First year turkey hunting

[Biggest04]

Any advice? I am in the Albany area and looking for a place to go and tips to bag some turkeys.

[turkeyfeathers]

Not sure where to go but call softly and infrequently is probably my best advice. Keep very.very still at all times. perhaps a stick blind in front of you to hide hand movements of calling and moving gun. Them birds can hear and see better than you can imagine. Try a slate call, pretty easy to use. Yelps, purrs, clucks can all be done on a slate. I've heard worse sounding hens than my own calling. Cadence, what to say and how loud and you should be good.

[DirtTime]

I would look into Thatcher Park. You have to get a parking permit though. 

http://nysparks.com/parks/128/

 

There are other state lands in that area as well, just look at the DEC site.

 

 

[Biggest04]

I put this up last year and never got out. Not looking good rhis year either.

[grampy]

On 5/2/2016 at 5:35 PM, ....rob said:

I would look into Thatcher Park. You have to get a parking permit though. 

http://nysparks.com/parks/128/

 

There are other state lands in that area as well, just look at the DEC site.

 

 

There is no spring turkey hunting in Thatcher. I would try Partridge Run. It's much larger and holds a good population of turkeys.

[The_Field_Ager]

I took the time to learn the mouth call. I can make 4 distinctly different sounds now and it keeps my hands free and on the trigger. Not that I get much chance to shoot Turkey in the woods. Its fun, but bloody difficult to draw them away from the surrounding fields. Worth the challenge and time in the woods tho.

[Grizz1219]

Patience kills more birds than calling.... 

[DirtTime]

9 hours ago, grampy said:

There is no spring turkey hunting in Thatcher. I would try Partridge Run. It's much larger and holds a good population of turkeys.

I know that now. My post was a year old, before I moved out this way and started hunting the area.

There's Partridge Run ( as mentioned ), Margaret Burke, and Black Creek Marsh as well. If your willing to drive a bit, here's a link to some public land.

 

http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/48283.html

 

Not to mention the state land in 4A. 

 

[Adkhunter1590]

As others have mentioned. Almost a endless amount of state land available to hunt within a hours drive of Albany. Just pick a spot on the map and drive there and go for a walk around. You'll stumble into some birds no doubt about it.