Spring Turkey Tips

1)Get there early and use a locator call like an owl hooter to locate where birds are roosting while it's still dark. You can cut the distance by moving towards a gobbler while it's still dark.

2)Breeding can get furious, instead of an eager tom running to a hen, many times it's reversed, some floozy hen is running to your gobbler cutting you off before you can get close enough to set up. Try to spook off these hens before a gobbler can get close by making some body movement, make sure that the gobbler isn't close enough to spot you first.

3)Choose your set up carefully. Look for some thing natural like a brush pile, find a spot where old tom turkey has to find you but can't see too far. Avoid large open areas, turkeys have excellent vision and can spot movements a long way off. I like to find a location that I can see 60yards or so, where natural cover can quickly turn into a homemade ground blind.

4)Always be prepared to move or change your strategy. Gobblers are fickle and many times will do the opposite of what you expect so don't take nothing for granted and be ready to move quickly.

5)Don't give up on a gobbler just because you can see it with a hen. Instead get more aggressive with your calling, it could pull a tom away from a hen or lead the whole group to you. Hens are jealous so you may just ruffles some feathers and send her your way.

6)Although I'm not a fan of using decoys, I've seen them work well early season. As I said earlier hens tend to head to gobblers so try using a tom decoy, this does two things a gobbler wants to get close enough to see the competition and hens move to gobblers and may bring other gobblers along, especially young jakes that don't know any better.

7)When using decoys set them up close, you need to get birds within 30-40yds for a good shot. When turkeys close in on a decoy they tend to hang back so if your decoy is at 50yds a bird may only come within 70-80yds. Set it up at 20yds, making the birds get in shooting range.

8)Be patient, many times it takes gobblers a long time to get to you. They have to go up and down hills, cross creeks, over downed trees. Sit tight and give the bird a chance to locate your call and work to you. If you keep your calls varied and realistic a curious tom will have to come take a look unless there are a harem of hens with him.

9)Most hunters believe that turkeys number one priority is to breed. Wrong! Survival comes first, turkeys are being hunted by coyotes, owls, foxes and other natural predators daily, they are masters of survival. They are easy to spot in the woods, they aren't camouflaged and they are constantly hunted by something so they know how to survive.

10)Look for gobblers on hilltops or side hills where they can see a long distance and their calls can carry. Look for large bare trees, where a gobblers voice can carry and reach out to as many hens as possible yet he can watch for oncoming predators.