Spring season wild turkey hunting

Spring turkey season topics covering a range of discussions we have had with hunters over the years.

strutting on our hunting land

This tom was photographed by the Association owner, Jon Nee, while on a scouting trip and land lease renewal. Being on the land 12 months of the year is the best action we can take to ensure we have the hunting that will cause members to renew their membership. This tom is for hunting.

Safety

The number one spring turkey season issue affecting all is safety. We all recognize that the best spring turkey season setup is one with the hunter low on the ground, thoroughly camouflaged with decoys to his front and with good calling skills. While this may seem a bit insecure this condition it is not the leading situation for spring turkey season mishaps. The leading condition of spring turkey season hunter shooting incidents are while the hunter is moving.

The leading accident contributing condition (IHEA and MDC website records) is one where the camouflaged hunter is up and moving and being mistaken for a tom. Moving between setups or call and run hunters are the ones at risk. Within MAHA we minimize that risk by having our spring turkey season hunter’s telephone reserve individually numbered properties we lease for our exclusive use and it is one numbered property per hunter per day. We also encourage after a successful harvest to wear a hunter orange hat or vest on the walk out. A not too widely held practice during spring turkey season.

Here are some pictures of our spring hunt. Had a great time. Weather and camaraderie were great! Can't wait until next year. Thanks to the entire MAHA staff for the great job that you do. CC and MC

lease

blinds roost feeding

Scouting

We have talked to many highly successful do it yourself hunters and the most commonly cited technique to enhance the chances for success is scouting. This scouting is to find roosts by glassing where birds are moving to during the last two hours of light. This spring turkey season scouting is also targeted to wooded creek bottoms and patches that are out of direct line of sight of roads and active farm yards.

Once the roost is spotted the next techniques become possible and while they may seem simple they are further pieces to the puzzle of what these skilled spring turkey season hunters commonly give as reasons for their success. These techniques are: where to park; where to walk in and don’t crowd.

During the successful scouting trip that finds a roost the successful spring turkey season hunters then backward plans where they will setup, how they will walk in and where they will park their hunting vehicle.

Parking

During the early morning dark the roosted flock will be well aware of its surroundings and routine is what they like. Anything that disrupts that routine will gain attention and encourages avoidance behavior on part of the birds. Many spring turkey season hunters fail to understand this and when driving to their hunting land will park where it is most convenient for the walk into their setup spot.

This parking spot frequently creates a disruption to the flock’s morning routine with introduction of headlight and vehicle noises that typically do not occur at that time of day on our remote lease lands. This sets the flock on edge and the hunter that follows up with a noisy walk in will frequently find the flydown from roost in the opposite direction rather than that anticipated by scouting.

The right answer is generally to park as far away from the roost as possible and always far enough away to prevent headlight observation by the flock and if practical far enough away that vehicle noise is greatly attenuated

Continue this article

Spring Season Wild Turkey Hunting

Safety

Scouting

Parking