Any advice?

[Jmp209]

I've never hunted specifically for turkey in the fall, I've seen them occasionally during archery season but not very often. I've always had a goal of taking a buck, bear and turkey all in the same license year but have never been able to make it happen. This year I have been blessed with the good fortune to have already tagged the buck and bear. There's only a couple days left of the fall turkey season here in Western NY but I have a few vacation days I'd be more than happy to burn. Should I take a whole day and just cover as much ground as possible looking for turkey sign or is there any specific types of areas I should focus my scouting on?

 

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[Jeremy K]

That would be rad ,good luck .

[Robhuntandfish]

i would try to find out where they roosted the night before and plan for a morning hunt.  Do a crow call or hoot owl and maybe you can find them roosted for the am hunt 

[turkeyfeathers]

Fall bird hunting is dumb luck IMO   Perhaps they'll gobble a little bit on roost and perhaps they won't   Roosting areas in Spring usually remain pretty consistent   Fall, not so much  Spring birds are hot to gobble at calls you throw at them , fall not so much. I'd go with the cover a lot of ground   If you can find them and they don't see you, try working them. If they see you, haul azz and run right through them   Try calling them back in to assemble a half hour or so later. I'm going to try and give it a shot tomorrow again checking cams and raking leaves off my logging trail plot. Good luck.

[Uncle Nicky]

I use a dog, it levels the playing field a lot. Without a dog, I would try to get some sort of pattern on them, such as are you hearing them at any time and location, or do you notice them coming or going from a field or somebody's yard right after sunlight or right before dark (if so, the nearest large trees SHOULD be where they roost). Do you notice a lot of footprints, poop, or feathers in a certain field, or a lot of fresh scratching in the woods? Do you notice them going for a certain food source? If not, the only other thought I have would be cover a lot of ground where you think they might be, hen call or kee kee periodically, and hope for some sort of response or sighting. If you do find a flock that's not running or flying off, bum-rush them and hope for a good scatter, you may be able to call them back in if you scatter them well. Good luck!

[TACC]

I use a dog, it levels the playing field a lot. Without a dog, I would try to get some sort of pattern on them, such as are you hearing them at any time and location, or do you notice them coming or going from a field or somebody's yard right after sunlight or right before dark (if so, the nearest large trees SHOULD be where they roost). Do you notice a lot of footprints, poop, or feathers in a certain field, or a lot of fresh scratching in the woods? Do you notice them going for a certain food source? If not, the only other thought I have would be cover a lot of ground where you think they might be, hen call or kee kee periodically, and hope for some sort of response or sighting. If you do find a flock that's not running or flying off, bum-rush them and hope for a good scatter, you may be able to call them back in if you scatter them well. Good luck!

Never heard of using dogs for turkey. Can you give me a quick overview of what the dog does for turkey hunting. Do you go to an area you already know has turkeys or does he track turkeys like the dogs do for deer.

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[hunter49]

  Come to my back yard  I have 8 of them here right now.!

[moog5050]

The NY grand slam with a recurve would be a great accomplishment (and to top it off your first year hunting trad).  Good luck my friend.  Pulling for you.

[Uncle Nicky]

1 minute ago, TACC said:

Never heard of using dogs for turkey. Can you give me a quick overview of what the dog does for turkey hunting. Do you go to an area you already know has turkeys or does he track turkeys like the dogs do for deer.

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It is a little of both, actually. You start by walking known turkey haunts, the dog sniffs them out (or spots them), I would imagine a flock of turkeys to a bird dog smells like a chicken coop would to our noses. Once located, it's game on, the dog rushes them, a good dog barks on the flush to let you know she has found them, and you can usually see birds sailing through the treetops. Fall birds tend to stay in flocks, so it's likely if you set up near the break sight, you can coax one in close enough for a shot by calling them back in when they eventually regroup. The toughest part is keeping the dog still once birds start coming back in, some guys will bring their dog back to the car while they are waiting for the birds to regroup, but the best dogs will sit fairly still while waiting for birds coming back to the scatter site.

[Jmp209]

There aren't a whole lot of fields near me, most are just over grown weedy openings really. I think most of them would be too overgrown for them to even feel safe walking through. My areas consist of mostly mature hardwoods in hilly terrain. There are a few sections that are thick with tree tops from past logging or oil drilling operations and a few sections that are choked up with mountain Laurel as far as you can see. There are some old logging roads and skidder landings that are fairly open that I've found turkey sign in the spring but they're pretty much just dusty roadbeds. Most of the hills are covered with mast trees so there's no real concentrated food source to bring them to one specific spot. With the wind and rain in the forecast I was thinking of maybe walking fairly open benches on hillsides that have a fair amount of acorns.

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[Uncle Nicky]

I think you answered your own question, a good sign that birds are in the area would be a lot of fresh scratching in the leaves.

[Pygmy]

6 minutes ago, Uncle Nicky said:

It is a little of both, actually. You start by walking known turkey haunts, the dog sniffs them out (or spots them), I would imagine a flock of turkeys to a bird dog smells like a chicken coop would to our noses. Once located, it's game on, the dog rushes them, a good dog barks on the flush to let you know she has found them, and you can usually see birds sailing through the treetops. Fall birds tend to stay in flocks, so it's likely if you set up near the break sight, you can coax one in close enough for a shot by calling them back in when they eventually regroup. The toughest part is keeping the dog still once birds start coming back in, some guys will bring their dog back to the car while they are waiting for the birds to regroup, but the best dogs will sit fairly still while waiting for birds coming back to the scatter site.

 I have never had the pleasure of hunting with a well trained turkey dog, but in years past I have used my lab and springers  to scatter flocks, with good effect..One time we scattered a flock and I walked back to the truck to take the dogs home...I was only gone perhaps a half hour or 45 minutes, but by the time I got back my  3 partners had already called up and killed 3 birds..

[Uncle Nicky]

2 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

 I have never had the pleasure of hunting with a well trained turkey dog, but in years past I have used my lab and springers  to scatter flocks, with good effect..One time we scattered a flock and I walked back to the truck to take the dogs home...I was only gone perhaps a half hour or 45 minutes, but by the time I got back my  3 partners had already called up and killed 3 birds..

Yes, it can be deadly when all the stars align themselves. Really miss the days (only been a couple years) when you could get 2 birds in the Southern Zone.

[Buckmaster7600]

I hunt them the same way I do in the spring. Cover ground, spot and stalk. I flock of turkey makes a lot of noise back when I had better hearing I would usually hear flocks way before I saw them. If u bust a couple birds don't worry they aren't like deer and they won't go far and the hunt is just beginning.


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[dbHunterNY]

Don't spend too much time hunting a flock if you don't here gobbles. Birds gobble in fall and spring. Often beards are back together. Have a group hanging around on property I hunt right now.

Otherwise, hen flocks work well with clucks and the normal calls sparingly to draw in birds you see. Kee kee runs work well now. Don't make too much racket though or boss hen will pull them away and take charge. Sometimes you play the repeat game to ruffle her feathers and bring her in. Not often though and it's m9rw of a last ditch effort.

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[Jmp209]

From my understanding (please correct me if I'm wrong) there are 3 main types of flocks during the fall. Groups of jakes, groups of toms and groups of hens with poults. If I do manage to find a group of birds that don't spot me first am I better off setting up and calling immediately or should I rush and break them up no matter what?

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[Five Seasons]

I think many fall bear and turkey are killed by deer hunters lol. I spring hunt turkey and would approach it the same, although I imagine more run and gun in the fall as I assume they're less likely to come into a call. 

that would be a cool hat trick though. Good luck!

[Uncle Nicky]

1 hour ago, Jmp209 said:

From my understanding (please correct me if I'm wrong) there are 3 main types of flocks during the fall. Groups of jakes, groups of toms and groups of hens with poults. If I do manage to find a group of birds that don't spot me first am I better off setting up and calling immediately or should I rush and break them up no matter what?

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Sometimes you will find them mixed, but mostly older toms are together, and hens are together with poults. Sometimes 1 1/2 year old jakes wil be seperated, sometimes poultless hens are on their own, but as winter approaches, the groups grow larger & larger.

If it were me, I would take a look at the group, and their behavior. It probably wouldn't hurt to sit down if you're not spotted and try calling, I don't know what you would have to lose, they may call back and come in, they may ignore you.  If it's possible, I'd try getting in front of them, I know it sounds easy but it usually isn't. If you rush them, you usually need the element of surprise on your side, they're more apt to outrun you than take off flying if they see you coming from any distance, especially gobblers. I wish I could say "they always" do x, y, or z, but they never seem to do what you think they will do.

Edited October 30, 2017 by Uncle Nicky

[Jmp209]

Sometimes you will find them mixed, but mostly older toms are together, and hens are together with poults. Sometimes 1 1/2 year old jakes wil be seperated, sometimes henless poults are on their own, but as winter approaches, the groups grow larger & larger.
If it were me, I would take a look at the group, and their behavior. It probably wouldn't hurt to sit down if you're not spotted and try calling, I don't know what you would have to lose, they may call back and come in, they may ignore you.  If it's possible, I'd try getting in front of them, I know it sounds easy but it usually isn't. If you rush them, you usually need the element of surprise on your side, they're more apt to outrun you than take off flying if they see you coming from any distance, especially gobblers. I wish I could say "they always" do x, y, or z, but they never seem to do what you think they will do.

Yea I just wasn't sure if there was a better way to go about hunting one of the flock types than another. I took thursday and Friday off work so I'm hoping to get as much first hand learning as I can in that short time.

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[Uncle Nicky]

I think you are trying to kill one with a bow, which even raises the bar higher. If at all possible, if you have them coming, try to conceal yourself (portable mini blind, set up behind a tree?) when you do draw back, they probably won't give you a whole lot of time to get a shot off. Good luck!

Edited October 30, 2017 by Uncle Nicky

[dbHunterNY]

most properties aren't that big.  don't break them up if you don't have to.  like uncle nicky said if you're bow hunting it helps to be concealed in a blind. if you've got a good late season food source like corn then birds will be in it.  you can setup the blind brushed in a little right at the spot they're coming in and they'll still walk right to it.

[Jmp209]

The goal as of right now is to get one with a bow. I know the odds are against me but I'm just happy that I've got a chance to try. The first thing I'm going to focus on is just locating some good turkey sign and evaluate what kind of tactic I think would work best. Many of the responses on this thread have given me some ideas for how I plan to react to different scenarios. I'll continue to browse some older posts and hope you guys keep throwing tips on this thread as well. I appreciate all the help tremendously, any one of these tips may just be what I need to seal the deal. Thank you!

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[Buckmaster7600]

I have killed a bunch of turkeys with my bow but none with my long bow yet. I don't use blinds because I don't like calling turkeys. Best way to stalk turkeys is go slow and stay low, a leafy suit helps big time! And don't wear a ball cap for what ever reason turkeys seem to pick up head movement way more with a ball cap on, must have something to do with the brim.


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