Fall Forecast: Mild to Moderate
A Chat with Bob Eriksen, NWTF director of conservation operations
Wild Turkey Behavior
Q: Do turkeys follow the same daily patterns and habits in the fall as they do during the spring?
— Rod Jones, Huxley, Iowa
A: Wild turkeys are seldom very predictable. They are a bit more predictable in the spring because the hens narrow down their home range to a smaller area as they search for a nest site and begin laying eggs. This causes them to use the same fields day after day. The gobblers follow the hens so they too become somewhat predictable. The birds are a bit more predictable in woodlot habitat like you have in Iowa than they are in the big woods. However, in the fall they still can be pretty mobile. Roost sites can change from one day to the next as the birds discover new sources of food. Therefore you should follow your early pre-season scouting with some field work a little closer to opening day. Try not to disturb the birds in the process.
Q: Will a turkey walk through a standing crop field to move to another location or just follow a fence row?
— Rod Jones, Huxley, Iowa
A: Wild turkeys will use the easiest route that provides the best chance for safe travel. They would sooner walk among the rows of standing corn to get from point A to point B than across a harvested soybean field. They will use harvested fields heavily but are tough to approach or call across open fields. That said, hedgerows provide good travel corridors with readily accessible escape cover. There is often food in hedgerows in the form of cherries and other fruits that also helps to make them attractive. If you are seeing turkeys moving along hedgerows on a regular basis, that can be a good place to set up during spring or fall.
Q: Here in Utah, there are no fall hunts. However, we do finally have enough birds that we can purchase tags over the counter for next spring. Are the birds that I am seeing in the fall relatively close to the roosts they will be using in the spring?
— Harry Barber, Kanab, Utah
A: If you are dealing with Rio Grande turkeys in Utah my guess would be that at least some of them will continue to use the roosts they are using in the fall. Merriam’s turkeys in higher country may be more prone to move to higher elevations as the spring progresses and might be less apt to be found in the same roosts.
Q: Bob, I’ve been told that flocks feed in big circles over large areas and that a hunter can expect the turkeys to be back in the same area in a predetermined number of days. Is this true? I do understand if their routine were disrupted, all bets are off.
— Scott Minarich, Shermans Dale, Pa.
A: While some turkey flocks can be a bit predictable, that is not the case for most. In years when food availability is limited, turkey flocks may develop a predictable pattern, but in most years that is the exception rather than the rule. Fall flocks can have a home range as large as 2,000 acres or as small as a couple of hundred acres depending on food supplies. I have seldom been able to nail down a pattern to a pre-determined number of days. It’s better to wear out some shoe leather easing through the woods trying to encounter that fall flock than to sit and wait them out in most instances.
Q: How much change is there in patterns of travel on the same plot of land? Also, do the gobblers respond with gobbles at any time of day, and when is that time and to what call? I am thinking an assembly call. I’m a 20-year NWTF sponsor member and have never fall hunted, but I take three weeks of spring to hunt in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. I also started the Lake Erie Chapter with Jim Galvin.
— Lanny Swiger, Ashtabula, Ohio
A: Wild turkeys are pretty fickle and often change their patterns for no apparent reason. There are seasonal differences in travel patterns. In the fall the patterns are defined by food. In the spring the patterns are defined by hen preferences for nesting and brood rearing habitat.
In the woodlots of northeastern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania, you may find turkeys to be a little more consistent in their patterns than you would in heavily forested areas. Harvested grain fields provide good forage and turkeys will revisit such fields regularly.
As far as gobbling is concerned, it is highly variable. I have heard turkeys gobble in every month of the year. Fall gobbling is not dependable and can seldom be used to locate flocks consistently. On the other hand, a large fall flock can make quite a bit of noise in the form of clucks, purrs and yelps when getting ready to fly up in the evening or down in the morning. That noise is a more reliable method of finding fall turkeys. Locator calls can sometimes cause gobblers to sound off in the fall as can gobbling on a tube call or shaker. However, don’t expect gobbling to be very productive on most days.
Q: Will turkeys roost in the same trees in the spring as in the fall?
— Scott Buckley, Darien, Ill.
A: Some subspecies of wild turkey are more likely to roost in the same location repeatedly than others. Of the subspecies, Eastern wild turkeys are one of the least likely to do that. Some roost sites are particularly attractive to turkeys. In relatively small woodlots even Eastern wild turkeys may be somewhat predictable and roost in similar spots during spring and fall. However, my experience has been that they may roost in the same general area but not often in the same trees.
Q: This fall Nebraska turkey hunters will be allowed to hunt during the rifle deer season but must wear hunter orange. Will turkeys shy away from the blaze orange or is the hunter’s movement the biggest deal breaker?
— Kent Boughton, Grand Island, Neb.
A: Wild turkeys are not innately frightened of blaze orange. However, orange is out of place and if you are calling the birds will zero in on you quickly. The presence of bright orange might put them on edge. It is a bit less critical in the fall than in the spring because young birds may not be quite as wary.
To assure your best chance at success, you should keep movement to a minimum and stop calling as soon as the birds are in sight. Let them look for you. If you continue to call they are more likely to become concerned and shy away. The presence or blaze orange has been shown to negatively affect turkey hunter success, Nevertheless we are obligated to abide by hunting regulations as ethical hunters. If orange is required, wear it.
