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Bow Hunting Turkeys | Tips and Gear for Spring Gobblers

March 30, 2020/0 Comments/in Bale Blind, Get Muddy, Ground Blinds, Tree Seats and Ground Seats /by Muddy Outdoors

Tactics and Gear List for Bow Hunting Turkeys

More and more archery hunters are spring turkey hunting. They choose the bow over the shotgun for the challenge and the reward of harvesting a gobbler with a bow. The challenge is real, but with the right gear and a few key tips for bow hunting turkeys, it becomes less intimidating.

There are many articles out there on spring turkey hunting with a bow. Instead of going through the basics, we are going to focus on more advanced tactics and some specialized turkey hunting gear for archery hunters.

Turkey Hunting with a Bow

Spring gobbler hunting, particularly with a bow, has a different level of complexity. First, you still have to win the battle between you and the turkey. They pose a formidable challenge, even without incorporating a bow as your weapon of choice. Second, the turkey hunting equipment is different. Unlike hunting turkeys with a shotgun, there are more pieces of gear to manage and work with. Finally, the setup is non-traditional. Because of the movement involved, you have a hard time killing a bird without utilizing a blind, which is often new for many turkey hunters. Let’s continue with a few advanced strategies for bow hunting turkeys.

Advanced Tips and Tactics for Bow Hunting Turkeys

Harvesting a bird in spring with a bow rarely happens by chance. It takes a lot of effort and skill to put a gobbler on the ground. Here are the tactics that get it done.

Spend More Time Scouting Than Hunting

Unlike hunting with a shotgun for spring turkeys, a bow hunter has less opportunity to chase birds. The run-and-gun tactics you hear so much about, and which are successful, don’t apply here. Scouting then becomes more critical.

Scouting hard in the preseason allows you to know where a mature bird roosts, where he lands in the morning, where he feeds, and where he travels during the day. This information allows you to set up appropriately and ambush him at any point during the day.

Trail cameras are an important tool when scouting birds for spring turkey hunting. You can’t be everywhere and you don’t want to bump birds before the season, so use trail cameras to gather information before spring turkey season.

Scout multiple areas at the same time using trail cameras starting in February and continuing through the season.
Don’t stop scouting once the season starts. Gobblers will change patterns as the season progresses and in-season scouting will allow you to plan hunts more effectively.
Scout from a distance when you are in the field. Don’t bust a bird while scouting. Doing so can destroy an entire area for turkey hunting season.
Save your calling for the season. Calling during preseason scouting can lead to call-shy birds once the season starts.

Multi-purpose Turkey Decoys

Turkey hunting decoys are not only for luring a gobbler into shooting range. You need to think of them from a multi-purpose perspective. First, yes they do act as an attractant. In combination with calling, a decoy will almost always improve your chances of harvesting a bird. But the other purpose they serve is to distract a gobbler. Use them to your advantage. The correct setup will not only bring a bird in, but they will distract them so you can get a good shot.

Correct turkey decoy placement is key. You need to know how far to shoot a turkey effectively with your bow setup. Decoys need to be close enough for a good shot but not too close to make a bird suspicious. Also, keep them on your shooting side and position your blind between them and where you think the bird will come from.

You don’t need a flock of decoys. Turkeys in spring turkey season rarely group up in large flocks. Likewise, your decoy setups should only include a few birds. For most situations, a jake and hen setup or a single hen is all you need.

Vary Calling Techniques

Bow hunting turkeys requires the ability to use a mouth call (because your hands need to be free). Be able to at least yelp, cutt, and purr with a mouth call. However, don’t limit your calling to only mouth calls. Use a box call or slate call for projecting over distances and then switch to a good mouth call as they approach. Combo turkey call kits like those available from H.S. Strut™ provide the right mix of calling techniques in one package.

Turkey Hunting Blind Strategies

Tackling turkey hunting season in the spring with a bow almost always occurs from a ground blind. Whether you hunt from a traditional ground blind or a bale blind, they both provide the necessary concealment to be able to draw on a closing gobbler. These strategies for spring bow hunting turkeys from a blind will improve your chances.

Close all the windows in the blind except for the one where you expect to shoot from. This keeps you more concealed and able to reposition when needed. Although make sure the closed windows are easily opened. A hung–up bird or one that approaches unexpectantly may require you to adjust your setup.
Keep the inside of the blind free of debris (e.g., leaves, sticks, and other clutter). You don’t want anything that will create noise inside your turkey hunting blind, especially when a bird is close and you need to reposition.
Be smart about blind placement. Turkeys are less curious than deer about something that looks out of place, such as a blind in the middle of a field. However, it still makes sense to use a bale blind or place a blind in a concealed spot to eliminate suspicion.

Vital Turkey Bow Hunting Gear for Spring Birds

The right gear puts birds on the ground in the spring. This turkey bow hunting gear list is focused on just that, the archery hunter. Of course you’ll also need the standard turkey hunting gear, but we are also focusing on specific turkey hunting equipment for bow hunters. First, here’s a basic list of six items every turkey hunter needs (besides the bow/shotgun):

Turkey calls
Camo apparel (black clothing inside a hunting blind)
Decoys
Boots (snake or rubber)
Insect repellant
Turkey hunting vest (or pack)

Specifically for bow hunting turkeys, the additional items below when combined with the basics above complete your turkey hunting gear for spring.

Turkey Hunting Blind

Not all turkey hunting blinds are created equal. There are good ones and ones that have other purposes. Choosing a hunting blind for turkeys requires a few considerations. Design, size, and features like concealment and weather resistance, all play a factor. Turkey hunting blinds have to have a large open space to draw from. Don’t think that as a bow hunter you can just set one up and be ready to hunt. You need to practice from them just as you would practice from a tree stand for deer season.

Rangefinder

Any kind of spring turkey hunting requires you to know the shot distance. You have the get that bird into your sweet spot in terms of range. Ideally, you have your blind set up and either have decoys out or have a distance marker (e.g., tree, shrub, etc.) at a known distance. A rangefinder comes in handy to mark those distances accurately.

Swivel Seat

A good chair is comfortable enough for all–day sits, but it is also silent enough to allow you to move/swivel when a bird sneaks in quietly. The Muddy Swivel Ground Seat is mobile enough to move from blind to blind, but it gives you a silent perch to wait for a gobbler to get into range.

Hunting Blind Bow Holder

Another requirement for bow hunting turkeys is a bow holder. Having both hands free to call is important while also keeping your bow at arm’s length and ready. A bow holder in a blind is a necessity. This piece of turkey hunting equipment securely and safely holds your bow and even other hunting accessories while hunting from a ground blind for turkeys.

Bow hunting turkeys is inherently different than hunting them with a shotgun. Spring turkey season is rapidly approaching. Use these turkey hunting tips and load up with the right gear to make your spring bow season more productive.

Late Season Turkey Hunting | Tips for Stubborn Toms

May 16, 2017/0 Comments/in Bale Blind, Box Blinds, Get Muddy /by Muddy Outdoors

Challenges and Solutions for Late Season Turkey Hunting

Hopefully, you’ve already put a nice tom down and on the table this spring. However, it doesn’t always work out the way you want. Calendars fill up, the weather might not cooperate, and the birds might be even less accommodating. But there’s still time to pull it off this year if you haven’t yet. Turkey hunting, like most types of hunting, can either be the most rewarding and fulfilling experience you can have or the most frustrating and confusing thing in the world. When you talk about late season turkey hunting, it tends to be an extreme case of both somehow. On one hand, the birds are seasoned survivors, so they know most of the tricks up your sleeve and will continue to avoid you despite your best efforts. And yet, when you do manage to kill a late season gobbler, you definitely feel like you’ve earned it and can wear it as a badge of honor. Spring turkey hunting is funny that way.

Each state has slightly different turkey seasons, so we’ll avoid diving into that too deeply. For the sake of this article, we’ll define late season as the last week or so of your state’s turkey season. It is crunch time and you need to make your time afield count. You may have only been able to hunt a small portion of the entire season, but the turkeys have been exposed to hunting pressure throughout the whole time slot. If you hunt turkeys on public land, especially, they have seen a thing or two. They know what’s going on at this point, which definitely complicates your life. Let’s look at a quick comparison of early season turkeys versus late season turkeys.

Early Season Turkeys	Late Season Turkeys
Usually eager to respond to hen calls, and gobble back enthusiastically	Often made call-shy by this point, they may silently slip through the woods
Often come running into decoys confidently in small groups to fight for hens	May hang up out of range when they see a decoy to make it come to them
Cautious, but less discerning about their surroundings	Very suspicious animals that will study their environment pretty closely before moving in

If you’ve noticed this pattern before when you’ve gone late season turkey hunting, don’t worry. There’s still hope for you. Let’s look through some turkey biology and explain exactly what turkeys do each day.

Wild Turkey Biology

In the early spring, hens will start to get ready to breed just after most males are primed for it and seeking them. This major peak in breeding activity is a great time to hunt since toms and hens are actively communicating and looking for each other.

However, after a few weeks of this, the bred hens slowly start to nest and the gobblers just can’t seem to find enough willing ones around anymore. They’ve also spent the last few weeks fighting each other for breeding rights and may be hesitant to approach other toms with hens (decoys, that is). But just as whitetails tend to have a second rut as more does come into estrous, there is another peak in turkey breeding activity shortly after the initial breeding phase. Toms will definitely be on the lookout for the last few receptive hens. That’s your ace in the hole for late season turkey hunting. With that, let’s dive into some spring turkey hunting tips you can use yet this season.

Late Season Turkey Hunting Tactics

When it comes to specific techniques, it really comes down to maximum concealment in the best places, the right kind of calling and using smart decoy tactics. Now we’ll break these out in more detail below.

Location and Absolute Concealment

One of the best tips for hunting late season turkeys is setting up in the right locations and then completely disappearing where you are. Setting up along travel routes and food sources is the best option to surprise a tom. After flying down from roost trees, toms will make their way to feeding areas. You can confirm that birds are using a given area with some light and fast scouting the day before or by using trail cameras to scout for you. The Muddy® Pro-Cam 10 or Pro-Cam 12 trail cameras both deliver amazing image quality with plenty of great setting. If you can stealthily sneak into a strip of trees between mature pines/oaks and a clover or alfalfa field, you should be able to surprise some turkeys in the timber. If not, green clover fields are magnets to turkeys in the spring, especially for late season turkey hunting. You’ll often find a turkey roost or two surrounding and in close proximity to green fields like these. Check out the video below, where two hunters tagged two gobblers on day one of their turkey camp in a clover field just like this.

By this point in the season, most gobblers have been harassed by all kinds of hunters and are pretty cautious. They generally won’t come running into fields and decoys as confidently as they did in the early season. They will hang back and make sure the way is safe before proceeding. Because of that, you need to make absolutely sure you can hide from their keen eyesight – that’s always been a turkey hunting 101 lesson. Muddy® blinds are the way to go in this regard. Sure, you could still tuck into some heavy vegetation with some head-to-toe camouflage clothing. But this really limits your movement and can ruin your hunt when a silent gobbler sneaks up behind you and sees you reach for your turkey call.

Instead, set up you blind in a spot with high turkey traffic. If the turkeys in your hunting area are really suspicious birds, take some time to brush your blind in a little using natural vegetation from immediately around the blind. This small act can do wonders for making your blind completely disappear, even in a wide open field. Be sure to wear black clothing and maybe even black face paint when you hunt inside a blackout interior blind. No gobbler will see what’s coming for him. This approach is pretty much mandatory for turkey hunting with a bow due to the extra movement involved in raising and drawing it.

Late Season Turkey Calling

Spring turkey calling is a tricky thing because it changes so much from the beginning of the season to late season turkey hunting. As we mentioned, early season turkeys are pretty likely to come running into a series of hen yelps without too much prompting. But late season turkeys are a different breed and the conditions are very different. The hens have mostly been bred and the activity is dropping off fast. Consequently, there are fewer hens calling and those that are vocal are timider. So you have a few options:

You could completely rely on stealth and make no calls at all. This is a great option for areas with lots of turkey traffic and for surprising pressured turkeys. It feels like more of a deer hunt since it’s a complete ambush.
You could also try to keep your calling limited to a few soft hen yelps and cuts, followed by long pauses of at least a half an hour (unless you hear a turkey respond). If you hear a hen call to you, try to mimic her tone and cadence in response. If you hear a gobble, call back and try to read the excitement level. He may be excited and still come running over, or he may shut up and silently sneak closer. It’s a case by case basis.
If you get a gobbler that hangs up out of range and sight, but keeps gobbling back to your hen yelps, you may want to get mobile. Assuming you have some good camouflage clothing, silently sneak away from the gobbler, making a few calls along the way. Then set up for a shot, stop calling, and just listen. Sometimes, this simulated hen leaving him will make a gobbler change his mind and come running in hot pursuit of his lost opportunity.
Finally, if you notice gobblers starting to travel together in bachelor groups in the extreme late season, it might be time to give up the hen calls altogether. Toms may just be looking for other toms to hang out with for the summer and could respond better to a gobbler yelp than a hen yelp. Try letting out three slower, lower, and raspier yelps to simulate a tom instead of the faster, higher, and clean yelps of a hen.

To Decoy or Not to Decoy?

Whether or not you should use turkey decoys during your late-season turkey hunting is a tricky question. In some cases, even the best turkey decoys you’ve got just aren’t good enough. Taking the complete surprise approach by not using any decoys may be the right thing to do. Particularly for cautious birds, this is a smart move. Some toms might see a jake decoy and decide they don’t want to chance an encounter that could get them in another fight with their busted up bodies. Some toms might also see a hen decoy and decide they’ve seen enough hens that turn out to be less than real. In that case, they might hang up out of range and wait for the hen to come to them instead – it’s just a safer option for them.

But using decoys can still be effective for late season turkey hunting, on one condition: you may want to avoid using a jake decoy. It’s just a little too risky in the late season. Usually, the best approach for late season turkey hunting decoys is to just use a single hen about 15 to 20 yards from your ground blind. If a lonely gobbler stumbles on it, he’s bound to come check it out.

Turkey Decoy Strategies

For this year’s late season turkey hunting, consider your typical approach and how you could use the late spring turkey hunting tips above to put a gobbler on the ground.

Choosing the Best Turkey Hunting Ground Blind

April 12, 2017/0 Comments/in Get Muddy, Ground Blinds /by Muddy Outdoors

How to Choose and Use Turkey Hunting Ground Blinds

As the weather continues to warm and we keep hearing the cardinals chirp outside, most hunters’ thoughts are turning to turkey hunting. After all, it’s the next major event of the year that we look forward to, and it’s just around the corner! This imminent arrival means you’re probably getting your turkey decoys ready, practicing a few more mouth calls, and patterning your shotgun. But as you prepare for turkey season this spring, have you thought about turkey hunting ground blinds much? They’re used a lot for fall turkey hunting, simply because you can also deer hunt out of them. But their use for spring turkey hunting is a little more sporadic.

Maybe you’ve never used one before, but you have been eyeing them for a couple years. While some shotgun turkey hunters prefer to sit in the open and depend on their turkey hunting clothing while they hunt instead, ground blinds are almost necessary for bow hunting turkeys. Because turkeys have such amazing eyesight, more shotgun hunters are turning to turkey hunting ground blinds as well. They might not be as portable as moving your body alone, but the advantage of being completely unseen is often a better tradeoff for portability. It allows you to bring your kids along more easily (you know they can’t hold still for very long), and it grants you more freedom of movement to get ready for a shot. Provided you pick the right locations for them and take a few precautionary steps before you hunt, you’ll be impressed with the benefits of using a ground blind.

How to Choose a Hunting Blind

Convinced you need a ground blind for turkey hunting yet? Before you run to the store to put one in the back of your pickup, you need to realize one important thing: not all blinds are created equal. Some are cheaply made or poorly designed for specific hunting purposes. Others are just too bulky or don’t blend in the way they should. Take a moment to consider your turkey hunting opportunities and compare them to the major categories below. If a hunting blind meets these specific criteria, you are in business and ready for hunting.

Design/Size

First off, if the turkey hunting ground blinds you’re looking at simply aren’t big enough for you, you should pass on them. If you feel cramped inside a blind, you won’t want to hunt in it very long, which will usually limit your opportunities at bagging a bird. For bow hunters especially, having enough elbow room to draw your bow back stealthily is critical to it all working. Some people prefer shooting in a standing position, so you need to find one to fit that style of hunting. Additionally, you might want a hunting partner or camera gear to join you on a given hunt, which means you’ll need even more room. Finally, some hunting blinds just seem like they were made for anything but hunters in mind. For example, windows containing noisy Velcro or zippers are sure to spook game out of range in a split second. But windows with a silent hook release can be operated with only one hand while the other holds your weapon.

Camouflage Pattern

As we mentioned, wild turkeys have amazing eyesight and can spot the smallest little irregularities. That’s one of the advantages of hunting from a ground blind; it totally conceals your movements. But if your pop up turkey blind doesn’t blend in the way it should, it’s not really doing its job. You can (and should) always take steps to brush it in a little, even if it’s in a field setting. But that won’t hide poor designs or camouflage patterns; that would be like putting makeup on a pig. Try to get the most realistic pattern you can find so you don’t have to drastically alter the look of your turkey hunting ground blinds.

Weather Resistance

If your hunting ground blinds can’t stand up to the unpredictable spring elements, you’re out of luck. One of the advantages of using a turkey blind in the first place is to stay out of the weather, which could include sleet or rain, depending on where and when you hunt. If the blind is constructed poorly, it will likely leak through after only a little while and start raining inside too. Who wants to hunt in that?

Stability

Along with weather considerations, most hunters leave their turkey hunting ground blinds in the field for at least a few weeks. This allows time to get the turkeys acclimated to seeing it and also includes the actual hunting time you spend in it. During those few weeks, it will experience high winds, falling branches, wildlife encounters, and probably more than you even want to think about (particularly if it’s a brand new blind). But that’s just how it goes. So if your turkey hunting blinds can’t stay securely anchored or hold up to the abuse they are going to face, they probably won’t last very long.

What’s the Best Turkey Blind?

So now that you know what to look for in your turkey hunting ground blinds, it’s time to actually go buy one. But is it possible to combine all the attributes discussed above into a single option?

Ground Blind Options

Ground blinds come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and features. We pride ourselves in the fact that our blinds, tree stands, and hunting accessories are top notch quality, offering you the best products available for your hunting. We offer 3 Hub-style ground blinds, the Ravage, Redemption, and the VS360. We also offer up-in-comers in the world of both deer and turkey hunting, bale blinds. Both the Muddy Bale Blind and Muddy Portable Bale Blind offer the quality of blind needed for turkey hunting, in a better disguised package! All of the ground blinds feature a blackout interior with solid and durable exterior.

SHOP MUDDY GROUND BLINDS

How to Use Ground Blinds

Once you get your turkey blind out of the box at home, it’s time to consider how you’re going to use it to be the most effective turkey hunter you can be. While you could simply throw your blind up in the woods and potentially kill a turkey that same day, there are some other things you should think about first.

First, it usually helps to set your turkey hunting ground blinds up early so the turkeys and other wildlife have time to get used to it before you hunt them. Some birds don’t seem to care about or even notice blinds when they’re put up that day, but some definitely do. If you’re going to go hunting at all, why wouldn’t you eliminate any possible chance of being unsuccessful before it happens? In this case, it’s a very easy solution. If you hunt on private land, simply set up your ground blinds at least a week or two before your turkey season starts. That way, the normally wary birds among the flock should have settled down again and grown used to seeing it there. When they start to expect it, you will be all set to sneak into your blind and hunt. Depending on how discerning your local turkeys are, you may even want to leave the windows open so they get used to seeing the black shapes. If you keep them closed and they’re suddenly open when you go hunting, it will have the same effect as not having a blind there in the first place. If you hunt on public land, you don’t have much of a choice. Most public lands don’t allow you to leave ground blinds overnight. And for the places that do allow it, you run the risk of someone else stealing or destroying it when you’re not there. But as long as you’re setting up near some quality gobbler hot spots, you’ll still probably get a shot at one.

Before you hunt in your new ground blinds for turkey hunting, you may also want to consider a few concealment tips. First, you’ll want to get your brand new blind dirty. Literally. Slop some mud or dirt up on the walls and rub it around. But the goal is not to create a layer that hides your camouflage and makes you look like an earthen mound. Instead, you should wipe a thin layer around and brush most of it back off. This simple act helps cover up the slight sheen from new blind materials once the sun shines on it. Have you seen what dust can do to a shiny new car? It makes it look dull, right? That’s exactly what you want for camouflaged turkey hunting ground blinds.

After the blind is in place and mudded up, you should also take just a few moments to brush it in. No matter if you’re in the deep and thick timber or within an open, grassy field, it helps to surround the blind with some other natural vegetation to hide its outline. Lay lightweight branches against the sides of the blind and even on top as long as they’re not too heavy. Tuck tufts of grass and branches into any exterior crevices or around the windows. The whole idea is to make it blend in with the surrounding vegetation as much as possible, and nothing can help do that better than using some of that natural vegetation.

Using Turkey Hunting Ground Blinds This Spring

If any of this resonates with you, it’s probably time you start looking at adding a hunting blind to your turkey hunting gear. Using a blind, especially on turkeys, offers you a much better chance of success in the field; unless you choose a blind that falls short in the features we mentioned above. But if you pick a high-quality version that puts hunters’ interests first, you’ll wonder how you ever hunted without one before.