My and a Buddy are just getting into Turkey hunting and I’m looking for input on what we did and should have done differently.

We scouted a couple of weekends ago and found 2 areas of hardwoods that were tore up from Turkey scratching. First area is across a creek that we have consistently seen turkeys for years while deer hunting. The second area is behind the house with a food plot a few hundred yards away. Cell cam pics have shown the using the plot at varying times from 10am to 5pm.

We showed up Friday afternoon late at about 6:15pm and went and split up to listen at both areas for a Turkey roosting or anything at all that would help us the next morning. Didn’t hear anything. We have not had any luck getting the turkeys to gobble in response to owl hoots and crow calls. Still we walked out the house at 5:20am and over near the second spot and sounded off the owl hoot a few times. Heard nothing. We decided to just head over to the other spot in hopes of getting a response. Walked in to our creek crossing spot and hit the hoot and heard nothing. At this point, it’s starting to lighten up slightly so we decided to just set up in the feeding sign. My Buddy and his son were in a pop up blind and set up near some cover behind a blind.

We had decided that with our inexperience we should probably not call a ton and keep the calls simple. I did most of the calling, sticking to clucks, yelps, a some cuts with yelps. Around 10 minutes between calls mostly on a pot call. Around 6:45 I yelped on the box call and several hens went crazy about 75 yards away cutting or cackling or somethings. Two flew down within 50 yards and feed all around us for an hour or so. They were being very vocal so I kept my calling to a minimum. No gobblers. They moved on and we sat cold calling until about 9:15am and decided we needed to move on.

Since it was near mid morning, we decided we would try the plot where we had seen cell cam pics recently. Rather than walking straight we cut through some thick pines for cover knowing they could be in the plot. Sure enough we got with 20 yards of the plot and there was a hen feeding. We sat down right there knowing that we were lucky to have gotten that close. We had a couple of narrow windows to shoot but not much. Started calling a little hoping there others around that would present themselves. Trying to keep an eye on the hen, we ended up blowing our cover and she flew out. We were good for 20 minutes or better but couldn’t hold it together long enough for other turkeys to come on in. Check the camera and there were 2 hens there. Decided to pack it up and head in for lunch.

That afternoon was slow. We started back at about 2-230 not knowing exactly when to start back. Based on last year we didn’t have a lot action in the afternoons. We split up between the 2 tore up hardwood areas. Tried to get a response to a crow call, nothing. Decided to just sit and cold call and neither of us saw any turkeys. We ended up calling it off at 5:45-6pm.

Sorry for the long post. Based on all that, pointers on anything’s did would be much appreciated.

I am by no means an expert like some of the killers on here so I'm sure someone will be along with a different take, but if I'm reasonably sure that there are turkeys in the area I will not owl hoot or crow call. If it gets close to fly down time and I haven't heard a bird, I might throw a couple of soft yelps followed by a couple of cuts to try to get something going (hens or gobblers). My reasoning is, there are enough sounds out there to get a response if he is going to sound off. Let the crows, geese, hawks, donkeys, whatever do it for me if possible.
Also when blind calling, try scratching in the leaves. Just adds more natural sounds to your set up.

From your wording, it sounds like you are hooting while it’s still dark. Don’t do that. Give the woods time to come alive, and time for the birds to gobble on their own.

I personally don’t use a crow call at all. Excited yelps/cuts are the best locator later in the day IMO.

This. I don’t use a crow or owl call at all. I let you woods wake up and if nothing gobbles on it’s own, I’ll give some soft calling first them amp up to loud calling after fly down time. And gobblers travel a lot so they might not be there today but if then hens are there, they will be there eventually more than likely.

And if it’s a small property, it doesn’t take much activity to booger it up. Slip in quietly and be patient. If I’m blind calling, I only call every 20 mins or so. Just clucks, purrs, and soft yelps. Listen for the gobbler to strut, spit, or drum as he’s coming in. Way more gobblers come in silent than people believe.

Old man that taught me always said don’t make any noise before the crows start up on their own. I always try to let them gobble on their own if at all possible. As far as calling. It’s extremely easy to call too much. Sometimes scratching in the leaves is the best call.


PS
I’m also not as deadly as most of the guys on this forum so my advice is worth what you paid for it.

They all said the same thing I would have. Put the owl call up and let the woods wake up on their own. When I first started hunting, it never failed, I would owl at daylight, no gobbles. I would get bummed and then 30 minutes after daylight he would gobble on his own. Everything else you did sounded about right. 70% of turkey hunting is being where they want to be. The other half is calling at the right time. The last 10% is luck.

Every place is different. Birds on our GA property will gobble in the pitch black. Birds on our club in Randolph rarely gobble before the crows crank up. I’ve had good luck getting one to shock at a crow call up in the morning. As for afternoons, I rarely hunt past 11. Most afternoon hunts I have my son with me and we get in areas I know birds frequent and call every now and then.

Do you have gobblers on camera or just hens?

I agree with y’all and it sounds like y’all may have switched spots a little early. I’m always having to tell my self to relax and give a place some time before I get antsy and start thinking about another spot. I usually space my calling out a bit more and try your best not to bump hens or any turkeys for the most part. The only time I’ve scared a turkey on purpose was when I’ve had a hen or a group of aggressive jakes heading towards a gobbling bird I’m working. Has to be just the right scenario very uncommon. If I have a hen out there in front of me I act like it’s a gobbler as far as staying still and all. I hunt from daylight till dark if I can. You’ll figure it out y’all stay after em

Thanks for the info so far. We will be doing some things different already. We do have pics of gobblers and hens. We have seen very large groups in past years, like 15-20 birds. Not really this year though. What we have seen so far from our hunt and just tracks, they seem to be one or two hens/gobblers walking around. Is that typical?

If y’all aren’t hearing birds in the morning, how much moving around do you do and risk bumping birds?

Hard for me to switch spots before 9am. If leaves ain’t on yet I ain’t movin fast. I do not own an owl or crow call. Pretty good reports up above

That’s normal this time of year each of them is looking for something different whether it’s hens to breed or nesting ground. I move based on how much land I have to slip around on, how long I’ll be there, and if I have any previous knowledge of a place. You can never have too many places to park. I’ve never ran cameras though I’d rather hunt off blind optimism I guess. There are few rules in the turkey woods from what I’ve gathered

If u hav hens u hav gobbs - just some general stuff below

Anytime u see a turkey - do not move - not one inch - they will see u. I usually let nature wake mine up - but if no gobbles - i try. They usually will not gobble until they see they forest floor or ground - sounded like u may hav started a little early. Make sure when u start locator callin n mornin - u not standing in the middle of the field or in the middle of the scratching - they can be in the tree looking down at u. I often get fully set up and hidden n the dark - for beginners - pop up blind is genius because begginers do not usually understand how well turkey can see. I would already hav it set up and dont do morning of

Here is a big one - this gets ton of newdies - pattern your shotgun - just becaose your granddads 12 was great dont mean it can kill a turkey - u want something deadly out to 40 yards anyway.

Google what turkeys sound like and listen - less is more amd cluck and yelp are keeping it simple - not cuttin 😀

And this may be best tip of all - if u can - go w somebody really good - thats killed a lot - do it!! Lot of folks think they really good - i use to think i was best ever 25 years ago - i later realized having an awesome place helps. I learned a ton on my own thru hard knocks - but being able to go w 4-5 really good killers over the years was very helpful also
Set up is biggest thing - get where he wants to be - hav stuff behind u to break u up - i like to hav good lanes - but i hav stuff n front as well - w the kid - use blind - screw what some prick on here thinks

Good luck man!

I hope i finally find some birds to work - i desperately need a spot upgrade for turkeys

If you dont have pics of gobblers they may not be using your place. I have hunted properties before where the hens came to in the middle of the day hours but gobblers never followed. They would sray in or around pastures all day and simply wait on the hens to return to them in the evenings. They would gobble in the morning and afternoon but never seem to leave those areas. Cameras n3ver showed gobs either but showed hen groups daily

Some gobblers are silent too. We’ve killed several that never said a word. Don’t let the lack of roosting gobbles run you off early. Nearly all do, but some don’t. We have one this year that hasn’t said a word, but he’s there on camera every morning.

What time you usually stop in the afternoon?

Depends how mad at them you are. You can kill them as late as their feet are on the ground. Both I killed this weekend were after 4pm.

Yep, I called one up for my cousin at 6:57pm last year. He even came to calling, he was on the way to roost and we saw him crossing the hay field. Yelped at him and he ended up making a 90* turn and running 200 yards to us didn’t have a decoy out or anything. It was just about dark

Have you been able to confirm that there’s atleast a gobbler around? Sounds like your fighting a losing battle with all the hens around.

Yes there are toms in the area from game cam pics. We haven’t seen a large group in a couple on months.

More info about the property. This is about 600 acres that is 1/4 hay field, 1/4 hardwoods, 1/4 clear cut in the 1.5 year, and a 1/4 thinned pines last year.

We thought we would possibly have luck in the thinned pines but there is still a lot of debris on the ground that would make it hard for them to move around. Same with clear cut that just got replanted 2 months ago. That’s why we are focusing on the hardwoods. They seem to be scratching a lot in there.

Have y’all seen much activity in clear cuts or thinned pines when left with a lot of debris?