During March, around here, the bucks shed their antlers.
And just for grins, below is a picture of a young Longhorn steer that is wandering around the deer woods property. This bull is a youngster but he definitely has some weight on him.
You can shoot Wild Turkeys from several different positions, beginning with Strutting and Not-Strutting. And both of those positions offer shooting opportunities that are from the angles of: Facing Away, Broadside as well as from the Front.
However, this video adds the Head Shot. Personally, I shy away from head shots. Their heads are moving most of the time and that greatly increases the chance that your arrow will nick the gobbler’s head instead of it making a killing hit.
I clicked on the video below to see what this particular YouTuber thought the four types of turkey hunting were. It turns out that this guy steps out of the box quite a bit in this short video. Let’s call a spade a spade and tell ya that this video is super funny.
I’m not gonna tell you what he and his turkey hunting friends do and say, but it’s very funny and weather you are a new or veteran wild turkey hunter you’re gonna enjoy this.
This spring has sure brought the rain around here. It is super green and deer are liking it a bunch. Below is a Video I took with my iPhone of a doe munching on all the new green growth. I’ve been seeing deer browsing nearby so I pulled my hunting chair against a fat tree and waited for some deer activity. And the deer did not disappoint me.
Finding out the real deal about how good the hearing of wild turkeys is became quite a challenge. For starters, like baseline, wild turkey gobblers and hens can communicate with each other vocally as much as a mile away.
Actually, I already knew that. About 20 years ago I was hunting in a double bull portable ground blind and heard gobbles from as far away as I could hear. I took out a Woodhaven Doug Crabtree Signature v-cut mouth call and blasted away as loud as I could.
In a few minutes I realized that the gobbles were becoming even louder. Still faint really, but noticeably louder. I continued yelping and clucking with every bit of volume that I cold muster. Half and hour of gobbling and calling later I noticed movement on the far edge of the field, 1,000 yards away.
And I glassed 3 mature longbeards, gobbling away..
I grabbed a few more mouth calls and called. Call was easier now because I could see them and gauge their reactions. Soon they got to a long fence line that came straight to where my blind, and me, were waiting. Finally they were 100 yards away and they paused. I cut my volume and Cut excitedly. One of the gobblers pulled out ahead of the other two, hurry
To help us understand the five senses of the wild turkey, Bob Eriksen, retired regional biologist for the NWTF, ranked them in order of importance and explained how turkeys use each.
“Vision is used to locate food items, catch potential prey insects and keep safe while running or flying,” Eriksen said. “Wild turkeys have the ability to detect movement and assimilate detail very quickly. Their excellent daylight vision is often relied on when hearing is impaired by wind and rain.”
According to “The Wild Turkey; Biology and Management,” compiled and edited by Dr. James G. Dickson, wild turkeys have flattened corneas and can see colors to some degree. Their eyes are located on the side of their head, meaning they have monocular, periscopic vision.
“Humans have binocular vision and can judge distance quickly,” Eriksen said. “Wild turkeys overcome their monocular vision by regularity turning their heads to better judge distance. The Wild turkey also has much better peripheral vision than humans.”
The book mentions rotating their head allows for a 360-degree field of vision.
The boss gobbler thundered several times before flying down. We couldn’t see it but anxiously awaited its approach. We had taken all the hunting precautions- rising early, sneaking into a known travel route from the roost, having a gobbler decoy staked out, and my best calls at the ready. However, our best-laid plans fell flat, and the tom and his hens took an off-ramp to a distant meadow. We sneaked, crawled, and slithered to within 100 yards of his strutting area, but he wouldn’t budge.
Western turkey hunting is often a cold affair.I’m hunting in South Dakota where a gobbler decoy is often the best allure. The season had been open for two weeks and most toms had been called to or spooked from their roost. Normally, even buggered gobblers will attack another gobbler, yet the old turkey I was after had survived several seasons and wasn’t interested in mating games.
My TenPoint Viper launched at 430 fps and was topped with a Burris ScopeSouth Dakota has Rio and Merriam subspecies that exhibit similar behaviors. Once they leave the roost they may travel a mile and roam throughout the day. As a result, sedentary Eastern tactics rarely work. I love hunting from a blind, yet the wind frequently blows (Some would say constantly) and fabric flapping in the wind is a deterrent to usually clueless turkeys. The Burris Oracle X allowed me to instantly aim at unknown distances on turkeys that are frequently on the move.
Sevr Titanium heads offer a solid 2-inch cut.If you have followed my turkey hunting posts in recent weeks you know that I’m a big fan of neck shots. However, on moving turkeys at varying ranges where I must hide in natural surroundings I planned to shoot for the vitals, often aiming just above and forward of the legs. Aside from striking the vitals, a hit in this location prevents the turkey from flying and hobbles it for easy retrieval. The blades of Sevr heads nest into the ferrul so they fly very accurately and aren’t affected by the prairie winds.
By late morning most gobblers have bred nearby hens and become easier to call.Since we knew where the gobbler usually roosted, we returned in mid-afternoon in hopes of ambushing the flock. About an hour before dark, the big tom and three hens showed up at the same spot where I had tried to fan it in the morning. The gobbler strutted and circled for 20 minutes or so before making a beeline for the roost. Again we hoped that the boss tom would fight an intruder, but the big bird would not approach. My best shot was at 50 yards on a moving bird, not an ethical attempt despite my excellent equipment.
In their new Video Sydnie Wells and Reagan travel to Nebraska to archery hunt turkeys. Last time we were here with Nate, CHief and Dave both scored their first wild Bradyturkey gobblers. Now it’s time for Reagan to bring home her first gobbler with a bow!
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Cindy Lavender, a long time writer for Bowhunting.net, is on Chauncey Outdoors this morning. TODAY! And you can hear her by clicking the Podcast Link Below.
Chauncey tells us: Introducing someone I should have had on a long time ago on Chauncey Outdoors Cindy Lavender is talking about bear hunting with a bow, her love of hunting and fishing and how every woman out there should get into the outdoors to whatever level they are comfortable with. In the last segment we’ll hear the Aiden fishing report and other outdoor news.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/4-29-chaunceys-great-outdoors/id1482803525?i=1000611118654
Fred Lutger
Getting a grand slam of wild turkeys is quite an accomplishment. Doing it with a bow is an even greater challenge. Doing it with a bow in one season is a monumental task. But a double grand slam in one season with a bow is pretty ambitious to say the least. That was the challenge given to me by Robert Hoague. I was all for it.
Of course it all starts with Florida. If the two of us didn’t tag an Osceola apiece it just won’t happen because unlike the other 3 species there are no other states or seasons to hunt the Osceola. Our plans were made, we planned on hunting the earliest season in Florida. It opens first in south Florida. Our airline tickets were bought, car rented and I bought my 10 day non-resident hunting license and turkey permit online.
The night before our trip Robert called me. He was driving to Dallas for his early morning flight. He gave me the bad news. Our outfitter had changed his mind about the deal he previously offered us. His new deal wasn’t what was expected and wasn’t what we were told when we finalized the hunt. We mulled the situation over and decided not to go. A deal is a deal – Fred and I both agreed, a man is only as good as his word. We didn’t have a back up plan for the early season and got lucky on our first phone call.
Two weeks later Robert Hoague and I met at the Tampa airport and drove to Zolfo Springs, Florida to hunt with David Mills. Bowhunting wild turkeys, being what it is, is NEVER a slam dunk deal and I muffed my first close encounter. We were videoing. I had set our Double Bull blind up close to the decoys, too close. A big Osceola gobbler came running in from my left but I didn’t see him until he was dead on the decoys, four steps from the blind. This was my first hunt of the year and I had been too sloppy with my setup. The Double Bull Matrix blind was opened too much. When I started my draw it immediately spooked the gobbler. It scurried off and got behind some orange trees and I never got a shot. I was disappointed but had plenty of days ahead to get the job done.
Wild Turkey Hunters go though 4 particular phases of the Turkey Season. The dates Matt Dale has selected depend on the region you hunt, so your dates may differ a little. Matt is going on historical data and many years of hunting wild turkeys in different states every spring. But this will give you a general ideal of what’s going on every spring, from the start to the finish. Check out other Dale Outdoor products at, https://teespring.com/stores/my-store…
I just discovered the YouTube channel Bow Only. Last week they were in Nebraska bowhunting Merriam’s wild turkeys. As you’ll see when you check out their video below, they definitely did good.
Matt Gregory takes us Bowhunting In Iowa during late April and and switches from hunting a roost area during the early morning and late afternoon time frames to a Mid Day bowhunt.
The little known, but important FACTS that make a Turkey’s eyesight so incredibly good.
Getting a tom with a shotgun can be hard enough but when you decide to do it with your bow, the hunt becomes harder. In this article I address three common questions regarding hunting wild turkeys with a bow and arrow:
1. What is the best type of broadhead for bowhunting turkeys?
Broadhead choice is a matter of preference and individual performance. My preference is mechanical. They are easy to tune and they fly smoothly like field tips. I prefer a 3-blade head that make a Wide cut, such as the 2” Whitetail Special from Grim Reaper Broadheads. Another benefit of a “mechanical” is the blades expansion of your broadhead usually causes it to stay with the turkey.
If your gobbler runs or flies after the shot, they rarely leave a good blood trail. The ideal shot is to accurately place an arrow that penetrates at least one wing butt, if not both, and hits the vitals. Done right, this results in a quick kill and also a bird that is unable to fly.
To me the best broadhead is the one you can confidently shoot into a gobblers smallish, vital area consistently. The last thing you want to wonder about is your arrow flight when a Longbeard is spitting and drumming 20 yards away.
The WHINE is a call that Hen’s make to Gobblers when they are ready to breed! Says Matt Dale, “I’ve been using this call for over 25 years and it’s proven to be one of the deadliest calls in the spring turkey woods
6 ounce-weight: 615 calories, 23g fat (6g saturated fat), 204mg cholesterol, 766mg sodium, 37g carbohydrate (22g sugars, 4g fiber), 63g protein.
Yikes! Sometimes you take ‘a few more steps’ and, ouch, you see a Gobbler through the trees and underbrush and luckily he has not seen you. Yet! Other times you see ol’ longbeard stealthfully giving you the slip. Or else doing what around here we call, “Carrying The Mail.” as he rapidly adds trees and brush between him and you. And sometimes the worst thing of all happens and they FLY!
Over the years I’ve turkey hunted with lots of different people, ranging from greats to newbies. The most common reaction of the newbies and intermediates is to POINT and YELL-OUT or WHISPER LOUDLY “turkey.” The yelling and whispering reactions are no good.
Another common knee-jerk action is to stand up fully erect to get a better look at the fleeing or sneaking gobbler. That’s no good either.
It’s best to freeze in place and Shut Up.
It’s also common for newish hunters to yank out their turkey call and begin calling. That is a no-no too. It’s rIght up there with calling out of the pickup window when you see a gobbler.
Everyone loves photographs of wild animals and taking those photos can be as much fun, and for many, more fun, than having the photos. Getting great wildlife photos requires you to know where and when those animals will appear.
Some of the most-productive places to get the best photography of animals are at state parks and wildlife sanctuaries, where the animals aren’t concerned about humans. However, if you go to a wildlife sanctuary, you still won’t get those great pictures you want if you don’t know where and when animals are most likely to show up.
For instance, when a lady took her children to a picnic area at a wildlife sanctuary, she noticed that after lunch wild turkeys began coming into the picnic area to eat some of the food dropped and left behind by the picnickers. So the next day, she used her Alpen binoculars to see where the turkeys were entering the picnic area. Then she took a stand close to one of the picnic spots and observed the turkeys as they came into the picnic ground. Using a telephoto lens, she was able to get great pictures of wild turkeys in an almost-natural setting.
Many wildlife sanctuaries have excellent road systems running through them that enable visitors to observe the animals. Visitors then can leave their vehicles and take pictures of the animals. However, to maximize your time and get the best photos possible, carry your binoculars and spotting scopes with you.
Using binoculars such as Alpen binoculars, you often can spot animals in fields, along the edge of wood lines and pastures, near creeks and at other open places. You also can determine where the animals are eating and on what they’re feeding. If you mount an Alpen spotting scope on the window mount of your vehicle, you can use the spotting scope to determine the size and the quality of the Wild animal. To photograph the animal, take your camera and get as close as possible for magazine-quality photographs. Professional photographers all over the country use this strategy to take great pictures.
Billy Yargus been Wild Turkey hunting for 32 years and says he still enjoys it as much today as he did when he was a young boy. Billy has hunted them in many states and has accomplished the coveted Wild Turkey Grand Slam.
He is a competitive turkey caller, he has won many championships including the N.W.T.F. Grand National title, Mid America Open, U.S. Open, the Missouri State championship, World Championship titles in the Two Man Team Challenge, and many other titles since his first calling contest in 1996.
In the Video below Billy Yargus shows you some great tips to use this turkey season! These tips will help you call in a big Tom this and every upcoming turkey season!
