Home on the Range #038 – Turkey Hunting to Supplement your Freezer

In this week’s edition of “Home on the Range,” we’re going to take a look at how spring turkey hunting can be a great supplement to your freezer as far as protein goes. Plus we are going to delve into some of the tactics you can use in order to lure a big gobbler into your decoy set. Some tactics never change while other more modern ones you may or may not want to try.

“Home on the Range” Series Coverage on AllOutdoor

Welcome to our reoccurring series of “Home on the Range.” Here, we would like to share all of our experiences for those who may be homesteading, living off the land, hunting, farming, ranching, and truly investing in nature and the great outdoors. The ability to provide for yourself and your family can be tremendously rewarding and simultaneously difficult at times. So, in “Home on the Range” we want to share our different exploits so you can learn and hopefully we can receive your feedback along the way as well.

Spring Turkey Hunting

Turkey hunting is like many game we chase in the woods where it is either… slam dunk, shootin’ fish in a barrel easy… or… this is impossible even if I had a turkey magnet. The nice thing about turkey hunting though is that you do not need a lot of expensive gear to get started. Take it from someone who was been hunting turkeys for over 20 years. I have harvested big Toms wearing blue jeans, no camo, a bead-sight shotgun, and making gawd awful turkey noises with my mouth. Conversely, I have had $1,000 of the latest camouflage clothing, an industry leading blind, the best decoys imaginable, and a shotgun I patterned for 60 yards yet turkeys scoffed at my feeble attempts to draw them in.

After many years of hunting, I have distilled down my list of gear that I carry out into the woods to a few, select items. This way I can be mobile if the turkeys fly down from their nighttime roost and they are not headed my way. I can get up, pack my things, and re-position myself in a more advantageous spot. So, although you might be inclined to bring too much gear; fight the urge. You can often do more with less. This is my list of turkey hunting must-haves:

Slate Call (Call, Striker, and Abrasion Pad)
Shotgun (4 Shells in the Tube, 1 in the Chamber)
Decoy/s (Normally 1 Tom and 1 Hen; 1 Hen alone would also do fine)

You might notice that I left a lot of stuff out others might take. For one, I don’t bring a full box of shotgun shells in addition to a loaded shotgun. In all my years of hunting, I have never shot at a turkey more than once and I have never missed. That isn’t a humble brag. Simply, you should be extremely selective of whether you take a shot or not. Before you pull the trigger, you should know the outcome: success/hit or failure/injury/miss. If you believe the latter could possibly occur, don’t shoot. That’s what being a responsible hunter and a good steward of the animals is all about. Thus, one shell is typically enough, and if you flat out miss, you might as well call it a day. No turkey is going to run out in front of you after the BANG! of your shotgun rattles the forest floor.

I also don’t bring with a chair or hunting blind. I simply sit on the ground against a tree. This might be something that only younger hunters can get away with (my injured back is pretty tired after a good 6-hour morning sit), but leaving that extra gear home, again, makes me more agile, adaptable to change, and quicker getting out to my spot in the dark.

While I tout not bringing a lot of gear into the woods, it can often be beneficial to bring a few modern accessories with. I still recommend small items – anything you can carry on your person – whether it is stuffing your packs or an incredibly light backpack. If you feel like you are doing a weighted military ruck to your hunting spot, you’re bringing too much with.

Laser Rangefinder (LRF)
Cellphone
Snacks
Binoculars

All of those aforementioned items can fit in your pocket, or if you prefer, a light backpack. A laser rangefinder (LRF) can be helpful in knowing if a bird is in range to make a safe, humane shot. Binoculars are good in determining if those are turkeys 3oo yards away (urging you to re-position yourself), or if they are just the neighbors guineafowl pecking away in a field. A cellphone can often be an unwanted distraction – but if used as a tool – it can give you weather reports, dusk/dawn (legal shooting hour times), and maps to ensure you aren’t trespassing on land you shouldn’t be on. As far as snacks, well, who doesn’t love snacks?…

We tell you all of this to let you know that the “barrier for entry” to turkey hunting is very low; anyone can do it. You don’t need a $1,000 shotgun (mine is 20+ years old and cost $200)… you don’t need an ATV, RV, and 100 acres of hunting land (I’ve filled more tags on public land than private in my lifetime)… and you get more meat than you think. The breast meat from a wild, healthy turkey is absolutely huge!

So, while pheasant and waterfowl hunting gets a lot of press and followers, you need to harvest half a dozen or more of those birds to get the same amount of meat that you get from one turkey (and this is only the turkey’s breasts). When you add in thighs and legs, you have a lot of meat for yourself or your family. It is organic, free-range, no chemicals, and healthy for you. What more could you hope for?

So, if you have ever been hesitant to try turkey hunting, we implore you to give it a shot! You don’t need a lot of accessories or equipment. You don’t even need to own land. You can hunt public land if there is not a lot of pressure from other hunters. Or, you can always politely knock on doors of private land owners. Most land owners would be glad to let someone hunt if they ask. Too many people trespass and give hunters a bad reputation. Be polite and that’ll get your hunting career a long ways. As always, let us know all of your thoughts in the Comments below! We always appreciate your feedback.

Adam Scepaniak