Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting New turkey hunter with a lot of questions

Since moving back to MI, this will be my first turkey season andI don't know squat. Family has about 100 acres here is SW MI. It has just about every thing on it from oaks to cherry to pines and even a swamp.

During the month of Jan, we were seeing anywhere from 20-50 turkey at a time. Feb they broke off into 2 groups (hens and toms) come end of April, do the toms go single or are they still grouped up? What kind of terrain dothey prefer in spring?

I'll be using my crossbow, dang thingies accurate out 40 yards. I could go buy a shotgun but I really want to use a crossbow so......I'm using the crossbow.

Eyesight and smell, how good are they?

I guess any tips you have I would appreciate it. If I get one great but I'm basically planning on learning this season.

Eyesight and smell, how good are they?

Turkeys can't smell good at all. You can actually use insect repellent with no worry. Sight is a different story. Turkeys can see really well particularly they spot movement well.

Toms will group up for the fall and winter. They will break apart as spring approaches and they start thinking about breeding in the spring. Turkeys will roost in tall trees, especially along creeks or some other water. They also roost on my property along deep draws and ravines. They'll spend time in the timber, but also like to spend time out in open fields. I've been told (and I agree) that turkeys like more open woods. They will usually avoid real brushy areas as they like to be able to see what is around them. They have great eyesight and hearing. If you're camoflauged and sit still without moving, they can walk right past you without knowing you are there. Just move, though, and they will detect you immediately.
Scout them before the season and pattern them to determine their daily treks.

If you've never archery hunted turkeys really research their vital areas and the types of broad heads used by bow hunters. Gobblers are pretty dang tough and really hard to recover when hit on the edges of the vitals and the vitals are small.

Thanks guys.

Last spring I was a non res here so didn't hunt them but from what I seen and on our trail cams they were in a similar area that Jim described.

As for sizing them, I seen a few toms where the beard is about touching the ground. Also the tracks, the middle toe is twice the size of the 2 outside toes., beard I know is a good tom but track size?

I find this saying is pretty accurate:

"A deer thinks every hunter in the woods is a stump. A turkey thinks every stump in the woods is a hunter."

Crossbow should work find but with any archery equipment i would keep my shots 25 yards and under and use a wide cutting broad-head.

If turkeys could smell, you'd never get one! lol. Not kidding!



The turkeys will be in smaller groups in a few weeks. They'll still roost together for the most part though. You'll find anywhere from 0 to sometimes 3-5 Toms roosting with the hens.

If you find a tom with no hens, and have him roosted... HUNT THERE!

But generally, if you can "put him to bed," which means you hear a tom gobbling at night, get as close as you dare to him. I like to be 200yds or closer if I can. I've found they like to roost where the gobbles can be heard for long ways. So up on ridges and near openings, fields, swamps, etc.

My best spot is on a ridge with a swamp and a hay field at the base. It's about 300yds from the top of the hill to the bottom.

The two areas they roost in the morning the most in our area are big Oak ridges. There is also an area that has a Red Pine plantation that holds a gobbler as well.

Get out and scout now, if you can. It may take you a year or two to figure out the birds routes.

Go check the ridges and woods openings for feathers and droppings. If there are plenty of both, you probably found a roosting site. Check the ground for scratchings, like a deer scrape, but smaller. That's where they're in there scooping up seeds and acorns.

Don't forget to check that swamp area either. Especially if it's by a ridge or roosting site.

Go scout and get back to us!

Good luck!

"Get out and scout now, if you can. It may take you a year or two to figure out the birds routes."

Aint that the dang truth. Then you figure you got em figured, and gonna lower the boom on em,and they decide to change the rules.

Its all in the game. I like a clever adversary. Makes the harvest sweeter.

Wife was out at the property today and found a hell of a turkey run leading right into the area where I think they are roosting. Led to about 50ft of the ridge on tithe swamp (roughy a 30ft drop) and the trail stopped. A lot of old growth oaks and relatively wide open.
Since that's the area I think there at, I'm gonna set up game cams sat, hopefully covering a good area along the swamp, and see what I can.
We had a decent storm a couple of days ago so these are all fresh tracks.

We will see.

100 acres is a lot...but it's not a lot. Find them. Sit down, call very very sparingly. Wait. Wait summore. Learn.

Here's how my hunts typically go. Turkey on roost gobbles head off. Sun comes up and turkey fly down. Turkey go completely opposite direction of my desperate calls. I get bored. I put in a good dip. Then I think about moving. But, I don't, because I know I shouldn't. Then I'm bored and second guessing my self. As I convince myself to stand up, I see him fan out. I swallow my dip. He gobbles. I shoot him. Perfection.

Joel,
You can pattern their roost by listening from about 45 minutes before sunrise to a half hour or so after sunrise. When the weather begins to warm and the gobblers start feeling frisky they will tell you where they are from their early morning gobbling activity. That's the easy part. The harder part is to learn where they go when they fly down from the roost. Finding those strut zones for mid-morning is important.

Thanks again.

Went out yesterday and set up cameras along the ridge. Birds are definitely active out there. Found one heavily used run and was following it and it just stopped. Also ran into a group of toms.

My biggest problem in Virginia is the hills and valleys and being able to get set up before they fly down. It is almost impossible in the early spring with no leaves on the trees . Turkeys always seem to roost on a steep hill side about halve down and when they fly down they will sail a long ways instead of just pitching down like when you are hunting level land . Pain in the ass to listen to him sail a few hundred yards before hitting the ground a gobbling. Makes you want to cry sometimes . The real secret to killing a Gobbler is to get set up the way the Hens want to go.

If you can do that, you'll get that bird nearly every time.

One of my best spots is also one of my most frustrating spots. The hens will also fly down on the ridge or our side and work down to us, or they'll fly down the other side of the hill where we can't hunt. When that happens, We kinda know where they go and we go try to meet the birds there.

Thought I had a big Tom fig out last spring, drove by the spot a few days before season, hes lying dead on the side of the Highway!

Best advice so far given for you or anyone else, myself included. Better to under call than over call every time. At least that has been my personal experience from the mountain of failures I have endured over the years.

I would rather hunt turkeys than anything. I have done so in many states over many years. My advice is to do what your are doing by getting familiar with the terrain and hopefully the turkeys will be there when season opens. Then watch some videos on turkey hunting (Primos and etc)just for informational puposes. By that I mean pay attention to how they set up to call. You need cover to break up your outline and get a call you can make a cluck and then eventually a purr and hopefully a yelp. Push button or slate are pretty easy to learn to use. Be very patient. Each hunt is different from the last and experience will pay dividends. Good luck!

I don't plan on calling to much. I picked up a slate and now I am good enough to scare the hell out of the dog and make the kid run.

This year I'm only planning on trying the call if one is way out of range and not coming my way etc. I want to see there reaction and if bad try and learn from it.

Joel you have the right mind thought, and i'll tell ya letting a flock of birds get near you and just sitting there and listening and observing will educate you more in 5 min than a month of hunting ever will. i was calling in a Tom, or trying to, one time and he wouldn't come in. now i was on private land and no one else was hunting, i broke out a gobble call and tried to challenge the Tom. Well he got real mad about that and headed right in to woop some tail feathers. just then i hear all this noise behind and around me. a wole flock of hens came up from behind and over the other side of the ridge we were on and just circled my son and i. they started to cut loose with calling and the Tom was screaming its head off, head red as fire and I'm taking all of this in. my son who was about 8 at the time, yells out "UH DAD, IT'S RIGHT THERE" and pointing to a hen that was about 5 ft from him. we were both on the ground against large oaks about 10 ft apart. well that broke up that romance real fast. hens went one way in a real hurry, Tom went another even faster and i sat there in a full palm plant. i guess i forgot to explain to my son that should for some reason turkeys get real close, DON'T PANIC OR WIG OUT. anyway though the hens that were calling and reacting to the Tom and his response was wild and one of the more enjoyable and educational hunting experiences i ever had. My oldest son who was with me is now 20 and i like to remind him from time to time how he cost us that year. i could have shot that bird a couple of times but i was wanting him to move further over so my son could get a better view of him doing his stuff because of my sons location. i told him afterwards that next time he's SOL on the show, if a bird is in range i'm putting down the hammer.