04-16-2011, 12:26 AM
Like I said, the hens could be laying, but it would be a bit on the early side, IMO. Here's how I see it.
Most of the turkey won't go to laying until after they leave their wintering area. Some will stay there all year round, but most will move off to lay and then later, set. I doubt very many, if any, have began to lay yet. More likely they are looking for a good nesting site. Once they begin to lay, I think the turkey hunting gets better, not worse. When the hens start laying, they'll pal around with the tom in the morning, then go lay an egg or two around mid morning to some time in the afternoon. Late afternoon they'll group up again before they fly up to roost. If you can find the tom's after the hens have gone off to lay, you have a lot better chance of getting one to come to the calls. Otherwise, you have to call in the flock, hens and all. I've done it, but I makes getting a shot and staying concealed really hard when you have 20 eyes on you instead of 2. I really like it best once the hens have begun to set. Then the toms get really lonely and might be alone all day.
Let me define setting as this: The incubation of the eggs. They sit on the nest, night and day, and will only leave for very short periods to get water and eat just a little bit. They do this during the egg incubation. If the eggs cool off too much, for too long, the unborn chicks will die.
Since you are new, I'll tell you, it is tough to call in a hen'd up tom. Best bet is to call very very sparingly (and quite) and hope to call in the hens too. The more you call, the more likely they will be to go the other way. I'd say 20 minutes is kind of a magic number. If you call more often than 20 mintes, it is likely too much. Not that you can't call in a bird by being aggressive, but just as a general rule, I've had much better luck by waiting. It also helps if you know where they are wanting to go. If you setup in that path, they will be more likely to come your way (obvious enough, but often we try to do it the other way around).
Let me know if there is any other help I could give. I'll be up around Kooskia hunting turkey around the end of the month. Looks like southwick isn't too far from there.
To aid in luring those toms out of the woods, I'd recommend no decoys, set up on the edge of the woods, call every 20 minutes for about an hour, then go completely silent. Wait at least 1 hour and stay awake (that's the hard part for me). I predict the tom will begin to gobble a bit more frequently and come to the edge to look for those hens. Even is he is gobbling, resist the urge to call to him. Stay silent, he will come.
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Most of the turkey won't go to laying until after they leave their wintering area. Some will stay there all year round, but most will move off to lay and then later, set. I doubt very many, if any, have began to lay yet. More likely they are looking for a good nesting site. Once they begin to lay, I think the turkey hunting gets better, not worse. When the hens start laying, they'll pal around with the tom in the morning, then go lay an egg or two around mid morning to some time in the afternoon. Late afternoon they'll group up again before they fly up to roost. If you can find the tom's after the hens have gone off to lay, you have a lot better chance of getting one to come to the calls. Otherwise, you have to call in the flock, hens and all. I've done it, but I makes getting a shot and staying concealed really hard when you have 20 eyes on you instead of 2. I really like it best once the hens have begun to set. Then the toms get really lonely and might be alone all day.
Let me define setting as this: The incubation of the eggs. They sit on the nest, night and day, and will only leave for very short periods to get water and eat just a little bit. They do this during the egg incubation. If the eggs cool off too much, for too long, the unborn chicks will die.
Since you are new, I'll tell you, it is tough to call in a hen'd up tom. Best bet is to call very very sparingly (and quite) and hope to call in the hens too. The more you call, the more likely they will be to go the other way. I'd say 20 minutes is kind of a magic number. If you call more often than 20 mintes, it is likely too much. Not that you can't call in a bird by being aggressive, but just as a general rule, I've had much better luck by waiting. It also helps if you know where they are wanting to go. If you setup in that path, they will be more likely to come your way (obvious enough, but often we try to do it the other way around).
Let me know if there is any other help I could give. I'll be up around Kooskia hunting turkey around the end of the month. Looks like southwick isn't too far from there.
To aid in luring those toms out of the woods, I'd recommend no decoys, set up on the edge of the woods, call every 20 minutes for about an hour, then go completely silent. Wait at least 1 hour and stay awake (that's the hard part for me). I predict the tom will begin to gobble a bit more frequently and come to the edge to look for those hens. Even is he is gobbling, resist the urge to call to him. Stay silent, he will come.
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