# I need some EXPERT Turkey advice



## UtahMountainMan (Jul 20, 2010)

We go up to Oregon every November for Thanksgiving. This year I want to try to get a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner with my bow. There is a season going on out there and I can buy a nonresident tag. My in-laws have 20 acres out in the woods there and they see turkeys on their property fairly often so I know that it is a decent area. 

I have NEVER hunted turkeys before so what do I need to do? Should I go buy a call? If so, which one? What about a decoy? 

Like I said, this will be my first time going after a turkey so any help will be appreciated. 

Thanks


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

I haven't hunted fall turkeys so I am no help there. But as far as getting a trukey for Thanksgiving dinner go to the store and buy one. While the wild ones are good eating you will not get that much meat off of them. The legs and wings are more suitted for soup because of the tendons but the breast meat is great but not near the size of a domescated turkey.


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

Late fall/winter turkey hunting is much like a deer hunt. The birds will make some noise but don't really respond to calls like they do in the spring. Best way to hunt them this time of the year is with your eyes. I hunt Washington every year in the late fall and will be up there around the first of December. One good thing is that the birds are MUCH MUCH fatter and better eating than spring birds. Have fun and good luck.


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## luv2fsh&hnt (Sep 22, 2007)

I have never hunted fall turkeys but when I drew my tag for the 01 season I read everything I could get my hands on concerning turkeys and turkey hunting. I read a couple articles that said one tactic for fall birds was to find large flocks of birds feeding in open fields close to timber and bust them up and then retreat back into the timber and start calling as they will be trying to regroup and be susceptible to the calls. I have wanted to try it but we don't have a fall hunt yet. I think it would be worth a try but would lean more toward the spot and stalk because I have done alot of that with other critters. My spring bird I actually set an ambush after patterning the birds and I would think that would be a good tactic also.


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

Scattering a flock is actually a pretty good fall tactic...on paper anyway.. but there is a little more to it than just busting the flock and running over to the trees , hide up and start callin. First, you must watch carefully HOW the birds take off. If they all fly off in the same direction they will probably land as a group and will not need to re-group, so the tactic won't work. Secondly, you really need to keep an eye out as to where a couple of the larger birds...preferably a large hen flies. Then you need to sneak down into the general area that you think she may have landed and sit VERY quietly for a while until she either starts calling the flock back together or answers the hen that is calling the flock back together. If your bird is the answer-ee, you're screwed, cause she's just going to walk off toward the caller and leave you all alone. Once in a while, and I mean once in a great while, if you start a little clucking you might call in a close bird but even then the chances are slim, cause believe me...these birds know what every other bird in the flock sounds like and they are looking for their flock...not some strange bird(you) that's wondering the woods. But anyway, it does work every once in a while and is kind of fun to try...so go ahead and give it a try.
Now here's the deal...this time of year birds are separated into groups made up of either 1) hens and their poults,some of which are probably small jakes 2) mature toms. They don't mix much this time of year so if you're after a tom, don't waste your time chasin any flock that you can't actually see a tom in. Hope this info helps.
Good luck and have fun


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

Have your relatives start feeding them NOW. Then, by the time Thanksgiving gets here they'll be nice and fat and used to coming to the same place every day for food, Simply put a pop-up blind in front of the bai....er I mean food pile, and wait. No calling needed, no scattering the flock, no nonsense! And, you can choose the fattest one in the flock. Oh, and don't forget to head shoot it! The last thing anyone wants to see on the Thanksgiving dinner table is a nice cooked turkey with a big gaping broadhead hole through the middle of the breast.


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## luv2fsh&hnt (Sep 22, 2007)

Thank -you BP! I am certainly not an expert turkey hunter. When I threw that out there I figured you or Tex would fill in the details. I love when I learn new stuff especially about the gobblers.


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

luv2fsh&hnt said:


> Thank -you BP! I am certainly not an expert turkey hunter. When I threw that out there I figured you or Tex would fill in the details. I love when I learn new stuff especially about the gobblers.


Ya, but if you fallow MY advice you'll actually kill one...


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## UtahMountainMan (Jul 20, 2010)

Tex-O-Bob what would you recommend having my mother in law toss out for the turkeys? Corn? Turkey Meat?


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

UtahMountainMan said:


> Tex-O-Bob what would you recommend having my mother in law toss out for the turkeys? Corn? Turkey Meat?


Whole kernel corn. If you use anything else the songbirds will eat it all. Also check the regs for baiting laws...


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

There ya go again giving away all the old secrets Tex. And UtMTMN, don't go listen to a word Tex says,I think the guy's from somewhere down there in Sanpete County and all they know about turkeys is white feathers and pretty faces...oh, and big plump breasts!


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

BPturkeys said:


> There ya go again giving away all the old secrets Tex. And UtMTMN, don't go listen to a word Tex says,I think the guy's from somewhere down there in Sanpete County and all they know about turkeys is white feathers and pretty faces...oh, and *big plump breasts!*


Easy, sleazy! That's not the kind of "fat turkey" I had in mind. Although, eating lots of corn sure did wonders on my Aunt Agnes's breast size... :shock: When I was a kid I went into the bathroom after she'd taken a shower and her bra looked like two parachutes sewn together. -)O(-


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## ram2h2o (Sep 11, 2007)

Ditto what TX-O-Bob said about checking the baiting laws. In the fall the young turkeys hang with the hens and if you can bust up a flock where they fly off in different directions you can usually call them in to you with some soft clucking/yelps as the young ones want to get back with the hens. You can also use a KEE-KEE-Run call and that works also. Best to use soft calls not loud. Not sure how it will work in Oregon, but it works back in Mississippi and Louisiana pretty good.


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

I'm yet to be able to bust up a flock! And believe me, I've tried! Every time I come into a big pile of turkeys they all just line out and get the hell out of dodge. If you COULD bust up a flock they are most likely going to head back towards the boss hen. Every turkey in that flock knows what she sounds like and YOU aint it. Like BP said, this method is flawed from the get-go and seldom works. Just set up a blind in a likely spot and let them feed into you. That's really the only way to do it in the fall short of shooting one off the hood of your truck with a .17 HMR. (Works like a charm!)


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