Fall Tactics For Getting Your Gobbler

The turkey’s instinct to flock together in the autumn can help you to locate and bag your fall gobbler.

It’s a bit late to head out if you’re planning on putting a wild-harvested turkey on your table this Thanksgiving, but Turkey season stretches through January in much of the United States, giving you plenty of time still left to head out and bag a gobbler. While some people prefer the stealth and skill it takes to call in a big tom during the spring, others like the excitement of hunting these wily birds in the fall.

Tactics for hunting a fall turkey vary, but one of the more popular methods involves locating a flock of gobblers and then scattering them and calling them back. It sounds crazy, but it’s crazy enough that it actually works. I’ll admit, the first time my hunting buddy spotted a flock of toms and handed me his shotgun before taking off whooping and hollering at them, I thought he’d lost his mind. Surely there was no way on God’s green earth that those turkeys were going to come back.

After I caught up with him, he explained that the flocking urges of turkeys in the fall is very strong, and that a scattered flock would respond to calls in an attempt to regroup. Reluctantly I settled in to wait for the dust to settle. After about 30 minutes he began a string of “Kee-Kee-Kee” calls followed up with some yelps on his friction slate caller. Imagine my surprise when he was answered by a few yelps about 50 yards away.

Gradually I began to hear the distinct crunch of bird feet on dry leaves littering the forest floor as a few scattered toms returned to where the flock had broken up. Sure enough, a wary tom poked his head cautiously around a tree not 20 yards away. My hunting buddy nudged me and motioned for me to take the shot.

Slowly I raised my Remington 11-87 and peered through the scope. The shot was good. I had just bagged my first turkey and done so using, to my mind, less than conventional methods. The lesson here? Never underestimate the powerful instincts that guide these birds. Study them for long enough and you can learn what you need to have a successful hunt. My hunting buddy’s crazy tactic of scattering the birds forces their instinct to flock together to drive them back to where the flock last was.