Regional Strut Update: Strutting and Gobbling in Midwest, South; Openers Approach in West, East

This is the third installment of the Regional Strut Update, our weekly report on turkey activity and hunter successes across the country (see last week's report). This week's report includes:

• In the East, turkey seasons open this weekend in Delaware and Virginia, and Doug Howlett says positive forecasts and population reports have hunters ready to tag a tom.
• In the South, Josh Honeycutt reports it's been up and down for turkey hunters in the region. There's hot action in some places, but it's been cooling down in others. The best hunting is currently in the Southeast—particularly Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.
• In the Midwest, Brandon Butler says early reports have been good throughout the region, with hunters reporting lots of strutting and gobbling. Missouri's youth hunt saw amazing results last week (read more below).
• In the West, Andrew McKean says patience will be the key to early hunting in the region, where many states are opening in the upcoming week. Hunt low and quiet if you want opening-week success.

EAST REPORT

Turkey Numbers Up or Stable Across Much of Region

• Forecasts are generally optimistic as the region’s first seasons open this weekend.

By Doug Howlett

While driving down the highway that runs past Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia in late February, I glanced toward the shoulder of the road and spotted two hens strolling outside the airport’s security fence. A rope-dragging gobbler followed close behind. The sight set my heart to racing. But what really charged me up was what was just inside the fence: a large tom locked in full strut. I hadn’t seen one like that since last season, and it suddenly hit me that Virginia’s turkey season was less than a month and a half away.

We had been enjoying unseasonably warm weather up until then, even to the point that some of the trees were budding. The weather seemed to have fooled everyone. Indeed, initial inquiries to some of my hunting friends across the northeastern region of the country all confirmed that turkeys were out and about doing turkey things like strutting and even gobbling. Everyone was getting excited. Then, just as suddenly as it seemed we would have a truly early spring, winter played a cruel joke and decided to double down on its final days with cold and even snow across much of the Northeast. Traveling through the mountains of Pennsylvania just last week, I drove for more than half an hour with steady snow pelting the windshield. Again, reports from around the region noted that the cold had literally chilled out some of what the early scouters were seeing.

For many in the region, the season opener is still weeks away. For those who have already seen youth hunters take to the field for their special day or days, the reports have been promising. Here’s a quick look at the upcoming season dates and what each state in the East can expect this spring. States are listed in the order in which they open.

• DELAWARE (April 13 to May 11): Delaware is one of two states in G&F’s East region that open earliest. First State hunters enjoyed a record spring turkey harvest in 2023 with a total harvest of 785 birds. The state’s turkey biologist says to look for more of the same in 2024, with Kent and Sussex counties usually producing the highest harvest totals.
• VIRGINIA (April 13 to May 18): Virginia hunters also set a record last year. With 24,447 birds tagged, they easily eclipsed the 20,850 mark set in 2015. While Virginia’s upland game bird biologist, Mike Dye, doesn’t expect such robust harvest numbers again this spring, the state’s brood production overall has been stable. While there have been some declines in parts of the state, they have been offset by increases in others. Look to parts of the Shenandoah Valley (where there is public land) and southeastern counties such as Southampton, Sussex and Surry (where it is virtually all private) for the best action.
• WEST VIRGINIA (April 15 to May 19): My lookouts in West Virginia say things are trending positively for the upcoming season—something echoed by the state game department. With abundant public land and a rich turkey-hunting tradition, the state continues to see solid harvests, with last year improving significantly over the previous year. Look for this year to be much of the same.
• MARYLAND (April 18 to May 23): Maryland’s projected harvest should be in line with last year’s, but overall, the state pales in comparison for opportunity compared to neighboring Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. That said, the game department reports strong bird numbers continue to appear in the western mountain areas of the state, while Eastern Shore numbers are lower.
• NEW JERSEY (April 22 to May 24): The outlook in New Jersey is hovering right where it was last year, with decent hunting opportunities throughout the state, particularly in the southernmost counties.
• CONNECTICUT (April 24 to May 25): Ask Nutmeg State hunters about the state’s liberalized seasons, with higher bag limits and extended hunting hours, and they are less than optimistic about a good season ahead. The state has noted to expect fewer birds in parts of the state due to high harvest numbers last year. That said, it believes the state should experience about the same hunter success numbers as last year when 1,279 birds were taken.
• RHODE ISLAND (April 25 to May 19): Overall, Rhode Island turkey population continues to trend slightly lower than the past few years. Last year, hunters shot 341 gobblers and success rates this season should remain on par with that number.
• MAINE (April 29 to June 1): Pine Tree State hunting should be on par with last year, when hunters recorded the second-best harvest in the state’s history.
• MASSACHUSETTS (April 29 to May 25): Hunters I’ve spoken to are seeing birds in decent numbers and the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife expects hunting opportunities to remain strong going into the coming season thanks to stable turkey populations.
• NEW HAMPSHIRE (May 1 to 31): After five consecutive years of record-high harvests, New Hampshire hunters may be coming back down to Earth a little this year, the state game department is hinting. That said, the outlook is still positive and hunters I’ve talked to there who have been out scouting are encouraged by the size of the flocks they are seeing in the lower, open farming areas of the state. The mountains might present a tougher hunting challenge as bird numbers there aren’t keeping pace with the rest of the state. The winter was a mild one throughout much of New England, so that should help boost overall numbers going into the spring.
• NEW YORK (May 1 to 31): New York offers the most dismal outlook of any of the states in the region due to lower poult production in past years compared to the 1990s when the state was at its peak. That said, hunters still managed to harvest upwards of 17,000 birds last spring, and the Department of Environmental Conservation expects those numbers to be about the same in 2024. Early observations from hunters are mixed, but there’s still plenty of time before the season opens for weather to improve and sightings of birds to increase.
• VERMONT (May 1 to 31): The state notes that wet, cool weather late last spring led to poor poult production, but a mild winter and good mast crop means the birds that are there should be in good condition. Don’t expect a lot of jakes this year, which means 2-year-olds next year will also be in short supply, but the outlook should remain positive. Last year, hunters took 6,586 toms, with roughly a quarter of all hunters in the state finding success.
• PENNSYLVANIA (May 4 to 31): Keystone State hunters took more than 39,000 gobblers last year. The outlook is good they will do so again, with plenty of 2-year-old birds in the mix to make for some exciting hunting. Look for some of the best hunting to be found in the mountainous remote southwestern part of the state, with decent hunting also in Pennsylvania’s southeastern-most game unit just outside the suburbs of Philadelphia.

TAGGED OUT

'Hooked' on Virginia Turkeys

• Hunter: Isabelle Morissette
• Dates: April 6
• Location: Occoquan National Wildlife Refuge, Virginia
• Method: Shotgun
• Stats: 9 1/2-inch beard; 1 3/8-inch spurs; 23 pounds

Isabelle Morissette, a 17-year-old apprentice hunter in Virginia, found early-season success during the Old Dominion’s youth/apprentice weekend when she made a perfect shot on this trophy gobbler. She was guided by longtime NWTF volunteer and wildlife biologist Kevin Walter during the Occoquan National Wildlife Refuge Youth Turkey Day. The hunt takes place in partnership with the Virginia Chapter of the NWTF, the USFWS and the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.

Morissette and Walter managed to set up within 100 yards of three roosted gobblers. The first one flew down and came toward their setup, but then left when he saw the other two birds quietly roosted above him.

Those two then flew down and followed him. Walter kept calling, and the big tom returned but never got close enough for a shot before walking back off. Morissette and Walter quickly moved to the other end of the field they were on to get ahead of the tom. Walter called and the bird was within 20 yards. When he strolled within 10 yards, Morrisette dropped him cleanly.

The trophy tom was estimated to be between four and five years old, tipped the scales at 23 pounds, had a 9 1/2-inch beard and rocked 1 3/8-inch spurs.

VIDEO

Turkey Killer: She Tags the Biggest Bird of the Year

• Taylor Allen is a known turkey killer in her family, and this year is no different. After an enjoyable morning of gobbling, a wary longbeard pitches down and spends a couple hours crossing a large ag field in Minnesota. A lot can go wrong, but will the long-spurred turkey finish? Check it out.

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SOUTH REPORT

Toms Firing Up in Some Places; Cooling Down in Others

• For gangbuster gobbler action, head to Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi.

By Josh Honeycutt

This week’s South strut update delivers both good and bad news for gobbler hunters. Depending on your intended hunting location, prospects may be promising or disappointing.

Nate Hosie of HeadHunters TV weighed in first with news from the Florida woods. He says that turkeys had been working well early in the season, but things have taken a downturn in recent days. The Southern Zone is now closed, and northern counties are experiencing some rough hunting conditions.

Shane Simpson, host of YouTube’s Calling All Turkeys, hunted down in Florida, too, and he found the experience challenging as well, with not much gobbling. Nevertheless, they still managed to locate some birds and take one down the last morning of his hunt.

By contrast, Hosie later found good conditions and more cooperative turkeys in neighboring Alabama. “We found some turkeys that wanted to act right,” he says. “The birds are working all right now, but I think the best is yet to come.”

Simpson, who also hunted in the Yellowhammer State recently, says the turkeys there were gobbling better than he’d expected. In fact, birds sounded off quite well during two out of his three hunting days. Unfortunately, the toms were henned-up in a big way, and they located only one that was out on its own.

Michael Lee of The Backwoods Life recently tagged out in Georgia, and his crew reported sending a total of nine gobblers to their final roost in three days of hunting.

“My dad and I doubled on opening morning,” says Lee. “I filled my second tag the second morning, and he filled his that afternoon. On the third morning of the season, I called one in for my buddy Phillip Vogler—a nice double-bearded bird.”

Realtree’s Michael Pitts hasn’t been so lucky. He reports the turkeys he’s after are getting the best of him. “The birds are vocal on the roost, but they shut up as soon as they hit the ground,” he says. “I have been talking to other hunters in the area, and they are having the same problem.”

In southwestern Mississippi, turkey-hunting fanatic Leon Stilly says locating gobblers has been a hit-or-miss affair, but hunters shouldn’t get discouraged.

“It just depends on the particular day,” he says. “Once you find one bird gobbling, it responds well to the calls. They’re also starting to get more vocal once they fly off the roost. The hens are beginning to nest and, in turn, the gobblers are getting more active.”

Hunting land real estate agent Slade Priest has also been hunting in Mississippi, and he provides a glowing report. “Man, it’s been great,” he says. “We kill almost every time out. Hens are nesting and the toms are henned-up, but with patience you can tag out.”

In nearby Louisiana, Strut Commander’s Jordan Summit says the longbeards have hens but they are starting to wander in an attempt to expand their harems. Luckily, some are looking for love in all the wrong places, as both his wife and son have managed to shoot turkeys recently.

Down in the Texas, the hunting has been up and down lately. Kyle Barefield of All Things Hunting says the number of jakes is astounding this year, which makes bagging a tom a bit tougher but bodes well for next season.

“Turkeys are gobbling in the morning but not tearing it up,” he says. “Toms are with hens in the mornings, but the afternoons have been good. Toms are really gobbling and coming to the call, especially the last two hours before roost.”

It was during that prime period that Barefield killed one old turkey with 1 1/4-inch spurs. He says the bird gobbled and strutted right into range.

Cody Kelly, host of “Small Town Hunting,” has been tracking down gobblers in Texas, too, and he confirms the proliferation of jakes. “Incredible jake numbers, which was great to see, but it makes for tough hunting. There’s very little gobbling going on because whenever longbeards sound off, jakes come running straight to them,” says Kelley. “But we took down a good one on a late afternoon. It gobbled twice and eased in strutting.”

TAGGED OUT

Lone Star Rio Off the Roost

• Hunter: Will Cooper
• Dates: April 7
• Location: Texas
• Method: Shotgun
• Stats: 11-inch beard; 1 1/4-inch spurs; 23 pounds

“Things have fired up here in Texas,” says HuntStand’s Will Cooper. “I got to the area where I can hunt on a friend’s property and heard a lone gobbler on his roost. After sitting down where I thought he was, I soon realized I was much closer than anticipated. Luckily, the tom hadn’t seen me set my decoys, and he flew down, giving me a chance. It was a great day in the turkey woods.” A great day, indeed. It was Cooper’s personal best Rio Grande turkey harvest.

GOBBLER GEAR

10 Shotguns for Spring Turkey Hunting

In the early days of springtime's grand-old hunting obsession, a turkey shotgun was likely the same side-by-side that your grandfather also used for ducks, doves and quail. But that was then—the golden era of American-made side-by-side shotguns. Now it’s the golden era of specialty shotguns that are tailor-made for Mr. Tom. For today’s turkey hunter, there's no shortage of modern and traditional shotgun models to consider. —Lynn Burkhead

Click to read "10 Shotguns for Spring Turkey Hunting"

MIDWEST REPORT

More Birds this Year, Several Youth Seasons Open

• In general, hunters around the region are reporting seeing and hearing more birds. Over the weekend, youth hunters cashed in on this.

By Brandon Butler

Across much of the Midwest, youth turkey hunters have kicked off the 2024 season, and early reports have been good, with hunters in the field reporting seeing and hearing more birds.

In Illinois, outdoor writer Dan Stefanich says he has been seeing a lot more birds than in the past few years. He was fired up for the season to open in southern Illinois on April 8.

“Down south, we get the first crack at birds,” he says. “This season, I expect to hear about a lot of success because there just seems to be more birds. They are out in the fields throughout the day, strutting and doing their stuff. I’m hearing a good number of gobbles during my scouting trips, too.”

Reports are similar in Iowa, where John Drach with Retrieving Freedom spends a lot of time outdoors training dogs.

“Turkey season is one of my favorite times of year to be outdoors,” he says. “When the redbuds are blooming and the temperatures begin to warm up to shirt-sleeve weather, I love throwing on my turkey vest and seeing if I can find an old gobbler love-struck enough to answer one of my calls. This year, I’m thinking it may be a little easier than the past few years. I’m hearing more and more birds gobbling when I walk the trails at my favorite piece of hunting land.”

Turkey season opened April 8 in Iowa, and the final season segment ends May 12.

Josh Lane took his son Hadley out for the Missouri youth season on public land near Lake of the Ozarks. He couldn’t buy a gobble while trying to roost birds the evening of April 5, or before sunrise on the 6th. At legal light, though, a number of birds fired up and his son shot a jake from a group of eight (see “Tagged Out” below).

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) reported youth turkey hunters harvested 3,721 birds during the youth weekend, April 6 and 7. This is a substantial increase over the 2,550 birds taken during the 2023 spring youth weekend, and a good sign that early indications of a significant increase in birds this year is likely true.

South Dakota turkey hunters have a few more days to go before the season opens on April 13 in the Prairie Region. Black Hills Hunters have a little longer to wait; the season doesn’t start out there until April 27. There is a lot of public land surrounding reservoirs in South Dakota. Hunters may want to consider accessing some tough-to-reach honey holes by boat.

“I see a lot of turkeys while I’m fishing our big lakes,” says professional walleye angler Brian Bashore. “It makes me want to carry a shotgun in the boat. When the season opens, those birds could easily be hunted by beaching your boat on the shore and working into effective calling range.”

TAGGED OUT

Missouri Public-Land Success

• Hunter: Hadley Lane
• Dates: April 6
• Location: Missouri
• Method: Shotgun
• Stats: Double-bearded jake

Hadley Lane is becoming a regular ol’ turkey slayer. The 14-year-old from Edwards, Mo., took advantage of the state’s youth season to tag his fourth bird while hunting with his father Josh. This one was a healthy jake.

“We tried roosting some birds but couldn’t get one to gobble, and we didn’t hear any fly up. But we did see quite a bit of sign, so we came back in the morning anyway,” Hadley says.

The father-son duo slipped in early and set up in their favorite spot called “The Knob.”

“Nothing was gobbling to my owl hooting,” says Josh. “So, we picked a spot and started to just set up our decoys. While we were doing that they started gobbling. There were at least three different birds within 200 yards.”

Josh let out a few soft tree yelps and simulated a fly-down. When the gobblers hit the ground, they came closer but never close enough to see. A hen came into their set, though, and they hoped the live decoy would draw in a longbeard. No such luck. Around 7:30, an hour after daylight, it got kind of quiet.

“About 10 minutes later, a group of eight jakes came in and I whispered ‘jakes,’” Josh says. “Hadley had said he didn’t want to shoot a jake, but he was a little cold and had a baseball tournament the second day of the youth season, so he decided to shoot.”

WEST REPORT

Openers Around the Corner; Patience Might Prove Beneficial

• Use private-land access programs; hunt low and quiet for opening-week gobblers.

By Andrew McKean

While Colorado’s general season opens Saturday, April 13, the most common opener across the region is Tax Day, April 15.

That falls on a Monday this year, which means opening-day hunters in Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington will be playing hooky from work or school if they want to encounter a first-morning tom. But sources around the region have some advice: Skip the opener and plan vacation time for early May. Across the interior West, gobblers are harder to access and hunt for the first fortnight of the season, as they’re still flocked up on private land and not especially vocal.

“We have a long and liberal season, so there’s not that much point in trying to chase unresponsive gobblers in the first week or two,” says Montana turkey hunter J.C. Volstad. “In my experience, most birds are still on winter livestock feed grounds, and ranchers are still finishing up with spring calving or they’re scrambling to get [farm] machinery out in the fields” so they’re not always available or eager to meet with hunters to grant them permission.

Volstad says some Fish, Wildlife & Parks Block Management Areas are open for spring turkey hunting, but others aren’t, so if you’re counting on using the access program for gobblers, check with your regional FWP office.

“Or better yet, wait a few weeks when those birds have left the river and creek bottoms and are more spread out” on public land, Volstad says.

That’s wisdom that can be extended to Wyoming’s Area 1, the Black Hills counties of Crook and the eastern half of Weston. Wyoming’s general season doesn’t kick off until April 20. Holders of special turkey permits—known as Type 3 licenses—get a jump-start in a season that opened April 1 and runs through April 19, mainly on difficult-to-access private land.

But Joe Sandrini, Game & Fish Department wildlife biologist for the Black Hills portion of Wyoming, says general-tag hunters might do well to wait a week or so, even though northeast Wyoming is coming out of a mild winter that may accelerate gobbling activity.

“I’d expect birds to disperse a little earlier than normal,” says Sandrini. “We had decent gobbling activity early in the month, and a succession of warm days will really kick things off.”

Based on the strong number of 2-year-old Merriam’s toms in last year’s population, Sandrini expects hunters will encounter fair numbers of longbeards, those mature gobblers in the 3- and even 4-year-old age class. That’s not necessarily good news, as those old gobblers can be harder to kill, especially early in the season when they’re staying in larger flocks of hens.

That same older age class is expected in northeast Washington’s District 1, which includes Ferry, Pend Oreille and Stevens counties. The dominant subspecies of turkeys in this area is Merriam’s, and biologists expect generally high harvest on birds that are well distributed across the mid-elevation foothills and river valleys. The first gobbling peak should nicely coincide with the opening two weeks of the season.

Farther south, in Game Management Unit 124 (Mount Spokane), both turkey abundance and spring hunting pressure are among the highest in the state. If you can pick a weekday, and plan to hike deep into public land or find a landowner suffering from turkey depredation, you can have an epic day on fired-up gobblers.

In Colorado, the best opening-week success will be in southwest valleys, from Montrose south to Dolores and Durango. This is the state’s Merriam’s belt, and based on cold mornings and higher elevations, expect gobbling to be a week or two behind lower-elevation Rio Grandes, which are found along rivers and larger drainages in eastern Colorado.

Volstad, Sandrini and other sources note that, depending on weather conditions, hunting in the first couple weeks of the season puts an emphasis on spotting, stalking and intercepting flocks. Turkeys aren’t routinely vocal, and will certainly get tight-lipped if cold or snowy weather descends on the area you’re hunting.

“I rarely use decoys until gobblers are really volunteer gobbling,” says Volstad. “Early season, I’m finding birds and hardly calling at all. In my experience, if I call too much, the hens will just lead gobblers away from me. So I’ll concentrate on ambushing birds in these first weeks, or until the gobblers start separating from the hens and coming to my calls on their own.”

WHEN TO HUNT TURKEYS THIS SPRING

Game & Fish Best Hunt Times

• This free interactive Solunar calendar offers the best turkey hunting times based on your exact date and location. Click to access before planning your next trip.

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