where to sit

[jon]

i plan on fall turkey hunting in a suburban area south of twin cities.there are fileds on west side with threes running down middle with river to the south and east.it will be my first time hunting this area.i've looked at with satelite pictures and have noticed oaks and several pines.there is also a slight ridge in the middle.there is a large open area between the river and the tree's with grass and thistle .any ideas will help.we can only hunt till noon,but the season last's for a month(oct)

[xcal1ber]

First and foremost Jon, id like to say welcome to the forum! If you love to turkey hunt then you have seriously found a whole community of true turkey addics that will assist you in anyway possible. Now to the question, for me personally if i was you i would try to roost the birds if you can scout the area, if not then try looking on your satelite images and figuring out where you think they would be roosting. During the fall turkeys are all about flocking together and eating as im sure you know. If you can get em off the roost by using some yelps, kee kees, clucks, ECT.. then you should have some success. you can also try to find the flock feeding or doing whatever and bust em up, and call them back in using Kee kees and assembly calls. If you do the busting tactic, try to bust em in different directions and call to the bird that kinda flew away on his/her own since this will be the easiest one to call back. Other than that you can always find where the food is on that piece of land and set up an ambush there. Lastly if your going after gobblers then remember that during the fall season males are going to be sorting out the pecking order, if you can master a gobbler yelp then that would help your chances on a boss bird in the area. Personally i go after hens in the fall so i can save the toms til spring when theyre gobbling good, and by killing hens they wont be AS bad henned up in the spring. All in all man just scout if you can. If not then try to find em early or find where they eat and you could have success. Thanks for your question and good luck this fall!

[jon]

thx,at the moment it,s hard to scout cause parts of the area is flooded at this time.

[kygobbler]

Jon, have you ever seen the turkeys there during the fall? The reason why I ask is because sometimes where you see them in the spring doesnt mean they are going to be there in the fall season. They are going to move to where ever their food source is. Like X said you got to get out and scout. For myself, if Im going to a new area I will try to scout it out real good usually about 2 weeks before the season starts that way I know that they are there and try to figure out their routine. Good luck to you this fall and welcome to the forum.

[charlie elk]

kygobbler asks an important question about seeing turkeys. 

MN & WI turkeys are usually wide ranging where you see them one day - you will see none the next. Normally they do not consistently roost in the same trees or even the same area until much later in the season while in large wintering flocks.  Finding fall birds usually requires a lot walking.

Their diet and habits are rapidly changing in Oct. Whereas they were eating primarily insects in early Sept by Oct they are moving onto the mast crops while joining up with other family groups who are all chasing the jakes out.  The jakes are then seeking the gobbler flocks forming up.  All of them are fighting to establish the pecking order of their particular flock.  This requires some aggressive calling on the part of the hunter to bring them in.

Once you have a flock of fighting turkeys charging your setup with every single one them a legal bird, the ultimate in hunter's choice; the fall turkey bug will bite.  I love spring hunting but the fall hunt is much more exciting.

Don't get discouraged the fall success rate here is 10-12% making any fall turkey an accomplishment to be proud of.  The only hunt with a lower success rate and similar difficulty level is billy goats.

Double check MN regs I thought MN allows hunting until sunset.

BTW almost no one hunts fall turkeys over here in WI; 26000 fall licenses sold in 2010. Season runs from mid Sept - Dec 31 with unlimited tags in some units and farmers happy to have someone kill turkeys.

[jon]

i think this is a good area,according to info from refuge center there are about 40 flocks in the area.there's farm fields to the west and oaks between the fields and river.but i will scout it hard.thx for info