How To Hunt Spring Turkeys – A Practical Beginners Guide

Hunting spring turkey is one of the most fun and unique hunting experiences in the world. These are majestic birds, large, powerful, cunning, and a culinary delight for those who know how to unlock their potential.

I was completely hooked after my first turkey hunt, there was no going back. The sights and sounds, the thrill, the challenge, were all like nothing I had ever experienced. And the truth is, you can experience all of this and have success by just following a few realistic principles.

There is no shortage of books and articles on how to hunt spring turkeys, but I have found that very few of them are practical for people brand new to the sport. People who want to get into the woods and taste turkey hunting without devoting hundreds of hours to study and practice. No, this article will not make up for a lifetime of experience in a few minutes, but it will enable you to pursue spring turkeys with a fair chance at filling your tags!

If you want to take the plunge and go in all the way, check out my archive of turkey hunting podcast episodes where I have years’ worth of free turkey hunting content organized and sorted by subject matter. I will also use this article as an outline to organize videos, articles, and podcast episodes so you can do deeper in many of these areas. Use this resource, bookmark it, and study it to learn everything you can!

How To Find Good Turkey Habitat

Turkey habitat often shifts year-round. Where you saw birds in the fall or winter is not always indicative of where they will be in the spring. In the springtime turkeys are mating and they flock to habitat that is ideal for that mission. I have found that some areas hold few turkeys year-round but, in the springtime, they are turkey magnets, every year. The reason is they have the perfect blend of cover, open areas, food, roosting trees, and hiding places.

Turkeys are ground birds, but they sleep, or roost, in trees for protection. Every morning they fly down and begin to eat, socialize, and mate. So, this time of year they look for a unique mix of habitat features. They need big trees to roost in and they also need ground cover for safety, both so they can hide and so they cay nest and lay their eggs.

But cover alone is not enough, they need space. Birds want large open areas where they can see predators from afar, where they can see other turkeys from afar, and where they can easily move and forage.

Groves of hardwoods are frequented by turkeys in the spring, clearings and empty fields are often used, but as vegetation begins to get too high as the season progresses, they may shift to other areas. You see in addition to making it easier to spot predators and food, turkeys need to see each other.

The tom, AKA gobbler, the male turkey will gobble, puff out his feathers, and strut to attract mates. Those hens, the female turkeys, need to be able to see these displays to be attracted to them. If all the vegetation is four feet high, this is not likely to happen. So, they search out open areas.

Many people have limited options when it comes to private land but that can work just fine, check out this article I did: How To Hunt Turkeys On Small Properties. 

Scouting For Spring Turkey

The single largest mistake that turkey hunters of all ages and experience levels make is they do not scout for turkeys before they hunt. There is no greater thing you can do to succeed hunting spring gobblers than scout for birds and hunt where they are.

Whether it is public land or private property, you MUST first determine if there are turkeys around. Spending money on high end gear or becoming a master caller will do nothing to help you unless there are birds around to hunt.

You do not need to scout for weeks and weeks either. Often just a few outings into the woods is all you need to find an area with turkey activity. Now scouting is its own discipline that you will grow in over the course of your life but there are a few main things to look for.

  • Tukey tracks – Tracks are maybe the most distinguishable sign you can search out. It is ideal to go looking for tracks 1-2 days after a good soaking rain. This can wash away old tracks and soften the ground, so new footprints are easy to see.  Look in moist areas and places you can see bare dirt or mud; puddles are also a good place to find tracks. Nothing leaves a track quite like a turkey. Do not worry so much about trying to identify tracks as male or female, if you have one nearby you will likely have both.
  • Turkey gobbles – If you go in early to mid-morning, you may very well hear turkeys gobbling, especially a few weeks before the season. The gobble tells you everything you need to know, yes there are male turkeys here, and they are in that direction.
  • Turkey droppings – If the weather is dry and the ground is too hard for tracks, droppings can tell you what you need to know and can be found in the same places. The dry weather that makes it hard to leaves tracks actually enables droppings to stay visible longer. Logging roads, gas line roads, potential feeding or strutting zones can be good spots to look.
  • Turkey scratches – Turkeys spend a lot of the day eating, and often scratch up the leaves looking for old mast, bugs, grubs, or anything else they can scrounge up on the forest floor. If they spend a lot of time in an area you should be able to find patches of leaves that have been disturbed.
  • Turkey feathers & strut zones – Sometimes turkeys just lose feathers going about their business, but strut zones are prime places for feathers to wear loose while toms are puffed out and strutting their stuff. If you find feathers you know there were turkeys, there.
  • Turkey images – Trail cameras can be a hunter’s best friend for scouting. Set these on trails, clearings, or food sources to see if you can locate any turkey activity. The best thing is you can see what time of day the birds were there.

I scout year-round in a sense but practically speaking it is most efficient to head out starting maybe three weeks before the season begins. It is the last week before the season starts that matters the most. For more info on scouting, check out these podcast episodes that I created for you.

Turking Hunting Guns & Ammo

I say it all the time, the best shotgun for a new turkey hunter to use is the one they already have, can easily borrow, or buy used and cheap. The reason is you need to get into the woods and actually hunt to learn if you like turkey hunting and to learn what kind of gun features really matter to you. Spending a lot of money your first year on a turkey gun could easily get you a shotgun that is not a good fit for your style and preferences. 

Keep in mind, most turkeys are taken with the first shot. Rarely does a second shot bring home a turkey. And the third shot only serves to let every other hunter in the woods know that you missed with the first two shots. Almost any shotgun can be a good turkey gun.

I am partial to semi-automatic shotguns and recently upgraded to a Mossberg 940 Pro Turkey with a Holosun 507k red dot, full shotgun and optic review here. But you can use anything to great effect, a single shot, and over-under, a pump action, even a bolt action shotgun will work just fine. You only really need one shot. 

People ask maybe the most questions about ammo and what they should use. For me it is simple. Start with lead, specifically the Winchester Long Beard XR. There is no better lead turkey load on the market, there is no close second place either. It is the best.

Then once you have your bearings, upgrading to TSS #9 shot can help give you some extended range if you are taking far shots. I have done reviews on BOSS Tom and APEX Turkey. Both are great. But start with lead, it is much cheaper and frees up budget and focus for other things you need to get started.

Gearing Up For Turkey Hunting

One of my favorite things about turkey hunting is that you do not need much gear at all to get started. If you have arms and ammo covered, you can get by with one call, some camo and piece of foam to sit on. That is it. Granted, some additional gear can certainly help and I recommend more gear, but you have to start where your budget allows.

However, I do really like how you can be a minimalist turkey hunter and carry very little in and out of the woods with you. Here is a video I did going over the bare bones of gear. 


To go further still, here is a podcast episode I did on the subject: Turkey Hunting Gear – Beginners Guide. Like every other kind of hunting, you can buy more than you need. Just focus on the core components of turkey hunting, you need to stay warm, stay dry, sit for periods of time, call to turkeys, and be concealed. I’ll talk about decoys and calls more in coming sections, but do not over think this. Less is more!

How Turkeys Are Hunted

Turkeys are hunted during the spring breeding season, a time of year where their patterns and behavior change drastically, making them much more fun to hunt.

To make a long story short, toms are trying to attract mates in the spring. So they gobble to let hens know they are around. When they gobble they expect the hens that want to breed to come to them. 

To take it further, they will puff out their feathers, spread out their tail fan and strut to display their size and strength to entice hens and demonstrate their place in the pecking order. The tom expects the female turkeys to come when they call or at least come for a look and the strutting works to seal the deal. Turkey hunters make hen calls to try and entice the toms to come to them. This tactic goes against nature, yet it still often works.  

A lonely tom is likely to come find a mate if he can hear her. The challenge comes when he gobbles and then expects the hen to come to him. The hunter often calls back repeatedly trying to get the tom to gobble more because it is exciting. However, this often causes problems.

If the hen is very eager, she should go to the tom, or she may entice the tom to stop his advance and begin strutting instead. Over calling has caused many problems for many turkey hunters. More on that later.

The goal is to call just as much as is needed to get the tom to come into shotgun range, no more no less. Though that can take a lifetime to perfect. But the bottom line here is call as needed and be stealthy and shoot the bird when it comes into range. That is how the game is usually played. 

Basic Turkey Hunting Strategy

There are three turkey hunting strategies that are probably the most used. They include sitting, running and gunning, and active recon. There is no right and wrong way, there is no best and worst way. Often it depends on the situation, the land, the conditions, and the opportunities and limitations you have to pick the best option for you. 

  • Sitting. There are many ways to determine when and how to sit but let’s keep it simple. You decided based on scouting that an area is good for turkey hunting, so you come in before dawn and lean up against a big tree or setup a hunting blind. You then wait to hear gobbling or for legal shooting light and work to call the turkeys into your position.
  • Running and gunning. This involves actively covering ground and stopping every few hundred yards to call and see if there are any close by turkeys that will answer you. Then you take up a good position and ambush them as they come in. This works, it can be fun, but you need to have a lot of land you can cover, and it can take a lot of energy out of you. 
  • Active recon. This hunting style involves getting into the woods early and trying to find a listening post. Somewhere with some elevation and you can hear a long way off. You wait until you hear the first gobbles, even as far as half a mile away, and then move into position for the most promising prospect. You want to get within maybe 200 yards or less of where the turkey is roosted or loafing and then try to call the bird in. 

Many people begin the morning hunting one way and then finish the hunt another way. This can work great to break things up and give you some variety, if you have enough land and opportunities to do so.  I have talked alot about turkey hunting strategy on my podcast, here is a great episode to get started with: 4 Strategies To Hunt Spring Turkey. 

Basic Turkey Calls & Calling

There are many different kinds of turkey calls you can buy, build, or improvise. Slate calls, glass calls, mouth calls, box calls, push pull calls, wing bone calls, and dozens more. You do not need to be a good caller with all of them, in fact you only really need to learn how to use one or two to be effective.

I believe that the box call is the best one for new hunters to learn, it is one of the easier calls and you will use it your entire turkey hunting career. Fancy calls do look pretty and can have nice tones, but I’ve called in plenty of birds with a simple cheap box call just like this one.

Turkey calling is a lifelong pursuit, a skill that you continually develop and refine season after season. That said, you can gain 80% of the benefits from 20% of the skills. Which is a great thing for new hunters. There are three main calls you need to learn.

  1. The Yelp – This is the main turkey call that hens make when trying to locate a gobbler. If you know nothing else, you can still kill turkeys with this one. 
  2. The Cluck – This is a short loud note often used for locating other turkeys but also by excited hens. 
  3. The Purr – These are low soft tones used to put other turkeys at ease and to let gobblers know there is a hen around here somewhere.

Typing long paragraphs about how to call makes difficult writing and even more difficult reading, so here is a video to help you learn more.

Decoys or No Decoys?

The question of whether or not you should use decoys to hunt turkeys is not an age-old question. It is a very modern question. Only in the last few decades have decoys become both popular and accessible.

Decoys do bring some advantages under certain hunting conditions. However, they also have some significant disadvantages under other hunting conditions. Personally, I do not believe the new hunter needs to use decoys, in fact I recommend against it.

You are more likely to hurt your chances of success than help them if you are new to the sport of turkey hunting. However, this is a lot behind that recommendation, alot of experience, science, and perspective. Which is why I wrote an entire article on the subject. Check it out to learn more: How To Hunt Turkeys Without Decoys & Be Even More Successful.

The 3 Big Mistakes To Avoid

I think there are three things that cost hunters more turkeys than every other common or uncommon mistake combined. These are problems that can change the course of your turkey hunting career if you can fix them now. And you can absolutely fix them, it may require a little bit of effort, but it is doable. 

Not stealthy enough. This is the biggest issue. Turkey hunters are too noisy and move too much. Lack of stealth does not just cost you the birds you see running away, it costs you birds that you never knew where there. They snuck in at 100 yards out of view, heard or saw you and melted away without leaving a trace.  Practice walking quietly, sitting quietly, doing everything with the upmost attention to sound and motion, and you will see and shoot more turkeys. 

Over calling. This is the easiest problem to fix. All you have to do is nothing. Just call less. And stop calling when the bird starts to come in. Calling nonstop all morning is not natural, hens do not do it. You must call less often, and even when you do get a gobbler excited, you can get and keep him too excited, and he may stop at 100 yards and strut and never get close enough. Soft calling is maybe the most underestimated turkey hunting skill. I did a whole podcast episode on the subject: The Art Of Soft Calling – The Turkey Hunting Advice Of Sages. 

Underestimating range. Almost all new turkey hunters will underestimate how far away a turkey is. They figure it’s 30 yards and it’s really about 50. They assume 40 yards and its closer to 80. We have all been there and have most all taken shots at hopeless distances only to scare the birds away, or worst wound them to die slowly and painfully over the next few days or weeks.

Learning to judge your distance is not only better for hunting but it ensures that birds do not suffer needlessly. Get a cheap range finder and just practice estimating and checking distances when you are scouting. If you need to, get higher grade ammo like TSS shot that will give you more margin to ethically take longer range shots. 

Conclusions

So, what are the big conclusions for those who have read this far? First and foremost, this is not just an article packed with information, it is also filled with resources. This guide is an outline that links you to the in-depth information you need to become an effective turkey hunter and I will add more resources and links to it over time.

Be attentive to the podcast episodes, videos, and other articles and resources that I linked to. I created and organized all of these resources over the course of years. Use them to become a great turkey hunter and send me pictures of your first couple birds!

Be sure to listen to The New Hunters Guide Podcast and check us out on YouTube. 

Till next time. God bless you, and go get em in the woods!

George Konetes Ph.D. – Founder and Host of the New Hunters Guide.

The New Hunters Guide is simply what George wishes he would have had when learning how to hunt; a single place to get practical hands on knowledge about different kinds of hunting, gear, strategy, and tips that can improve your comfort and fun factor in the woods.

 

EP240 Optimize Your Clothing For Your Turkey Hunting Style

Not every turkey hunter needs the same gear, in fact two hunters in the same town could need very different gear depending on their individual hunting style. On this episode I talk through some of the specifics of different turkey hunting styles, the type of gear that best supports each and how you can build a set of gear for cheap. 

There are numerous factors that can affect what kind of gear works best with different hunting’s styles. Some of the most popular way to hunt turkeys include:

  • Hunting one spot all day – This is similar to deer hunting and could be done in conjunction with calling or just as ambush hunting. The biggest gear challenge is keeping warm, quiet, and comfortable for long stealthy sits.
  • Running and gunning – A favored style because hunters are on the move, covering ground, trying to strike up a conversation with a lonely gobbler. Here you need gear that is light weight, keeps you dry, and lets you walk long distances unhindered.
  • Moving and sitting – This is the toughest gear challenge because you need to stay warm sitting for long periods of time and need a high degree of mobility without overheating. People often struggle with this type of gear because you tend to wear too much or too little.

Keep in mind you do not need super expensive gear to be comfortable and effective, you just need gear that is designed to help you do whatever style of hunting you prefer. The right gear matters more than gear that is expensive.

Listen to the podcast episode to hear how to optimize your turkey hunting gear. 

 

APEX TSS Turkey Hunting Ammo Review & Test

The first shot I ever took of APEX TSS Turkey hunting ammunition put 297 pellets into a 10″ at 40 yards. Before the morning was through, I found a choke tube that would give me 378 pellets in that same circle at the same range. To put that into perspective, that is a dinner plate with almost 400 holes in it, we are talking about devastating effectiveness. Most lead turkey loads do not even have that many pellets in the shell!

The APEX TSS Turkey loads have demonstrated the best pattern efficiency of any turkey load I have ever shot as of this writing. The patterns are amazing. And as I understand it, others have gotten even tighter patterns with tighter chokes. Now there does come a point where the pattern can be too tight but more on that later.

The bottom line is this ammo is impressively effective and I could not rate it any more highly. But there is more to it than that. If you are considering this ammo or any TSS turkey shells, this review will provide you with insights and data from my firsthand first tests. 

If you are looking for more info on turkey hunting shotguns, ammo, and chokes, check out these podcast episodes I have done on the subject:

  1. Turkey Hunting Guns and Ammo For Beginners
  2. Turkey Hunting Shotguns | Is Bigger Better?
  3. Turkey Hunting Shells, Shot, & Chokes
  4. Should You Hunt Turkeys With Tungsten Shot?

The Big TSS Questions.

The two most asked questions regarding turkey hunting ammo of this caliber are:

  1. Is that level of performance really necessary?
  2. Is this TSS Ammo worth the price?

After having done some tests with the APEX and hunting with TSS in general, those are easy questions to answer. For the first question, yes, this kind of performance is absolutely necessary IF you plan to hunt beyond 40 yards. Is it worth the price? Yes, IF you plant to hunt beyond 40 yards.

Tungsten Super Shot gives you increased range and lethality at range. That is its greatest strength. If you plan to hunt at 25-35 yards, it just is not needed. You can use much cheaper lead shot, like Winchester Long Beard XR to easily and efficiently take birds at close to mid-range. TSS shot gives you the ability to punch out further, to hunt at truly extended ranges.  And if you want that flexibility, there is no substitute for the power and patterns that APEX brings to the hunt.

How Many Pellets Do You Need?

My rule of thumb that I use for all turkey hunting ammo of all sizes and densities is 100 pellets in a 10″ circle at the range you plan to shoot. At close range, almost anything will work for turkey hunting, lead target loads, steel, bismuth, anything. When you get to the 40 yard line however, your choices are very few if you want to get 100 pellets in a 10″ circle. There are a handful of lead loads that are up to the task, like the Winchester Long Beard.

If you want to hunt beyond 40 yards, lead quickly drops below the pattern density threshold. Even though the marketing sometimes quotes things like “Putting twice the pellets in a 10″ circle than comparable turkey loads out to 60 yards” you need to ask what are they really claiming? They are saying their lead turkey ammo is twice as good as others, but none of them live up to the standard of 100 pellets in a 10″ circle at 60 yards. But APEX TSS Turkey does.

Pattern & Ballistics Gel Test Results

I put APEX to the test at 40 yards and at 60 yards with the same Carlson’s 0.670 turkey choke and here is what I saw: 378 pellets of #9 shot at 40 yards with 170 pellets at 60 yards. This means that at 60 yards, the APEX is more effective than almost every lead load on the market is at 40 yards. These shells easily give you the ability to punch out to 70 yards, perhaps more if you have a tighter patterning choke than I did.

You might wonder if these tiny #9 TSS pellets still pack enough punch to get the job done. Well from my field testing, the #9 TSS has about 32% more power at 40 yards than lead #6, which gives it almost as much ballistics gel penetration as lead #4. And at 50 yards, the APEX TSS still had 3.26″ of gel penetration. Which is mind blowing. That is a lot of numbers, but what it means is that at range the TSS #9 packs similar power to the largest lead shot that is legal to use in my state.

I tested the APEX TSS Turkey in 3″ shells with 2.25 oz of #9 tungsten shot going at 1150 FPS using a Mossberg 940 Pro Turkey shotgun with a 24″ barrel topped with a Holosun 507k red dot. For even more, check out my video where I pattern tested multiple chokes with the APEX TSS Turkey ammo:

Can A Pattern Be Too Tight?

It can be easy to get the impression that a tighter pattern is always better, and with TSS you can actually get to the point where a pattern can be too tight. Of course, pattern density is relative to range, so if you go far enough even the tightest pattern becomes perfect. But at close range, a pattern can be so tight that you are able to miss a turkey.

If your pattern is softball sized at 20 yards so you can have a tight pattern at 60 yards, then it can be like trying to hunt turkeys with a slug gun or a rifle when you are only aiming for head shots. 

I personally still want to have some margin of error at 20 and 30 yards so I can take birds that come in that close. So for me, the patterns I got with the Carlsons .670 turkey choke were ideal. Some people aim for even tighter patterns to be able to shoot even further, and that is cool, but I cannot see myself needing to shoot past 70 yards where I hunt. For my hunting area, a good realistic long-range shot is about 50-55 yards. I cannot see much further than that. 

Here are some additional videos I’ve done on turkey hunting ammo to help you take things to the next level.

Cons & Concerns

So, it is not all rainbows and sunshine with these loads, there are a couple of cons. First, the recoil is major. For one or two shots under the adrenaline of hunting conditions, its ok. But for pattern testing at the range, the kick is brutal. I would recommend sizing down from the 2.25 oz to the 2.0 oz 12-gauge version to trim off some recoil energy.

Just shedding that 0.25 oz of shot cuts recoil from about 66 foot-pounds of recoil energy to 54 foot-pounds. That is a major help to the shoulder. A semi-auto shotgun can also help, check out this article I did on the subject: Do Semi-Auto Shotguns Have Less Recoil REALLY? All TSS that is hotly loaded will have the same concerns, thankfully APEX has enough load options that you can pick how much shot and recoil you want.

Second, the cost is high on TSS shells, coming in at nearly $13 per shell. You can save some if you step down to 2.0 oz version as well. They are about the same price as other TSS loads on the market, if not a little less expensive.  They compare well, but TSS turkey ammo in general is expensive.

As I said early on, it is worth it if you are going to use it to its full potential. Most hunters shoot one or two shells a year in the field so a box of 5 shells may last you 3 years or more once you are sighted in, that is not a bad investment for the best turkey ammo on the market. But if you are going to hunt at short range with it, save the money and buy lead. 

Conclusion & Recommendation

The APEX TSS Turkey loads are just devastatingly effective. So much so that a 20 gauge is probably more than enough for most hunting scenarios. There is really no need for the more heavily loaded 3.5″ 12-gauge shells either.  In fact, this ammo really does make a 28-gauge shotgun viable for turkey hunting, those shells still have 477 pellets of #9 TSS in them.

In conclusion, I also really like APEX as a company. It is a veteran owned American company with a great story and high quality. These TSS turkey shells demonstrate outstanding performance at a good market price, and they are viable on their own merits. Being able to support a great company is just another big benefit in my book. 

Be sure to listen to The New Hunters Guide Podcast and check us out on YouTube. 

Till next time. God bless you, and go get em in the woods!

George Konetes Ph.D. – Founder and Host of the New Hunters Guide.

The New Hunters Guide is simply what George wishes he would have had when learning how to hunt; a single place to get practical hands on knowledge about different kinds of hunting, gear, strategy, and tips that can improve your comfort and fun factor in the woods.

As a note, APEX kindly provided me these shell as my request to do this review, and Carlson’s and Muller provided the chokes, thanks to them for their support.

 

EP239 How To Hunt Turkeys In The Cold

Most turkey hunters are not equipped with the gear or tactics to hunt turkeys on super cold spring mornings. But gear can be acquired or improvised, and the strategy changes are not hard to adapt to. On this podcast episode I talk about how to successfully hunt turkeys on the coldest days of the season.

Remember the turkeys are always out there. They can be hunted, even if they don’t gobble. They are still doing many of the same things even if they are not vocal. The key is being extra alert, expecting them to come in without making a sound. You can have great success on fridged days, especially if the cold keeps other hunters out of the woods. 

Ice cold spring turkey hunting gear needs are rather unique. The ideal gear is something between deer and elk hunting in nature to accommodate covering rough terrain as well as long sits. Most of the time, turkey hunters are not buying premium base layers and outer layers optimized for the job. Their gear is either not warm enough or not wind proof enough, or maybe it is too noisy or too bulky. Or perhaps their gear causes them to overheat when moving and then freeze from sweat when sitting.

You can overcome both of these challenges however with smart thinking and paying careful attention to gear you can find good deals on in the off season. Some gear can be improvised if you know exactly what you need it to do and what qualities it should have.

However, if you don’t have the equipment and the strategies, the easiest way to deal with these cold days is just stay home and hunt another day. That is not a terrible option. Why risk being miserable or getting sick? If its only a couple days a year, you can easily just skip them and hunt turkeys on the better days. Remember, hunting is ALL ABOUT HAVING FUN and if this kind of hunting isn’t fun, just hold out for better days. There is no shame in that at all. 

But if you want to hunt these days, you can, and you can be effective. That drive can push you to cobble together the needed equipment and be patient enough to effectivity use the strategies I discuss in this episode. 

Listen to this podcast episode to hear about how to hunt gobblers in the cold. 

EP238 Thirty Turkey Seasons And Only One Jake. I Quit.

These were the words of a real turkey hunter. And while that story is sad, it does not need to be your story, in fact it shouldn’t be! On this episode I talk about all the preventable things that bog down hunters and hinder success as well as the very simple straight forward things you can do to make sure you never fall into a sad pattern like this. 

Turkey hunting is seldom easy but it’s not impossible or mystical. If you can find turkeys, you have a reasonable chance of being able to get one on any given day. And if you don’t, you take what you learned today and use it to improve your chances tomorrow. That is what turkey hunting is all about, you hunt and you learn, then you hunt more. Constantly improving and learning. 

To take birds more seasons than you don’t, you need to do a handful of very simple things, like learn, change, and repeat. If you can do that, and you invest some reasonable amount of time hunting, you will become a proficient and effective turkey hunter in time.

Some people learn so much about their local area that it becomes too easy to them, and they feel compelled to change things in order to up the difficulty more. But what they are really doing is stretching to learn more in new areas or new ways.

Listen to the podcast episode to hear it all!

Do Ported Chokes Really Reduce Shotgun Recoil? – TESTED

The internet has split opinions on whether ported choke tubes reduce felt recoil in a shotgun. The debate is fierce and there are strong arguments on both sides. I will give an overview of the some of the key points here. But instead of weighing the merits of various opinions, I got my hands on a recoil meter, some ported and un-ported choke tubes, various kinds of ammo and decided to put this to the test once and for all.

I studied and searched for some time to find an objective way to measure this phenomenon and get some real data on the subject. I was shocked at how little there is written or published on the subject and how hard it is to objectively measure recoil in even quasi-scientific ways. But after much research, I found a way to examine this.

I should state up front, I have no vested interest in whether or not choke tubes effect recoil. I only want to know the truth so I can know what to buy and shoot for myself. And I figured other people might want to know as well, hence the study, videos, and articles I’ve published. Recoil is a big subject when it comes to hunting, to go deep on that subject in general, check out my podcast episode: What Hunters Need To Know About Recoil.

Why Might Ported Chokes Help?

The idea is that the porting on a choke tube enables gas to vent out perpendicular to the barrel, so it does not exit the muzzle of the barrel. The less gas escaping through the muzzle, the less felt recoil there will be. That is a fair hypothesis, it makes sense, and the physics line up. The big question is whether or not this effect is large enough to make any measurable difference. And that is the main question I set out to answer with these experiments.

There are some other hypotheses though. Some expect the porting in the choke to reduce muzzle rise and recoil similar to a muzzle brake. Ported muzzle breaks are designed in such a way that aggressively cut channels angle escaping gas upward and toward the shooter thus creating a downward and forward force which mitigates rear pushing felt recoil. Muzzle breaks are real, they really do this, and they can have a major impact on how a gun handles.

But choke tubes are not muzzle breaks. Their porting is to the sides, not rearward or on top. They create no downward or forward forces. They screw into the end of the barrel and their ports go all the way around uniformly. A choke tube will not produce the benefits of a muzzle break.

Muzzle breaks are also most often used on rifles to mitigate recoil and muzzle rise with high velocity loads. In these applications the cartridge is producing much higher pressures in the chamber and barrel than a shotgun will, and those gases are more swiftly and forcefully working to escape which enhances the impact of ported muzzle breaks.

Ports = Louder

Regardless of any impact on recoil, an unintended consequence of ported choke tubes is an increase in the volume level of the shotgun behind and beside the muzzle. The ports do let gas vent out perpendicular to the barrel and with that gas comes sound. A ported choke can significantly impact the volume of each shot from the perspective of the shooter and those nearby. This amplifies an already significant danger. 

Shooting and hunting without ear protection is dangerous. Every shot can take a toll on your hearing. Add a ported choke and the risk becomes greater still with every shot. People often shrug this off when they are hunting, as if it is just part of the cost of going into the woods. But that is just not true. If you do not protect your ears, you will pay for it. You will pay a little bit now and a lot over time. You will also likely pay for it in ways you do not realize. Often hearing loss is accompanied by ringing and other endless painful sounds. It also increases your odds of developing various conditionals like dementia by 300%.

It boggles my mind that people flippantly hunt without ear protection, especially today when quality digital hearing protection is available that both protects your hearing and enables you to hear game animals better and more clearly. This is a big subject that I won’t take the time to cover here, but to go further check out my article: Tetra AlphaShield Review – Hearing Protection for All Hunters.

Actual Recoil vs. Felt Recoil

There is often confusion between actual recoil and felt recoil. Actual recoil is the force generated by the cartridge, it is real, mathematical, and inflexible in a sense. Felt recoil is how the recoil is experienced by the shooter. Additional factors come into play that can lessen the perceived effect or intensity of felt recoil. Diverting gasses to create a counter force like with the muzzle break is one way this can occur.

Adding weight to the shotgun also slows down the recoil impulse, allowing it to be experienced over more time and thus with less severity. A padded but plate on the stock has a similar effect. The action of the shotgun can also impact the distribution and timing of the recoil impulse some as well. You can find more about that in my article: Do Semi-Auto Shotguns Have Less Recoil REALLY? 

If choke tubes do have an effect on recoil, it would be with respect to the felt recoil, potentially diverting gas to slow down the reward acceleration of the shotgun into the shoulder of the shooter. 

So How Do You Test Chokes & Recoil?

Well, for years people would change choke tubes and take a few shots to see if they can feel any difference. You can imagine how that approach would lead to different opinions. To test it, we need an objective and quantitative way to measure recoil. After much research I came upon the Mantis x10 Elite Shooting System. The Mantis is a training sensor that you can attach to the end of your barrel that enables you to measure the effects of recoil. It gives measurements for shot recovery time, muzzle rise, and recoil width among other things. 

I reached out to Mantis and asked if I could borrow one of their sensors for this test and they were very kind to send me one. The Mantis really does ALOT of other things for training, trigger control, accuracy, etc. What I used it for with this testing is about 5% of what is capable of and designed to do. The full Mantis system is worthy of its own review, which I made do down the road.

I then attached the Mantis to my shotgun and got two different types of ammunition, Remington Sporting Clays target loads with 1 1/8 oz at 1200 fps and some heavy waterfowl hunting ammo, the BOSS Copper Plated Bismuth #1 with 1 5/8oz at 1350 fps. I fired a 3 shot string with each load using an extended un-ported choke and then fired them in an extended ported choke, I used Carlson’s Sporting Clays Extra Full Chokes. The Mantis tracks and averages the results of each shot and each string of shots. I then compared the ported vs. un-ported data from each test group. You can see the entire test video here:

Preliminary Results

Having never used the Mantis before this test and making up the methodology as I went, I encountered a few problems with my initial test. The individual shots and shot strings produced wildly inconsistent results. I found that good data was incumbent upon me to hold the shotgun in the same exact position with the same grip every time. I also found that a single string of three shots was not enough to produce robust data. I had to keep shooting more strings off camera to figure out what my problems were and then shoot more shots to get enough data to get results.

It was messy research and by the end I was weary and bruised. The BOSS #1 Hammers, as they are called, are a late season goose load that produces so much recoil that every shot was painful for someone with my build and t-shirt. They hit as hard as heavy turkey loads. After firing most of a box, I was anything but consistent. People often do not realize that just by adding a little bit of shot you can significantly increase the amount of recoil, here is a video I did testing that with the Mantis: Does 1/8 Ounce of Shot Really Increase Shotgun Recoil? TESTED. I ended the test with the conclusion that IF ported choke tubes made any difference, it was not much. I then began planning for a better way to test this.

Take 2 – The REAL Test

I devised a new research methodology where I would use only one ammunition, regular target ammo that I could easily handle and fire many shots of consistently. I then shot 25 shells with each choke tube to get a much larger data set, one box of ammo per choke tube. I focused very intensely on my shooting form and grip to be as consistent as possible. Thankfully this was much easier with regular shells. I easily shoot 125 or more in a day of sporting clays so doing a test with 50 was not taxing at all. 

The data from this second test was much more consistent, reliable, and easy to interpret. Here is the full breakdown:

In short, the ported choke had less than 1 tenth of second worse recovery time, 1.98 degrees more muzzle rise and half a degree less recoil width. Put plainly, the differences were so small that they could have been rounding error. The ported choke did ever so slightly better in some areas and ever so slightly worse in others.  There was no functional difference to speak of. Both chokes were practically identical when it came to impact on recoil. You can watch the full test video here as well:

Conclusion & Recommendations

So the bottom line is that this myth is busted. Ported choke tubes have no significant impact on felt recoil. That isn’t opinion, feelings, or reasoning, it is real data. I can also say that subjectively, as the shooter, I could not detect any difference in recoil myself. Both chokes seemed identical to me across all of the different testing scenarios, good and bad. 

My conclusion then is to stick with non-ported choke tubes in those situations where equally patterning options exist in both. Some choke tubes only come ported for some reason. I will not discard a high performing ported choke in order to save a few decibels of volume, but I now prefer to search out non-ported choke tube options first. 

Be sure to listen to The New Hunters Guide Podcast and check us out on YouTube. 

Till next time. God bless you, and go get em in the woods!

George Konetes Ph.D. – Founder and Host of the New Hunters Guide.

The New Hunters Guide is simply what George wishes he would have had when learning how to hunt; a single place to get practical hands on knowledge about different kinds of hunting, gear, strategy, and tips that can improve your comfort and fun factor in the woods.

As a note, Carlson sent me with these chokes and Mantis sent me this sensor to do this testing. Thanks to them for their support. 

EP237 Unconventional Crow Hunting Tactics

Hunting crows with good cover and a big decoy spread is a time-tested strategy that works well. But depending on your season, budget, and location, that may not be viable. On this episode I talk about alternative crow hunting tactics that can help you take birds wherever you are with almost no specialized gear.

Crows have good eyesight, are wary, and can hear very well, but they do not have the mythical capabilities many hunters ascribe to them. They are birds and can be hunted with less than perfect technique. There are many ways to hunt crows that can produce successful results, to varying degrees. 

A mental shift away from traditional hunting methods needs to take place though. You need to begin thinking about taking crows one at a time instead of in great numbers. You are looking for birds coming in to take a look vs. coming in for a landing. The first bird that comes may be the only bird, and so on. Look to take every decent shot presented because it may be the only shot you get.

I am not saying unconventional methods are better, but they are viable. If you cannot hunt with traditional methods due to season, location, budget, or preference, then by all means you can still enjoy the crow season and take birds with the tactics I talk about on this episode.

Listen to the podcast episode to hear all of the unconventional crow hunting tactics. 

Best Bismuth Shotshells Review | BOSS, Kent, Winchester, HEVI

Modern bismuth waterfowl hunting ammunition has achieved impressive performance that has essentially eclipsed the capabilities of steel shot. Several brands now make premium bismuth ammo that is able to outperform even the best steel on the market. These new bismuth loads are able to pattern tighter and penetrate deeper than steel. I do not believe there is still any need to make a case for bismuth duck hunting ammo, it is clearly impressive relative to steel. The big question I will address in this article, is which bismuth shells are best for various hunting uses.

This is not a fluff review packed with regurgitated internet research either, I have personally pattern tested and ballistics gel tested the top four bismuth brands on the market, including BOSS copper plated bismuth shotshells, Kent bismuth, Winchester tin plated bismuth, and HEVI-Bismuth. I have examined recoil, reliability, price, and availability as well. Some of these shells ARE better than others, and some are better in certain circumstances. 

This article is not sponsored, these are my insights drawn from my personal tests, most of which has been recorded and published online. I will link to some of the more relevant videos as we go if you want to look deeper still. There is a lot of marketing involved with all duck and goose hunting gear, which is why I also did this podcast episode that might be of interest to you: How To Navigate The Duck Hunting Marketing.

Overview Of Bismuth Shells Tested

BOSS Copper Plated Bismuth. For years BOSS has been one of the top contenders in the waterfowl bismuth marketplace. Owning the patent on the process of copper plating bismuth has given them a distinct competitive advantage that other companies have been working to make up. The load I tested was #4 shot, 3″, 1.375 oz (232 pellets), 1350 FPS. It is worth mentioning that BOSS makes a 1.5 oz and 1.625 oz version of the same 3″ shell at the same velocity. None of the other companies have any other load options. I had to intentionally use BOSS’s lowest payload 3″ shell for this test in order to match the payloads. I have shot a lot of BOSS bismuth shells for different tests, so many that I did a full article: BOSS Bismuth Shotshells Review.

Kent Bismuth. Kent is one of the longest standing companies producing bismuth duck hunting loads, and for good reason. They produce a very high-quality product that certainly performs very well. The specs on their shell were #4 shot, 3″, 1.375 oz (232 pellets), 1450 FPS. 

Winchester Bismuth. Winchester is the newcomer to the bismuth marketplace, having just released their new duck hunting shell about a year ago. There is also of controversy around this shell with accusations flying around about alleged plastic beads used as buffer material. I did not even attempt to evaluate that but what I can say is that Winchester Bismuth came to play. This new shell performs very well. It is tin plated, most likely because BOSS holds the patents for copper and nickel-plated bismuth. This shell’s specs were also #4 shot, 3″, 1.375oz (213 pellets), 1450 FPS .

HEVI-Shot HEVI Bismuth. HEVI-Shot mixes bismuth into some of their other loads so it is only natural that they would also have an all-bismuth waterfowl hunting shell. They are not new to game by any means, but they do lack a differentiating factor with the other shells. If HEVI-Bismuth has one unique element it would be availability. They seem to the shell I most often find in stores. This shell also had the same specs, #4 shot, 3″, 1.375 oz (232 pellets), 1450 FPS.

Federal Bismuth? I did not test this shell by itself, mainly because I have heard that ever since Federal and HEVI-Shot were bought out by the same company, that the HEVI-Bismuth was relabeled and also sold as Federal Bismuth. So if that information holds true, they are essentially the same load. If anyone knows better, please let me know so I can adjust this and try to test them in the future. 

Pattern Testing

To test these duck hunting loads I used my Mossberg 940 Pro Waterfowl with its 28″ barrel and a Carlson’s Bismuth Bone Buster ER choke tube, which is the equivalent of an XF choke. For more info on that shotgun, I did an article here: Mossberg 940 Pro Waterfowl Review.

I fired these shells at 40 yards at extremely large paper with a reactive shoot and see target in the middle. Other folks doing test videos often do the same thing but they often make a critical research error, they count the pellets on the shoot and see target. This is NOT a reliable way to judge pattern. Evey shell may have a different point of impact. You need to use much larger paper and then draw a 30″ circle around the densest part of the pattern and count the pellets within, whether they are on the shoot and see target or not. The Winchester and Kent loads had the most pellets in the 30″ circle followed by the BOSS and the HEVI. Take a look at the data:

It is noteworthy that the Kent and Winchester are designed and marketed as high pattern density loads. And they would indeed perform better for long range applications, however for short range applications their patterns may indeed be too tight. You would want to use a very open choke for regular hunting ranges, perhaps improved cylinder. The following field test video tells the story very succinctly and enables you to see the patterns for each. 

Ballistics Gel Testing

For the ballistics gel tests, I shot each shell at 40 yards. I tested two shells in each block of gel because that is all you can reasonably see and count in one piece of gel. I used several blocks of gel for several tests comparing each load against the others.

A big issue people run into with gel testing is comparing the results from different blocks of gel, especially across different days. You cannot do this. A block of gel is only useful for comparing the ammo fired at that block of gel under the current conditions. Even the same gel on different days will give different results. So you cannot compare measurements between tests unless you are under lab conditions and using lab calibrated gel every time. 

These ballistics gel tests are useful for comparing the two shells tested in each. The below links will take you all four short and concise test videos, each is complete with a second pattern test as well. As you might imagine, the differences in ballistics gel penetration between the loads was not huge. The faster Kent, Winchester, and HEVI loads got just slightly more penetration than the slower BOSS, between 2% and 8% more to be exact. 

Recoil Analysis

A big factor in being able to shoot accurately is recoil. Many people do not realize how big of a difference recoil makes when it comes to how quickly and effectively you can make follow-up shots. It has nothing to do with your ability to shoot the shotgun without crying, or even to fire it without discomfort. It is all about how much the recoil impacts your body position, moves the muzzle of the gun off target, and disrupts your vision with the muzzle blast. The more recoil you have the less effective you will be with second and third shots. This all factors into why I made the video Why You Should NOT Hunt With 3.5″ Shotgun Shells.

Most hunters do not realize that with less recoil they would take more birds, despite the velocity or payload advantage the comes with heavier loads. Felt recoil plays a massive role in being an effective and efficient wing shooter. When comparing these shells, the recoil analysis is actually very simple. All of the shells have the same recoil, except for BOSS. 

Per the chart below, BOSS has 30% less recoil than the other shells. It seems crazy but the extra 100 fps you get with the other shells at this payload weight adds almost 12 lbs. of recoil. And it feels like it too. Those loads hit noticeably harder than the BOSS. To me having 2-8% more gel penetration at the cost of 30% more recoil isn’t worth it. But you do you.

Quality & Reliability

After testing all four shells, I found that all of them performed well. There were no misfires, failures to eject, or bad rounds. They all seemed perfectly reliable. In terms of shot quality, no bismuth shot is perfectly spherical due to the most common production methods. But 3 of the four seemed fairly consistent with only the HEVI-Bismuth being noticeably odd-shaped.

There were some massively larger and mutated looking HEVI pellets.  However, it is worth noting that despite really big and bad looking pellets, those pellets hit the duck sized ballistics get target and were recovered for evaluation. So, the odd shapes and sizes did not seem to hurt performance much. However, overall, the HEVI was the worst patterning shell, and this could very realistically be why.

Price & Availability

When it comes to cost, the prices do fluctuate. BOSS sets their prices, and they are what they are, but others are based on the retailers selling them and when availability is low, prices can go up a lot. All in all, on average BOSS is usually a little cheaper than the others.

The big story here is the options available. Winchester has the fewest options, followed by Kent and HEVI-Shot. But BOSS on the other hand specializes in bismuth waterfowl loads and makes nothing but bismuth. And since they are a direct-to-consumer brand, you can only buy their shells from their website. This may seem like a con initially, but BOSS has 17 different options in 12 gauge alone. Different shot sizes, different payload amounts, different shell sizes, etc.

If you add all the options up including 10-gauge, 16-gauge, 20-gauge, 28-gauge, and .410 bore, they have about 50 different options of shells to pick from. That is amazing and unheard of. Whatever you want, you can have. BOSS is all in with bismuth, and no one can touch their shell options. 

The Winners & Losers

If you look at all the data points and consider all the variables, the best shell for you will depend on what you value most. If you value selection, price, low recoil options and all around performance then BOSS is the best shell. If you value long range pattern density above all else, then Kent or Winchester are in the lead. If you are most interested in the shells you can find at your local outdoors shop then HEVI is most often going to be the winner. If you prefer penetration as the most important piece, then Winchester seems to have a slight edge. 

All in all, I think the two best performing shells tested are the Winchester and the BOSS. Winchester Bismuth has the edge in pattern and penetration while BOSS leads in every other category. If I am jump hunting ducks on the water at range, I will prefer the Winchester. If I am hunting decoying ducks at any regular range then BOSS would be my go-to. For more on the subject of waterfowl ammo, check out my podcast episode: All About Shotguns & Shells For New Duck Hunters.

I should note, that as I write this, BOSS is talking about their newest buffered bismuth shotshell that is not yet available. They are calling it “Project Warchief” and it is designed match the Winchester in pattern and penetration without increasing velocity, recoil, or price. If it does all of that, it will likely be the greatest bismuth shell ever produced. But time will tell. Once it is released, I will work to get some and add it to the test.  Edit: The BOSS Warcheif has been released, here is the full review on the Warchief.

Conclusion & Recommendations 

You cannot go wrong with any of these shells, they are all great performers. My recommendation is to get a box or two of your favorite ones and do some pattern testing with your gun and choke. You need to see how they shoot for you and feel how they shoot. I would absolutely buy a box before ordering a case to make sure you really like whichever one you pick. 

Be sure to listen to The New Hunters Guide Podcast and check us out on YouTube. 

Till next time. God bless you, and go get em in the woods!

George Konetes Ph.D. – Founder and Host of the New Hunters Guide.

The New Hunters Guide is simply what George wishes he would have had when learning how to hunt; a single place to get practical hands on knowledge about different kinds of hunting, gear, strategy, and tips that can improve your comfort and fun factor in the woods.

As a note, these shells were provided by YouTube views or bought with my own money, though BOSS has sent me other shells for other tests, and Carlson’s supplied me with this choke tube at my request, thanks to them for their support. 

EP236 Alternative Predator Hunting Weapons & Setups

Hunting predators at mid to long range with a varmint rifle is the regular approach and for good reason. But there are many lesser-known weapons and tactics for hunting coyotes and more. On this episode I talk about the many ways you can hunt predators based on the guns and gear you have, or your thirst for challenge. 

The tools you have and are comfortable with are often the tools you want to use when it comes to hunting anything. That is often the case for predators as well. A shotgun for example can be a good weapon for predator hunting but it changes the way you hunt, the ranges, the tactics, and of course the way you setup your shotgun makes a difference.

Ammo selections, choke tubes, practice routines, sights, and cover all need to be considered well in advance to be effective. The decoy positioning needs to adjust as well because the predators must get close. Your call location and routine may be different, and off course you must judge the wind flawlessly. You have to get the coyote within 100 yards, and usually much closer to get a good clean ethical kill shot.

When using a bow, you have to begin taking into account not just a predator’s excellent sense of smell, but also their keen ears. Trying to get a coyote to come within 30 yards and stop long enough for you to draw, aim, and shoot is a noble challenge under even the best of conditions. Using a red or green flashlight at such short distances is also very difficult.

At 100-200 yards, predator hunting flashlights give you an excellently sized light beam for illuminating your target and limiting their depth of vision. At 20 yards, that same flashlight is more like a laser pointer. Many of the higher quality flashlights give you the ability to adjust the beam density from focused to floodlight but good luck adjusting the focus on the flashlight while keeping it on target and holding and drawing a bow at the same time. For more, here is another podcast episode I did titled All About Predator Hunting Flashlights.

No matter what weapon you use, you have many adjustments to make in order to be effective. And the more you can think about in advance, the better your odds will be. Take using a flashlight again for example, the way this is done with a rifle, vs. a bow, vs. a handgun are very different. Advanced planning and practice are the keys to preparing for different hunting strategies. The key is that you need to practice before you are in the woods to develop effective ways to handle new situations.

Listen to the podcast episode to hear more.

How To Hunt Turkeys Without Decoys & Be Even More Successful

If you watch TV or YouTube it would be easy to think you must have decoys to hunt turkeys. The truth is, in many situations, decoys are a liability for turkey hunters. There are reasons they are almost always used when video recording a turkey hunt, and there are indeed times when using a turkey decoy is beneficial, but for most hunting situations they can do more harm than good.

Since the dawn of turkey hunting until just a few years ago, decoys were not often used. Many turkey hunters chased spring gobblers their whole lives without using a decoy. And when decoys became available, many hunters found them to add little benefit. I am convinced that new hunters should not use a decoy except under a handful of circumstances which I will outline soon.

I am not a decoy hater, I do sometimes hunt with turkey decoys and have shot toms with their assistance, but only under very specific conditions have I found them to be more good than bad. If you rely on decoys then chances are you have adapted your hunting style to one of the specific approaches that benefits from decoys, which is just fine. But in this article, I will share additional hunting strategies that can help you save time, money, and effort by skipping the decoys and being even more successful than if you had used a decoy.

For entry level info on how to hunt turkeys in general, check out this article I wrote: How To Hunt Spring Turkeys – A Practical Beginners Guide.

Why Are Decoys Used In TV Hunts?

There are four main reasons that decoys are so often used in turkey hunting videos online and on TV:

  1. The turkey hunters work for a decoy company. This is pretty obvious, they are making the video to demonstrate that their decoys work so they can sell decoys. They may have had 10 failed hunts but the only one that makes it to you is the successful one to make you feel like this works every day.
  2. The hunters are sponsored by a decoy company. Again, there is money involved to show the decoys on camera and create the perception that they are a must have piece of turkey hunting hardware to bring home a nice tom. 
  3. You need to get turkeys into the frame where the camera can be effectively positioned to film them. And you need to have those turkeys in that spot long enough to get enough footage to make a good video. Decoys can help with this, when they work. Again, you never see all the failed hunts or turkeys that were spooked by the decoys and didn’t come in.
  4. You need to draw turkeys into a very open area where they can be easily filmed, free from brush, clutter, branches, and tall grass. Decoys can help you do this and are valuable if the goal of getting footage is more important than filling your tag.

How Can Turkey Decoys Be A Negative?

The benefit of a turkey decoy seems obvious, the hunter makes turkey sounds and when a real gobbler gets close, he sees what looks like the hen turkey making the calls and comes in to court her. That sounds great, and it does work. But it can cause problems just as often, if not more often. The reason is that this is not how nature works for turkeys. When the tom sees the hen, he often gobbles to get her attention and may strut to show off. The idea is he wants the hen to come to him. That is how it normally works. If a hen wants to breed, she seeks out a gobbler.

So, if an interested tom is lured into an area by a hen turkey calling, he may gobble, but he goes on trying to get close enough for the hen to hear or see him. When he doesn’t see the hen, he keeps looking. This is what brings him within shotgun range. The gobbler only knows the general area he last heard the hen, she may be far away by the time he gets there, but he comes looking, trying to close the distance to get her attention so she will turn and come to him.

When that gobbler sees a decoy, it is as if he accomplished his objective. He closed the distance, and now the hen should come to him. So he stops getting closer, this what it means for a gobbler to get “hung up”. He comes until his sees the decoy or feels he is close enough for the hen to be aware of him, and he waits for the hen to come to him. 

Decoys do still work because sometimes the tom is so eager that he will just walk right up to the hen and try to breed her. But this is more the exception than the rule for how turkeys generally behave.

Carrying decoys around on public land can also be a big safety hazard. To many times a desperate hunter saw a turkey decoy moving through the brush and shot at it irresponsibly, wounding another hunter. For more, here is a podcast episode I did: The 3 Times Turkey Decoys Are A Liability Not A Benefit.

The Right Times To Use Decoys

I find there are a handful of hunting situations where using a turkey decoy is more good than bad. And I will use them under these circumstances.

  • If you are hunting in the middle of a field from a blind, decoys may be what you need to get a gobbler to cross the distance to come to you, or even to pull in a whole group of turkeys. There is not much else you can do to try and get turkeys to cross open ground and come into a wide-open space. They can plainly see if another turkey is there or not. So, if you do not have decoys, it can be very difficult to find success here. 
  • If you are hunting the edge of a big field, you may find decoys beneficial for the same reason. If you want a turkey to come into the open, it helps to give them one or more other turkeys to look at.
  • If you are hunting in clearing in deep woods, especially one surrounded by open hardwoods, the decoy will set a gobbler more at easy because it can connect your yelps and clucks to another turkey. This creates authenticity.

In each of these situations the decoy may hurt you, but not having one may make the hunt nearly impossible. If a turkey looks into a wide-open area and does not see the turkey it hears, that can cause it to spook much easier. So having a decoy is worth the risk. For the last few years, I’ve been using a version of the Primos Hunting Gobstopper Hen and Jake Combo to great effect when hunting in these kinds of places. They are a mid-range decoy that I think provides the most realism and durability for the price. For higher end decoys, Avian-X makes some extremely realistic one, like this Breeder Hen Decoy.

When It Is Best To Not Use Decoys

The best time to not use decoys is essentially every other hunting situation. If you find tress, brush, cover of any sort, then not using decoys is going to be advantageous, even if you can still see a fair way through mature hardwoods. The reason is that there are plenty of obstacles than can obscure the view of the hen the gobbler is looking for. So he keeps searching, trying to make visual contact with the hen. She could be behind any tree or shrub, and he keeps looking.

In these kinds of situations, the chances of a gobbler coming into range looking for his hen are much higher and having a decoy does very little to help you while there is a good chance it will hurt you. If it is too thick, the gobbler may not even see the decoy anyway. Or he may see it and get hung up. So for essentially all hunting in the woods, the odds can be better for you, if you have no decoy.

Of course, a decoy can always work. Anything is possible. But in these situations, I think you will have more success without a decoy, especially if it is a very thick area. Here is a video I did on this exact subject as well:

Strategy #1 – The Strategic Sit

This is one of the most effective turkey hunting strategies, and sadly one that is too infrequently employed. The strategic sit involves heavily scouting an area, possibly even a very small property, and locating high levels of turkey activity via tracks, sightings, droppings, scratches, cameras, or listening. You then strategically select the most advantageous hunting spot and head in there before dawn. You find a good large tree or bank of cover and lean against it to break up your outline.

You wait until you hear early morning gobbling and then reposition yourself to be facing the right direction or shift your location some to get you closer to 150 yards of the roosted birds. You then try to call them in once they land. How you hunt them warrants its own article but the main thing is to always keep something to your back so you blend in as part of the bush or the base of the tree.

If you do not have decoys, you have to be more stealthy and less vocal as the birds get closer. The gobbler will be intently searching for that hen. Which is why this works, he will keep coming closer if he doesn’t find what he’s looking for. If possible, your only move should be to pull the trigger. This hunting style should not be confused with blindly going into the woods and hoping turkeys are near you, unfortunately this is what most hunters do. This is all about strategy and if you do it well, you will come out on top more often than if you were using a decoy.  For more, here is an article I did titled: How To Hunt Turkeys On Small Properties

Strategy #2 – Running & Gunning

Running and gunning is too many people’s favorite way to hunt turkeys, they like it because it’s active, you keep moving and need less patience. Subsequently many people are unsuccessful because they do not know what they are doing and have too little patience… That said, this technique does work. And it works better without decoys much of the time.

You will be covering ground and stopping every 200 yards or so to call. How far you travel should depend more on the terrain and where you can hide well than any specific unit of distance. When you call, you may get an immediate response and have only seconds to take cover before the bird is on top of you. So pick out that spot first, then call and wait.

Be patient, pause, perhaps try a couple different call or sequences of calls, and put some time in between them. If you have reason to believe this is a good area do not be afraid to spend some time here. Too many people call and move on after 30 seconds if there is no gobble. Then 10 minutes later a gobbler is standing right where they were but they never know about it. For more, here is a podcast episode I did titled: How To Hunt Silent Turkeys.

To hunt well like this, you need to be extremely stealthy. Birds often don’t gobble because they heard you walking in, making noise, talking, setting up decoys, etc. Having no decoy means you can travel lighter, quieter, and less distracted. You do not have to setup a decoy every time you call or hear a response while you scramble to figure out what to do. Be stealthy, be patient, find the right place to hide early, and you can have good success. 

Strategy #3 – Ambush Hunting

Ambush hunting turkeys is one of the least favorite techniques of people who do not take a lot of turkeys. They see it as not exciting enough and would rather be walking miles spooking every turkey out of the county than learning where birds move mid-morning or mid-day and lying in wait to ambush them. This technique revolves around scouting and knowing the land and terrain. 

Similar to deer hunting, you are patterning the turkeys, learning their habits, and setting up with total stealth to catch them unaware. If you do not scout, don’t try this, you won’t have the reconnaissance needed to give you the confidence to stay put and wait for the birds to show up. This strategy puts you near the path of the birds, a route they will be traveling anyway. Having a decoy can only cause problems because the birds were going to walk through there anyway. You didn’t need the decoy to do anything, it just becomes a distraction and a liability. 

If you want to take a lot of turkeys, you must adapt to hunt the land an opportunity provided. A good ambush hunt, especially later in the morning or in the day has put a great many turkeys in the freezer.  For more info on how to hunt turkey’s check out this video I did:

Conclusions & Recommendations

There is nothing wrong with hunting turkeys with a decoy. It certainty does work. But turkey hunts on television make it seem like it works much more often than it actually does. If you are hunting in a scenario where decoys are helpful, then use them. But do not limit your hunting to only those situations. 

One of the greatest things about turkey hunting is the amazing variety of ways you can hunt. Build your experience hunting with different strategies and you will be well prepared to adapt to whatever you encounter during the next turkey season.

Be sure to listen to The New Hunters Guide Podcast and check us out on YouTube. 

Till next time. God bless you, and go get em in the woods!

George Konetes Ph.D. – Founder and Host of the New Hunters Guide.

The New Hunters Guide is simply what George wishes he would have had when learning how to hunt; a single place to get practical hands on knowledge about different kinds of hunting, gear, strategy, and tips that can improve your comfort and fun factor in the woods.

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