Scouting before the season can ensure you have the best hunting blind location for turkeys.

Turkey Hunting Blind Tips: Choosing the Right Area

Turkeys have incredible vision – no surprise to any seasoned hunter. That makes concealment a vital aspect to bagging a gobbler. While donning camouflage from head to toe is usually enough to keep you hidden, any small movement can blow your cover. However, using a hunting blind ensures you stay out of sight and hunt in comfort.

Figuring out the best hunting blind for you comes down to your needs. Do you also deer hunt? Will you be bowhunting and using a firearm? Do others, like your kids, hunt with you? If your answer to all of the above is yes, then a Banks blind will provide you with a scent-free, weather-proof and noise-dampening option that you can hunt in year round. Choose the Scout model for a blind that is mobile and on the ground. With a ski base and rigid hitch, moving your blind from place to place has never been easier. Turkeys are always on the move and you may want a hunting blind that is mobile too. The ski base attached to the blind enables you to tow it around your property with a truck, ATV or tractor.

Choosing the best hunting blind is only the first step. You’ll also undoubtedly have questions about where to set it up and how to attract turkeys. Scouting is the best way to determine these things because hunting from a blind makes you less mobile. You’ll want to know that turkeys frequent an area before sticking a blind there.

Locate the Roost

Before the season starts, locate roosts. Listen for gobbling and yelping when they fly down to see where they’re spending time on the ground. Turkeys are not graceful fliers and they make all kinds of ruckus when they take flight.

While scouting at midday, use an owl or crow call to locate any additional gobbles while you determine which direction he is heading to strut – it will likely be a feeding area. If you are hunting a large tract of land, drive the roads around it and occasionally get out and listen for any gobbling while also glassing fields. If your hunting grounds are smaller, listen from elevated terrain.

Hone in on Food Sources

Set up your blind where you’ve spotted hens feeding. They will normally feed in the middle of a field, a pasture or a wooded ridge top. These open areas are fantastic spots to hunt on rainy days. The rain brings out insects, which are an integral part of a turkey’s diet.

Find Dusting Areas

Locate dusting areas, identifiable by loose soil or depressions in the earth where turkeys kick dust over themselves to keep clean. A blind near a dusting area is an excellent ambush spot. Gobblers will frequent these areas in the late-morning and mid-afternoon.

Once you determine roosting locations, feeding areas, mid-day hangouts and evening routes back to the roosting locations, it simply becomes a matter of connecting the dots. If you have multiple blinds, set one up in each turkey hangout for the sake of having more options. If you are limited, pick the best spots that coincide with what time of day you will be hunting.

Photo Credit Don McCullough

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