Turkey Hunting Newbie

SamonChris4570 · Oct 17, 2025

My young daughter wants to Turkey hunt on the central Oregon coast. We are completely new to this. I'm wondering where to hunt? The odfw map is not very clear and I'm trying to figure out where to go to get her started. I don't want anyone's honey hole, just general vicinity. I may stop by the odfw office and see if they have a better map for me. Any info is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

thorborg · Oct 17, 2025

Need to learn to strike the box, (turkey call) really not difficult. Turkeys can travel an amazing distance throughout the day. They don't stay in one area long, always on the move. Unless you are lucky enough to find their roosting tree near sunup sundown or know of an overloaded area near farms. Turkey's will usually respond to calls, one method is to find a likely area, make your call, wait for a response, try again in a little while, if in 20 minutes or so no response, no turkeys, drive to another area and repeat waiting for some reply to your call, if you get one, hide your self, they have amazing eyesight make no noise but especially movement, and sporadically draw them in with the call. Too much calling can ruin the enticement. Lots of online stuff to view on calling. Some good, bad and weird, but by viewing several you'll get the gist soon enough. Toms usually loners, respond to certain calls looking for hens, Hens respond looking for buddies they can gossip with or helping wonderers find their way back to the pack.
There are also many good books available. One I found helpful many years ago was;
Hunting the Wild Turkey; Tom Turpin

Good luck.

Capn Jack · Oct 17, 2025

Fun to hunt, but tough to eat. Good flavor, but more bones than a carp.

I tried to contain my turkey hunting to Safeway, but after my first shot, they called the cops and threw me out.

SamonChris4570 · Oct 17, 2025

thorborg said:
Need to learn to strike the box, (turkey call) really not difficult. Turkeys can travel an amazing distance throughout the day. They don't stay in one area long, always on the move. Unless you are lucky enough to find their roosting tree near sunup sundown or know of an overloaded area near farms. Turkey's will usually respond to calls, one method is to find a likely area, make your call, wait for a response, try again in a little while, if in 20 minutes or so no response, no turkeys, drive to another area and repeat waiting for some reply to your call, if you get one, hide your self, they have amazing eyesight make no noise but especially movement, and sporadically draw them in with the call. Too much calling can ruin the enticement. Lots of online stuff to view on calling. Some good, bad and weird, but by viewing several you'll get the gist soon enough. Toms usually loners, respond to certain calls looking for hens, Hens respond looking for buddies they can gossip with or helping wonderers find their way back to the pack.
There are also many good books available. One I found helpful many years ago was;
Hunting the Wild Turkey; Tom Turpin

Good luck.

Thanks so much for all the info and will do the above! Any advice on call brand, etc?

Tlock · Oct 17, 2025

Capn Jack said:
Fun to hunt, but tough to eat. Good flavor, but more bones than a carp.
I tried to contain my turkey hunting to Safeway, but after my first shot, they called the cops and threw me out.

I think they have the same amount of bones as a pen raised turkey......

Koda · Oct 17, 2025

Tlock said:
I think they have the same amount of bones as a pen raised turkey......

odd, I buy boneless chicken and turkey meat at the store all the time....

lol, I kid I kid.

Koda · Oct 17, 2025

SamonChris4570 said:
My young daughter wants to Turkey hunt on the central Oregon coast. We are completely new to this. I'm wondering where to hunt?

First thing I would do is learn if there are even any wild turkeys on the coast, Ive never heard of any except I think near Gold Beach. Most of these reports come from word of mouth, hunting forums. ODFW would be worth calling and talking to a local biologist. Most wild turkeys in western Oregon are hunted around Sutherland to the Cali border in the valley, typically adjacent or on private land, ranches etc. BLM maps would be a good start for finding public land adjacent to private.
As for the central coast area itself, buy a Siuslaw National Forest map and go scouting. Plenty of public land out there.

Capn Jack · Oct 17, 2025

BUTTER BALLS FOREVER !

thorborg · Oct 17, 2025

SamonChris4570 said:
Thanks so much for all the info and will do the above! Any advice on call brand, etc?

Not really, Most I've seen are paddle boxes but not used one. Mine is a two piece wood and bone that was home made by a family friend, I've never seen another like it. had no need to use anything else. I'm no longer able so haven't been in the woods for a couple years now. I gave it to my son in law. I'm told they are easy to learn. Maybe look for one that comes with a source of call sound, either on line or maybe a tape or zip drive, you can listen to and copy as you practice.
I found this online but there are many others.
https://www.nwtf.org/content-hub/the-sounds-of-the-wild-turkey (I don't know how to link so cut and paste in your browser.
Roseburg, the surrounding area and along the lower Umpqua have plenty, I've taken them in the Wallowa's, The Dalles, and outer hood river area, Seen them but not hunted on the east side of the coastal range, up the Deschutes and in the Ochocos
The really hard part if you have no access to private property is finding public land that have turkeys.Most I've been to have small flocks of ten or less here and there. The biggest flocks I've seen are on private lands with grain fields around or near. but public lands with grain fields within 20 miles are a reasonable bet too.

Joe13 · Oct 17, 2025

Get OnX for a week and don't upgrade it. Wait a week and they will give you a "special" deal.

Helps a lot with where you can and can't hunt.

Oh, and shoot them in the head…