Mid Season Turkeys

Mid-Season Turkeys 

How to kill turkeys during the middle part of the season!

Keep calm and do not panic!! All the turkeys are NOT shot, they have not all disappeared from the face of the Earth and they are still able to be harvested. A common misconception is that those awesome thunder chickens are much harder to kill the longer the season goes on. In some ways that is true, but using the right strategies can make a hunter just as successful, or even more so, than during the beginning of the turkey season. 

Knowing what makes hunting turkeys in the middle to later part of the season more difficult can be the ticket to your success. Below is a list of things to keep in mind. 

1. Hunting pressure: Both hens and gobblers can be affected in different ways by the hunting pressure they experience at the beginning of the season. They can be more quiet, more cautious to calling, and even get pushed out of areas they were just living in for months. 
2. Less Gobbling: At times it can be difficult just to even hear a gobble. When you do, it’s often only on the roost. As soon as they hit the ground, they shut up completely. 
3. Not as predictable: Before the season, hunters will often see flocks and flocks of turkeys on the sides of roads in large fields in plain sight. They can be there every day, several times a day, for weeks. This is not usually the case after weeks of turkeys being pressured. They may change up their routine from one day to the next. Whereas before the season and early on in the season they’re doing the same thing, going to the same places at the same time every day. 

Strategies to use to find success. 

If above is the annoying word problem you used to see in math class, below are the formulas you can use to solve them. 

1. Take in data: You most likely have been hunting since the beginning of the season. Use this to your advantage. Use a hunting app to keep track of where you have seen hunters and their vehicles. Do not hunt those areas. Oftentimes, even if there are still turkeys there they have been hunted so much they will be too difficult to hunt. NOT impossible, but not as efficient. Find new areas. Maybe they are harder to get to areas. Maybe they are butted up against private land, maybe they are across a body of water. Whatever it might be, think outside of the box to hunt less pressured turkeys. 
2. Hunt the quiet gobbler: First things first, there can still be plenty of birds willing to gobble even on the ground. Don’t give up. If you find one, play it cool. For those birds less willing to gobble when hitting the ground there are plenty of strategies to use. First, get closer to where they roost/where you hear them gobbling on the roost. Don’t get crazy, but the spring green up often creates more of a barrier that allows you to get closer to a turkey that can’t see you. Try and locate where birds have been hanging out during the day and make your set up between that and where they roost. Call less and know that just because you can’t hear them does not mean that they are not coming. Oftentimes, during this portion of the season people will walk away from their spot too early and spook a quiet gobbler that was on his way in! 
3. Scout, Scout, and scout some more: 

Don’t forget that scouting during the middle of the season is just as important as before the season. Hunt in the mornings yes, but if you don’t bag a bird, do not call it a day! Hike around, find the up-to-date sign, and continue to listen and call for turkeys. They might not be as predictable, but they are still there eating and interacting with each other. 

Extra pro tip!

Hunt the middle part of the mornings. In many cases hens are starting to nest. Fewer and fewer hens are wanting to be bred. Gobblers will often start looking for new hens during the middle portion of the day after they have lost their morning hens. I have killed MANY turkeys between the hours of 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. Next, call quietly and less often. These turkeys have been called to for weeks. Get them interested in you and then make them find you! Use calls like a secret, and my favorite thing to do is simply to scratch the ground like a turkey looking for a meal!