While mornings are considered the best time for turkey hunting, a lot of spring-season birds are taken later in the day by hunters who understand the dynamics of turkey behavior this time of year.
The early morning hunt hadn’t gone as Dr. Eddie Lipscomb and I had expected. In fact, the trio of longbeards we had targeted refused to so much as acknowledge our calls. But then again, why would they with 14 sweet-talking hens parading around as they strutted across the small pasture?
“Not much we can do with gobblers that are ‘henned-up’ like that,” Lipscomb. “We’ll give ’em another try tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” I responded. “I guess we better get those cattle worked before it gets too hot. I hear ’em bawling up there in the corral.”
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We spent the next few hours vaccinating and cutting the landowner’s cattle, as part of a deal for allowing us to chase turkeys on his farm all season. After loading up gear, we headed to my home to check on one of my horses that had gone lame.
It was close to noon when we turned into the long, winding driveway leading to my house. Halfway down the drive, I stopped my pickup, shut off the engine and rolled down the window so Doc could take a closer look at the horses grazing by the roadside. From off in the distance, a gobbler sounded off.
“Did you hear that?” I asked excitedly, forgetting that my hunting pal couldn’t hear thunder with his hearing aid turned on.
“Hear what?” my pal responded.
“There he goes again!” I interrupted. “An old tom is tearing it up over by the old chimney!”
“What are you waiting on?” he replied. “Get your gun and let’s go get him!”
We cautiously worked our way into the woodlot adjacent to the field as the sun beamed straight down. Making our way a few yards into the dense hardwoods, we set up and called. A thunderous roar of gobbles echoed back. Instead of a lone gobbler, we had unknowingly moved in on a gang of seven lovesick longbeards.
Each call I made was instantly met with a lusty chorus of gobbles. And each response got closer and closer until seven bobbing heads could be seen moving through the underbrush. Everything had happened so quickly that I was caught off-guard. My Albert Paul box call was still in my hands and my turkey gun lay useless in the leaves alongside my right leg. But Doc was ready. Glancing out of the corner of my eye, I could see he had already drawn a bead on the lead gobbler as the group worked their way to our left.
At 20 yards, I heard the soft metallic click as Doc released the safety. At the sound, all seven heads popped up like they had been shot out of a toaster. The blast rolled the lead bird in a cloud of feathers. Like a covey of quail, the remaining gobblers burst straight up before settling back to the ground, momentarily dazed and confused by the explosion. Instinctively, I grabbed my shotgun and leveled down on the closest of the startled birds, dropping him with a load of copper-plated No. 5s. The episode taught me a lot about later-day turkeys.
Turkey hunters attest that gobblers are tough because of the short season that requires high pressure in a small amount of time. In order to bag a high-pressure gobbler, turkey hunters must be willing to put in the extra effort and dig deep into bags of tricks.
Ronnie “Cuz” Strickland, with Mossy Oak, compares high-pressured gobblers to politicians because they promise a lot but give very little.
Once the hordes of hunters take to the woods early in the season, hooting and calling at first light, old gobblers that were talkative only a few weeks earlier become hush-mouthed and extremely hard to locate. The few birds that remain vocal, survive by flying off the roost in the opposite direction of early morning callers, causing great frustration.
For most wild turkey hunters, the ideal turkey hunt consists of setting up near a roosted bird, making a few seductive calls at daybreak and having a longbeard come strutting, drumming and gobbling into gun range. The problem is that this scenario is a rare occurrence in the turkey woods. Instead, most wild turkey hunts end shortly after they begin, with a dejected hunter heading back to the truck having been outwitted once again. But some hunters understand that some of the best hunts can be had later in the day.
Later-day turkey hunting is not a traditional method, but it can be very productive with the proper tactics. The first thing to remember about turkey hunting later in the day is to be patient. There is an old adage among midday turkey hunters that says, “If you’re sweating, then you’re moving too fast.” It’s surprising how much ground can be covered and how much game will be encountered by moving slowly and cautiously.
After approaching a likely spot, just sit down and call for a while, at least 30 minutes. And even if there is no reply, stay alert and ready. Just because a turkey doesn’t answer doesn’t mean he isn’t on his way. On the other hand, if a gobbler does answer calls at this time of day, it won’t be long before he makes an appearance. Active turkeys are searching for hens and often will come in quickly.
One characteristic that all successful later-day turkey hunters seem to possess is incredible patience, realizing that late gobblers aren’t the ordinary run-of-the-mill turkeys. They have been called to by a multitude of hunters and have learned to approach with extreme caution. More often than not, these birds move in very slowly and silently. Listen closely for a bird drumming, since that may be the only sound before the old tom shows up.
Concealment is important anytime, but this is especially true for later gobblers. Turkeys seem to be able see much better when the sun is high than during the dimly lit early morning hours. While an effective camouflage pattern is certainly a necessity, keeping movements to a minimum, taking advantage of natural cover and using shadows can help keep hunters hidden from the keen eye of a wise old tom.
Another tactic that is productive later in the day is gobbling. However, be forewarned that utmost caution should be used when applying this technique, especially on public land. This tactic should only be used as a last resort, and only when there are no other hunters in the area. This tactic seems to work best on birds that respond readily to calling but refuse to come in close enough for a clean shot. Whether it’s a matter of jealousy or territoriality, this tactic will often result in an otherwise wary gobbler losing his cool and rushing in on a dead run to show the intruder who is the boss of the woods. Either way, gobbling is a good way to bring in an old tom when nothing else seems to work.
Now there are two trains of thought when it comes to calling midday gobblers. One is to call loudly and aggressively, while the other is to call softly and cautiously. Heavily hunted birds have heard it all and are, frankly, tired of hearing it. And even though cutting, cackling, loud yelping and other types of aggressive calling have a place in turkey hunting, a more subtle approach seems to work better for later gobblers. In many cases, these birds have had bad experiences with their fair share of loudmouthed hens. A few soft yelps and a couple of seductive purrs might be just what a shell-shocked longbeard wants to hear later in the day.
Although all hunters love to call in gobblers off the limb, working a later gobbler can be just as rewarding, if not more so. And even though a later gobbler may be more desperate for a hen, that doesn’t mean he will come running to the first seductive call made. It might take an hour or two, or he might not come at all. The truth of the matter is, there is no certain way a hunter can be assured of calling up a gobbler anytime of the day. But you can’t score unless you stay in the game.
