Learning an old tom’s daily habits and travel routes can be just as deadly as world-champion calling skills. Here’s how.

By Tad Brown

BOOM! At the shot, I hissed to my hunting companion Hutch to get on the gobbler! I could not get my feet under me! After sitting for five and a half hours my legs just wouldn’t work. I had suffered a treestand accident the previous autumn and was still a bit sore and slow moving.

This was the third time that I had hunted this Kansas gobbler. Thanks to Hutch, I knew exactly where this gobbler would end up sometime during the day. I all but had this bird in the bag the first time that I hunted it. Hutch knew there was a gobbler and hens working this old grown-up corn field, so after sneaking down the train tracks a bit, we struck him with the old traditional walking and calling technique. The tom responded well and allowed us set up in a great spot. We sat down and he worked in like a champ to about 50 yards, when a second bird came in from the other way and interrupted our conversation. The old gobbler ran the newcomer off, leaving Hutch and I sitting there empty-handed, shaking our heads in frustration.

SCOUTING FOR BIRDS

Hutch lives in Kansas and I reside in Missouri. I usually don’t hunt in Kansas until I’m tagged out in Missouri or until the Missouri season is over. Hutch is an outstanding turkey hunter and always fills his tags quickly. He loves to get friends and family on birds as much as he does hunting them for himself. As soon as he is tagged out, he is back to scouting birds and inventorying how many longbeards are on each property that he has access to.

A major part of his success, is that Hutch also scouts long before the season opens, as any savvy turkey hunter should do. Years ago, while hunting with Mark Drury, Mark made the comment, “now remember Brown where those five jakes are, they will be next year’s gobbling 2-year-olds.” I had never thought of it that way before, but I’ll be damned if it’s not a fact. In most cases, those jakes are still there the next season, but as adults. Ever since then, I make a mental note of the location of every jake I see, for future reference.

So, I always ask Hutch to remember where those jakes were last year, and he usually does. Most of the time there are a bunch of adults in the same area — last year’s jakes. Hutch calls me every other day or two to report what he is seeing. I ask about all of the details, like where, what time of day, how many hens, etc. It’s sort of a remote scouting job with Hutch doing the actual scouting, and I am taking notes, too. Then together we devise a hunting plan.

It’s a great tactic to get on birds. Scout before the season and during the season. Get out early to glass and listen. Know where those birds are hanging out. Even if they quit gobbling during that henned-up period, they are still there with the ladies, just not as vocal. Since you heard them before the season, you can still slip in close and figure them out.

RECONNAISSANCE

The recon mission is my favorite way to pattern a gobbler. I like to slip into an area and listen, then ease my way in closer to determine exactly where they are. If the terrain and their gobbling allows, I follow along for a while until I can locate where they are or where they are going.

Last year a couple days before the season I slipped into my favorite farm to hunt. The only gobbler gobbling was on the neighbor’s land, so I followed along as he paralleled the fence and gobbled. All of a sudden the tom started heading my way, so I quickly sat down to wait and see what would happen. I hunkered down a little more as his gobbling grew closer. The next thing I knew he was on my side of the fence down the open fence line about 70 yards away. He gobbled down the fence line then continued down the holler gobbling.

Opening day found me about halfway down that fence line from where he had started a few days earlier, and where he had crossed the fence onto my side. He started gobbling at first light and pretty much retraced his steps from the day that I saw him.

I had placed my decoy in the fence line so that when he crossed the fence, he could see it right away. I yelped a few times to let him know I was there. At first, he did not respond, but as he got closer, he answered to let me know he was interested.

It sounded like he was going to cross the fence below me instead of above, as he had the other day. So I adjusted my gun barrel down the fence line after he gobbled to make sure I could safely move. I waited and waited with no sight of the bird or another gobble. Suddenly, he gobbled below me, but he had already crossed the fence undetected and was slightly behind me. Again, a quick adjustment of my gun and he cut me off the next time that I called. Once he saw the decoy he came in on a run. That little recon mission yielded a successful hunt, otherwise I would have gone in there completely blind.

LONG-DISTANCE PATTERNING

Ever since I was a kid, I would get up every morning in the spring before daylight and drive around listening for gobbling turkeys. Come opening day, I had a good idea where the birds were. What I lacked was a plan and the intimate knowledge of what exactly they were doing.

Nowadays, I still practice getting up early to go out listening. I don’t have as much time to spend at it that I used to, so I try to be a little smarter. Turkeys are used to vehicles and in most cases, they ignore them. I drive around my old haunts, especially the ones that I still have permission to hunt on. I look and glass for birds. I listen too, but mostly to locate gobblers that cannot be seen. Often, you can then drive to a different spot that allows you to put eyes on that gobbling bird.

I make a note of each gobbler that I encounter. Day after day I drive the same route and can pretty much expect to see the same birds that I saw the days before. It is amazing how regular they are and how dangerous for them their habitual trait can be.

I also make notes of little details, like a certain tree they are always near, a pond they gravitate to, a certain area in a pasture that they strut in, etc. I once hunted a henned-up gobbler for three or four days that I had been watching from a distance without luck, but I noticed a downed limb he was close to every time I saw him. One night I snuck in and placed a blind within 20 yards of that limb. He gobbled one time on the roost the next morning. I never made a call, but he never lived to gobble again.

SOCIAL-DISTANCE PATTERN

You can also pattern a gobbler socially, from a distance. That comes in the form of socializing with the local mail person, bus driver, UPS and FedEx drivers, as well as farmers and county road construction crews. Farmers and folks at church are always good sources of information.

Most folks that know me know my passion for turkey hunting, trapping and the like. I’m routinely told, “Hey I thought of you, I saw a big gobbler the other day,” or “Hey I saw a bobcat cross the road over by Bob’s house.” Those reports always get my enthusiastic response of where exactly was it, what time of day, did it have hens with it, etc. I’ll then follow up and check it out for myself.

First, I’ll give Bob a call to see if I can hunt on his land, if I have not already secured permission, that usually leads to more info and so on, you get the picture. The more socializing you — do the more you learn.

My wife called me a couple years ago and asked where I was. I was in the next county chasing birds, of course. She replied, “Well, I am watching a big gobbler strut over on the neighbor’s land.”

I quizzed her about it a little and then went on about my business. That afternoon I had her show me exactly where she saw the tom, then I went to my property corner, only about 50 yards from where she had seen the bird, and popped up a blind. I figured that bird had to roost on the creek a quarter-mile away, about halfway between my home property and my other farm. So, I went to the other farm and popped up a second blind to cover my bases.

The next morning I chose to go to the other farm, and sure enough, he was roosted along the creek, but it sounded as if he was headed back to the house blind where my wife saw him the day before.

I aborted that mission and headed for the house, ditched the truck and headed for the blind. He had quit gobbling by then and I thought maybe I had messed up. I stuck a couple of decoys out in front of the blind and settled in. The tom answered my first call on the box and then every call after that. I could soon see his red head coming across the open pasture toward my location. He came so fast that he passed me up, but then saw the decoys. He came under the fence onto my property and strutted right in.

A call from my wife and a detailed description of what she saw helped me pattern my second Missouri tom that spring.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Once you have patterned a turkey you need to devise a plan. So I don’t disturb the gobbler during his daily activities, I like to wait until after I know the tom is on the roost. If you are unfamiliar with the property, use one of the many smartphone apps or GPS chips available to view an aerial photo of the location.

Usually, if you have done a good job patterning that bird, you have a precise location narrowed down. Fortunately, turkeys pay no attention to a blind, so you can literally go in after dark and pop up a blind, even set your decoys out, and be ready to hunt the next morning. Or if you are early enough, as in the case of the bird I was hunting with Hutch, I got in there extra early, set out my decoys and made a little makeshift blind.

Not unlike deer hunting, you can simply scout out a travelway and set up an ambush point. Decoys and calling greatly add to the overall experience and can speed things up. Or if you are confident in your ambush spot, sit tight and wait him out.

Back to that bird I hunted with Hutch in Kansas. As I described at the beginning of this article, I had hunted the tom twice already that season. After strike two, Hutch talked me into going to a second farm where he had been watching a few other birds. Those birds did just what Hutch said they would do, and my first Kansas bird was tagged. But, I could not get over the first bird that fooled me twice.

Memorial Day Saturday found Hutch and I in our makeshift hidey-hole at 5:30 in the morning. The tom gobbled one time on the roost at 5:55, and he was at the other end of the property about a quarter-mile away. We just sat there and waited. Hutch said that old bird was right where we were sitting every afternoon with a wad of hens.

Around 6:45 we spotted the first hens feeding along about 300 yards away. Soon the old gobbler strutted into view. I yelped to him and he raised his head. I knew then he knew where we were. For almost five hours we sat there watching the gobbler and his hens drift in and out of the overgrowth. Finally, one of the hens acted like she saw our decoys for the first time. And she came running our way. I think it’s important to mention that, since Hutch knew the hens would be dusting and feeding in that corner, I chose two Strut-Lite feeding hen decoys and an upright Strut-Lite decoy in the breeding position. I wanted to replicate the exact scene that Hutch had observed.

Eventually, more and more hens started our way and sure enough, the gobbler did too. But, there was one hen that he would not leave alone, and she took her sweet time coming down. Soon there were hens all around us, they were dusting and just sitting around, staged up exactly where Hutch said they would be, and only about 15 yards from our position.

That last hen finally worked our way and the gobbler stood in front of me at 50 yards. I thought, OK just a few more yards. I was pretty certain I could kill him there based on the way my Winchester Long Beard #6s patterned, but I wanted to make sure that when I pulled the trigger there would be no doubt.

At that point, the last hen turned and headed back toward the neighboring field, and the gobbler turned to follow her. I yelped in desperation and he gobbled back for the second time that day. Off they went … I was sick, and Hutch was hissing at me, “Why didn’t you shoot?”

I sat there unable to move with my head in my lap, and as I looked up, there they stood. They had reappeared as quickly as they had vanished. The hen broke and headed our way, but the old gobbler stood his ground and gobbled for just the third time all day to summon her back. But she came right on over into the Strut-Lite decoys and started dusting. Then he finally gave in and at 40 yards away I let him have a dose of those Long Beard #6s.

Memorial Day weekend and that old gobbler still had nine hens with him. He was club-footed with 1¼-inch spurs and he weighed 23 pounds. A bird well worth sitting five hours and 15 minutes for. Thanks to my old pal Hutch’s scouting and patterning ability, I was able to fill my second Kansas tag with that old monarch.

Learn the Best Shot Placement for Bowhunting Turkeys