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Anyone plan on doing spring turkey this year? Turkey hunting seems like a fun challenge and I'd really like to try it, but I've never hunted before. I just finished hunter ed a few days ago (I'm 22). I've got a suitable shotgun, but no camo, calls, blind, etc. I live in Kittitas County. I've heard there's some decent turkey hunting around here, but I've also heard that it gets hit pretty hard. Driving across the state for one bird doesn't sound particularly appealing so I'd like to stay within an hour of here. Does anybody hunt turkey around here, or have any tips for success?
 
CuddlyBear,

I'm new to Spring Turk hunt also. I've found a good spot in Klickitat, County. Son will do the Youth hunt April 7 & 8. I'll get to shoot the next weekend. I'll keep watching this thread for any help & tips others may send your way.

For us, I've prepared with a call box, crow call to help locate them, camo stuff, ect... We're luck enough to have private property there to set up camp and leave it up. Went up last weekend and scouted, asking neighbors along the way. Several mentioned where they've seen them and I went searching in those areas. Met a rancher who invited us to start the season, for the 13 yr old, on his ranch! Love it! He had seen lots of turkey there for the past few weeks.

I got some help on this site from previous posts about turkey hunting. Other help just by talking turkey with the guys at work. Ask, search, prepare & scout! You'll get there. Good luck.

Bill
 
Thanks Bill. I was thinking about doing a scouting trip this weekend, maybe going up on Friday afternoon and camping out that night. I forgot about a call, I'll pick one of those up soon enough. What's a crow call? I've never heard of that.

I've never hunted before, so the idea of knocking on someone's door to ask permission to hunt is just a bit foreign to me. I have no idea what the etiquette is for something like that, or how I would be received around here. Most people I know who hunt do big game almost exclusively.
 
CuddlyBear,

A crow call, could also be an owl call, is a tool to help locate the turks. I read, in this forum, that they are used in the evening to get the turkeys to talk back when they hear the crow or owl. Then you know what direction to head in and locate where they are roosting in the trees. The next morning you can set up a decoy about 400 to 500 yds from them and start calling them down out of their roost. Gotta be early morning. I've never done this but sounded like solid advice from an experienced hunter.

Knocking on doors..... I don't do that. I'm kinda scared about that. You may suddenly be facing a shotgun up your nose. People live in the country for various reasons and one of those could be that they want to be alone. I only stop along side the road if I see someone outside. I'll usually give a wave and if I get a response, or they look approachable, I'll stop and introduce myself. Simply mention what your doing and ask if they know of any good hunting areas around. It's also good to know if they've seen any lately and/or if there are many other hunters in this area. In your case, it would be good to mention that this will be your first turkey hunt. People like to give a young person a little extra help. I usually don't ask to hunt their place, just ask about the area. If they are okay with letting hunters in, they'll let you know. If they don't offer, it doesn't hurt to ask. You'll find that country folk are very easy to talk to and they like to be of help. Try to find a way to mention your hunting ethics, such as, your respect for them, their land and their rules. How you never leave a mess, pick up your spent shells and always leave a gate the way you found it. If you follow through with your claims, you'll end up with a long term relationship that could lead to lots of great hunting adventures.

I might add another note; Ask one of you friends who hunt other game to come with you. They wouldn't have to shoot but would be a great help with general hunting skills.

Good luck and Have a great time!

Bill
 
At least up here where I live, last spring was exceptionally wet and a there was little breeding success. I remember seeing a whole brood of chicks, too young to fly, in August! That hen's first brood must of all died because of the weather.

Anyway, haven't seen any Turkeys up here yet, this spring. We should start hearing them soon though. Wish they would let you shoot Turkeys with a pistol, or .22 rifle like you can with grouse. Much nicer to just hit them in the head and not have to think about shot in the meat.
 
Very true. It would be nice, but we would probably end up with too many folks thinking they were snipers with their 10/22's and either missing or wounding birds. I'm planning on doing some scouting this weekend around where I plan to hunt. We'll see how this goes.
 
Very true. It would be nice, but we would probably end up with too many folks thinking they were snipers with their 10/22's and either missing or wounding birds. I'm planning on doing some scouting this weekend around where I plan to hunt. We'll see how this goes.

You "wound" a turkey in the head...it is dead. Yes ago I was coming home through the woods and flushed up a grouse. The grouse landed in a tree and hugged the trunk as they like to. This would have been an easy shot with a shotgun, but I had a Colt 38 cal revolver. Took aim, and the shadows hid the bird, brought the gun down, located the bird in the shadows again and took aim. Did this several times because I wanted a head shot. I finally lined up on shadows and dropped the hammer. Grouse falls out of the tree, and I went over, picked it up and carried it home. When I was cleaning it I looked for where it had been hit, and found only some split skin on the back of the head, but the bird was dead, and I didn't loose ANY meat.
 

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