turkey help

[Cody Lubeley]

hey its my second year turkey hunting last year saw one but couldnt get close enough, got drawn for season G for zone 348 just wondering what the best way to hunt is.....last year i just sat and called until 11 and after that grabbed my fly rod , is it worth hunting later in the day? if so how do you do it?

[MJCatfish]

When turkeys get ready for bed, they often times consolidate, then fly up and roost. You may be able to draw a tom out of a group of birds in that situation. Might be tough.

If you have turkeys near you in the morning, and they wandered off the other way, not spooked, the toms know that your hen call is there and they may come back to you after they tend to business with the hens they are currently with. It's a tough waiting game, but anything is possibly.

Whether you are turkey hunting or trout fishing, you're in a great situation~

MJ

[Tipup101]

Scout your birds from the middle of the day until dark. Get a pattern down. Toms will use the same miday strut zones and if they don't another turk will. Plus i like to hunt over dusting areas in the middle of the day. If you can find both in one close area you got as close to a shure thing that you can have. As long as you can wait them out. If it is really hot look at heavy shaded areas and river bottoms for turkeys beating the miday heat. In my opinion the best hunting starts at nine am and ends at sundown.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

What is a dusting area?

[Hotspotter]

 Originally Posted By: BRULEDRIFTER

What is a dusting area?

A dusting area is a spot in a field, or otherwise bare-soil area, that turkeys often go towards daily to "dust" themselves. It's a method of self-cleaning they use to rid themselves of mites, bugs, and other parasites trying to take refuge in their feathers.

Hunting a dusting area can be a deadly tactic, as certain birds can often be patterned by their dusting routines. During the peak of spring breeding, many times the toms won't dust themselves but the hens seem to do it more frequently. Generally then, you're hunting the hens to get to the toms.

Typically in your scouting, you'll see a small depression in loose/sandy soil types with tracks leading into and out of the dusting site.

Here's a picture of a dusting area, albeit a poor one because of recent rainfall before the hunt. This longbeard was killed after his hen guided him away from my calling early the same morning. Figuring that she would eventually head towards her favorite dusting zone (she used it every day for 3 days prior), we end-around snuck back to that area and waited them out. Knowing how much she didn't like my calling, we kept quiet for the most part, clucking every once in a great while. She dusted while the gobbler came to check out our clucking.

[Tipup101]

Dusting areas are spots where turkeys will roll around in to keep lice and fleas under control. The will mostly use areas with sandy soils. Usaly find them on river bottoms along old sand or gravel road ways and gopher mounds. I've seen more miday birds killed in theese areas than any where else. It would look like this picture below. Find one and you found a great place to spend your days. Oh yea if the gound is wet this is a no go. No dust no birds.

[Ryan Becklund]

Great post! We hunted over a awesome dusting area this last spring but of course it rained every day and they were not using it then. Lots of activity around it tho.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

Nice! Kind of what I figured it was, but I am pretty new to the game so I wanted to be sure!

Thanks!

[Shoot2Kill]

 Originally Posted By: jnelson

 Originally Posted By: BRULEDRIFTER

What is a dusting area?

A dusting area is a spot in a field, or otherwise bare-soil area, that turkeys often go towards daily to "dust" themselves. It's a method of self-cleaning they use to rid themselves of mites, bugs, and other parasites trying to take refuge in their feathers.

Hunting a dusting area can be a deadly tactic, as certain birds can often be patterned by their dusting routines. During the peak of spring breeding, many times the toms won't dust themselves but the hens seem to do it more frequently. Generally then, you're hunting the hens to get to the toms.

Typically in your scouting, you'll see a small depression in loose/sandy soil types with tracks leading into and out of the dusting site.

Here's a picture of a dusting area, albeit a poor one because of recent rainfall before the hunt. This longbeard was killed after his hen guided him away from my calling early the same morning. Figuring that she would eventually head towards her favorite dusting zone (she used it every day for 3 days prior), we end-around snuck back to that area and waited them out. Knowing how much she didn't like my calling, we kept quiet for the most part, clucking every once in a great while. She dusted while the gobbler came to check out our clucking.

Awesome tactic man........nice pic too...that dusting area is pretty sweet!

[Cody Lubeley]

alright thanks for the help guys i think ill focus i little more on turkey than browns this spring haha