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Category: Turkey

Published: Monday, 13 November 2017 04:18

Written by Greg

Quick Quad

A quick quad…and I don’t mean the 4 wheel kind; we are talking a quick turkey quadruple!

Hopefully our tradition to hunt during the fall turkey season continues because it takes a little luck to get one of the limited number of fall turkey tags here in our state. This year we were lucky enough to get four! Hunting during the non-mating season poses a unique challenge since we haven’t found the toms to be as vocal. But fortunately we are familiar with the hunting area and we somewhat know the feeding and roosting habits of the local turkeys.

It was early November when we arrived at our hunting area and right off the bat we saw turkeys. That first evening was spent observing the turkeys and their behavior seemed similar to what we had noticed in the past. As expected, the next morning the turkeys flew down from their roost and disappeared into the thick brush. Knowing that the turkeys usually spent hours feeding down in the hollow behind their roosting trees, the plan was to try a spot-and-stalk tactic. Since I was first up, I grabbed my bow and arrow and went in after them. Right away I had a couple of close calls, but the recently fallen crunchy leaves gave the advantage to the turkeys. I managed to fling a couple of arrows, but didn’t connect.

A little frustrated but committed to the task, I swapped my bow for my shotgun and soon discovered a path that was relatively free of leaves that headed deep into the thicket ahead. Slowly I moved forward. 100 yards into my stalk, I heard the chatter of turkeys ahead. Excitedly I continued my sneak. A few minutes later an intense screeching, squawking ruckus of turkeys filled the air. It was a mixture of sounds and at a level I had never heard before. My first inclination was that a coyote, fox, raccoon or bobcat was attacking a turkey and the flock was going crazy trying to distract the attacking critter in hopes that the targeted bird would escape. Seconds later the realization hit me to use the noise and commotion to my advantage, so I hurriedly pushed ahead. It wasn’t long and I spotted several turkeys running back and forth within a 20 foot area. These weren’t the turkeys making all the noise, but they had my attention. Just then I spotted the tom up ahead. Without a moments hesitation I leveled my Benelli 12 gauge and smoked the long beard. I never did see the flock that was making all the commotion and will always wonder what type of fight actually took place.

Our next setup as an ambush spot in some trees where we hoped the turkeys would feed across an open field and pass by the trees where we lay in wait. It worked. A flock of about 20 birds made their way toward us but only two got close enough to shoot. Shots rang out and Carson and Dallas each had their bird.

The next morning, with only one tag to fill, we headed across a field in the dark hoping that the trees across the way held roosting birds. As we reached the far edge of the clearing, we heard a turkey gobble from a roost about 120 yards away. We froze. It was a bit uncommon to hear a gobble at this time of year, but a good sign nonetheless. Just then Dallas spotted turkeys roosted in the trees 40 yards ahead, but it was still too dark for me to make out anything. However, we decided to plop down at the edge of the trees right where we stood just in case.

                 Sat at edge of trees and called                                              And shot one from where we sat 

          Barely light and we were done                                                     With her trophy 

It wasn’t long until we could clearly make out the silhouette of roosted turkeys. Soon after several turkeys started calling from the roost. Ten minutes passed, I started making a few little clucks and purrs to get their attention before flydown. The flock must have liked what they heard because just like clockwork 50 birds pitched down right out in front of us. It took several minutes of soft calling to lure the target away from the flock and that’s when Natalie took her shot. And there you have it, four turkeys in quick succession on our fourth annual fall turkey hunt.