Time to get ready for Turkey Season!

Now that deer season is coming to a close in most places, it’s time to start thinking about spring turkey season.  So is my TOP 10 list to get ready for turkey season.

1. Location.  Get out to your lease and scout before the season starts. Try to get an idea where the turkeys are roosting at night, and where they are headed to feed during the day. Knowing where they roost gives you advantage when the time comes to hunt, as you position yourself to cut the birds off on the way to their feeding areas.
2. Practice your shot.  If you are bow hunting for turkeys this spring, then keep practicing with your bow.  Turkeys are surprisingly hard to kill with a bow and recover. They leave very little blood trail and when shot, love to play hide and seek. Find a good broadhead with a large cutting diameter for turkeys.
3. Invest in a pop-up blind.  For some reason, pop-up blinds do not disturb turkeys at all. It takes deer several weeks to get used to a pop-up blind most of the time, but you can set one up for turkey hunting the morning of, and they just don’t see it.
4. Coverage.  If you can’t get a pop up blind, then get some good camouflage, a good camo headnet, and a comfy turkey seat to get hidden at the base of a tree or in some brush. It’s a good idea to paint your face as well. The key is to move as little as possible. Be in a position where you can shoot your shotgun, rifle, or bow with little to no movement when the birds come in. Turkeys can’t smell worth a darn, but they have very good vision and very good hearing. If you are lucky to have just a little wind, you don’t have to worry about the birds hearing your movement. However, they will pick up even the slightest movement.
5. Practice your call. Get your calls out and practice. Don’t wait until the morning you are going out to find your slate or glass calls need to be tuned…or that your mouth call is torn from dropping it in the briars at the end of last season.
6. Check your decoys.  It only takes a couple of decoys placed strategically to fool even a mature gobbler. I like to hunt with just a jake and a hen usually. That is enough to really fire up a gobbler most of the time.

Once it is time to go out and hunt, here are a few last tips and tricks!

• Show up early.
• Use a locator call to see if the birds will talk from their roost. I have used a crow call before and they work great…if you’re in a pinch, a simple shut of a truck door can get the birds to talk. Then you know where they are!
• Under cover of darkness, try to slip in and get set up undetected. Get your decoys set up and your blind positioned for a shot. Once the birds start to come out of their roost, listen for them.
• Be mobile! If the turkeys decide to head another direction from their roost, then make a move and try to flank them. Sometimes the toms will gobble all the way in, but sometimes they don’t make a sound and then they are 10 yards in front of you.
• Be ready for all these scenarios! We have several turkey hunts ready to go on our site and we are getting some great products in for turkey season as well. Gobble Gobble!!