2017 spring turkey UT

powderhogg01

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Apr 9, 2017
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im going to be hunting the OTC spring turkey season here in utah. I have located some birds, they are on a very small piece of public land that is surrounded by private and state land. Over the past 2 weeks I have located the birds feeding in the morning up a hill from a patch of trees. I snuck in during mid day and was able verify that there is loads of turkey droppings under the trees, which makes sense as they are the only real trees for a ways, everything else is scrub oak.
I am fairly new to turkey, and sadly work 2 jobs currently, so having time to sneak out and scout is hard to come by.. with that I pose a few questions to the more experienced bird hunters out there. What would cause a the turkeys to leave this otherwise great location? assuming I am able to roost the birds the night before opener, how close to said roost trees should I set my decoys and ground blind? I have 2 weeks before the season opens, I set a camera up on the only access 2 weeks ago and as of last night, i'm the only human to enter this little zone.. plenty of deer coyote and a few turkeys on camera.
I will be using my bow, hunting from a makeshift ground blind.. the location I have chosen for the blind sits on a small point about 100 yards from the roost trees. tracks showed that it looks to me like the birds come from the tree, feed east then turn north and feed up a small cut in the scrub oak. I have set up the ground blind on the turn in a spot that gives me several shooting lanes but keeps me well concealed.
any thought, suggestions, advice would be greatly appreciated..
if it helps, the roost trees sit in the middle of a 100 yard meadow, the meadow has a small stream running through it past the trees down into a small holding pond. the meadow is surrounded by gentle up sloping hills, with a major highway to the west about 1/4 mile.
 
They may not leave.... its still early in the spring and they could disperse to areas with more feed. However, If your into the breeding season now down there...u should be...they most likely move too far. Once the hens start laying they have a pretty set routine they stick to. They could shift roost areas. Prob wont. Try not to bugger them and they should be there when the season opens. Hard to say not knowing what the county is like. Any idea how many toms? if its a big group with multiple toms and 10+ hens I would expect them to break into smaller groups.

Are u going to be calling them? ambush? Blinds are fine but they limit u in terms of moving. IF u get in there WELL befor light like pitch black dark, u can get really close. I would get within 100 yrds or closer. BUT a makeshift blind is another matter. U will need to be well concealed or they will pick u out fast.Most likely the tom will be 1st outa the tree and if your close enough he will come in when he sees the dekes.
 
thanks for the reply, as of last week they were still there. These birds are not hunted, as the property im hunting sits at the edge of a campground and there is no hunting on that side of the "fence". I am new to hunting turkey, not really sure the requirements for roosting, but as far as my scouting shows, these trees I found them roosting in are the only trees taller then 15 feet for a long ways. its just a lot of scrub oak. I have a groundblind built in about 100 yards from the roost on the general path I have seen the birds move before. Now that hens are likely on nests im sure some habits will change. I will have a few days to scout before the opener.. so hopefully I can figure out where the toms are landing.
As far as the numbers, its a few jakes, about 6 hens and 2 toms. at least thats what I have personally seen and counted
 
Sounds like your are set up pretty well. Get in early when you go to hunt. I like to try to be set up at least a half hour before morning twilight to give the woods time to settle down and hopefully forget any noise I made going in. The best advise I heard is give a couple of soft tree clucks and yelps when you hear them start to stir, if they respond then shut up until you know they are on the ground. At this point they know where the "hen" is. Once they are down, give a couple more soft yelps and purrs, again if they respond and sound like they are coming in stop calling, especially if you set up within 100 yards of the roost. Phutch30 is right, if you move much they will bust you. Remember what I told my daughter, from the time they come out of the egg pretty much everything in the woods is trying to kill them and eat them. They are very smart, but they are great at surviving.
 
thanks for the advice guys. I have been practing hard. I can make some really soft yelp reliably with the diaphragm now, thanks to some advice from elknut. Any other noise is not reliable enough to attempt in the woods, but I will have my back up push button which I can make purr super quiet, or my slate which can purr a bit louder..
I have already rigged most of the blind, I will cover its tops and rear with a ghilli tarp. the blind has 3 main shooting lanes, with the option on one more if the go around the corner. I am going to go tomorrow after work and clear out the floor space so its quiet in there
 
Well opening day came. I had the chance to meet up with a friend I have not seen in over 6 years and take him out for his first gobbler. We got out a bit later then I would have wanted, but got out in time to catch the birds as they left the roost. We fought hard to get above the birds and get set up, had a couple jakes come in but no tom's. We took a break for lunch then went to try a different ridge, thats when we heard a good gobble, we started off down the road in hopes of closing the distance on the gobbler when we spot a few birds crossing the road in front of us at about 40 yards. I decide its time to move, and we circle around and run up the mountain as though we were after a 350" bull. I spotted this small bench clearing in the oakbrush and set up 2 hens on feeding one alert. we slunked back into the bushes and I started calling. I got him in to about 20 yards when my friend let his 12 ga sing. eric.jpg
 
That is awesome. Thanks for sharing. My son and I just started hunting turkeys last year and it has been a blast. We weren't able to get out on opening day, but this has me excited to get out this weekend.
 
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