Spring Turkey Season page 4

Patients

Wild bird spring turkey season flock behavior at flydown is about sex and food for both the hen and tom. The spring roost is where it is at, due not to just the roost tree habitat, but also due to a food and water source. And, most will agree that the spring season roost is not always the same spot as a fall roost. That one fact alone makes all spring turkey season hunts begin with scouting.

While on roost and well before shooting time spring season courtship begins and continues all day long right up to roost that evening. Never forget this and that knowledge gives the turkey hunter confidence to remain steady to his blind setup hunts rather than be too quick to move should the toms not find his decoys or calling sexy enough at first light. The day is long and a setup that first appears to be ignored frequently is serviced later in the day.

The spring sex behavior part is simple. The hens know they must mate and will mate on their time schedule. The toms want to mate and will do all they can to encourage the hens and that keeps them with the hens or looking for hens all day long.

The toms go where they think the easiest hens are. The hens interested in mating do so early and move off to lay an egg in the nest that seemingly is always well away from the roost, seek food and water. The hens need food and water far more frequently then sex and that is the key to the open ground near the roost. Setting up a spring season decoy spread where it can be seen for our open ground turkeys is not to be ignored. A case where decoys are as effective at calling to gain a spring tom's attention. This is contrary to may heavily wooded states spring turkey hunting experience where the call predominates.

During spring turkey hunts the most readily available food source is that which is grazed - vegetation. This is frequently open ground and will be frequented through the day by the hens and the toms will follow. If the hunter is confident his scouting has produced a roost and flydown area stick to it with decoys and hen calling and the toms will seek out what they will believe is the next available hen.

Have patients, failing to do so for any of the call in game disciplines such as spring turkey season, fall duck or winter coyote will only result in failure. The hunter must do what hunters find to be the hardest thing to do and that is to do nothing.

Good luck this spring turkey season and if this article is good enough or not please let us know.

Regardless how good our recommendations may be of where to spend spring turkey season hunting days the hunter himself must pay one price only he can pay and that is boots on the ground time. We will do the best we can at getting the hunter to where he will park his truck, step out and hunt. After that the hunter is on his own.

Every chance to study turkeys is a good time.

Pre breeding season pecking order establishment of the boss tom within a small part of a flock of mostly hens and some jakes. In this pictures series two mature toms are pecking at the jakes and each other.

This photo series was captured on February 7th. Well before breeding and the gobbling typically does not start until mid March.

The lease farm, 320 acres, where the above pictures were taken. The yellow arrow shows location and direction the flock eventually moved on to.

Continuing turkey hunter feedback about this article with rebuttal