Tag: wild turkey

I’ve had a little more luck recently with the Wild Turkeys in the neighborhood woods patch. During my last couple of session, the hens in this group have roosted immediately above the patch of ground I cleared of bush honeysuckle. Previously, they roosted in trees a quarter mile up the hollow. This is problematic because I haven’t been able to set up quietly enough not to flush them. I was able to call in a few of the Toms, although this is hit or miss. They love hanging out and strutting in the backyards of the streets that border the hollow. We call back and forth and they are obviously trying to get me to come to them. Finally, on this occasion, they couldn’t stand it so came in to find the hen (me) that was sounding so pretty. They did not come all the way into my prime shooting lane, but I made the best I could of it.

I have read and am beginning to learn how keen their sense really are. I need to be careful with calling as they come in. When they enter the area, they tend to ignore the decoys altogether and instead look directly in my direction. They know precisely where the calls emanate. Turkey hunters will often call at the location they wish the birds to appear and when they hear the Toms coming, they move into their shooting position. This is kind of hard to do when using a bag blind and where the birds can see a long distance. The small geography I am working in has some limitations.

After spending a couple years studying and picking up gear like decoys and a slate call, I was finally ready to try photographing wild turkeys. I’ve been out on this pursuit a few times this season and have had mixed success, telling me I still need a lot of practice and plenty of patience.

On my morning walks I discovered that a couple of wood lots in the neighborhood common grounds held a nice little population of these birds. I figured this would be a great start for my “turkey hunting” career as these turkeys would be somewhat used to people, have seen limited, if any hunting pressure, and lived about a mile from our front door. This close vicinity to me is a huge plus. To optimize chances for success, it’s important to get out to their location and setup in my bag blind before first light. Having this close opportunity means that I don’t have to get up and drive an hour away to get to my destination before dawn.

Because these wood lots are so small, I knew that I will be setup close enough so that they can hear my turkey yelps, cuts and clucks, as pathetic as they may be. But on this occasion, everything seemed to work nicely – too nicely, in fact. I did not expect such nice results so soon. Shortly after setting up and as the light began to increase to levels I could see without a headlamp, I heard gobbles and yelps up in the hollow where this wood lot is located. This wound up leading to my first learning of the day.

Figuring it would probably take some time to coax them into my area, I began hitting the pot call with my best impersonation of a hen who lost her way. In less than five minutes, my decoys were being swarmed by close to 20 birds, a nearly perfect mix of hens and toms. I could not get an accurate count because of my ground-level position and the trees and other obstacles blocking my view. This was too early! I was shooting with a much slower shutter speed and high ISO than I was comfortable with. Shooting at 1/50 sec. using a 600mm lens is rarely a recipe for success. I wound up with a lot of shots that were ruined by the movement of the turkeys. Thankfully, with my spray and prey attitude, I wound up with enough keepers to make me happy.

I’ve been back to this location and opened up my shooting lane more by cutting out bush honeysuckle and dead scrub that blocks my view.

After just a few minutes of searching for the apparent lost hen, the group lost interest and headed up the hollow to congregate in the neighborhood yards. I was quite pleased to have been able to call this group of birds in and then leave without having burned myself. They had no clue I was there and I was able to breakdown and leave without causing them any stress.

My next goal is to get out to some of our local Conservation Areas to try my skills at some “wilder” turkeys before hunting season begins. This will require some hiking and listening for gobbles. I would also love to find an opportunity to shoot “field turkeys.” This will entail setting up along the edge of forest and field, and hopefully allow me to have clearer shooting lanes and better light.

Like I mentioned, this is a new endeavor for me. I did not group up hunting, but I am attempting to learn the same set of skills that hunters use. If you have any tips or tricks, I would appreciate hearing them.

-OZB