Hunting Pressured Turkeys with The Hunting Public
It’s a week after opening day, and you arrive at the parking lot at your local WMA well before first light. Leaves are budding, you can sense the warm day ahead on the cool spring air, and you know turkeys are in the vicinity – it’s going to be a good day. But as you embark on the trail, the surrounding mud reveals a heavily traveled path. This place is pressured.
The Hunting Public’s Aaron Warbritton and Zach Ferenbaugh have dealt with this scenario often. With personal anecdotes and experience hunting various landscapes, the public-land specialists gave insight into how to hunt turkeys that have been heavily pressured. These tips might be the refresher you need before you head into the woods this spring.
Here are some of them:
Take the Road Less Traveled
Call away from pressured locations. Most hunters on public land use the area the same way. They pull up to the gate, take the most defined trail, head in a couple hundred yards, and go back to the truck.
Head further into the woods than you think you need to, and take less used trails. If the logging roads are filled with boot tracks, try walking through the woods. You might cover less ground, but it could bring you closer to that tom. Pressured turkeys are aware of heavily used areas and will routinely avoid them. Walking further into the woods or using underutilized areas can make you cross paths with a pressured gobbler.
Locate a Bird Away from Access Points
As mentioned above, most folks will try locating a bird near the parking area. Often, there’s a public road near a more obscure part of the WMA. Even if there is a private-land barrier, calling or using a locator call from the public road could give you some insight into where that tom is hanging out in a more remote area of the WMA, or if they are rimmed on private land, you better know where you need to set up to lure them on to public land.
Act Like a Turkey
Sometimes, it just takes walking and scratching like a turkey for a gobbler’s interest to be piqued. But be prepared, he can find you fast! Warbritton and Ferenbaugh recounted when they did just that and were busted before they could react.
Spooked Birds Will Come Back
If you got overexcited and took a potshot at a turkey, and he flew away, he’s probably not coming back. But maybe he got a glimpse of you fidgeting against the tree, and he scurried to the other side of the field. Give him some time. He was in that original spot because he wanted to be. He’ll likely be back.
Put in a Day’s Work
Where you can legally turkey hunt past noon, do it. Turkeys will utilize terrain based on hunting pressure. If most hunters throw in the towel early, that tom might start using the areas later in the day when there’s less pressure. Bring your snacks and hydration; it’ll be a long day!
Give ‘Em the Kitchen Sink
We’ve all had the turkey that gobbles to our call but still proceeds in the opposite direction. That turkey knows you’re there but just doesn’t like what you’re singing, so try changing your song. If the mouth call isn’t working, take out the box call or vice versa. If you’ve been calling heavy, try going quiet and be patient.
These are just some of the tips The Hunting Public shared with the audience. They also answered many great questions from convention attendees on how to best deal with hard-headed toms and how to increase your chances of totting a turkey out of the woods.
Didn’t make Friday’s seminar? Warbritton, Ferenbaugh and the rest of The Hunting Public crew can be found on the Sport Show floor in the Woodhaven Custom Calls booth.