Fall Turkey Tactics

[triggertrav]

Anyone have any killer fall turkey tactics? I will have my son out this fall chasing birds, but i have never hunted the buzzards in the fall. I have heard of busting groups than calling them back together??

Does this work?

Does anyone use a decoy?

Or just find a good ambush area and wait for them? Keep in mind we will be deer hunting at the same time.

thanks for any tips.

[DonBo]

Breaking up a flock then calling them back is the time honored tradition. The problem I've seen with this is you chase them onto the neighbors property (where you do not have permission to hunt) and never see them again. Still, if you have a bunch of land to hunt this is a fun way to work a flock. The break must be a very good one with birds scattered in every direction. To scatter a flock you must be close, then run at them, yelling, shoot the gun if you have one. (to me though, if I'm close enough for this, I'm close enough to just shoot) When calling them back, make the same noises as them, only louder and longer, more insistant.

My favorite way is to find where they roost and sit near there in the evening when they fly up, or in the morning as they fly down. Often when bowhunting, If I hear some fly up at night (they make a ton of racket) the next morning I'll slip in close under cover of darkness and sit right under them. So much fun hearing a flock wake up in the morning and hear all the calling they do. If time allows, I'll go set up a blind during the night time to crawl into in the morning.

You can also find a flock from a distance then sneak up on them, or ahead of them and wait for them to get close enough. Or as you already mentioned, wait them out in an area you know they frequent. Often if you see a flock in one place at a certain time of day, they may be there again tomorrow at the same time. A pop-up blind makes waiting much more comfortable.

I hope others chime in with their favorites. Good luck!

[bigbucks]

I shot my third fall turkey last week or maybe it was two weeks ago now. I pretty much spot & stalk/ambush them, but I'm hunting private land & know if there will be anyone else out there or not. I did setup a blind & call them in once last fall. I knew where they'd been coming out quite often in the mornings. It would have worked, but the turkeys saw my gun barrel switch windows when we were trying to get a double. The running shots were missed, unless you call shooting the one brace out of my blind a hit...