How to Hunt the 4 Phases of Spring Turkey Season

During peak breeding, gobblers will likely be henned up and difficult to call for the first few hours of daylight. Midmorning is the prime time to yelp one up. Photo by Clayton Worrell.

You know deer behave differently as the rut ramps, peaks and wanes from October through December. Same thing with turkeys, though their breeding season lasts some 75 days and has four distinct phases from March through May. Tailor your hunting and calling skills to each phase to tag more gobblers. Dates mentioned here are approximate given a seasonal weather pattern in each region.

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PHASE 1: FLOCKS AND PRE-BREEDING

When: March 5 through 20 in the South, from South Carolina to Texas (Zone 1); March 20 to April 4 in central states, from Virginia to Kansas (Zone 2); April 4 through 19 in the North to the Canada border (Zone 3).

Bird Behavior: Some winter flocks of longbeards, jakes and hens still travel together. Toms gobble mostly on the roost. Hens are vocal, yelping and cutting. Gobblers fly down and strut behind hens. The movement of flocks is fairly predictable. Toward the end of this phase, older gobblers begin to split up and roost alone or in pairs.

Tactics: When seasons open across Zone 1 in the South, many gobblers and hens still roost together. At daybreak, slip close to a gobbler’s roost, set up and yelp softly. When birds fly down, call more aggressively, but don’t overdo it. Run several types calls to mimic multiple hens. Try to fire up and irritate a flock’s lead hen. She might come with a longbeard in tow.

Spring seasons in zones 2 and 3 are not open yet, but it’s time to scout your hunting areas. Walk and look for tracks and scratching. Listen from various locations at daybreak to find areas where gobblers roost.

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PHASE 2: PEAK GOBBLING AND BREEDING

When: March 20 to April 5 (Zone 1); April 1 to 15 (Zone 2); April 15 to May 10 (Zone 3).

Bird Behavior: Flocks split for good. As gobblers compete for hens, spur-slashing fights sometimes break out. Dominant toms strut with harems and breed as many hens as they can. Gobbling at sunrise ranges from bombastic from lonely longbeards and subdominant 2-year-olds to spotty (older birds roosted with several hens). Hens begin to sneak off and lay eggs each morning a couple of hours after flydown. Expect an early morning lull as birds breed. Gobbling should pick back up after 9:30 a.m.

Tactics: Henned-up gobblers can be tough to call off the roost and for the first two hours after dawn. Some breeding hens call aggressively. Try to mock them with spirited, raspy yelps and cutting. Midmorning is prime time to call in a gobbler. Crow call and hen cutt to locate toms, especially those lonely subordinate males. Strike one, and he might zoom in.

PHASE 3: NESTING TIME

When: April 5 through 20 (Zone 1); April 15 to May 1 (Zone 2); May 2 through 18 (Zone 3).

Bird Behavior: Hens that are still receptive breed with gobblers and leave them quickly each morning. Most hens sit for long periods on their nests. Lonely toms gobble hard and might stay on the roost longer than usual each day. Toms strut in fields and other open spots where they can see and be seen by hens.

Tactics: Sneak tight to a tom’s limb, but don’t call too much until he flies down. Then cut loose clucks and yelps and maybe a cutt or two. He might run over you. At midday, try to elicit shock gobbles from birds with a crow call or high-pitched cutting on a box. Or go to spots where you’ve seen gobblers strut before, set up and cold call for an hour or two. There’s a good chance a longbeard will hear you, and he might strut in. Where permitted, cutt-and-run hunting in the afternoon can be awesome.

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PHASE 4: POST-RUT

When: April 19 to May 1 (Zone 1); May 3 through 18 (Zone 2); May 18 to June 3 (Zone 3).

Bird Behavior: Breeding is just about done. Gobblers travel from fields to oak ridges and other strut zones where they hooked up with hens weeks earlier. Some toms roar as they move around; others seem gobbled out and strut quietly. Hens feed and dust in fields, old roadbeds and low-grass burns near their nesting areas.

Tactics: At the tag end of your season, try to pattern a tom by his walking gobbles as he travels between strut zones. Call around fields, clearcuts and other hen nesting spots where longbeards strut nearby. Soft clucks and feeding purrs along with scratching in the leaves can be deadly. But if you get lucky and run across a bird still gobbling his head off, don’t be afraid to crank up your yelping. Blinds, decoys and long sits can work well now. It takes patience and fortitude to punch your last tag, but you can do it. Good luck.