Gobblers Playing the Game in Midwest, Plains and Northeast

Gobblers across the northern U.S. region have been acting aggressively, and most hunters are reporting solid results with calling and decoys. Image by Clayton Worrell

In last week’s Strut Report, I wrote that I’d be bowhunting 200 yards from a roost with an aggressive jake decoy over a breeding hen decoy during Wisconsin’s Time Period A. I hunted my land on opening morning, and two toms were firing off in the fog. They were really getting hot when another hunter — I didn’t know he was on my neighbor’s property — blasted one of them.

Those were the only two gobblers that were frequenting my land, so I pivoted to plan B. I drove around and noticed three toms pestering two jakes on a different neighbor’s land, a few miles away. I called and got hunting permission.

DON’T MISS: Terrible Weather Turkey Hunting

The following morning, I positioned a blind 125 yards from the suspected roost site. The roosted birds were very talkative. The flock flew down and congregated about 120 yards away in the corner of the field I was overlooking. There were five toms, six jakes and several hens. I fired them up with some aggressive cuts and yelps. Three jakes split off and spent 20 minutes in the decoys, nudging my jake and mounting the hen. Eventually, they moved off 40 yards and hung tight.

I cranked up the mouth calls again, and three toms finally peeled off the flock. I thumped the lead strutter at 11 yards with my bow as he hovered over my decoy. When he tipped over eight yards from where I’d hit him, two toms and a few jakes paraded around him. The morning delivered everything you could hope for in an early-season hunt. A day later, tornadoes and pouring rain hit, followed by freezing temperatures. But the temperatures have risen back to seasonal proportions, which should provide great hunting this week.

DON’T MISS: How to Find the Best Turkey Hunting Setups

Fellow Realtree scribe Brian Lovett recently took a Sunflower State gobbler while hunting at Triple H Outfitters near Lincoln, Kansas, with some friends from Woodhaven Custom Calls. “The turkey numbers are tremendous; gobblers and jakes,” Lovett detailed. “Birds are gobbling well and really coming to the calls. Our group has had some great afternoon hunts and fly-down hunts. It’s a great year to hunt in Kansas, and next year should be excellent, too.”

While some of the northeastern states’ turkey openers are still about a week out, Realtree Pro-Staffer Anthony Virga was out with Realtree videographer Hunter Hemmings and another buddy, Jasen Berkowitz, for the New Jersey opener on Monday. Not only did they put a gobbler down, but the New Jersey timber is nice and green, and the birds are reportedly doing their thing.

“The gobbling was the best I’ve heard on the limb in the 30 years I’ve been hunting for Easterns,” Virga said. “The barometric pressure was perfect, and we had a cold snap of 39 degrees with clear, sunny conditions. The gobblers were very vocal on the limb, and even after flying down for a bit. We’re seeing big flocks of birds still.”

Realtree pro-staffer Tim Andrus recently bagged this beautiful Merriam’s gobbler in Montana.

Way out west, Tim Andrus, host of Rush Outdoors TV, recently anchored a Merriam’s gobbler on an irrigated alfalfa field along a prominent river bottom in the Big Sky State. “The turkeys in Montana are very vocal on the roost,” he said. “They’re still flocked up a touch. My bird came in strutting to about 70 yards, and then he walked in the rest of the way silently. He didn't really like my strutter and feeding hen decoys.”

The 10-day forecast shows mixed temperatures and weather across the northern half of the U.S. It looks like the West will see some cooler temperatures, and the Midwest will be seasonal to slightly warmer than seasonal. The Northeast should be mostly seasonal with some precipitation in the mix. All said, it should be a good week for calls and decoys, and if the fly-down hunt doesn’t produce, don’t overlook the late mornings and afternoons, as satellite gobblers are likely to be bouncing between flocks looking for wayward hens.