How to Hunt During Virginia's January Turkey Season

One of the most memorable gobblers I’ve ever killed was taken during Virginia’s two-week January season. The coldest day on which I’ve ever shot a turkey also occurred in that fortnight. And the most intense gobbling I’ve ever encountered occurred during that same season. The backstories?

The gobbler was one of a trio of longbeards that had bedeviled me the previous autumn and into the winter. But on a late-January day while pursuing them, I heard a distant, deep, throaty “bonk,” and I knew they were in the general neighborhood. I quickly set up against a hardwood, uttered a bonk of my own, and decided that I was through communicating with these often noncommunicative gobblers. Twenty minutes later, they appeared about 40 yards away, and I downed the leader of the pack. He boasted an 11-inch beard and weighed a tad under 21 pounds.

This past January, I was afield on a snowy day during which the high temperature registered 6 degrees, and the wind chill pushed temps below zero. Ensconced in a blind, which I had semi-convinced myself would make my body feel less numb, I called in and shot a jenny that weighed all of 8 1/2 pounds. Honestly, that little hen gave me as much of a thrill as that old monarch.

And the most intense gobbling I’ve ever heard in the Old Dominion took place on an unseasonably warm January morning. At dawn, I heard eight different toms, all of them seemingly gobbling with every breath they took. Those boys had accumulated a harem of hens, and the females were yelping in unison at every gobble. Yet, I didn’t come close to killing a turkey that January morning. My excuse? The gobblers were all henned-up, just like they often are in spring.

Among the Eastern states, Virginia is the only one with a January firearms season, and it is a fascinating time to hunt. Mike Dye, the Virginia DWR Forest Gamebird Biologist, agrees.

“You might have a 60-degree day or a 25-degree one or a windy one where the temperature is not much above zero,” he says. “Whether you hunt private or public land, you’re not likely to see another hunter, except maybe someone after squirrels or grouse. Only about 5 percent of our annual fall kill comes from the January season; there just aren’t that many people participating.

“Virginia started the season in 2011 with the hope that more people would try fall turkey hunting. It’s a great time to introduce someone to that pastime, as well as a fine time to take a kid hunting.”

WHERE TO GO

Dye relates that the 1.8-million-acre George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, the vast majority of which lies in the Commonwealth, dominate the western part of the state and are a viable destination.

“Hunters are very likely to have large stretches of the national forest to themselves now,” he says. “But if there’s snow on the ground, access could be difficult and many access gates locked by this part of the season. Regardless, hunters should be willing to walk and search for flocks.”

The biologist confirms that some of the state’s larger WMAs are also worth checking out. Among them are the Goshen-Little North Mountain, Big Woods, and Clinch Mountain. Dye also suggests some of the larger state forests, such as Buckingham, Cumberland, and Dragon Run. Sportsmen will need to purchase a separate permit for these Virginia Department of Forestry public lands.

HOW-TO TIPS

Dye emphasizes that food is often the most important consideration when it comes to how-to advice.

“The white oaks sprout earlier and are eaten earlier, so they are not likely to be available then,” he says. “Those acorns are very much favored by deer, bears, and other mammals, and though turkeys don’t have much of a sense of taste, they will have eaten them all up, too. So, hunters should be looking for areas where there are acorns with higher tannin levels, like those that come from red oak family members and the chestnut oak.

“Grapes are another important turkey food now. And any kind of other soft mast that you might find, such as viburnum, greenbrier, or dogwood berries, could attract birds. I would also suggest that hunters look for national forest, WMA, or state forest land that borders agricultural areas.”

Just as national forest deer move back and forth between private and public lands, so do turkeys. Many times, I’ve encountered January flocks foraging in cut corn fields, as well as soybean and turnip plots. A field that has been seeded with any kind of cover crop is worth checking as well. Dye adds that hardwood hollows that feature bold creeks, springs, or even tiny seeps will have sprigs of vegetation available, which will entice turkeys, especially in cold or snowy periods.

SIGN, CALLING, AND FLOCK DYNAMICS

One of the many fascinating aspects of January hunting is that a hunter has to be prepared to mimic a wide variety of turkey sounds to flocks of different makeups. For example, the most difficult kind of turkey to kill now is a mature tom. Older toms will typically be in gangs of three or four, and they are not given to making a large number of sounds. The exception, of course, is when a brief winter warm spell and the slowly increasing hours of daylight make them think that spring is nigh.

But that is the exception to the way most January Virginia days will unfold. So, my standard game plan in the morning is to set up in areas where I have found scarce, fresh scratching. By that I mean places that have a dozen or so scratchings, as if a small flock has come through very recently. 

That kind of sign could indicate that this was a small flock of old monarchs. Even better is if few-days-old scratching and week-or-so-plus-old scratching exist. Scratching that is fresh, a few days old, and very old means that turkeys are regularly coming to that area to feed. Newly made scratching is characterized by fresh brown earth, piled up leaves and ovals about a foot in length across with an absence of leaves. Medium-age sign has drier-looking soil, the leaves on the edges have caved in, and scattered leaves can be seen inside the oval. Older scratching features dry earth, no elevated leaves on the perimeter, and leaves covering much of the inside.

If the J-shaped droppings of gobblers and jakes are seen in or near that scratching, then my suspicions are at least partially confirmed that this is a common haunt of mature toms or at least jakes, and possibly even a mixed flock of mature and juvenile males. By January, most jakes will have broken away from their mothers and female siblings, and a few of the bolder boys may even gravitate toward a gobbler gang. However, most of the male flocks consist of either just longbeards or just shortbeards. 

So, if I’ve guessed that a mature gobbler flock is what I am likely dealing with, then I really narrow the types of sounds I make and their frequency. The bonk sound that I mentioned earlier is really just a slow, deep, throaty yelp. I’ve found that a slate pot is by far the best choice for making this type of sound. Pressing the peg tight to the slate and along its perimeter, I drag the peg about halfway around in a circular motion to simulate a cluck. A multiple-reed diaphragm will also perform well, as will a box. Vocalize a bonk only two or three times an hour.

I’ll also employ a few clucks occasionally and try to give them that same deep, throaty sound. If the weather is warmer, I’ll even send forth a few gobbles on a shaker call, but rarely have I received many responses to that device. In short, the bonk is the best bet, and if a gobbler clucks back, go on the proverbial red alert. He may show up within a few minutes or not within an hour or more, but he may very well come. 

For jake flocks, calling options are much more varied. Young-of-the-year males can be very vocal and, at times, they will respond to a jake gobble, fighting purrs, kee-kees, and yelping. These are not shy, retiring birds. With mother hen-led flocks, the same calls and strategies that worked in the fall will perform well now, too.

I prefer to bust a mother hen and her young, as it is much easier to call in singles and doubles than an entire flock. The high-pitched, frenetic jenny kee-kee, made with a diaphragm, is my go-to call now, and it was the sound I had been making when I called in that young hen last January. Consider giving Virginia’s January season a try. It’s a challenging time to be afield, but it can also be a very rewarding one.

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