pretty foolproof like the name of the Lynch foolproof.
I turkey hunt with the creed that curiosity kills the cat. I live for interacting with those big ol’ toms but when they start getting in close, some quietness often seals the deal on pressured birds. Decoys are a personal preference that depends on a huge number of variables. If you are hunting some rolling hills with dense cover, decoys may not be as important. If you are hunting some open fields and wide open country, sometimes a decoy to eye in on can help distract a bird from noticing the human ready to send him into the afterworld. For people starting out, I recommend a pack of foam decoys that can allow for different setups and easy transport.
Above all, turkey hunting is all about the experience in creation. For me, it's the time I spend interacting with birds, exploring the land, and learning new things. We all mess up, we miss shots and blow opportunities that seem like a done deal. Aside from the countless things that go wrong, the chance and reward of it going right, keep me coming back again and again.
If you need any gear please consider buying through our Cabelas link. It supports us and helps us in our journey to get more people outside! If you have any questions about turkey hunting send us a message on social media @yellowhatoutdoors or send us an email yellowhatoutdoors@gmail.com
