When most people hear turkey hunting they generally associate it with a strutting tom and the beautiful sound of a gobble during the spring. Learning the art of fall turkey hunting not only increases your chances of putting a bird in the freezer for Thanksgiving, it allows you to learn more about turkeys and how they live throughout the year, not solely during the mating season. This can benefit the spring turkey hunter as well. By having more knowledge of your quarry, such as their vernacular, social structure and how to locate them, you can add more to your book of strategies. Fall hunting requires more woodsmanship than calling ability. One of the most important tasks at hand is locating birds in the fall. They have a more broad range during this time of the year due to diminishing food sources.

The Basics:

There are two basic angles to hunting fall turkeys. Hunting bachelor flocks and hunting what I call brood flocks. Bachelor flocks consist of mature gobblers and brood flocks consist of the adult hens and their offspring. During the fall, a hunter has to realize that he is capitalizing on a turkey’s urge for companionship, their need to establish a pecking order and just overall curiosity. He is also putting his woods skills to the test by finding his birds. Finding a viable food source and water is essential to finding your birds. Patterning birds in the fall can be quite challenging but putting food and water on the top of your scouting list will pay dividends. Turkeys will continue to use a food source until it is exhausted and will water in the same areas if available. Use this to your advantage. Traditional roosting sites out west are a sure bet to finding your fall birds but, here in the southeast I don’t feel are as common. This is due to the variety of roosting areas that are available. Put your time in the woods scouting for sign very similar to the methods used in the spring. Look for tracks, dusting areas, and scratching. Keep in mind your more likely to find flocks of birds and not single birds, although finding a lone gobbler is not all that uncommon. More often when you find one, you will find multiple birds, whether bachelor flocks or brood flocks. Spend time in the woods and frequent areas that birds are likely to be feeding and you’ll find your turkeys. How many times have you heard deer hunters say “You should have seen all the turkeys I saw on the stand!!” Use this knowledge to your advantage.

Bachelor Flocks:

During the spring we all know that generally you’ll have your dominant gobbler and your subordinate gobblers in any given area that holds birds. During the fall, take away that breeding urge and your left with the same gobblers. These gobblers will often flock together, I feel for companionship. Do not be confused. There is still a pecking order established between these birds. Now once you’ve conducted reconnaissance on the birds in your area, your safest bet is to set up and blind call or move and call.

Blind calling is referred to as sitting in one area and just calling randomly, not engaged in a conversation with a bird. Use gobbler yelps and clucks and call sparingly, but with enough frequency for a bird to not pass your position without hearing your calling. Basically every 10 to 15 minutes. Gobbler yelping is very similar to hen yelping but with a slower rhythm and a deeper tone. On paper it would appear as “yawk”—-”yawk”—-”yawk”—-“yawk”—-”yawk”—-”yawk”. As opposed to hen yelping, yelp-yelp-yelp-yelp-yelp. Gobbler clucking again is similar to hens clucking but with a noticeably deeper tone. Throw in some deeper purring just to add realism. Once you get a response, call them just enough to pique there interest. Hopefully they will come to investigate the newcomer. Hunting these birds takes an enormous amount of patience. Its almost as if your still hunting but adding some vocalizations into the mix.

Running and gunning can be effective but, be mindful of your surroundings. Less foliage on the trees and the birds not being as vocally responsive can be a challenge. Without the birds giving away their location the chance of spooking them is much greater walking through the open timber. Remember patterning these birds and hunting near feeding areas is going to put you in their living room. You can even build a blind to gain comfort and conceal movement.

Brood Flocks:

These birds have a very tight knit social grouping. They live each day, all day together. You’re going to have to act upon this to bag your fall bird. Very similar to hunting bachelor flocks there are two basic methods. Blind calling and moving and calling. The type of calling employed is quite different than what is used to call bachelor flocks. While trying to locate or communicate with a brood flock, I’m going to conduct some assembly yelping , lost yelping and kee-kee running. Assembly or lost yelping is the same basic call. They are both 15-20 note yelps given with inflection. The assembly yelp is given by the brood hen when a flock is scattered. She emits these long series of yelps soon after the flock is broken apart. This is how she gathers her brood. The lost yelp, is when a bird is all alone by itself and is looking for companionship. I don’t feel a turkey is ever lost. I feel its more of a locating call. When giving these yelps just remember to visualize a turkey looking for company and pleading to gain there acquaintance. Kee-keeing is the whistle of the young birds. Long before a poult’s voice has developed enough to produce yelps, they can only whistle. As they become more mature their voice will allow them to yelp. They will then combine kee-keeing in conjunction with yelping, producing the kee-kee run. The kee-kee sounds like its spelled on paper. Kee kee kee—–kee kee kee kee. Kee kee running would appear as Kee kee kee —– kee kee kee kee – yelp yelp. Produce a series of this call ending with two to four yelps, with three or four complete sets in a series. Kee Keeing is best performed with a mouth call. For the beginner, I would highly suggest a Quaker Boy Kee Kee diaphragm. It is a clear call that has two thin reeds with no cut and will whistle with ease. For the more advanced caller I would prefer a World Champ mouth. You can attain the same realistic whistle with a raspy yelp.

When blind calling your trying to lure the birds in by piquing their curiosity. The flock will hopefully move into your position because they are investigating the new comer. Mix up your calling with several series of assembly/lost yelps starting each series with clucking and adding clucking in between your series. The next calling sequence, give a chorus of kee-kee runs. Call quite often and even call with multiple calls. Again, we’re trying to use a turkey’s curiosity and need for companionship to coax them into gun range.

Scattering the flocks:

This is an age old tradition when hunting fall turkeys. I feel this is definitely best accomplished by two hunters. Many times a hunter will get close enough to flush a flock only to have them fly off in the same direction and regroup before a hunter has a chance to set up and call them. If you’ve spotted a flock, have you and a buddy come in from different directions, then running in spooking them. Hopefully they will scatter in different directions. Once you’ve scattered a brood flock wait and quietly listen for them to start yelping and kee-keeing. If the birds did not flush too far from where you scattered them and you start hearing multiple birds, set up right there and begin your calling. Call very often. Assembly yelping and kee-kee running will be your best bet. At this point do not be afraid to call.

If the birds have flushed too far to set up where the flush occurred, then reposition to where the majority of the flock escaped your ambush and again wait and listen for them to start calling. Then begin your calling. In my opinion it is imperative that you do not start calling until the birds start calling. I feel this way you know the birds are calm enough to start the regrouping process.

If you’ve busted a bachelor flock, rely on your gobbler yelps and deep gobbler clucks, but calling more sparingly. A bachelor flock has much less urge to regroup than a brood flock. Many times the gobblers will not regroup, hence seeing lone long beards sometimes in the fall. But, its definitely worthy of a valiant effort.

Just remember scouting is going to be your main key to success. Fall turkey hunting can be productive with or without calling. You have to know where the turkeys are frequenting and put yourself in these areas. Many times I’ve had fall flocks never respond to a call, but my knowledge and patterning of the birds put me in a position to fill my tag. Other times the calling is what made the difference and definitely made the hunt more exciting. Fall turkey hunting generally doesn’t involve gobbling and strutting but hearing a bird kee-kee can be equally satisfying. It’s a sound that many hunters will never hear unless they put their time in the woods. Just know bagging a long beard, a jake, or even a hen in the fall is a great accomplishment. Many old timers will tell you spring hunting is great fun but the real test is harvesting a bird in the fall.

Scott Ellis
Woodhaven Custom Calls -Sting Team

Prostaff:
Tru-Glo Fiber Optics
Therma-Cell
Field Expert-Ol’ Tom Technical Gear

Member: Florida Outdoor Writer’s Assoc.

With all the great stories, equipment, adventures and people out there I thought it would be great to get some pictures.  If you have any pictures from a hunt, your gear or best of all you geared up that would be great.  If you send in pictures I will post on our site as well as putting some of the best pictures on all our sites.  Things I am looking for, but not limited to.

•    Gear: Clothes, utility tools, ATV’s…
•    Favorite weapons: guns, bows, sticks, stones…
•    Best Duck Blind or Hide…
•    You, family or friends dressed for the hunt…
•    Where you hunt

All I need is a digital picture in any PC compatible format and a description of the picture.  You can make the description as long or short as you would like.  If there is a story behind the picture we would love to hear about it.

Send Pictures to:

Todd Krater
U.S. Hunting Today
Managing Editor
todd@ushuntingtoday.com

Note: If you want a picture posted and do not have a digital copy I would be willing to scan it for you.  Please contact me for details.

US Hunting Today reserves the right to refuse any picture for any reason as well as edit it where appropriate.

(Columbus) – Today, the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA) officially unveiled a dynamic new initiative aimed at building an army of sportsmen from coast to coast to protect America’s outdoor heritage for future generations.

The USSA’s Sentry Program is free to join and represents the most intense effort ever focused on attracting sportsmen to become active players in the fight to preserve hunting, fishing and trapping rights whenever they are threatened.

By becoming a Sentry, sportsmen gain access to instant email communications about local and national threats to their outdoor rights as they happen. They will also be given specific instructions on which public officials to contact and when as these threats emerge. This communication network will enable sportsmen to mobilize quicker and more effectively than ever before.

In addition to getting sportsmen engaged in advocacy, the Sentry Program offers additional benefits, giving sportsmen a “one stop” web site for key information including state hunting regulations, information on where one can find a shooting range and other hunting and fishing tips from recognized leaders in the outdoor community.

“There are many anti-hunting organizations seeking to do away with what we love,” said Bud Pidgeon, USSA president and CEO. “By coming together under the Sentry Program, sportsmen will enhance our ranks and collectively stand tall against those groups.”

There is no cost to join the Sentry Program and requires only a minimal amount of information from those interested. For more information, please contact 614-888-4868, visit the USSA’s website at www.ussportsmen.org/BeASentry, or e-mail info@ussportsmen.org.

You can also view a video describing the program by clicking here.

Shows will air: Tuesday at 8 a.m.; Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.; Sunday at 10 p.m. est. Don’t miss it!

The wild turkey can offer the hunter one of the greatest challenges of any of the North American game species. Consistently bagging turkeys every season entails putting forth your best hunting efforts, embodying stealthy movement and putting yourself in a predatory mode. Luck has its place in every hunter’s endeavors but it is impossible to be consistently lucky. Placing your mind in a constant defensive posture will enable you to heighten your awareness and your woods skills. Letting your guard down for one minute can be the difference between filling your tag and heading home empty handed.

Movement and Noise:

The average hunter lumbers through the wood with no regard to the animals he is spooking, trudging onward snapping limbs and twigs with every step. The hunter himself is often his own worst enemy. The hunt is very frequently over before it ever begins due to the carelessness exhibited on his trek through the forest.

When deploying the run and gun method of hunting turkeys, one should constantly be monitoring his noise and movement levels. Before I go on, one alternative the hunter could adopt is the slipping and calling method. It is the same basic tactic but moving slower and more deliberately taking great effort to walk softer and quieter yet still covering as much ground as possible. If proper care is taken, you will often be within gun range of a gobbler when he answers your calls. Envision a cougar stalking a flock of turkeys. It moves at a snails pace in a prone position. It covers little ground in rapid fashion, using available cover to mask its movement. Throughout the years of my turkey hunting endeavors I have moved on turkeys in the same manner, even when just to reposition and try calling from a different angle. Allow yourself more time to move from point A to point B. Using available cover to conceal your movement will also put you on the path to success. When making your way through the timber pick the path that will offer the most concealment and the least amount of noise.

Patience:

One of the most overlooked factors in the triumph of consistently successful turkey hunters is the ability to sit still for extended periods of time. We all know there are two basic methods to hunt turkeys, blind calling and slipping & calling. The key is that both methods are directly affected by having the patience to remain stationary when needed. Exhibiting the ability to wait out that old gobbler will have turkeys riding in your vest on a regular basis.

An older method of hunting turkeys, blind calling consists of setting up and calling in a stationary position, with hopes a gobbler will come within earshot of your lusty turkey hen vernacular. When all the hens have been bred and the toms are on the move, it is common to have locate gobblers that are still in a heightened state of breeding. It requires more patience than physical endurance, although it can prove to be productive. At a point when turkeys become less vocal and the breeding season is winding down setting up on a food source and waiting, can also pay dividends. The gobblers will frequent these areas because it will hold hens and he may ultimately find a breeding partner that has been overlooked.

Patience does not apply to slipping and calling directly, but once you have engaged in a conversation with a gobbler, moving too hastily can prove to be detrimental in your quest of a long beard. Once you start working a gobbler, do not change your position unless absolutely necessary. Each year many gobblers would have been harvested had the hunter remained still. When a gobbler goes silent there is a very good possibility he is closing in quietly. If the gobbler is continuing to answer you but making an obvious about face from your position, only then should you reposition and approach him from either another angle or get around in front of his route and engage him. A simple rule of thumb to add to this thought is when you have decided to get up and move, wait thirty more minutes. This tactic will eventually pay off.

Awareness/Keeping Up Your Guard:

Heightening your overall woods awareness and always being on the defense is one factor to consider. Learn to decipher certain turkey sounds and vocabulary while on your hunt. Listen for scratching, soft deliberate foot steps in brittle leaves or the long distance sound of a yelp or a single cluck. The key here is tuning your senses to pick up on these turkey identifiers. Often times hunters overlook these simple tell tale signs that there are turkeys in their area. When you are in turkey rich environment always feel there are turkeys within eyesight of your position. Taking care when any movement is involved will allow you to view more game, turkey or otherwise. Scan your field of view only cutting your eyes from left to right. Use your peripheral vision to it’s maximum potential before any head movement. When you decide to move your head or shift your body for a better view, use slow deliberate movement.

Turkey Behavior:

The wild turkey has certain behavioral patterns they adhere to. Take the time to verse yourself on which patterns will affect you during the spring. Plan as many scouting trips to the areas you will frequent during the upcoming spring season. This will allow you to gauge those particular turkeys. Learn their habits and whereabouts, ranging from just after fly down, mid morning, mid and late afternoon. Having the ability to locate turkeys during these time frames will give you an added advantage. Placing yourself strategically in areas that consistently hold turkeys will increase your odds of success.

Also learn as much as possible about the wild turkey from a biological standpoint. For example, social structure, breeding and feeding habits, nesting and roosting areas. Patterning turkeys and identifying which part of the breeding cycle the turkeys are in will help you modify your tactics throughout the spring season. Each year will present a new set of challenges. The season could start off with the gobbler already having assembled his harem and roosting with them or you may encounter an early breeding scenario where the tom is more vocal on the roost as he begins to assemble his hens. Identifying which phase of their spring courtship is occurring will aid in you choice of tactics. Whether calling to the hens if the gobbler is actively breeding or calling aggressively if the gobblers are on the move searching for hens not yet bred, it will make your decision easier.

Concealment:

Mother nature designed her predators well. They utilize their fur color or plumage for their concealment. They also exploit the terrain and the available cover to cloak their attacks. The turkey hunter can apply these same tactics to his hunting. Use any available natural cover to disguise your position. Although the advent of pop up blinds has become wildly popular as of late, I prefer to use what Mother Nature provides for my concealment. Deadfalls, palmettos, brush piles and even the natural contours of wood lines provide excellent concealment.

Your use of camouflage is very important as well. Depending on early or late spring, match your patterns to your surroundings. There is a plethora of excellent camo on the market today. Chose the one that best suits the terrain you are consistently hunting. Turkeys will key in on movement before anything else. As, stated previously make sure you remain still as long as possible and when movement is necessary use slow, calculated motion. Granted, you can harvests turkeys in blue jeans, if it tickles your fancy. I prefer to capitalize on any advantage I may have that may counter his bionic like vision.

In Conclusion:

The wild turkey is a formidable opponent. His senses are his number one defense. It is not that he is smarter than the average turkey hunter, it’s just the fact that he capitalizes on his ability to discern motion. The turkey hunter must act in the same fashion. We must exploit the same god given instincts that are buried somewhere inside us. Always remember we are the highest rung on food chain ladder. We are the most intelligent creatures that scour the earth. Discipline and attention to detail can heighten our hunting ability. Think in those parameters and you will become a turkey predator.

Scott Ellis
Prostaff
Woodhaven Custom Calls
Tru-Glo Fiber Optics
Therma-Cell
Ol’ Tom Technical Gear
Member:Florida Outdoor Writer’s Assoc.

Scott Ellis
Prostaff
Woodhaven Custom Calls
Tru-Glo Fiber Optics
Therma-Cell
Ol’ Tom Technical Gear
Member:Florida Outdoor Writer’s Assoc.

Woodhaven Custom Calls-New Energy three pack. Consist of a Doug Benefield, Mitchell Johnston and my call, the Scott Ellis.

The Benefield is a ghost cut but the wing tips are left in tact. After running Doug’s call I was impressed with it’s tones. It delivers a medium amount of rasp with a clean front note of the yelp. It can perform a kee kee, as well some great clucks and purrs. It is overall easy to blow and will be a great fit for the caller that likes a less raspy yelper but still provides the versatility to produce the raspy turkey talk needed for cutting and cackling.

The Scott Ellis is a modified split V. It attains true turkey rasp with virtually no effort. I designed this call for consistency and true tone. As well it allows the hunter to produce “small talk”, cluck and purring and soft yelping. This call is a cutting machine, it produces crisp, sharp cutts. It will also produce a great fly down cackle. I experimented with different stretches and calling methods to ensure any way the hunter runs the call it will reproduce turkey “music”

The Mitchell Johnston is a great call and like all Woodhaven products reproduces pure turkey. It is stretched with less tension than the Doug’s and my call and it will be an instant hit with hunters. This batwing can kee kee with the best. It produce’s all turkey talk with a medium rasp. I was highly impressed with the realism of this call.

Scott Ellis
Prostaff
Woodhaven Custom Calls
Tru-Glo Fiber Optics
Therma-Cell
Ol’ Tom Technical Gear
Member:Florida Outdoor Writer’s Assoc.

Tanner Colten Moad, 5 years old, is one of the coolest kids I know. The youngest of 4 children of mine, Tanner never stops moving.

Before gun season in central eastern Oklahoma, the traditional bow season usually takes priority. I had taken the first week of bow season off from work in an attempt to tag out early at the request of my wife Lori. In her mind, if I was to tag out early, my deer season would then be “dear” season, with lots of additional chores getting done that get overlooked during each year’s deer season.

As a bow hunter, I was able to harvest a doe pretty quick, and two days later, stuck a nice 8 point that only took two steps before falling over. I had watched that buck spare with a 9-point two days earlier, and was in hopes I could manage to get the edge on one of them as both were very big bodied deer. Well, upon getting the close up view of the 8-point I had just harvested, I realized that half way up one side of his G-2, his antlers were completely broken off. A few of his other tines were damaged as well, which led me to believe that the 9-point he had previously been sparing with, probably wasn’t sparing anymore.

With bow season quickly becoming gun season, my son Tanner, was getting pretty excited about going hunting with dad this year. I had to work the first day of the season, but promised to take him on Sunday. Sunday afternoon, around 3:00pm, I was off to the deer woods and had my little man right there with me on the 4-wheeler. We drove to a spot where not much hunting activity was going on, and climbed into the buddy stand that was located there. The buddy stand had the camouflage netting around its fall protective bars and I knew that if a deer did come in, that the anticipated movements of my son would go undetected.

To my surprise, Tanner, sat quietly in the stand with me, pulled out his binoculars, and commenced to scanning the woods all around. When a squirrel would drop an acorn from a tree, it would hit the leaves, and Tanner would turn quickly to identify what made the noise. He would whisper to me that he thought he heard something over there, or over there, and over there. I know this sounds crazy, but I loved every minute of watching him pay attention to what was going on in the woods around him. Now he was hungry, 15 minutes after we were in the stand. He pulled out a package of crackers and quietly munched on them while looking around. We switched positions about 10 times, so he could see everything. He would ask me questions about all kinds of woods activities and now sat in my lap to get a better view. About 1 and ½ hours in the stand now, Tanner started doing the chicken head. You know, when someone is trying desperately not to fall asleep, but their eyes roll back, and their heads starts popping up. Well, it wasn’t long before “Mr. Energy” was resting against my arm, quietly sleeping.

Soon as Tanner decided to snooze, I elected to stay in the stand since there was only about 30 minutes left of daylight. So I positioned Tanner so he could lay down across the buddy stand seat that was covered with a camouflage blanket, and I would stand up. After positioning Tanner towards comfort, I stood up in the stand, now facing the rear, and spotted a nice buck standing there watching me. I touched Tanner on the face and arm attempting to wake him from his afternoon nap. I whispered to him “Tanner, there is a deer, wake up”. No response. So I looked back up the deer was gone. I positioned my rifle across the stand bars and waited for the deer to exit the brush. Just as I thought, he walked right through the opening in the brush headed for the deep woods. I announced I was there with a mouthed made “grunt”. He stopped and “bang”. As soon as the shot rang out, “Tanner, jumped up, wide eyed and said “Did I GET HIM?. Excited now, he really wanted to know if he got a deer. I smiled at him and excitedly said yes son, you got a big old buck. He jumped up and down in the stand and hugged me, and said “Well, where is he? Let’s go get him.” His little voice was squeaking high and low with excitement. This was his first experience in the deer woods hunting, and man he sure loved it, as did I. We climbed down the stand together, and went to where the buck was standing. I showed him the blood on the ground and explained to him that he should walk beside the blood, not in it, when he was tracking a deer. He started to walk beside the trail when he squeaked again. “I found him, he is right there” pointing. All of these events happening so fast, I wanted them to slow down some so I could savor the enjoyment of watching him. I showed him the caution of approaching a wounded or dead animal, helped him count the points on the antlers, and hugs and pride just rushed through me. After all, this hunt was supposed to be all about him.

He helped me load the deer on the 4-wheeler, and away we went to show the family. Close to the house now, I walked beside the 4-wheeler and allowed Tanner to drive up to the house. Picture this, A five year old boy, dressed in a camouflage shirt and orange hat with vest, driving a ranch 4-wheeler with a rifle in the rack on the front, and a 140 pound 8-point deer strapped to the utility rack in the back, coming out of the deer woods and driving up to the house with his mother waiting for him with a camera. Wouldn’t you be proud? I know I was. Tanner will never forget his first deer hunt, but neither will I. I think Lori, my wife and his mother, took a million pictures that evening.
Not only that, but he beat me this year with his deer. Mine during bow season was 150 pounds, but his rack was bigger. It is good to start them off young.