Hoosier Turkey Hunting

[Kernal1984]

3rd year trying for a turkey, first day out within the first hour and a half. Couldn’t get him to come in to the blind so I went after him. Had a blast.

 

[gregr]

3rd year trying for a turkey, first day out within the first hour and a half. Couldn’t get him to come in to the blind so I went after him. Had a blast. View attachment 137554

Wow, congratulations! I sure would like to hear more detail about how you went after him...

 

[gregr]

Hunted this morning with my good buddy from Putnam County. He was hunting one piece of property, his brother on a different section, and I hunted a property by myself.

My buddy had 2 2-year olds and a "huge tom" in front of him, but they reacted negatively to the decoys, and hung up 75 yards out. No shot opportunities.

His brother heard a tom gobbling well off in the distance, but saw no toms. Saw a couple of hens though.

I heard a tom gobbling well off in the distance, but, saw no turkeys. Saw 2 deer probably 350 yards out in the field, which was plenty exciting, but that was it.

We presume tomorrow is going to be a washout, so we`ll be at it again very first thing Friday morning.

 

[Kernal1984]

Wow, congratulations! I sure would like to hear more detail about how you went after him...

He was responding to my calling but would not come in to the blind and after about 30 minutes of talking back and forth I could tell he was moving away from me. I got out of the blind and started moving slowly in his direction calling as I went, managed to get in bow range of a couple does during the process and when they took off blowing my turkey shut up for a few minutes. At this point I was on a ridge top trail and hit the call again and he was right on top of me, I set up just before the crest of the hill pointing down the trail and caught movement to my right and it was his backside poking out from behind a tree. I quickly adjusted my setup and hit the mouth call and he 180’d which left his head poking out from behind the tree so I smoked him at roughly 30 yards. I think the fact that I had grown up running in those woods and knew every inch of it and the fact that I happened to be dealing with a dumber than average bird helped me seal the deal, lol. Definitely went full hunting public on him.

 

[gregr]

He was responding to my calling but would not come in to the blind and after about 30 minutes of talking back and forth I could tell he was moving away from me. I got out of the blind and started moving slowly in his direction calling as I went, managed to get in bow range of a couple does during the process and when they took off blowing my turkey shut up for a few minutes. At this point I was on a ridge top trail and hit the call again and he was right on top of me, I set up just before the crest of the hill pointing down the trail and caught movement to my right and it was his backside poking out from behind a tree. I quickly adjusted my setup and hit the mouth call and he 180’d which left his head poking out from behind the tree so I smoked him at roughly 30 yards. I think the fact that I had grown up running in those woods and knew every inch of it and the fact that I happened to be dealing with a dumber than average bird helped me seal the deal, lol. Definitely went full hunting public on him.

Incredible! You pulled off a feat that few ever will!

 

[gregr]

It`s been a really weird spring turkey season...from snow on the ground opening day, to the cold snap, and all that after an early warm up. We`ve heard gobbling on the roost, but precious little on the ground. Even the gobbling on the roost hasn`t come from the properties we usually experience that at. I heard one wayyy off again this morning, and it`s the first time I`d hunted this property with my buddy. The one way out I heard gobbling on the roost once presumably hitting the ground, went quiet. I heard that someone said once, that if a tom turkey could just keep his mouth shut, you`d never kill him. That`s what`s going on here: we`re calling but getting no response, no way to "take his temperature; no way to know how to call to him to bring him in, or even if he`s even there at all...

Very frustrating. The weather has been so weird, we`re not even sure if the tom`s are still interested in hens at this point, if the hens have already completed nesting, or what the heck is going on. I`ve got next Saturday to hunt, then that`s it for the spring season for me.

 

[huntall50]

I was if I was the only one experiencing that, glad to hear I’m not. It has been silence since my last encounter on Sunday. Walked a lot and sat over looking a huge green field they like to hang out in. Drove through Atterbury on the way home, spotted on hen crossing the road and very few hunters out but then it was around noon

 

[gregr]

I was if I was the only one experiencing that, glad to hear I’m not. It has been silence since my last encounter on Sunday. Walked a lot and sat over looking a huge green field they like to hang out in. Drove through Atterbury on the way home, spotted on hen crossing the road and very few hunters out but then it was around noon

I told my buddy today, we need to take notes about what we`ve done and seen, and when it all happened, so that maybe we can learn something from all this. I need to get ahold of a DNR turkey biologist and chat with him. Try to better understand what causes the mating to being for turkeys and if it varies slightly from year to year as the white-tail rut does. It`s fine to have a tough season, or a tough part of a season, but at least try to understand what`s happening and learn from it.

 

[Leadeye]

Really no gobbles at all to speak of this year and movement has been limited. I'm only seeing a few birds of both sexes on the cameras. I see this every now and then during deer season as well, something just repositions all the animals.

I blame the drug dealers dogs during deer season, but don't see dogs after turkeys.

 

[gregr]

Really no gobbles at all to speak of this year and movement has been limited. I'm only seeing a few birds of both sexes on the cameras. I see this every now and then during deer season as well, something just repositions all the animals.

I blame the drug dealers dogs during deer season, but don't see dogs after turkeys.

Dogs aren`t going to help anything, whether deer or turkeys. Dogs are one more predator that prey animals just aren`t and cannot tolerate. Turkey eggs are already under attack from skunks, opossums, raccoons, etc., and poults are assaulted by everything from foxes, coyotes, hawks, owls, and now add bobcats. Nevermind dogs and probably house cats. I`ve seen dogs running deer, and although I`ve not witnessed dogs chasing turkeys, I would expect that it happens anywhere dogs are let to run loose

 

[Leadeye]

Then one bird I've been able to bring in to the decoy cut and ran from what I'm assuming was a dog down the ridge from me. I heard something moving through the brush in a clumsy fashion down ridge to the right and behind me. As the tom got closer so did the noise and he shut up abruptly as he was cutting my call. The noise continued on ahead staying down ridge, but moving towards the tom's last position. I'm assuming he ran as I heard no more that day.

 

[gregr]

Then one bird I've been able to bring in to the decoy cut and ran from what I'm assuming was a dog down the ridge from me. I heard something moving through the brush in a clumsy fashion down ridge to the right and behind me. As the tom got closer so did the noise and he shut up abruptly as he was cutting my call. The noise continued on ahead staying down ridge, but moving towards the tom's last position. I'm assuming he ran as I heard no more that day.

Unfortunately, even though the lease law is supposed to be in effect out in rural areas too, it`s hard to enforce. Even IF you do call the Sheriff, and the Sheriff DOES show up, the dog is generally long gone by then.

I`m NOT a proponent of killing pets, but, I personally believe you`d be hard pressed to truthfully call dogs that are left to run free in the country actual pets. That`s like "parents" who dump their kids at the Mall all day to run wild so they don`t have to be bothered with all that pesky parenting. And why in the world someone decided the thing to do would be to make it a felony for a wild running dog to be put down...

 

[huntall50]

I know turkeys have a lull much like deer and while hens are nesting Tom’s have time on their hands...last year at the same property their were gobbles in every direction this year only 1, reposition is about right.

 

[JSJamboree]

This year was a big bust, not sure what happened but the birds were not going to open spots, staying in the hills where it hard to setup. They were not making any noise at this time so couldn't call them either. Seems like the numbers have been going down last 10 years as well down in southern indiana.

 

[yetti462]

This year was a big bust, not sure what happened but the birds were not going to open spots, staying in the hills where it hard to setup. They were not making any noise at this time so couldn't call them either. Seems like the numbers have been going down last 10 years as well down in southern indiana.

I prefer a tom in the hills, much easier to hunt for me.

I noticed numbers decreasing down here when bobcats started up in numbers. I know of two farms that are covered up in cats in which owners have not heard or seen a turkey this year. one is my uncle's farm the other my uncle-in-laws.

Numbers on my farm seem to be the best they have since 08.

I do have cats in past but for some reason never got a pic of them this past fall or winter. I too have been very hard on coon population.

 

[gregr]

This year was a big bust, not sure what happened but the birds were not going to open spots, staying in the hills where it hard to setup. They were not making any noise at this time so couldn't call them either. Seems like the numbers have been going down last 10 years as well down in southern indiana.

I`ve looked around a little online and couldn`t find anything, but my buddy and his brother said they saw something maybe from the IDNR, about they believe bobcats are taking an unusually high number of turkey poults and that has added to a drastic decrease in turkey numbers? As I said, I`ve looked around causally and have been unable to find anything on this, but they said it`s out there.

What I`ve seen out there this season has just been weird. One property that for years has always had a high number of birds on it seems to be barren of turkeys this spring. We`re hearing very little gobbling on the roost, and nearly zero gobbling on the ground. Does this mean there are fewer toms, or does it just mean there are fewer 2 year olds, as it`s typically been assumed that 2 year olds do the bulk of the gobbling during any given mating season.

Nevertheless, there are fewer birds being seen overall on the property my buddy has access to, much fewer sightings than have been the norm for at least the last 5 years, probably more like 8 or more years.

 

[gregr]

I prefer a tom in the hills, much easier to hunt for me.

I noticed numbers decreasing down here when bobcats started up in numbers. I know of two farms that are covered up in cats in which owners have not heard or seen a turkey this year. one is my uncle's farm the other my uncle-in-laws.

Numbers on my farm seem to be the best they have since 08.

I do have cats in past but for some reason never got a pic of them this past fall or winter. I too have been very hard on coon population.

Coons, possums and skunks are hard on turkey eggs, and likely squirrels are too. It`s a pretty fair guess that bobcats are preying on turkey poults and who knows how hard coyotes are on them.

 

[yetti462]

Hens should be nesting, or majority at least. Now is when I go out with thermal and slock as many coon as possible. With two major creeks on farm and river not far away, its not hard to stack the coons up.

 

[JStarr]

My Michigan bird.
3 year old.
10.5" beard
1¼" Spurs
46" long
23lbs




My Indiana bird
11⅛" Beard
1¼" Spurs
45" long
24lbs
I didnt have a camera "(wo)man" on this hunt.

 

[BigRed]