Nearly as quickly because the tom landed within the clearing, he devoured and overrated. After 4 days of getting beat by the birds, it was a surreal sight. It was much more surreal when he dropped out of strut and bee-lined it for the logging street I used to be positioned subsequent two with my 20-gauge laid throughout my knee.
That suicidal two-year-old took me from a turkey hunter to a turkey killer. Within the practically three many years since that second, there have been loads of toms and jakes, however that one was particular as a result of he was my first.
In case you are nonetheless seeking to clear that first-tom hurdle, don’t lose hope. There are a lot of methods to set your self up for fulfillment this spring, however the first and most essential is to scout.
Turkeys Now, Turkeys Quickly
Flocks of hens are predictable, and the place the women go, so do the boys. Hens have distinct feeding, touring, and roosting patterns that don’t change a lot till they both get messed with or the climate warms up sufficient to supply them recent meals sources.
Till then, what they do at the moment, they usually do tomorrow. Because of this if you wish to know the place turkeys must be if you hunt them in April, begin watching them now. Simply bear in mind, it’s not sufficient to see some strutters in a discipline which might be making an attempt desperately to get a soar on breeding season.
Take note of precisely the place they’re within the discipline. Take note of how they stroll into the sphere, and the way they exit it. Take note of precisely after they feed in sure spots. Should you glass turkeys sufficient or run path cameras (do each), you’ll notice how tight of a schedule birds often preserve. It’s unimaginable, and prying into that regimented world is step one to success.
The second is to get to know your weapon, rather well.
Comfy Vary
Whether or not you need to take your first fowl with a shotgun or archery sort out, perceive what your efficient vary is on a turkey-sized goal. Sample your shotgun till you discover a load that delivers sufficient BBs to make sure that in case your fowl crosses the magic distance line, he’s useless.
Should you bowhunt, apply on a 3D turkey goal, lots. Get to know whether or not you’re extra of a seven-yard shot sort of hunter, or possibly you may stretch it out farther. When a turkey does commit, you need the utmost confidence that it’s over when he will get into vary. You do not need to be interested by whether or not or not you may shut the deal.
Make The First Hunt Rely
Similar to within the whitetail realm, first turkey hunts are your finest wager. The extra they get hunted on a selected property, or in a selected location on a property, the more durable they’re to kill because the spring progresses.
Should you collect sufficient pre-season intel, you’ll see they’re weak in numerous areas at completely different occasions. Perhaps the picked cornfield is the ticket as a result of they fly down from the roost at dawn and scratch away. However what if they have an inclination to land in the midst of the sphere and aren’t actually concentrated till they re-group and go away at mid-morning?
Because of this candy field-edge setup would possibly will let you see, and name to, loads of birds. You simply may not be capable of get them to commit, which is probably going within the early season when they’re nonetheless flocked up. Perhaps there’s a logging street or two-track, they often take to depart the sphere that concentrates their exercise? Whereas the field-edge spot may be extra enjoyable to hunt, the logging street gives far larger odds of killing. This is a vital distinction as a result of identical to with whitetails, a whole lot of new hunters set as much as see—not kill. Don’t be like them.
To fine-tune the artwork of choosing high-odds ambush websites, take observe if you begin dialing of their patterns. Pay shut consideration to the issues which may have an effect on, and alter, their each day routine. Brilliant daylight, versus cloudy or wet climate will do it. Wind will shake issues up. The place I dwell, floor fog across the swamps and wetlands will do it, too. Birds gained’t stroll by means of the haze however as an alternative will fly over it to larger spots on the panorama the place they will see. Use your observations to dial in a number of spots in your first hunt, so you’ve got backup plans. Then select correctly.
Belief Your Setup
Whether or not you’re shotgun searching or bowhunting, trusting your setup is large. Second-guessing decoy spreads and calling methods has saved a pile of longbeards through the years. Should you’re on the fence with both, consider it this fashion. The extra scouting you do, the extra probably you’re to be in a spot the place actual birds anticipate to see some motion.
Use a quarter-strut Jake decoy, a laydown hen, and possibly one other hen or two. Name to your consolation degree, whether or not that’s hitting the mouth calls fairly aggressively, or possibly staying a bit of extra subdued with a slate name.
If you anticipate to be bombarded with strutters at first mild, however they don’t present, it’s robust. Stick it out. Belief your setup, and let it be just right for you. Should you’ve executed your homework, and aren’t gifting away your place, the birds will present up. Once they do, you’ll abruptly go from turkey hunter to turkey killer, which is a reasonably candy feeling.
