What makes it even more impressive is Huntlee is only 7 years old.

Huntlee shot his first turkey in April 2024. His passion for the outdoors started when he was only 4 years old, when he began following his dad into the woods, developing an early fascination with turkeys and wildlife.

“It’s hard to keep a kid engaged,” his father said. “However, having a passion for it is something that is instilled in him. I have done my best to keep the passion of wildlife and the woods and just being and enjoying nature, whether it be hunting eastern longbeards, white-tailed bucks and smallmouth bass or just camping and enjoying being a kid.”

His father has mentored him on every hunt, including turkey and white-tailed deer seasons, while teaching the woodsmanship skills that matter far beyond pulling the trigger. Huntlee is even beginning to work a mouth call effectively on his own.

During Huntlee’s 2025 turkey hunt, the pair initially focused on two fired-up 2-year-olds working their way in from roughly 300 yards away. Then the hunt changed instantly.

“This old boss tom came in silent like, ‘Here I am, that’s my hen,’” his father recalled. “We took our eyes off the younger birds because Dad knew that was the boss tom on this private land.”

The silent longbeard slipped into range, and Huntlee pulled the trigger. The old bird was an impressive gobbler with 1.5-inch spurs, an achievement that reflects both patience and skill beyond Huntlee’s then 6 years of age.

Huntlee’s 2025 bird was later professionally mounted by Wilson’s Wildlife Artistry in Crossville, Tennessee. The gobbler had 1.5-inch spurs!

But the following spring’s hunt in Kentucky proved even more dramatic.

The pair set up before daylight during the 2026 Kentucky Youth Season, knowing a gobbler was roosted about 100 yards away with hens. For more than two hours, they watched the tom stay just outside shooting range as he slowly worked down the ridges with the hens.

Eventually, the gobbler and hens moved down a bench level below the hunters, forcing Huntlee and his father to make a move. After waiting for the birds to disappear out of sight, they hurried to another setup location on a nearby point.

A few soft purrs and yelps immediately triggered a thunderous gobble.

Soon, three hens appeared just 15 yards away from the gobbler, but the rushed repositioning left the hunters in an awkward spot. The hens suddenly noticed movement and locked onto the blind while the gobbler still hung just outside ideal range.

“Huntlee was on the right side of me, so we did what we had to do,” his father said. “I picked him up, held him out, and the rest is history.”

The customized Mossberg 500 20-gauge loaded with Verdict TSS ammunition anchored the bird cleanly. But in the excitement after the shot, Huntlee’s father noticed tears rolling down his son’s face.

“At least we got him, Dad,” Huntlee said despite a bruised face from the recoil.

Huntlee harvested this tom on the first day of his hunt during the 2026 Kentucky Youth Season.

The next day — Easter Sunday — brought another unforgettable hunt on the final day of Kentucky’s youth season.

After church and family dinner, they headed back to the lease for an evening setup near a clover plot tucked into a creek-bottom holler. Before they could even get situated, they spotted a hen feeding in the field. They backed away, hit a turkey call and immediately heard a gobble about 150 yards down the creek.

The pair slipped into the blind and set the Mossberg into a Bog DeathGrip tripod. Another sequence on a Woodhaven call drew an instant double-gobble from just over the hill less than 60 yards away.

Huntlee stayed motionless as hens began filing into the plot one by one.

“We just knew the gobbler was going to be right in line,” his father said.

Then came silence.

For what felt like forever, the tom disappeared. Suddenly, a gobble exploded from only 10 yards behind the blind.

The following day of the 2026 Kentucky Youth Season, Huntlee shot this bird as well.

The bird circled the setup, spitting and drumming for nearly five minutes while the shotgun remained pointed toward the hens in front of the blind. With the remaining windows closed to keep the interior dark, Huntlee could only wait as the gobbler refused to commit.

“At this point Huntlee is getting a little frustrated because it was like the tom wasn’t going to break and come past the blind,” his father said.

Then chaos erupted among the hens.

The birds began fighting, purring and jumping at each other in the clover plot. The commotion proved too much for the gobbler to resist. The longbeard finally broke strut and marched directly past the blind, completely distracted by the hens’ commotion.

“Huntlee got ready, eased the trigger and the turkey never moved a muscle,” his father said.

For Huntlee and his father, though, the memories go far beyond filled tags and successful hunts. The time together in the woods — learning patience, woodsmanship and respect for wildlife — is what matters most.

And judging by the stories Huntlee already has at such a young age, there will likely be many more spring gobblers in his future.

The post 7-Year-Old Turkey Hunter Harvests Impressive 3 Birds in 2 Seasons appeared first on Turkey and Turkey Hunting.

If the birds aren’t gobbling, if the wind is cold enough to sting my face, if the woods are wet and miserable, I can usually find a reason to leave early. There’s always work waiting at the office, chores piling up at home or some imaginary “important” task convincing me I should pack it in before noon.

Honestly, I’m terrible at all-day turkey sits.

Especially during those stretches when sightings are few and gobbling activity seems nonexistent, it becomes incredibly easy to rationalize quitting. Spring turkey hunting has a funny way of testing your attention span. Some days are loud and electric. Other days feel like you’re sitting inside a damp refrigerator listening to squirrels chew bark.

This season, however, I promised myself something different.

I was going to stick it out.

I was going to embrace the grind, tolerate the slow periods and actually enjoy the little things that come with a spring morning in the woods — the sunrise filtering through oak branches, sandhill cranes rattling from distant marshes, bushytail squirrels bouncing through dead leaves like they own the place.

As it turned out, an old gobbler was about to teach me a lesson in patience the hard way.

A Rough Start

The adventure began during the fourth period of Wisconsin’s turkey season. I was hunting with video producer Isabella Riggs, and our first morning together could best be described as “less than ideal.”

Actually, that’s being polite.

We had located some turkey sign deep in the woods and decided to make the long hike into an in-woods blind well before daylight. At 4:30 a.m., with temperatures hovering around 29 degrees, we started the slow six-tenths-of-a-mile trek through darkness so thick it felt like walking inside a cave.

Every branch seemed louder than normal. Every crunchy leaf sounded amplified.

About two-thirds of our way to the blind, I noticed something strange off in the distance.

A light.

At first, I thought maybe I was imagining things. We weren’t anywhere near the property line, and there certainly shouldn’t have been anyone wandering around in the middle of the woods at that hour.

But the light kept moving.

And it got brighter.

Schmidt was using the new M2 Field semi-auto 12 gauge from Benelli, loaded with Federal TSS loads.

Then it clicked. Apparently, a neighboring hunter was walking the property edge carrying what I can only describe as a lighthouse disguised as a lantern.

It was unbelievably bright.

Now, anyone who has hunted turkeys for more than about 15 minutes understands one universal truth: You do not light up the woods before daylight if you expect mature gobblers to cooperate. In the unwritten rulebook of turkey hunting, shining a lantern through dark timber ranks somewhere in the Top 3 Things You Never Do.

Needless to say, the woods became quiet.

Painfully quiet.

The result was a long, cold and completely uneventful morning spent staring at empty timber while questioning decades of life decisions.

Sigh.

A Change of Scenery

The next morning brought a fresh opportunity.

A good friend from Turkey & Turkey Hunting graciously offered access to his farm about 10 miles away. The property encompassed more than 300 meticulously managed acres of deer and turkey habitat, and he assured us we’d at least hear birds gobbling.

That sounded promising enough.

Once again, the alarm clock rang far earlier than any reasonable person would prefer. By 4:30 a.m., Riggs and I were making another long walk through freezing temperatures, carrying camera gear and enough layers to survive a minor Arctic event.

Our setup overlooked a picked cornfield from the previous fall. Oak ridges wrapped around one side of the field while dense pine woods bordered another. It looked exactly like the kind of place where a longbeard might appear at any moment.

Or six hours later.

Either way, I had made a commitment to myself.

No matter how slow things became, I was staying until at least noon.

Well, that was the plan.

Nature’s Morning Show

Sunrise arrived quietly.

No thunderous gobbling. No dramatic fly-downs. No heart-pounding chaos.

Instead, the woods simply woke up around us.

A pair of wood ducks skimmed low across the field. Sandhill cranes drifted overhead with their prehistoric rattling calls. Squirrels bounced through the leaves, occasionally stopping to glare suspiciously at our blind as if we owed them rent money.

Eventually, several turkey hens wandered into the field and fed casually in front of us.

It was beautiful.

It also wasn’t exactly action-packed.

The few gobbles we did hear came from far away — distant enough to feel more like rumors than actual opportunities.

Minutes slowly turned into hours.

This gobbler showed up silently just before 10 a.m.

By 8 a.m., I was fantasizing about hot coffee and breakfast burritos.

Plural.

By 8:30, I was fighting off head nods that suggested I might accidentally fall asleep holding a shotgun.

By 9 a.m., I had resorted to Googling the Milwaukee Brewers box score from the previous day just to stay entertained.

Thankfully, the Brewers had won. Long live Andrew Vaughn!

At approximately 9:15, four jakes finally wandered into the field.

The Jake Show

The young gobblers in training immediately noticed my Avian-X jake decoy and marched straight toward it with all the swagger and poor decision-making skills of teenage boys at a county fair.

One jake eventually squared up to the decoy and began pecking at it aggressively, determined to establish dominance over a fake turkey that had absolutely no intention of fighting back.

The scene went on for more than 10 minutes.

It was entertaining, but it wasn’t exactly what we were after.

I had no intention of shooting a jake. In the back of my mind, I could almost hear the voice of my dearly departed friend Gary Sefton.

“That’s like pulling up baby corn,” he used to say whenever someone mentioned shooting jakes.

Gary believed jakes deserved a chance to grow into mature longbeards capable of gobbling, strutting and causing maximum emotional damage to turkey hunters everywhere.

So, we watched the jakes spar and posture while my internal clock continued ticking toward departure time.

Once these birds leave, I thought, we’re packing up at 10.

Hooks for days! The turkey’s 1-1/2” spurs indicate it was likely 5 to 8 years old.

Too much work waiting back at the office.

Too many emails.

Too many responsibilities.

Then everything changed.

The Moment

About 15 minutes later, Riggs quietly peeked through the rear window of the pop-up blind.

“There’s a hen back there,” she whispered. “But there’s also another turkey. It’s bigger.”

My pulse immediately quickened.

Trying not to spook the jakes still milling around in front of us, I slowly turned to look behind the blind.

Sure enough, a mature gobbler stood in the field.

I was too far from the window to comfortably use my rangefinder, so I handed it to Riggs and asked her to check the distance.

“Fifty yards,” she whispered.

“I can make that shot,” I said softly. “But we’ll need to turn around, and you’ll have to move the tripod.”

What happened next unfolded in mere seconds, though it felt like slow motion.

As I reached for the armrests of my camp chair to reposition myself, I glanced beyond the jakes standing in front of our decoys.

And there they were.

Three massive longbeards emerged from the woods like ghosts materializing from another dimension.

For a moment, everything stopped.

No Time to Think

Past experience has taught me that jakes and mature gobblers typically don’t mingle particularly well. Usually, there’s tension, posturing or outright confrontation.

But these longbeards acted differently.

They stepped into the field with complete indifference toward the jake circus happening near our decoys. Their body language practically screamed, We don’t even acknowledge your existence.

The trio casually worked across the upper edge of the field about 60 yards from the blind, feeding and drifting from east to west.

Limb hanger!

Then fortune intervened.

As the birds continued across the field, they angled slightly closer to our setup.

The trailing gobbler eventually stopped broadside at 51 yards and lifted his head high to inspect the decoys.

By then, my safety was already off.

My cheek pressed tightly against the shotgun stock.

The bead settled.

Ka-BOOM!

The Benelli roared.

Chaos exploded across the field as wings flapped, jakes and hens scattered and the remaining gobblers sprinted for cover.

Then silence returned almost instantly.

The Reward

Riggs and I exchanged an excited high-five before climbing from the blind and walking toward the downed bird.

As always, I paused for a quiet hunter’s prayer of gratitude.

And what a gobbler he was.

The old tom carried an 11 1/2-inch beard and 1 1/2-inch spurs — the kind of bird capable of making even veteran turkey hunters weak in the knees.

There’s no way to know his exact age, but judging by those hooks and overall appearance, he could easily have been 5 to 8 years old, perhaps even older.

A true trophy in every sense. What that bird must have encountered in his lifetime was truly humbling for this turkey hunter.

As I admired the bird in the cool spring sunshine, one thought kept replaying in my mind.

Had we left at 10 a.m. like I planned, this never would have happened.

Not even close.

That old gobbler would still be strutting somewhere across that farm, probably laughing at impatient hunters like me.

Lessons From an Old Longbeard

Turkey hunting has always had a way of humbling people.

Sometimes the birds gobble nonstop and practically run into your lap. Other times they disappear for days, leaving hunters questioning their sanity, their calling ability and occasionally their choice of hobbies.

This hunt reminded me that patience often matters more than skill.

It reminded me that success sometimes arrives long after boredom sets in.

And maybe most importantly, it reminded me to slow down enough to appreciate the experience itself — even during the quiet moments when nothing seems to be happening.

Because in the spring woods, things can change fast.

Izzy and Isabella check out the turkey one last time before heading home.

One minute you’re daydreaming about breakfast burritos and Brewers baseball.

The next minute, three longbeards step from the timber like a dream.

They say patience is a virtue.

If that’s true, this old gobbler dealt it to me in spades.

— Turkey & Turkey Hunting Editor-in-Chief Daniel Schmidt has been hopelessly hooked on turkey hunting ever since his first hunt 30 years ago ended with a rare five-bearded gobbler. Since then, he’s spent every spring chasing longbeards, losing sleep and trying to slow down long enough to enjoy the journey.

At One With the Gun

For this hunt, I field-tested the Benelli M2 Field shotgun.

The smooth-cycling, semi-automatic 12-gauge features an updated stock that integrates Benelli’s Progressive Comfort recoil-reduction system with the Combtech Recoil Cheek Pad.

The Progressive Comfort stock works in harmony with Benelli’s Inertia Driven system, using progressively stiffer, interlocking recoil-absorbing leaves that adapt to the shooter’s chosen shotshell load. The setup effectively moderates felt recoil across a wide range of ammunition. I definitely noticed the difference when shooting it side-by-side with my proven Mossberg Ulti-Mag.

While patterning the M2 with Federal Premium TSS loads, I noticed the Benelli threw the dense tungsten payload slightly higher than old-school guns. That actually worked in my favor. Test shots at 35 yards, using the base of the waddles as the aiming point, centered the bulk of the pattern squarely over a 3-inch circle.

When it came time for the real thing, the gun flattened a mature gobbler at 51 yards without a flop. That’s impressive with any gun-and-load combination, but especially refreshing in a semi-automatic equipped with the new Combtech Recoil Cheek Pad, which is designed to reduce facial impact and vibration under recoil. Long story short: Had I needed a follow-up shot, there would have been no “regain my senses” moment.

This particular gun featured Mossy Oak Bottomland camouflage and a 28-inch barrel. The series is also available in a 20-gauge model with a 26-inch barrel, along with four additional finish options.

For more information, visit Benelli USA.

The Woodhaven Ninja-Hammer. If there’s an easier mouth call to master, I haven’t found it. I’ve bought mine at Fleet Farm the past couple years, and they haven’t failed. The unique notching and premium quality materials help produce realistic, consistent yelps and cutts with raspy tones.

I’ve killed gobblers with all sorts of shotshells over the years, but nothing, in my opinion, is as deadly as tungsten. That said, prices have climbed in recent years (thanks in part to excise taxes), and hopefully that changes. My go-to load has been Federal Heavyweight TSS. It’s boosted my confidence well beyond 50 yards. The tungsten-alloy shot has an 18 g/cc density, 56% denser than lead, and pairs with the FLITECONTROL FLEX® wad for consistent performance through both ported and standard turkey chokes. For perspective, Federal’s TSS is also 22% denser than standard tungsten and 56% denser than lead.

Order our Spring Bundle deal online for just $13! Free shipping within the U.S.

The post Lessons from an Old Bird appeared first on Turkey and Turkey Hunting.

Another 15 minutes of silence and I began packing up scattered calls in my lap and finally stood to walk over and retrieve my decoy staked 30 yards away. On my way to the trailhead, I pondered the outcome. My conclusion: I simply called too much and it did not sit well with the tom who had already survived three-fourths of the season. Instead of shouting a tom into a turkey trap, my next hunt would include a kinder, gentler approach. I’d call less and make them guess whether I was real or store bought. 

Sounds of Realism

Different sounds.

You cannot go wrong with a quick yelp introduction to any area. You never know. A flock or lone gobbler could be hanging out 100 yards away and thrilled to invite you to the coffee clutch. Where you go from there is driven by the response or lack thereof. A weak comeback or silence is a good time to introduce different turkey vocalizations into your rolling hunt. If feeble responses were heard, you may wish to stay stationary. Otherwise, incorporate a still-hunting strategy into your maneuvers with the entire procedure in ultra slow motion. In brief, stop often and move less.

Moving slowly and calling with occasional long stops is a great way to entice a turkey to show itself. Get tips on how to do it. Photo copyright of Mark Kayser.

The real blueprint to your plan revolves around the sounds of realism as you move about. Do not forsake the occasional yelp, but instead of a yearning, “I need love now” message, keep it soft, curious and welcoming. An effortless way to modify your turkey tactics is to use a different series of calls. Also, change the tone of the turkey sounds by incorporating as many different calls as possible. You do not need to study circus juggling, but combining a diaphragm call with a box call or pot call sounds like a group, not a single bird. Even utilizing two or three different diaphragms with distinctive differences creates new sounds, pitches and tones to entice a tom. 

After perfecting your juggling and conversation skills, hone the range of your conversation talent. Yelps reign over the spring conversation, but with everyone and their dog using the same message, a call less strategy with banter works best. Clucks, putts and soft purrs send an aura of calm and serenity to a tom that may be harried from hunting pressure. You can accentuate the scene with the sounds of flapping, a common turkey action as they stretch and move about. Also rake the leaves around you to mimic the sound of scratching. You want your message to reflect the sound of a flock at peace.

Stories from a friend of mine who shared access to the same hunting property had me thinking that calling in a bird late in the spring would be next to impossible. His efforts of several weekends only resulted in frustration as toms ignored his pleading yelps. With that intel in mind, I decided to try it anyway. Besides, it was the only nearby property I had permission to hunt on a tight schedule. 

Turkey hunting habitat with the right openings to call less. Photo copyright of Mark Kayser.

After the first morning of frustration, I invoked a tactic of soft talk teamed with being where the turkeys wanted to be at midmorning. The occasional flock chatter of realism brought a paranoid tom into a small woodland opening for a peek and a dose of No. 5s. 

Confidence Booster for Pressured Birds

As more and more property falls into wildlife management programs, the issue of access only grows. I get it. People spend a lifetime of recreational savings to invest in a property and when they manicure it into wildlife luxuriousness, the appetite to share in the bounty tends to disappear. Closed private lands lead to more hunters on the property of those private landowners willing to allow hunting. It also corrals more of us on public lands. Either way, your hunts become more difficult with pressured birds and fewer of them as the season progresses. Calling less could be your answer to hunting these paranoid masterminds. 

Think about your hunting partners. With limited hunting time and YouTube videos of success replaying in their minds, they rush the woods with hammering calls. Why wouldn’t they? It’s what they saw on the latest turkey hunting video trending on TikTok. Unfortunately, following the crowd just reinforces what the local birds have experienced from opening morning on. To boost the confidence of a bird living in a pressure pot of hunting, cool your calling. 

I’m reminded of a hunt years back that cemented my call less approach. With intense hunting pressure on the farm I had permission to hunt, the main flock simply readjusted homelands and spent more time on the neighboring land. All our encounters, albeit brief, took place on the fence line in shouting matches. As expected, the tom kept his ground on the same side of the border fence, with the hunt ending in a win for the gobbler. 

One hunt I found a small hollow that connected the two properties. A gap in the fence even granted easy access for any turkey to cross. Instead of a normal startup with yearning yelps, I kicked off the hunt by yelping softly as I neared the hollow. I felt the turkeys next door could hear as they had a traditional roost not far from the fence and the calm winds allowed sound to carry relatively far. 

One faint gobble boosted my confidence as I neared the hollow and set up for a morning of waiting. I continued yelping occasionally, but never increasing the volume. I wanted the tom to consider that a new hen moved in. He did, but with a mum-is-the-word approach. At 30 yards he half-strutted straight to my future dining menu. 

Options to Always Get Rowdy Later

Why get in a hurry? When you start out crazy it is difficult to dial it back down. Criminals like Ted Kaczynski learned this lesson the hard way. Of course, turkey hunting is not criminal, but when you storm the woods calling like a lost toddler trying to find mommy, it’s difficult to back pedal into a state of small talk. That is why I almost always begin my setups with a state of refined subtleness. On rare occasions I run into a gobbler so intent on hanging himself with unrestricted gobbling I’ll scream back. Nevertheless, those occasions occur less frequently and more often gobblers respond with the restraint of a leashed dog. Tease them in the beginning and then let their responsive comebacks drive the conversation forward. 

Mark and Sharon Kayser barely called to lure this Merriam’s tom into .410 range on a late-season hunt. Photo copyright of Mark Kayser.

One hunt stands out in my memory as confirming the usefulness of this tactic. At daybreak, my son and I worked a tom on the roost. Although responsive, he did not exhibit true roost exuberance. Not reading the tea leaves, I drove my message home of wanting a meeting with yelps that likely could be heard in the neighboring county. At fly down, the gobbler hit the ground and never gobbled again. 

Later in the day, a different gobbler on the opposite side of the property lit up with a midday “anybody out there” message. Realizing my earlier mistake, I answered softly in a barely audible series of yelps. He immediately gobbled back with gusto. His hookup thirst increased in volume and I matched the replies to the point of wondering if the authorities would arrive to investigate a turkey domestic love dispute. In less than 10 minutes the peacefulness of the day went from turkey shouts to a single shotgun blast as my son collected a mature tom. We let that gobbler drive the conversation straight to a tailgate celebration party. 

Make Them Hunt You

Most of the scenarios above entice turkeys to hunt you. A supercharged tom will hunt you in the right mindset, but when paranoia overcomes lust, turkeys become suspicious of every sound they hear, welcoming or eerie. Through small talk, you erase some of the uncertainty clouding that peanut-sized brain. Better yet, the artful use of volume and chitchat, such as clucks and putts, imitates just another day in the turkey woods. If you’re lucky, the turkeys begin to hunt you. 

You have two options to increase the success of your game of hide-and-seek. First, to make them feel even more comfortable that you are a feathered friend, move a time or two. Turkeys instantly recognize a sound is emanating from a different location. Adjust side to side or move slightly away, but change up your location in the beginning minutes of your setup. Occasional calling keeps them interested and, as you sneak from point to point, gives you the opportunity to find an ideal ambush site. 

What defines ideal? Your last stand should include a small opening, yet enough cover where turkeys cannot stand just out of shotgun range and spy for turkeys, or scrutinize your decoys. I’ll even fire up my HuntStand hunting app while moving to peer down from above for an ideal last stand. Your goal is to find a location where when a turkey steps in you unleash a hornet of pellets.

Last spring, my wife and I worked a tom several times on a property that always seemed to have an escape plan and did not appreciate aggressive hen talk. Days before the season closed, we arrived in the dark and at daylight discovered he was in his usual roost. Before closing the distance, I yelped a few soft tree yelps and then made an aggressive move towards his strut zone. Cover allowed me to stake a Montana Decoy Miss Purrfect XD hen decoy before backing up to the trunk of a nearby cottonwood. I scratched out several soft, yearning yelps and then we sat quietly. It took that tom 15 minutes to close the distance. He only gobbled once. 

Despite the slow-motion hunt, he half strutted straight to our decoy, giving my wife a 15-yard shot perfect for her CVA Scout .410. Less was best for this tom, and likely many more to come. 

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The post Call Less to Entice More Turkeys appeared first on Turkey and Turkey Hunting.

This is gut-wrenching news for us blue-collar hunters. We don’t have the fat wallet syndrome mentioned in Subway commercials, so we must grind it out on public dirt to make our turkey dreams reality.

Now here’s the good news: I’ve beaten the dirt at throngs of public-access areas through the years with unbelievable success.

Photo by John Hafner.

The first step was tucking in my bottom lip after losing my best hunting areas. Then came the school of hard knocks. I quickly learned that birds die on public tracts, but not as easily or often. That forced me to develop my craft as a turkey hunter. Now, years of experience have given me the knowledge and confidence to step onto any public tract and come out with a fan bobbing behind my head.

The tips and tactics in this article will prevent you from making the mistakes I did and will give you the tools to succeed on any public-land venture.

Step 1: Research

The public turkey equation kicks off with research, and the internet will be your best ally. Start by cruising the websites of your state game and fish department. Peruse hunting brochures, harvest numbers, population density maps, hatch/predation statistics and turkey hunting articles. Compiling and examining this information will narrow your search to a few select areas.

Next, burn up the phone lines, and contact biologists who work the terrain you’re planning to hunt. These folks can be tough customers to track down, but their insight is invaluable. They provide direct information from the field and will usually hint about which public tracts hold solid bird numbers. Sometimes, they’ve gone a step further and sent me maps of areas where I could escape the masses.

When communicating with these folks, tell them exactly what type of hunt you’re seeking. Don’t just ask about the best places. Explain how you plan to hunt. That will help them put you in areas that match your hunting style and skills.

Next, learn about the land you intend to hunt. With high gas prices, hands-on scouting isn’t always feasible. That’s where the 7.5-minute topographical maps biologists recommend come into play. Roll them out, and prospect for productive turkey haunts off the beaten path. Depending on an area’s topography, good spots might include creeks, ponds, rivers, flat benches or ridge lines that taper to valleys.

Plug the coordinates of high-interest zones into Google Earth, and you can visit your hunting grounds without leaving the sofa.

Step 2: Hands-On Reconnaissance

I’ve found many hotspots via maps and Google Earth, but I still prefer investigating nearby areas in person. Nothing builds confidence like seeing a few puffed-up toms on a public tract. Just make sure you view those birds from a distance.

I believe most hunters pressure birds when scouting. There’s no need to comb every acre of a property. Remember, public-land birds will undoubtedly be bugged enough when the season starts, so don’t make the mistake of bumping them beforehand.

Photo by John Hafner.

During my turkey hunting career, I’ve stuck to low-impact scouting, which involves gaining vantage points to glass and listen. Then, I drive perimeter roads and look for tracks and other turkey sign. I usually hang a scouting camera or two, but I never breech the core of my hunting area with anything but my binocular.

Step 3: Early Season Craze

The doldrums of winter have turkey fanatics and weekend warriors salivating. Everybody is amped up and ready to kill an opening-day longbeard. Often, the area you’ve scouted will look like a shopping mall on opening day. That’s when you need to hunt smart.

Expect that type of pressure regardless of where you go. Arrive early and trek deeper into backwoods areas you found when scouting. Regardless of whether I’m toting a shotgun or bow, I figure the early bird gets the worm.

When I reach my destination, which is usually a stand of nasty timber, I set up and listen. If I hear a roosted gobbler, great. If I don’t, that’s no reason for me to jerk the decoys and go fumbling through the darkness. I’ve found that the pressure of opening morning will push birds deeper into thick, timbered tracts.

While guys beat the brush and shotguns ring out near access roads, birds start moving away from them. That’s where I’ll be waiting. Often, my patience is rewarded by a vibrant head bobbing through the trees or a 10 a.m. yelp that produces a nearby gobble. Yes, there’s a time to run and gun, but opening morning on public dirt isn’t it.

Step 4: Go Deep

When you can step out of the norm, do it. Very few turkey hunters are willing to strap on a hefty pack and leave the trailhead at 2 a.m. That’s great news. If you’re the only hunter in your area willing to do that, think of how many more opportunities you’ll have and the secret spots you will find.

When possible and regulations permit, stay a few days in a small tent, or bivouac deep in turkey country. This lets you have a turkey oasis to yourself. Birds off the beaten path seem to be more vocal and respond better to decoys and calls than turkeys 200 yards off the road.

Step 5: Call Less, Listen More 

Like many turkey fanatics, I own an arsenal of calls. The pockets on my vest bulge, and I love to ring out sweet hen music. However, hunting public land for several years has taught me to call less and listen more.

Photo by Dan Schmidt.

Public-land birds are tough customers, and they’ve heard everything from loud boxes to mellow diaphragms. Always start with the assumption that the tom you’re calling has been squawked at numerous times. I take that approach even when hunting unpressured birds.

One of my favorite “call-less” areas is a strutting zone. These are typically fairly open areas near roosts where gobblers strut for the ladies. If your scouting turned up an area with wing-drag marks and a stampede of tracks, make your setup. If you stumble across these areas while hunting, punch them into your GPS. When hunting a strut zone, stay patient and listen. A gobbler might go bonkers as he approaches, or he might just tickle your ears with spitting and drumming.

I bring my deer savvy into the turkey woods. That is, I kill lots of birds at transition zones. My favorite tactic is getting between birds and their groceries. Turkeys are gluttons, and hens will usually drag a few gobblers to food. If I can identify food sources and locate pinch points, I get comfortable and wait birds out.

If I find where birds are roosting, I’ll scour the area like a CSI detective until I unravel their approach. The game revolves around patience and keeping a finely tuned ear. Turkeys return to their sleeping quarters a while before sundown. Gobblers love to sound off on their way back to the roost, but if they get quiet, you should at least hear some hens. Sometimes, you’ll near nothing but subtle scratching in dried leaves.

Step 6: Midday

You’ve likely read articles and seen television shows about midday tactics. There’s no doubt that getting a gobbler fired up during midday increases the odds of calling him in, but that isn’t necessarily what puts me at public tracts at that time. I’m there because other hunters are not. Most are kicking back in their recliners, which gives me a brief window to cover ground and elicit a midday gobble.

During that time, I like to use locator calls such as the woodpecker and hawk screech. Most hunters prefer owl and crow calls, so I shy from them.

For midday hen talk, I love slate calls, which produce unique sounds that seem to trigger a response from public-land longbeards. I believe that’s because most hunters live and die by box and diaphragm calls.

Step 7: Later is Greater

When the third or fourth week of the season rolls around, most hunters have tagged out or been schooled by gobblers more times than they care to admit. The public tracts that were as busy as theme parks are now ghost towns, and it’s beautiful to see.

The great thing is the birds aren’t gone. Sure, they might be a bit smarter, but if you go deep and call less while listening more, you might score.

Step 8: Run and Gun

My public-land rendezvous have made me a patient hunter, but there’s a time to hit the ground running. I would say that 90 percent of my midday hunts are more run-and-gun style.

When using this tactic, I like to gain vantage points and locate turkeys. I use a binocular to comb meadows, strutting zones, food sources and possible roost sites. If my glassing efforts don’t produce, I cover more ground and repeat the process.

Photo courtesy of David Gilane.

When I see turkeys, I note landmarks to aid my approach. This is critical. Years ago, when a bright head popped into view, I’d drop the bino and bound off. Big mistake. My elation would quickly turn to disappointment when I got to ground level and things looked different. I would wander around and eventually bump the birds.

Don’t be afraid to push the limits when stalking close to birds, especially late in the season. At that time, it’s do or die, and concerns about bumping and pressuring birds go out the window. Often, I’ve pressed 100 to 200 yards farther than I normally would, got away with it and brought birds into my lap. Yes, I’ve bumped birds, too, but during crunch time, I pull out all the stops.

Step 9: Never Say Die

Being a public-land hunter is tough. You will experience the highest highs and the lowest lows. It’s during those low moments that the true nature of a public-land hunter materializes.

Many times, I’ve wanted to quit and head for the truck. I remember walking 6 miles into what I thought was an inaccessible turkey wonderland. When I arrived, I found that several locals had made a four-wheeler road through the heart of the hunting grounds. I’ve been to carnivals with fewer people.

During difficult times, hang tough and think. Get out the map and reroute your course. By staying positive and keeping an indestructible frame of mind, you can quickly turn low moments into high moments.

Before long, you will become a public-land guru, and you’ll thirst for the feeling that comes from putting down a public longbeard. I hope to see you out there.

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