Turkey hunting thread

[Pryor]

Jack, we are hunting at about 8250 feet.  A lot of the birds we kill are right where the Oak Brush transitions to aspen and conifer.

[Jack Skinner]

Yep Centaur its about 20 mintues from the house. I also have seen birds at 8000 and even higher in CO but in the summer. I am beginning to wonder if they are going low and following the snow melt back up to the higher country. Either way I am going to give them a go again this spring. Thanks Pryor I thought you were hunting high country birds. If yours are gobbling then maybe it was just a couple of bad springs, warmer so far this year with more snow though. Always a challange that's what makes it hunting.

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Spend the time watching and patterning the birds you plan to hunt goes a long ways. Just like deer we spend lots of time watching them and seeing were there feeding and gathering and there routes.

Ambush or setup in between there routes, call very little just enough to let them gobblers know your there. Talk like they do not like the yahoo's on TV, if possible use the best decoys you can but I've killed them with cheap ones. They could really care less how much you spend on a blind as long as you practice with it and can shoot out of it.

I change nothing I hunt everything year round with my same equipment a longbow and wood arrows, you want to get a pass through shot on your turkeys if possible. Have no idea how many turkeys I've killed and missed lol!

Good luck!

   

Tracy

[CoachBGriff]

How many of you hunt them with just a net or burlap blind?

Tips or advice would be appreciated!

[Bowwild]

I hunted with camo fabric when I lived in Kansas (Rios).  I even dug ditches for my lower limb. Too many birds saw me move the top limb of the bow (I'm not sure I ever saw a Rio by itself- always lots of eyes.

When I went inside pop-ups after leaving KS, my success went up.

[Pryor]

K.S Trapper has it right.  When I was first archery hunting turkeys, the guy I go with would never call.  We would have birds talking all around us, and I used to go crazy wanting to talk to them.  When they are close but not quit in sight he calls very softly.  The first year or two I thought he was not calling enough, but after a few crowded years hearing people walking and calling it became obviouse.  He put it best by saying that we don't want the turkeys to know we are there.  Calling can be very effective, but you don't want to be the loudest hen in the woods.

[Jakeemt]

I have seen people on here build a kind of shield that straps to the front of their bow. It is sort of a ghillie suit for your bow. I wonder if anyone could link me to that thread as I have been wanting to build one but can never seem to find that thread!

[R. W. Mackey]

This has been my set up of choice for several years. DB Blind and DSD decoys one Jake and one hen. The DSD Jake is every bit as good as a stuffer and a lot more durable. Been
Many a bird took a dirt nap after coming to investigate them sweet hen sounds.
  About calling, a lot of folks would be better off not calling at all. Sometimes less is better, but there are times that you can call as loud and as often as you want with great results. Knowing when to do each depends a lot on the type of birds your hunting, i.e. Easterns, Rios ect.. Country, eastern hardwoods or Kansas plains to Florida swamps.
  Ill be going to school again this year, gonna try for a Merrians, hope to complete my slam. Looking at eastern Wyoming or North West Nebraska. Always fun to hunt a new area and different species of birds.
RW
 

[Jakeemt]

never mind I found it. Thanks to mudd for this build along.

 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=print_topic;f=1;t=130807

[monterey]

Originally posted by CoachBGriff:
How many of you hunt them with just a net or burlap blind?

Tips or advice would be appreciated!

I use a very light net.  More like a soft screen.  It has a camo pattern to it.  It's a bit too transparent but large enough to double and still allow me to see out.  Also have a hand full of spring type cloths pins to hang It.

I hang it from whatever is handy but a few dedicated supports might get added this year.

[Bowwild]

Nothing impresses me more, in the hunting world, than a person who can consistently bag turkey with a bow.  

I am unimpressed with myself.

[kennym]

May have seen this one tonight with about 60 of his buds. 1/4 mile away but one bird stood out, looked smokey, hope it was this one or hope it was a gobbler!!

 

[kennym]

Almost have my turkey blind bow finished, now if I can find a blind turkey....

[BWallace10327]

I'm 1/2 for Merrium's turkeys and I've only hunted them with a longbow or recurve.  My preferred method is more of a run and gun style, but I do carry a cheap roll up foam hen and a funky chicken and a tree stand umbrella for a quick set up blind.  I'd bet I could call one in if I sat clucked/yelped all morning, but being mobile is too much fun.  It reminds me of hunting small, extremely vocal, feathered elk.

[highlow]

Like Charlie said (Cyclic) the turkey hunting here in the east last year was simply horrible. Don't know why but everyone I talked to had the same impression. Looking better this year, but again, don't know why. Time will tell. Anyway, going to go with a blind this year, at least for a little while. Don't seem to be able to sit that long anymore. Like to run and gun but this year with the bow and not the gun. Can't wait. Don't mean to disparage any of you guys, but I've heard it said that taking an eastern is the toughest of the four species here in the states. Comments from anyone who has hunted any other than the eastern.

[BWallace10327]

I hunt turkey in about the same area I look for an elk.  The Merrium don't wander around in fields like on tv, from my experience.  I cover alot of ground hunting them, and that is where the difficulty seems to fall, aside from the fact they're turkeys with excellent color vision.  I don't know if there is an easy turkey to hunt with traditional gear.

[monterey]

I have hunted eastern once and Merriam's many times.  Still have not killed one with a bow.  But, I gotta rate Merriam's tougher just based on their habits.

I read tons of stuff on how to hunt turkeys and thought I had a basic understanding but, no. They don't behave at all like the eastern.  No such thing as a "roost tree", as far as I can see, no such thing as a habitual strutting area.  No such thing as a movement pattern.

Like Wallace said, they are more like elk.  I Hunt them the same way he does.  He calls it " run and gun", but I call it "walk and talk". Too old to do the run part  

[J-dog]

Originally posted by Bowwild:
Nothing impresses me more, in the hunting world, than a person who can consistently bag turkey with a bow.  

I am unimpressed with myself.

Yeah, I have yet to impress myself either!  

[Pryor]

Monterey,  It seams that our birds tend to pattern pretty well.  We have killed 6 birds in the last 4 years in the same meadow.  Last year we set up the blind the day before the season, and had a bird in the same spot. Due to access on the opener I had 3 different sets of hunters walk right through my set. I am not sure if they are using the same tree to roost, but It sounds like they are always within a hundred yards or so in the bottom of an aspen filled canyon. We actually hunt 600 - 800 yards up the hill (almost on the ridge).  Look for scratches in the oak brush.  this is where we hunt.  We usually have to wait a hour or two after day light for the birds to get to our level.

[maineac]

Here is the set up I use.  A blind I bought from LL Beans.  Fits in a sack about 12" long and 6" in diameter.  I am using my Waldrop pac-seat now.  I agree good decoys are crucial for archery, at least around me.  Until I bought a DSD half strut jake the birds held up about 30 yards out.