Who hunts fall birds?

[Marc]

I've hunted fall birds a couple of times. My problem is that it coincides with deer archery season in NY so I usually have my bow in hand in a tree stand.

It's hard to put the bow down during the peak of the rut, but I also really like hunting the fall/winter turkey season, it is fun to call turkeys no matter when.

Why wouldn't stick one with a bow while deer hunting?  Seems like a great opportunity to put an arrow into a fall turkey.

Seems to me that the success rate of hunting would go up if you have the option of sticking a turkey or a deer.

I have killed a couple fall turkeys while quail hunting...  Frankly in the fall, I would rather hunt upland or ducks.

Interestingly, there are more turkeys on the property in the fall, they are vocal, and would likely be easier to pattern than the spring.  Perfect habitat for turkeys, but it seems in the spring, the birds spread out and many leave the property.

[Kylongspur88]

It's a lot of fun.

[SteelerFan]

I started my turkey hunting career with fall birds. Hunted fall for years prior to ever trying the "easy" spring season... LOL

In my opinion, a fall longbeard ranks way up there on the list of trophy difficulty - but it sure can be fun and a great time to be in the woods. Like others, the stupid obsession with sitting 18 feet  up a tree with a sharp stick waiting on a deer has taken over priorities. I'll admit I have a call with me in season, and have passed on flocks of hens and I have had bachelor groups of longbeards amble by out of bow range... but it's been a while since I ventured into the mountain on a dedicated fall turkey hunt.

Might have to change that this year...

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

I've never gotten into fall turkeys for 2 reasons:

1: Laying scent all over properties I deer hunt is counter-productive to killing nature deer and I have no desire to opportunistically shoot a turkey that happens to walk by me on a deer hunt.
2: Because I hate the idea of killing a hen when I know she'll be laying eggs and rearing broods in the spring.

[Happy]

Usually I am trying to get my yearly supply of deer meet and I prefer to do as much of that as possible with the bow. I think fall turkey would be fun but I think I will wait till there are less mouths to feed and two or three deer will get me through the year.

[Farmboy27]

I've never gotten into fall turkeys for 2 reasons:

1: Laying scent all over properties I deer hunt is counter-productive to killing nature deer and I have no desire to opportunistically shoot a turkey that happens to walk by me on a deer hunt.
2: Because I hate the idea of killing a hen when I know she'll be laying eggs and rearing broods in the spring.

Good point!  I rarely hunt fall birds where I hunt or intend to hunt bow in the near future. But I have killed deer within a 50 yards of where I hunted turkeys earlier that same day. (On the ground I hunt deer are so used to human scent that it doesn't much matter. I have never used any scent control and I often smoke a cigarette or 2 after I get settled in.). As far as killing hens, I try to shoot male birds. I have shot hens before and I probably will again, but I try for jakes. I have also killed 10-15 longbeards in the fall. Fall hunting ain't just for hens! 

[Ihuntoldschool]

While it is true that in Virginia, you get three tags and can use them all in the spring, you cannot use all of them in fall.  No more than 2 birds in the fall.

[wvmntnhick]

I've killed at least one bird every year since I was 11. On that note, I must admit that I didn't kill my first spring turkey until I was 18 or 19 years old. Most of the time I'd be squirrel hunting and it would simply be a target of opportunity while slinking through the woods. Like most states, our seasons overlap. I bow hunted as a youngster but I'd rather have been squirrel hunting because sitting perched in a tree for long periods of time just didn't appeal to me then. Hanging around Happy has changed a lot of things for me though. I find myself bow hunting more and more as the years progress and to be honest, I'd have a hard time giving it up. Having said that, I've also got a couple of squirrel dogs and with a new pup this year, may find myself trying harder to get him prepared for future hunts. The biggest thing that's really changed for me is that the location I live in hasn't offered a fall season in years. The good news is that, from what I've heard, every county in WV will have a fall season this year. I'm excited about that as I've not killed a bird this year and plan to give it another whirl in the fall. So long as the deer crop damage hunts go well and I can get meat in the freezer earlier, I plan to squirrel hunt with the dogs as much as possible, try to tag a bird this fall and I'll start deer hunting again when the rut gets closer. Besides that, the farm I'm hunting decided to plant corn this year so it's going to be significantly different from what I've been used to in the past. Excited about all aspects but I do plan to run some birds this fall.

[owlhoot]

Use too when population was up . With lower populations I don't have any desire to shoot egglayers .
Gobblers sure are still fun in the fall and when fall hunting always tried for them , have had good success too when you find them. But one or two less to hear in the spring and spring is still king!

[Brian Fahs]

When I was a kid we hunted them each fall with good  success. My uncles all fall  hunted but did not spring gobbler hunt.

I dicovered bow  hunting big bucks in the rut and chasing gobbles in the spring on my own. I never  looked back. Have not fall turkey hunted in 25 years.

[trkehunr93]

Love to fall hunt turkeys, no science to back up claims it is effecting spring turkey hunting.  Science does back up that it takes two jakes to get one spring gobbler, meaning based on disease, predation, etc. statistically only one of those two jakes will reach maturity.  Look it up, Lovett Williams published it.  Second, there are far fewer fall hunters than spring hunters so the killing of hens has minimal impact on the population as a whole.  Third, the buck pictured below was killed out of a treestand in a patch of woods I fall turkey hunt in quite frequently so stinking up the woods is not a concern in my opinion




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[Farmboy27]

Love to fall hunt turkeys, no science to back up claims
it is effecting spring turkey hunting.  Science does back up that it takes two jakes to get one spring gobbler, meaning based on disease, predation, etc. statistically only one of those two jakes will reach maturity.  Look it up, Lovett Williams published it.  Second, there are far fewer fall hunters than spring hunters so the killing of hens has minimal impact on the population as a whole.  Third, the buck pictured below was killed out of a treestand in a patch of woods I fall turkey hunt in quite frequently.


Dang!! That's a nice one! 


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[fallhnt]

Me

[Cut N Run]

Got no Fall season and no desire to hunt turkeys in Fall.

Jim

[ferocious calls]

Many spring only hunters and many fall hunters as well don't know that often times fall gobblers can be called in just like spring when circumstances are rite.

Find them on the roost without hens in the fall and it is on. Find 2 together on the roost with no hens and it is really on. Have had them gobble and strutt into my set up several times. I love to hunt fall gobblers. Often I will hear those heavy winged Toms' flying up to roost while archery hunting and return predawn to set up on them just like spring.