# Fall turkeys



## wakeskate23 (Nov 5, 2019)

I am a very new hunter. Like finished hunter safety end of September new. Been out waterfowl hunting several times and have been skunked, which I expect until I have properly scouted. Anyway I found out that there is a fall turkey hunt and I would like to go out. Just wondering if anyone could give me some advice on where I might find a turkey or 2 along the Wasatch front? Thanks in advance for the help.


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

If there are any tags left, most all the areas are on private property. Before acquiring the tag, I'd suggest obtaining permission to hunt the area. 


I hunted an area last year that held plenty of birds, and had to pay the Landowner $20 for each tag I had. (which I thought was very cheap) Some of the landowners in the area wanted $100+ a day to hunt their property. 


Best of luck, and hope it works out for you!


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## Lone_Hunter (Oct 25, 2017)

If your serious about Turkey hunting, start practicing your calls and wait for spring.


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## Where All The Turkey At (Oct 7, 2019)

I have been snatching up all the Info I can get on this. I have even called DWR a couple times and talked to them about Turkey. If you look at the Utah Hunt Planner on their website (wildlife.utah.gov) there is a strip of land in the northern region where you can hunt public land too. It is basically the Wellsville Mountain rang that separates the Cache valley from the I-15 corridor.

Read up on some of the previous post on the forum also for really good advice on asking Land Owner and areas to go. I have personally be focusing on northern region solely because a lot of people have told me there are more numbers of Turkey in the Wellsville/Mendon area.

Also I bought the single state subscription to onX app on a recommendation from a fellow Turkey hunter and used the land owner info to contact and get written permission to hunt his property, I ask very politely for permission to hunt the fall season and he wrote right on it unlimited on the dates to hunt.

My biggest take away from watching an experienced Turkey hunter, who was kind enough to let me co-opt his Washington State fall Turkey Hunt this year. ALWAYS BE POLITE! Even if you ask a Land Owner and they start yelling at you that they love their pet Turkeys and you can’t kill their babies. Still be polite and respectful. I watched him spend 10 minute talking to an elderly woman who had already told us no, after ten minute she ask him how we killed the Turkey and he replied we could use a shotgun or the crossbow we had with us. She looked at us for a minute and said “oh well if you have a crossbow go ahead and shoot them in my back yard I just don’t want guns being shot by my house”.

Anyway, so you can hunt some public land and there are some private land owners that will let you hunt their property if you put in the work. So good luck and hope all goes well for you.


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## sheepassassin (Mar 23, 2018)

Where All The Turkey At said:


> If you look at the Utah Hunt Planner on their website (wildlife.utah.gov) there is a strip of land in the northern region where you can hunt public land too.


Uh, no. "Private lands only", doesn't mean only when it's convenient for you. It's private land ONLY. public land cant be used while hunting on this tag.

https://utahwildlife.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=138881&stc=1&d=1573409234


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## Lone_Hunter (Oct 25, 2017)

sheepassassin said:


> Uh, no. "Private lands only", doesn't mean only when it's convenient for you. It's private land ONLY. public land cant be used while hunting on this tag.
> 
> https://utahwildlife.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=138881&stc=1&d=1573409234


 The biggest reason why I said to wait for spring. Ninety percent of the fall turkey hunt isn't a hunt at all, it's a private land culling. The remaining 10% on public lands will be in isolated pockets in the southern region; and ill further make an educated guess that in those isolated pockets, if your lucky, the birds will only be there for only an hour or so before moving into private lands for the rest of the freaking day. Yeah, ask me how I know.....

Every fall, when DWR starts selling turkey tags, the only thing they get from me is the one fingered salute.


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## Jedidiah (Oct 10, 2014)

Hollllld on there, Little Beau Sheep. It also includes the Wasatch Front fall turkey area. This comprises almost the entirety of the Wasatch Front mountains that are in the Northern area, public and private land, west face and most of the east face. Go look at the hunt planner and you can see the highlighted area when viewing the Northern Region for the fall hunt. 

You north region guys really ought to look at that area if you didn't notice it before, I wouldn't even think about buying a tag there if that area wasn't there

(This post was a response to the post before Lone_Hunter's.)


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## pockypie (Jan 4, 2019)

What I would do first is pull up the Utah hunt planner with the turkey habitat and fall turkey hunt layers. Find your overlapping areas along the wasatch front where you can hunt public land and expect turkeys. 
I use AllTrails to find which hike I should take for a scouting trip. Then go see if you can locate any turkeys. Or find a WIA area where the turkeys might have moved to.


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## Jedidiah (Oct 10, 2014)

Lone_Hunter said:


> The biggest reason why I said to wait for spring. Ninety percent of the fall turkey hunt isn't a hunt at all, it's a private land culling.


Yesterday morning me and two other guys were sitting behind a Ghost blind on a field owned by a really nice older guy we've had permission from for a couple years now. About 6:15 the birds had flown their roosts, 6:34 shooting hours started and they started coming over to our decoys. 6:50 we counted to three, stood up and killed our birds. Three hens, two of them big ol girls. 1 decoy setup and 16 minutes into shooting hours, game over. If you want to hunt turkey on private land, it starts with a smile and a handshake.


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## Kwalk3 (Jun 21, 2012)

sheepassassin said:


> Uh, no. "Private lands only", doesn't mean only when it's convenient for you. It's private land ONLY. public land cant be used while hunting on this tag.
> 
> https://utahwildlife.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=138881&stc=1&d=1573409234


Uh, no.

The irony of you being on the hunt planner to post this image is that if you actually read the hunt boundary description from the exact page you posted, you would clearly see that you are incorrect.

Reading the regs doesn't mean only when it's convenient for you.

I attached the rest of the description for you here.










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Jedidiah (Oct 10, 2014)




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## Lone_Hunter (Oct 25, 2017)

Jedidiah said:


> If you want to hunt turkey on private land, it starts with a smile and a handshake.


 The majority of private land I've seen, made it *abundantly *clear that they don't want anyone on *or near *their property, and that is understating it. I've had one landowner take pot shots at me with a rifle, on a spring turkey hunt no less, even though I was on public land. How do you think I feel about fall?

Yeah, pretty bitter about it all.


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## Jedidiah (Oct 10, 2014)

Well what do you do, drive up and park on top of his dog, break the gate on the way to the door and ask his daughter for her number? I wonder where you guys are asking, everyone we talk to is super happy with us killing birds on their property.


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## Lone_Hunter (Oct 25, 2017)

Jedidiah said:


> Well what do you do, drive up and park on top of his dog, break the gate on the way to the door and ask his daughter for her number? I wonder where you guys are asking, everyone we talk to is super happy with us killing birds on their property.


Honestly, I don't go poking around farms or what not. It's just not my thing, I prefer the mountains. In fact, anywhere near any town or city, just isn't my thing.

I'll take this for example:
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9624453,-112.3039965,112m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!7m1!2e1

I know for a fact there's a metric crapton of turkeys around there. You'll find them in peoples front yard during the day. Drive further east on that road, and the north side of it is a MAJOR roost area. Its a regular aviary in there. They'res also signs posted wanting to bust anyone shooting a turkey. It's like it's a turkey sanctuary over there. Your only hope is to sit near the property line on the nearby WMA and hope they stray in. Most of the time they don't, and I'm not hunting... no not hunting.. shooting a turkey in someones front yard for obvious reasons.


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## Jedidiah (Oct 10, 2014)

Funny thing, that area you have in your link is no longer included in the fall south area according to the map, ditto with the one to the north. Probably because of the same kind of thing you experienced there, which I also experienced a few years ago. That is why we started hunting further south.


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