Usually by the time May rolls around, we’ve seen some changes in the spring woods. More ticks and mosquitos, less gobbling, and fewer boots on the ground….. Meaning, because of the mentioned factors there a lot of hunters have hung their vest up for the spring and shifted their focus to yard work, or fishing or something. Not me though. This part of the season can be some of the most productive. It can be discouraging sometimes to wonder, just where the hell those gobblers went? But rest assured they’re in there. And are still VERY receptive to calling.
A lot of factors can influence the turkey’s behavior and they can become less vocal in the later season. Often times by now gobblers have found what I like to call a “girlfriend”, In short, this is a hen that has not, and likely will not be making its way to a nest. Gobblers, especially older birds, will often times stick with these girlfriends throughout the day. There are a few ways you can still catch him on the slip though.
Roosted MIGHT mean Roasted! – If you do your homework and know where a gobbler is going to bed at night. There is near bout no better way to get your bird. This tactic works throughout the season. And when I say “know where he is going to sleep” I mean you want to peg it down to nearly knowing the limb he is on. Secondly, know where she (the girlfriend) is at. Often times birds may be roosted generally close by but there is enough room to make a pre-dawn setup. And if you can slip in there quietly, your chances of getting him just shot up pretty good.
Make her jealous – I am not much on decoying, only because of portability. 15 years ago, decoys could fold up and fit in the vest and I always carried one. With the realism of many decoys now, some of their convenience has been left by the wayside. However, a late season tactic that has broken a many of hearts is to have a single hen deke out somewhere you often maybe see those love birds. Often times when the girlfriend sees this intruder show up, she’ll come in scalded with her clueless boyfriend in tow. I usually like the hen decoy facing away from me in a set up like this.
Break’em up! – I'm sure most of us can remember those days when we thought we knew what love was. Breaking up was hard on us, or so we thought. Gobblers are the same, if you cleverly separate him from his girlfriend briefly, even if he’s seen you and may have spooked, you’ve got an extremely good chance of getting that gobbler to come moping around looking for his boo. Don’t over call though. More than likely both the hen and gobbler didn’t go too far. Let things settle down, give it some really soft content calling. And be listening. That gobbler will probably slowly, and quietly come peaking around. Be ready when he does.
The only thing that is predictable about a turkey, is his unpredictability. So none of these tactics are a surefire. But they’ve worked for me on numerous occasion. One proven success tactic formula, however, is to stay at it. Even when the temperatures up, the snake and mosquitos are out. Keep hitting the woods so you can find that gobbler when he’s ripe for the picking. Good Luck, and make him gobble!
Edward
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