[tb]

Aren't the guys on this website a little one-dimensional? There's a lot more to hunt in the nodakoutdoors than black geese, and turkeys are a gas in spring and fall if you HUNT them, and don't just whack the first one you see.

 

[Miller]

Welcome tb. :beer:
I know a lot of hunters and none of them turkey hunt.I was never introduced to turkey hunting until recently,and I'm still a novice.I've only hunted them in the fall, but always wanted to try the spring when they respond to calls.With so many ways to get spoiled here you can sometimes get hooked on one style or another.

What time of spring is best and what type of call do you use?What time do the birds leave the roost?

 

[tb]

I'm certainly no expert, but I think the later the spring season goes, the "hotter" the Toms get. The hens get bred off one by one and start nesting. The fewer hens around the better. I use a box call or a slate call. I have a Frictionwood caller from Kenny Morgan that I like a lot. You can find his website by doing a Google search. Turkeys will come off the roost when its light enough for them to feel safe on the ground. On a clear day, there's a lot of action about 15 minutes before sunrise. By sunrise, I think most of them are off the roost.

 

[nodakoutdoors.com]

I've applied with no luck the past couple years....maybe with the points I'll finally get one in my zone this year.

I've seen turkey hunting about a million and one times on TV, I spose it's time to experience it for real.

I've played with box calls and found them to be real easy up front. I've even practiced with a mouth call but mastering that won't be this spring that's for sure.

I know of some roosts, and I think the first way I'll approach them is to get them en route to their feeding field.

Have you ever used a decoy? I'm wondering if it would help pull the toms away.

 

[tb]

The purists don't like decoys, but I think they help, especially with the younger birds. I've been using a hen and a jake, or just a hen alone. A wise old gobbler can hang up on a decoy out of range. Or he might come running in, you never know.

 

[nodakoutdoors.com]

Trial and error......

Sounds like my kind of hunting. I can't wait to finally give 'er a good run. (it's my year to get drawn :sniper: 8) )

 

[tb]

I've been reading your posts on this site and others for a while and believe me, this is your type of hunting. If the truth were known, my main thing is hunting waterfowl. A buddy of mine turned me on to spring turkeys about 5 years ago. Its a gas. I generally spend the evening before a hunt scouting birds and locating the area they will use for a roost. Then, I get set up about 45 minutes before sunrise and try to call them in. Its a lot like decoying anything, except there's a little more of a "trophy" atmosphere about it.

 

[Qwack]

If you are the type of hunter who gets a thrill from calling ducks or geese to a spread, then you will love it when you can get a spring tom to come to your turkey call. The first time I called a turkey in, I thought I was going to have a heart attack--reminded me of how I felt the first few times I called geese into the decoys. I recommend the MAD aluminum slate calls. I think decoys depend on your hunting situation. If you are in an open area, dekes can help. If you are in the thick woods, by the time the tom can see the dekes, he is in range. Also, be careful using decoys if you are on public land or areas where there might be other hunters. I can always get toms to answer me from their roost but I've only had them come all the way in later in the morning, after they have dropped their hens. From what I have read, the toms call from their roost to get the hens to come to them. If they get a hen to come in, they really don't have a reason to come to your call.

 

[Decoyer]

I have also been applying, but getting a tag in eastern ND seems to be very diffecult. I would really like to get into it, for me I like hunting anything I can decoy or call in.

 

[GooseBuster3]

Snow geese still over rule, but if they keep doing the same great white fly by again, im heading out west for turkeys. Every time I apply out by Watford City I draw a tag. But i never drive out there, due to being to busy. Plus that is a long trip for a damn turkey.

 

[hunt4life]

Turkey hunting is one of the few things that you can hunt where you stand a good chance of being welcomed by landowners when you ask for permission to hunt. The landowners seem to want to get them thinned out and they welcome the hunters assistance in many cases.

Hunting pressure in the spring is usually low and it is very relaxing, until the toms start coming in! That is a rush!

 

[Dan Bueide]

tb, SSSHHHHHHHH, what's up with letting the word out on the gobblers. If Chris and the rest of the avid hunters on this site ever finally try it, you and I will never get a license.

Seriously, anybody who loves waterfowling will also love turkeys. Scouting, patterning, concealing, set-up, decoys and calling all closely related, just different terain and techniques.

Have hunted them for ten straight springs in four different states. Don't care much for the fall hunting, but it's a great way to spend time outdoors when the world is just starting to wake up again in the spring.

Working a long beard for a half-hour and finally drawing him into the decs in full strut - it just don't get any better than that.

 

[prairie hunter]

Best action around in the spring. I prefer mouth diaphram calls.
+) lots of product variety for sound
+) hands are free. No hand movement while calling.
+) rain (or snow) does not wet the chaulk or the strike plate.
+) easy to practice while driving around town. Just don't swallow that
call.

I have hunted turkeys in several states. MN splits their season into 7 or 8 separate 5 day seasons to allow more hunters out. Wisconsin and Iowa also have split time seasons for spring turkey. The birds can handle the hunting pressure and the split seasons spread out the hunters. Of course when your five days come up - you go no matter the weather.

MN is a fairly easy to draw a license if you pick later seasons. Try for the first three seasons and you may wait a year or two.

Maybe that would be a solution for more eastern ND hunters to chase turkeys in eastern ND. Split the current unit 37 & 40 seasons into two separate seasons (early and late). In eastern ND, I have to believe that the amount of available hunting areas (hunter density) has as much to do with number of permits issued as bird populations. Sheyenne river bottoms carry a lot of turkeys, but can only support so much hunting pressure at once.

Wish ND had a very small, limited NR draw. My brother's farm typically holds anywhere from 50 - 100 turkeys. See them in the hills everyday we are returning from our waterfowl or pheasant hunts. His phone number becomes pretty popular about 5 days before the ND spring season opens.