Setting up to hunt

Turkeys don’t like to fly at night, so the best time to get set up for your hunt is either right before dark the day before your hunt. Or before daylight the day of your hunt.

Once you’ve located a tom, either seeing it or by hearing it gobble, it’s time to make a plan. The goal is to get close enough to call in a tom, without letting him know you’re there.

Be in place before daylight

If you’ve been out the night before and used a locator call to find a tom on his roost, get to your designated setup spot 30-minutes before legal shooting time the following morning. If you’re hunting from a ground blind, try to set it up the night before so in the morning you can just sneak in.

If you haven’t located a tom the night before, you’ll want to be out before daylight the next morning to locate a tom while he’s still on his roost. Use a locator call to locate a bird. Once you’ve found a turkey, quickly decide where to set up and get there fast! You’ll want to be in place and set up before daylight to avoid spooking the turkey.

Be stealthy

If you accidentally make some noise while getting to your location and setting up, settle into your spot quickly and sit silently. Even if you haven’t made noise, letting an area settle down for 15 minutes or so once you’ve set up is a good rule.

You want to get to your hunting site without being seen by a turkey. Move while it’s still dark, avoid crossing open areas and use available cover to hide your movement.

Set up strategically

If you’re hunting with a shotgun, be sure and set up at the base of a tree that’s wider than your shoulders – this will help hide your silhouette. Pick a spot where a turkey has a clear approach lane to your location. Arrange your calls beside you for easy access. A thick cushion will let out sit comfortably for a longer time.

If you’re hunting from a ground blind, you’ll also position it where a turkey has a clear approach lane.

Turkeys like traveling along the path of least resistance, so setting up near trails, around openings with few impediments, or even near fields or meadows, will increase the chances a turkey approaches your calling site. Adding a decoy will also motivate a tom to cover some ground.

If it’s windy, set up with the wind at your back so the wind can carry your calls toward the turkey. Turkeys are not sensitive to smell so it’s better to have the wind carrying your call to the turkey, then to have it carrying the turkey’s call to you.

Settle in and stay still

Once at your calling location, get your gear organized and at hand. With their excellent vision, turkeys are easily spooked by movement. You’ll want to have your weapon and calls where you can reach them easily.

For example, if you’re using a pot call, arrange the strikers on the ground next to you. Lean them on a stick, tips up, so they don’t get wet or dirty. Have your box calls next to you, not buried in a pack or vest. If you’re using diaphragm calls, have one in your mouth and keep the others within easy reach.

Sometimes a tom will start approaching and then stop coming in for no apparent reason. This is referred to as a bird that’s "hung up." If a tom hangs up beyond shooting range, try varying your calls to bring him in. It’s not uncommon to go through a dozen or more different sounds to get a turkey to come to you. Being able to reach these calls without a turkey seeing you move is important.

When a turkey is in sight, don’t move until the turkey moves out of sight, puts its head down or has moved so its head is behind a fanned tail.

If you still can’t get the tom to come in, come back to hunt him another day. Maybe from a different angle. There are lots of reasons a tom may hang up, and not all of them are the fault of the hunter. When this happens come back another day or head to another hunting location and start over.