Too Busy for Turkey!? How to Make Time for a Hunt.

Spring. Depending upon where you live it can mean and represent many different things. While spring and "springtime" often refer to the season, the time of year can bring on ideas of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, resurrection, and regrowth. From the melting of snow and rising rivers to the blooming of plants and return of wildlife that may have been in hibernation or wintering in other parts. Spring brings change.

Photo Credit: Jayson Giese

Now that spring has just about arrived all over the US and the snow here in the upper Midwest has melted, I cannot help but think about that thunderous noise I associate with spring. A gobble.

There is nothing louder on a cold clear spring morning than the raucous sound of a male turkey’s gobble. Maybe that is why I love being in the woods so much in the spring. It can be shocking if you aren’t expecting it. And to see a big Tom strutting is one of the most beautiful presentations of prowess on the planet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywjlZ6H2tog

Spring turkey hunting is one of my favorite seasons. Perhaps because it falls in a time where many of us in the upper Midwest are suffering from serious cabin fever. Even if we were out ice fishing or snowmobiling, there is this weird “gray”time after snow melts. Everything seems wet or dirty, general fishing season hasn’t opened yet, but it is warmer out, so anything outdoors is a welcome activity.

Spring Turkey Season is just what the doctor ordered to cure your winter blues. But how do you get into turkey hunting if you’ve never done it before? Start studying. There are a million resources today that weren’t around in the past. Books, magazines and even YouTube. (I hope to help with some of this later this spring.) The best place to get into any kind of hunting is to join a good conservation organization, like the National Wild Turkey Federation. Attend a banquet or outing after we get out of this COVID thing.

As for me a remarkably busy dad I must make the most of the short period of time that I have. As for most hunting I rely heavily on e-scouting. I’m a big fan of onXmaps to help me find not only public land but areas that seem like they would hold turkeys on those public lands. I always look for areas with three things: water, woods and an open field (preferably an ag field). Once I’ve got some areas, I will mark them and head out a few weeks before the season with my binoculars to glass from the roads or take a little hike in with my little guy. Scouting and looking for sign weeks before a season is a great time to get the entire family involved in the outdoors. This goes for all game, assuming it is safe and you’re following all local laws. For instance, do not take the family hiking looking for a late whitetail bow season area during gun deer season.

Do not think however that you can just head out into the field with something you grabbed off the shelf at a sporting goods store or ordered online and make tuneful turkey talk.

One of the most fun parts about turkeys in the spring is also that they are talkative and can be coaxed in by calling to them. Do not think however that you can just head out into the field with something you grabbed off the shelf at a sporting goods store or ordered online and make tuneful turkey talk. Calling any game is like playing an instrument. If you think all the way back to playing that recorder you learned as a youngster, you had to practice. I start practicing weeks before a season. Take your call or calls with you everywhere you drive. I’ve been known to scratch a few licks on a pot call while at a stop light. Personally, I am a bigger fan of the mouth call; and that you can have in and be practicing and calling the entire time you’re driving. If you want to take it a step farther, if your vehicle has Bluetooth you can stream the audio from YouTube videos of turkeys while you drive and practice.

If you are like me and have limited time to hunt and fish, you must make the most of the time you have. That equates to putting in the work when you have the time. Practicing calling in the car on your commute to work or picking up your kids. Studying maps at night in bed after everyone has gone to sleep. Some people are afforded the luxury to just go in and hunt all day for days on end. I think in the modern day there are more people in the boat I am in, just trying to enjoy the outdoors with a limited amount of time. Every hour spent out hunting or fishing is time that must be taken from somewhere, often that is time with your family or significant other.

My biggest key to making it all work is making the most of the small pieces of time you have. So for me a few days’ vacation in the spring to go enjoy some warmer air, and chase a gobbler in the morning while still being home in time to pick my little guy up from preschool is worth all the time invested. Plus we haven’t even touched on how amazing a gobbler is on the table. That’s for another time…