Turkey season is approaching fast; are you ready? Does the time of day, calling, and location matter when you’re hunting turkeys? We’ve got some tips and tactics below that will factor into a successful turkey hunt for you and your Stump blind this spring turkey season.

1. Time of Day

One of the most tried and true times to turkey hunt is early in the morning, right as the turkeys are coming down from the roost, usually before 8. When tom and jake turkeys first come down from the roost, they’re not over pressured from other hunters yet and they’re ready to look for hens, which means responding to hen calls or other tom and jake sounds. Your calls and decoys could be just what they’re looking for first thing in the morning.

If you’re not an early riser, you could still have plenty of success later in the day. During mid-morning to afternoon hours, the turkeys will start seeking out food and go about their daily routines. This is where you can focus on the trails between their roosting site and any food plots.

As the afternoon wears on they will start to take dust baths, so look for open, dusty areas where they can take care of their skin care routine.

Legal hunting hours in Minnesota are one half hour before sunrise to sunset.

2. Calling

Start conservatively with calling. You don’t want to blow your cover right off the bat with aggressive calling that the turkeys will immediately identify as fake. Increase the volume and frequency if nobody is answering your call. A few call sessions an hour should be enough.

3. Location

Turkeys tend to roost in the same general area, only moving bit-by-bit every night. Sometimes they will even return to the same tree. If you can pattern which tree they’ll be in, you can set up near that site the next morning to catch them when they fly down. You can also scout out food plots, as mentioned above.

4. How Often

You can, of course, hunt turkeys every day of the turkey season if you want, until you fill your tag. That said, you should try to switch up your tactics every few days if you see they’re not working. For example, try using a specific turkey decoy for a few days and if it doesn’t get any hits, change gears to another decoy or focus more on calling.

5. Food

Turkeys like grains, insects, fruits and nuts, so try to scope out areas that provide these types of food.

It’s important to note that there is a new regulation here in Minnesota for the spring turkey hunting season. The Minnesota DNR states, “As a result of a legislative change last session, ground blinds on public land must have a blaze orange safety covering on top of the blind that is visible from all directions or a patch made of blaze orange that is at least 144 square inches (12×12 inches) on each side of the blind.” So make sure you adhere to these guidelines and adorn your blind with blaze orange when you take your Stump blind out for the first turkey hunt of the season.

What tactics do you use for a successful turkey hunt? Let us know in the comments below!

 

 

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