Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Your morning ritual, and are you trying anything new this year?

Here in Virginia, opening day is Saturday, April 13.

God willing and decent weather, I plan on getting up at 2:00 AM and heading to my preferred section of the state forest I like to hunt in hopes of being the first, or only, person there. Hope to be there no later than 3:30 AM. I'll take a big cup of strongly brewed homemade Dunkin Donuts-brand coffee that I made extra strong. I'll sip on that until I get to 7-11. There I will pick up two Big Bite hot dogs (cuz its usually too early for them to have Breakfast Bites on the grill) and a frosted honey bun. And another large cup of whatever the strongest coffee is that they have. By the time I get to my hunting grounds, I'll be full, have a good dose of sugar, and have Spidey-Senses from all the caffiene. I'll get out of my truck and take a pizz - a long one. Then I'll just wait there for a little while until my eyes adjust to the darkness. With some luck, the sky will be clear and I'll be able to see the Milky Way. Over the northern horizon I'll be able to see distant lights of planes flying into norther Virginia. Hopefully, the Whipoorwills will be sound off. And maybe some owls. The sounds in the dark are amazing. I'll take my pocket flashlight and scan the clearted grounds near the place where I park, and the field across the street, for eyes. I've seen a lot of foxes and other unidentified critters that way. Once there is a hint of coming light in the eastern horizon, I'll start my mile-long trek to where I'm going to hunt. This is pretty much my morning ritual every time I go. If I hut on a weekeday, particularly a mid-week day, I usually get up at 3 AM since almost never run into other hunters during the week.

This year, I'll be trying Federal Premium TSS #9 in 12 gauge. I've taken birds with TSS in 20 gauge and .410, but never in 12. I've got a new Benelli M2 12 gauge 3" with a Carlsons TSS choke in .650. I still need to pattern it. And I'll be trying my own slate call I made out of Virginia slate.

Not sure I'll get a bird, but that's secondary anyway. I already bagged a nice tom in January. My ultimate goal is to enjoy myself. Nothing like being in the woods, senses alive, and seeing who will prevail. I'm never sorry that a turkey prevails, especially if I enjoyed the contest.

My wife thinks it's creepy to be way out in the woods, miles from anything, in the pitch dark. Not me. I feel way safer and at home in the woods in the dark than I feel anywhere else.

Me at 3:30 AM last season.


And sounds in the dark forest.
[youtube:video][video]

Try to keep it simpler than you

If I don’t spend the night in the bunk room at my farm I get up an hour earlier and drive down.

Drink a large yeti tumbler of coffee on the drive, empty my bowels in the bunk room (or woods if I’m hunting somewhere else), and walk in about 15 minutes before gobbling time

Nothing new this year but last year I did start keeping some listerine in my truck. A quick swish before I leave the truck helps with the taste and funk on mouth calls

Also got some readers to keep in my vest this year so I can keep up with work emails during the hunt

Edited to add - if I tag out and don’t have someone else to call for in South Carolina I’ve got a couple North Carolina public spots I try. Same routine but haven’t ever had much luck there

I don't go anywhere until the coffee works....

Get up at 5am

Grab a couple 20oz Mtn Dews from the fridge along with some slim jims, granola bars, maybe some peanuts

Walk about 3/4 mile to my spot

Only thing different this year is a new shotgun/scope and a new hat

after 30 years I bought new camo,, got a 20 ga. to try out, still be carrying my Albert Paul box call he built for me in 1996, a Ted "Pete" Peters slate call, a cody spec I legend slate. will drink aa beer then drive a mile get out and hunt.

Sleeping in and hunting the second shift! Seriously if I don't have one roosted then I will wait till the early risers have departed for the diner and then start my hunt. If I get responses then I am in business!

My morning ritual is pretty much the same regardless of where I am hunting.

Up early, a cup of coffee while I’m getting ready, bathroom, a cup of coffee for the road.

I like to be in the woods 1 hour before “sunrise” time. Sometimes that means getting up at 2:30 and a 2 hour drive, others it means cranking the buggy and driving across the road.

I am trying a cane yelper this year for the first time. That’s really the only new thing.

Been hunting the Missouri Ozarks for the past 32 years, now have to get up at 2am just to beat all the hunters from Arkansas. Never had a problem with other hunters unlit the last 4-5 years. Even if you are parked and walk a mile on an old road, the Arkansawyers will drive past your vehicle. Times have changed.

It started for us in the mid 90s in Dallas County only these were Louisiana hunters. There was a write up in some sort of publication about the conservation ground that bordered a huge piece of private we hunted.

After that write up the flood gates opened.

Up at 430sh, get dressed, coffee, maybe a bite to eat then in the woods and to my starting point by 5:45, sometimes I am at that starting point at 5:30.

4:30 up and at em, banana, boiled egg with juice and out the door. Want be in listening range 30 minutes before dawn,
Owl hooter in hand.
As others indicated since covid the woods are more crowded, may have too start 30 minutes earlier this year.

I'm finding that more and more, I'm more successful late morning/early afternoon. Doesn't stop me from being out before first light and does help with some quality naps out in the turkey woods.

I am about 50/50 on late morning kills versus first light kills.

Give me a gobbling bird at 11 and I feel my chances are far greater to kill him than one I try to work straight off of the limb.

plan on a diet coke, and a sausage and biscuit while waiting on the birds to start talking. Set up and wait for them to hopefully come in for a free ride in the bed of my truck and some glamor shot pictures

Dang shame no doubt, for 12-13 years I never ran into another hunter in the Ozarks. Last year seen 3 guys in one day. All from diff states, Florida, Mississippi and Arkansas. Two of the guys were first class, guy from Arkansas was a total dick.

I wake up 2 hours before sunrise and try to head out the door so that I'm at my spot about 10 minutes before legal hunting. It's about a 15 minute walk. I've been hunting my place for 24 seasons, so where the birds are going to be is no surprise.

I always pack a thermos of coffee. I always pack a snack of peanuts. I've been using the same shotgun and the same load since 1996. I don't think I've bought a new call, except a few diaphragms since 2014.

Usually, the last 100 yards or so, it is light enough that I can switch off my flashlight.

Most days, I wait so that I'm not the first call. Once I hear a fair amount of tree calling, I work myself into the general pattern. About half the time, I get some sort of response. Unless I've got a bird actively seeking me, I usually nap between 0800 and 0900. Once I'm awake, I start trying to attract the attention of a mid-morning gob. That lasts until 1100, and then I go in.

You're going in at what I consider the best time to kill a bird.

I love playing the game with those mid day birds.

In WI, turkey hunting is like deer hunting, before sunrise until after sunset. Sometimes, I do sleep in a little! Lol!

During the pandemic shutdown, there were people everywhere. not hunters, but idots that had no clue. The best was I heard a shot and watched a turkey fly out and past me by a few hundred yards onto private land. The idiots bumbled out of the woods and asked if I saw a turkey fold. I told them it flew to the next county and was unharmed.

Hunter numbers seem to be dropping a bit, but they will be elevated still due to all the social media out there exposing people.

This is a tough one... I'm up at 3 am eating and preparing and it always seems like I'm a 1/2 hour late.

Its the debate if I take a caffiene hit right away and hope it works before I leave.

That magic movement is why I seem to be a 1/2 hour late most times, but it beats finding the right height log.