Almost all hunters lean toward sitting on openings and other areas with solid sight lines. Whitetail hunters do this. Western hunters do, too, as they inevitably gravitate toward meadows and high-country basins with prime views. It’s in our nature to seek out spots that provide visibility, which is definitely the case for spring turkey hunters.
It’s not like setting up on the edge of a picked cornfield to call in a gobbler is a bad idea, either. Plenty of wild turkeys get whacked every spring on field-edge setups. This is a great strategy for early-season birds if you hunt where the pressure gets heavy, but by the time the season really gets rolling, some toms will start to default to the safety of cover.
Couple this with the fact that destination food sources like ag fields become less appealing by the day as more fresh growth and bugs become available, and you have a recipe for killing a tom in the timber. This is one of the most enjoyable ways to hunt, but it takes the right setup. One that involves at least some sort of likely travel path to your decoys.
As any experienced turkey hunter knows, timing is everything when it comes to spring gobbler hunting Unlike deer hunting, where you can often slip into your treestand well after sunrise, a successful turkey hunt hinges on being set up and ready to call at first light But exactly what time should you enter the turkey woods each morning? Read on for tips on timing your arrival for an effective hunt.
Why Arrival Time Matters
Turkeys are most active and vocal right at daybreak when toms are looking for hens. This peak activity lasts for the first few hours of daylight. As the morning progresses, gobbler activity tends to decrease as the birds disperse to feed and breed.
Being set up before fly-down allows you to interact with vocal toms as they hit the ground seeking hens. It also gives you sufficient time to work a gobbler before he loses interest or goes silent. Getting settled too late means you’ll miss prime action and likely won’t call a wary tom within range.
Key Factors That Impact Timing
The optimal arrival time depends on several factors
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Time of season – Early in the season, toms are eager and gobbles freely. You can often set up just 30-60 minutes before sunrise. Later, as hunting pressure increases, sneak in earlier to get calls in before fly-down.
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Weather – Clear, calm days allow toms to sound off early and loud. Cloudy or windy days delay peak activity so come a bit later.
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Geography – In wide open areas where sound carries, get in extra early. In broken terrain, dense woods, or steep hills, sound doesn’t travel as far, so you can arrive slightly later.
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Roost sites – If you know a tom’s exact roost tree, get set up within easy calling range before he flies down. If roosts are unknown, err on the early side.
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Hunting pressure – Pressured toms stop gobbling on the limb. To beat hunters sneaking in, enter really early, well before fly-down in pressured areas.
General Guidelines on Arrival Time
As a general rule of thumb, here are good arrival time benchmarks to maximize your chances:
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Early season – 60-90 minutes before sunrise
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Peak season – 90-120 minutes before sunrise
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Late season – 120+ minutes before sunrise
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Heavily pressured areas – 2+ hours before sunrise
Of course, you should adjust these timeframes based on the factors above like weather and geography. It also depends on how far you need to sneak in to reach your setup spot. Give yourself extra time if accessing the site requires a long, slow stalk in the dark. But use these benchmarks as a starting point when deciding what time to head to your turkey spot each morning.
Getting There Quietly in the Dark
Arriving pre-dawn means moving in the dark, so take measures to sneak in quietly:
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Wear soft, quiet fabrics like fleece that won’t swish and brush against vegetation.
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Cinch down all straps and gear so nothing shifts or clanks while moving.
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Carry all equipment against your body rather than loose in your hands.
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Walk slowly in a crouch, avoiding snapping sticks or kicking rocks.
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Pause frequently to listen for gobbles and roosted hen chatter.
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Use a dimmable flashlight or night vision to pick your path without noise.
What to Do Once Set Up
After quietly reaching your setup spot:
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Take a position with good visibility of likely turkey approaches.
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Sit completely still; no need to do any calling until fly-down time nears.
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Wait and listen as daylight slowly arrives to pinpoint roosted toms.
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Range likely fly-down spots so you know the maximum calling distance needed.
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When the woods become faintly visible, do some light calling to fire up any toms.
Arriving in the turkey woods well before sunrise takes effort. But it’s often the difference between going home empty-handed or tagged out by mid-morning. Paying attention to timing will up your odds of scoring in the early hunts of spring.
Benches, Logging Roads, and Ridge Tops
While turkeys often look like they are randomly moving across the landscape, they usually aren’t. Nature doesn’t do a whole lot of randomness. Instead, birds usually follow predictable paths, even in heavy timber. The key to understanding this is to read each setup and make an educated guess on which direction birds are likely to approach.
Generally, they’ll come to calls from above you if they have the option. They love ridge tops and benches positioned on the upper third of hills and bluffs. If they can find a flat spot to walk that is above the hens they can hear (aka, you), they will almost always follow that route.
If you’re hunting flat timber, the next best thing is either a logging road, a two-track, or just a patch of woods that doesn’t feature any fences, ravines, or anything that might cause a bird to pause and hold up. If you’re blind calling, hoping to get a tom to commit, or you hear a bird and are actively chatting with him, look around and ask yourself where his best approach is.
That will tell you how to set yourself and your decoys up.
It’s common to see people simply put their back to a tree and let their camo do the rest of the work. Turkeys that have been hunted hard often need a little more effort, however. The key is to think about how visible your decoys will be and how invisible you’ll be.
A few years ago, I ran into this while hunting public land in Iowa during the late season. The wind was howling, so I slipped into a valley and found a nice, flat bottom that looked ideal for a mid-morning setup. The only problem was that I didn’t have a place to sit unless I climbed a nearby hill and tucked myself into a deadfall.
It was weird sitting above my decoys, but it didn’t matter because I knew I was buried in the shadows and had a ton of depth to my hide. After calling in a hen, I struck up a gobbler who strutted in below me and focused all of his attention on my quarter-strut jake. That tom was a true limb hanger, and he was all about that timber life.
Think—not only about how a tom might approach—but how you’ll be hidden if he doesn’t follow the script. You want to disappear into the brush, not plant yourself as a 200-pound lump next to a tree trunk. The more depth you have to conceal yourself, the easier it is to reach for a call or swing your barrel in whatever direction you need it to go to make the shot.
This might seem like overkill, but hunting in the timber allows birds to sneak up on you in a way they mostly won’t do on a field edge. They also often sound like they’re positioned differently than they really are by the way the timber swallows up and redirects their gobbles through valleys and over ridges. The best bet is to assume he might catch you off-guard, but it won’t matter because of how well you hide yourself.
Timber turkey hunts are different from an easy field-edge foray. They require scouting and attention to detail not only in regard to the land around you but every setup. The good news is that once the openings have been hunted into dead zones, getting into the woods should get you around longbeards willing to play along. That’s when the fun starts, even on pressured ground.
How to QUICKLY Find and Pattern Turkeys | Turkey Hunting
Should you hunt a Turkey in the woods?
Instead, you’ll need to get comfortable with the confines of the forest and limited visibility that comes with it. Public land advocate and turkey junkie Sam Soholt is intimately familiar with hunting turkeys in the woods after years of hunting out West. For many hunts, it’s a struggle just to locate flocks.
What should you know before a turkey hunt?
As excited as we all get for spring turkey season, safety before the hunt, on the hunt and after the hunt should be at the top of everyone’s mind. Checklist for safety: Always keep your gun’s muzzle pointed in a safe direction, never toward a person. Treat every gun as if it is loaded. Only load or cock a gun when you are shooting.
What is a timber turkey hunt?
Timber turkey hunts are different from an easy field-edge foray. They require scouting and attention to detail not only in regard to the land around you but every setup. The good news is that once the openings have been hunted into dead zones, getting into the woods should get you around longbeards willing to play along.
What happens if you take away agriculture from turkey hunting?
If you take away agriculture from turkey hunting, it starts to feel like chasing whitetails in big woods. Low game densities, sparse sign, and endless cover all conspire to make the process more challenging than typical turkey hunts. But big woods toms are available for the taking.