Teach me how to hunt steep creeks and drains

[RiverRoost]

Hunted some new ground this weekend that is mostly 6-700 ft ridges and every one falls off to creeks or drainages. Tips on how you hunt the ones that are roosted down in these drainage and creeks, roughly 150-200ft elevation change from the field edges. Get down in there with them and choose a"knoll" or ridge slope down to the drainage and hope they walk up that way? Most of this stuff was steep all around and couldn't tell any flat openings down in the creek/drainage flows where they would pitch down and hang around in. I hunt 100% flat ground where I'm from so this was a learning curve for me.

[davisd9]

They will pitch across. Got to find the easier ground to walk. We hunted a similar place and they roosted across the river and pitched across to logging roads going around the ridges. You could also find areas that were not as steep that they would use to move. Going to have to take time to figure out their routes and make moves. Chess matches are fun.


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[KYTurkey07]

I would spend some time there before season figuring out how they move through the area. I've come to learn this is part of the fun of chasing turkeys, putting the puzzle together. It's amazing how well adapted they can get to different areas and sometimes they break the rules in their behavior or travel.

[shaman]

My farm is a series of steep ravines with finger ridges between.  The very top of the ridges are cleared, and the rest is woodland.  When I first started hunting it, I though the turkeys would head towards the bottom, and that is where I hunted.  Yes, they were roosting near the bottom, but they pitched down to the uphill side of the trees and did most of their morning feeding in the fields at the top.

What I learned to do was go out early and sit well away from the roosts.  I'd call a bit at flydown, but the big show was 2 hours later when they came out in the fields to feed. 

[silvestris]

Just remember that when you go down there, you have to climb back out.  Much better when you can call them out to the top.

[GobbleNut]

Just remember that when you go down there, you have to climb back out.  Much better when you can call them out to the top.

  Ah, yes. And such considerations tend to be more important the older we get! 

On a more serious note, the fact is that turkeys are gonna do what turkeys are gonna do. In other words, presuming a gobbler won't go somewhere is not a good presumption to make to begin with.  Sure, we all want to choose the best set-up to call from, but if that is not apparent, just call to them to see how they respond and go from there. 

Unless you sound like a braying donkey when calling (and sometimes even that does not make a difference), a gobbler that hears your call is (probably) going to interpret what he hears as being another turkey (although there are gobblers that have been through the ringer enough times that they interpret ever turkey call they hear and cannot see the source of to be a hunter). 

Depending on his mood and current circumstances, a gobbler may come to you regardless of where you call from...and conversely, he may not come to you even if you have set up in the best position possible. My theory has always been to "take his temperature" (i.e...call to him and see how he responds) and adjust from there as needed. 

[WildTigerTrout]

I hunt steep ridges and hollows here NC Pennsylvania.  If I am on top of a ridge it's right where I want to be even if they are down in the hollow. Give them the right call and they will come, trust me and sometimes from a good distance. As someone already mentioned if you go down you must climb back out. At near 65 years old that is much harder than it used to be. I much prefer them coming up hill to me.