How to Hunt Turkeys in the Fall

When the topic of pursuing wild turkeys is discussed, most hunters immediately shift their thoughts to springtime. Outside of the incidental harvest of a bird while deer hunting, many folks rarely entertain the idea of targeting longbeards in autumn. In doing so they are missing out on incredible opportunities to enjoy exhilarating close encounters.

The birds behave differently in the fall, prompting a departure from the spring-season mindset and requiring hunters to switch strategies and techniques in order to tag out. Typical running-and-gunning remains an option during the autumn months, and with a little luck, the results are likely to be good and the experience thrilling. But passionate turkey hunters owe it to themselves to try a spot-and-stalk hunt. A fanatical gobbler chaser myself, I can promise that those who give it a chance will be rewarded with memorable moments in the field that make every effort worthwhile.

GAME NUANCES

The main gist of the spot-and-stalk strategy for turkey hunting involves the use of available vegetation and cover to position yourself within shotgun range of a mature gobbler. While that part isn’t very different from the usual running-and-gunning employed mostly in the spring, autumn birds are not split up, spread out and focused on breeding. In the fall, turkeys are mostly found in larger flocks and primarily driven by food.

This discrepancy in behavior provides certain challenges for fall turkey hunters, the most obvious being the fact that the lack of breeding activity eliminates the likelihood of encountering a lonely gobbler willing to cover a lot of ground and rush toward what sounds like a potential mate.

The key to getting within shotgun range of a mature tom during the fall season is understanding how flocks are using the landscape to travel from their roosting sites to where they are foraging. Fortunately, the birds’ feeding patterns in autumn are generally more predictable than during the spring. Once hunters get a handle on their daily routines, they can formulate a game plan that focuses their efforts on the high-percentage areas that turkeys are sure to frequent.                                                 

The fact that, in the fall, birds congregate in larger groups presents another hurdle. Even when a particular tract holds impressive numbers of turkeys, they are often found only in certain sections instead of widespread and on the move, looking for breeding partners. Therefore, simply hunkering down in an area and sitting still, waiting for lovestruck longbeards to happen by, is not an effective fall strategy. If you have not figured out exactly how the birds are using and moving across the property you are hunting, stealthily covering ground in an effort to lay eyes on a flock is a much better approach.

HIDE AND SEEK

Scouting is the most important element of any spot-and-stalk turkey hunt. As stated earlier, locating both roosting sites and feeding areas is essential. For the former, focus your search along lines of tall trees, especially those near water sources. For the latter, find fall crop fields or areas with mast-bearing trees and vegetation and look for signs of flocks. The next step is figuring out the birds’ travel corridors, which should come fairly easily once you know where they sleep and eat.

Head-to-toe camouflage clothing and gear is a must to successfully execute this fall-season game plan. As you scout the areas you plan to hunt, pay close attention to the landscape and note the primary types of vegetation to select a camo that will blend well with the environment. And don’t forget a face mask and gloves when gathering the necessary apparel. The extra concealment can be the difference between fooling a gobbler and spooking the bird and the rest of the flock.

CALL ’N TROLL

Many folks believe that turkeys are not nearly as vocal during the fall, but that just isn’t true. They may not gobble as much as during the spring, but they certainly still make plenty of noise. In fact, I’d argue that if someone wanted to learn how to speak turkey by conversing with a bunch of chatty birds, fall is the best time to do it. Flocked-up turkeys will definitely talk back if you open the lines of communication.

When it comes to calling, I like to use both a slate and a diaphragm call to mimic—as closely as possible—all of the sounds that turkeys are making. Diaphragm calls are good for making loud yelps, while slate calls can produce realistic purrs, cutts and subtle yelps. Carrying both types of calls gives you the option to use them at the same time and imitate a flock rather than a single bird.

Neither a flock of hens and poults nor a flock of gobblers will tolerate a single loudmouth hen that appears to be feasting on their groceries. With the birds so driven by food during the fall months, they tend to be extremely territorial, and that’s a key part of what makes hunting turkeys this time of year so much fun.

Don’t be afraid to get aggressive with your calling in the fall, by the way. If a hen off in the distance responds, go ahead and talk back to her. However she responds, it’s important to call right back, but louder and more aggressively. If she yelps, you should yelp too, but more emphatically.

Sometimes, calling during the autumn months begins with throwing out every call in the book until a bird responds. Then it becomes a game of telling off the dominant hen until she angrily leads the flock right to you.

DEKE SCHEME

In addition to calling, turkeys’ territorial nature during the fall makes using decoys very effective. If you can dial in exactly when and where a flock is feeding, setting up a single hen decoy, or a hen-and-jake combination to imitate a small family group, is a good idea. With your decoys in place, start calling and get ready to watch the flock come in to challenge the intruders feeding on their turf. Once that happens, getting a shot at a boss gobbler should be a matter of picking out a bird and waiting for the right moment to pull the trigger.

LOCK AND LOAD

Hunters should learn their effective range and work on their accuracy prior to hitting the field in pursuit of gobblers in autumn, when shot chances can come and go rather quickly, making it imperative to take advantage of any small window of opportunity.

With today’s chokes and ammo, it’s  not unheard of for hunters to make successful shots out to 50 yards or even farther, but patterning the shotgun and shells you plan to use is vital. I prefer TSS loads with No. 7 or 9 shot. Some brands of ammunition produce TSS loads that combine both of those shot sizes. Such shells have proven extremely effective on turkeys.

In my opinion, the most exciting aspect of turkey hunting is being on the ground—in full camo and without a blind—with the birds coming closer and closer. Once you’ve reached your desired location, be sure to exercise patience, especially when birds are clearly making their approach. Then just sit back, enjoy the show and take the shot when a good opportunity presents itself.

If you’re willing to put in the legwork to find and pattern flocks of turkeys in the fall, I guarantee that you’ll find spot-and-stalk hunts every bit as exciting as more traditional springtime hunts—perhaps even more so.

SOUND OFF

• Arm yourself with the right turkey calls for fall.

If you’re into custom turkey calls and don’t mind spending a bit more money to purchase a premium product, check out David Halloran Turkey Calls. The craftsmanship of Halloran’s handmade pot calls is top-notch, and the variety of surfaces they incorporate can faithfully reproduce a wide range of yelps, purrs, cutts and other types of turkey talk. Most go for $70 to $100, and they can be engraved for an additional fee. Halloran also produces effective diaphragm calls priced from $9 to $25.

Should you instead prefer a more affordable model, the kind that you can find at your local sporting goods store, you can’t go wrong with the slate and diaphragm calls made by Primos. Their slate calls sell for $35 to $50, and their diaphragm calls go for $10 to $20. For a look at said brand’s entire line of products, visit primos.com.

---

• This article was featured in the November 2025 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe.

---