Alright, I’ve been out a few days so far this year hunting for spring turkey, but haven’t had much success. I spent a couple days trying to run and gun, but kept getting busted by the sound of crunching dry leaves. The last day out, I sat behind a roofless panel blind while getting bombarded by hail. Now, I’ve got a new blind, just patterned some killer 3″ Federal TSS shells, and am ready to bag a bird.
The property I’m hunting is an 80-acre parcel of private land in SE Michigan. Filled with dense cover and trees throughout, it includes a giant swamp next to a small lake and a decent sized hill in the left corner of the property.
The red X on the left side of the Map is where I plan on setting up my blind at 5:30 am when I reach the field. The three yellow Xs are the places I have determined that Toms have been roosting. The main flock of hens also roosts near the uppermost yellow X. Several times during the day a group of hens and jakes make their way to the field near the red X to eat the grass and clovers.
The plan is to put decoys up in the field about 25 yards from my blind and call to the toms while they are roosted to try and entice one to head over as soon as they get down. If they don’t take the bait, then I’m counting on the flock of birds that come down around 10 am to attract a tom down after them.
I will keep you posted with how the hunt went, and if it is a success I am hoping to get some video that I can post up.
Btw, if you don’t currently use the onX hunt maps you are missing out. It is one of the best tools a hunter can have. The maps show property boundaries, owners of the property, and real-time tracking via your phone. You can find out more about onX here.
