The Game & Fish Regional Strut Update provides info on what's currently happening and what to expect in the next two weeks of turkey season. (Backwoods Life photo)
May 09, 2025
By Game & Fish Staff
This is the final installment of the Regional Strut Update , our weekly report on turkey activity and hunter successes across the country. This May report includes:
In the South, Josh Honeycutt says that although only a few Southern states' seasons are still open, there is still time to tag out if you are persistent and have a bit of luck. In the Midwest , Brandon Butler says that hunters are reporting an above-average bird population, with many states having the best hunting of the year right now. In the West, Andrew McKean reports that calling to hens can produce great results, while late mornings or mid-afternoons are the times to fire up a salacious gobbler. In the East , Doug Howlett says all seasons in the East are now open, but quiet toms and a high number of jakes breaking up the party are making it difficult for East hunters. But the birds are there. HuntStand’s Will Cooper and his daughter had a great outing. (HuntStand photo) SOUTH REPORT Gobbling and Strutting are Slowing Down Hunters are seeing a bumper crop of jakes, which bodes well for next year. By Josh Honeycutt
Turkey season has been a grand one, but without a doubt, it’s slowing down. The gobbling and strutting are declining. Even so, in several states, there’s still some action. Here’s a look at some recent turkey activity and projections for the days ahead.
A quick jog around the region shows that turkeys are still doing turkey things. That said, in most southern states, a lot of the turkeys are slowing down.
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HuntStand’s Will Cooper is in Texas says, “Birds seem to be getting into summer patterns, but still receptive to calling. The number of hens determines the amount of gobbling. Fewer hens meant better gobbling. More hens meant gobbling picked up from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.”
Incredibly, he filled his last turkey tag while his daughter was with him. All of his 2025 tags are filled.
Mossy Oak Pro Staffer Travis Sumner reflects as the South Carolina season ends. “Gobbling activity has decreased,” said Sumner. “We are getting some gobbling activity at daylight. We’re working some birds for the first couple of hours, and then they are shutting down. A positive side of the season has been seeing a good number of jakes, which is encouraging for next season. I’m hopeful for a good hatch. I’m also seeing several single hens.”
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Michael Lee just got back from hunting in Kentucky and Texas. He killed two birds in Kentucky and three in Texas.
“The gobblers were on fire in both states,” he said. “They came into the calls and decoys. They’re just doing exactly what turkeys do in the spring.”
Scott Ellis with Woodhaven was recently in Georgia . “They gobbled a bit in the tree and a bit on the ground,” said Ellis. “It's truly winding down, I’m afraid. You definitely have to find that needle in a haystack to find a hot one. Otherwise, it's setting up, blind calling and being super patient.”
A few southern states are still in season. Alabama goes through May 8. North Carolina wraps up on May 10. Arkansas runs through May 11 in certain areas. In parts of Texas, it ends May 11, too. Georgia ends May 15. Virginia’s last day is May 17. And Tennessee’s last day is May 25.
Without question, there’s still an opportunity for those who want it. Looking ahead, it’s important to know that getting a gobbler to work is hit or miss now. Birds are less receptive and will continue to be.
Overall, it requires plenty of patience, and maybe even a change of tactics. Consider patterning birds and setting up along their line of travel. Maybe it even means not calling or decoying. In each situation, consider the variables and deploy appropriate tactics as needed.
TAGGED OUT Will Cooper, of Huntstand, took down this pair of Texas toms in late April. (HuntStand photo) Twice is Nice Hunter : Will CooperDate : April 22 and 26, 2025Location : Central TexasMethod : Savage Renegauge ShotgunStats : 10-inch beards, 1-inch spurs“After calling in two jakes and watching a big longboard get taken away with a hen, we managed to get two birds coming in hot,” said Cooper. “After visuals, we could tell one was a good longbeard and the other a jake.
“The longbeard came by and wanted nothing to do with our decoys. It seemed he was on a mission before my buddy, Chance, was able to wheel his Savage Renegauge around the tree and put the Federal Premium TSS smackdown on him.”
“It was a memorable week,” said HuntStand’s Will Cooper. “I finally fought through all the jakes and found three longbeards that came in hot and ready to fight. They lost the battle to TSS. I was blessed to take my first double.”
A few days later, he hunted with his daughter. It was her first turkey hunt ever with her father, and he was able to tag another bird on that outing. It was the perfect tagged-out ending to a great Texas season.
Best New Turkey Ammo for 2025 Shutterstock photo Spring turkey season is firing up across the U.S. so make sure you have the right ammo to put a gobbler on the ground. Check out the latest in turkey hunting ammo innovation from these proven manufacturers.
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MIDWEST REPORT Field Reports are Mixed with Some Areas Hot and Others Not Midwest is on the downhill side of the season, so catching a tom mid-morning may prove successful. By Brandon Butler
Turkey Season 2025 is on the downhill slide in the Midwest. Reviews have been mixed across the region, with some areas reporting above-average success, while others have been a little on the cold side, literally. Spring has lingered this season, delivering plenty of cool, rainy mornings that convinced more than a few hunters to stay tucked up under the covers at 4 a.m. instead of trudging out into a rain-soaked woods.
The good news is that most hunters who did venture out have reported a perceived increase in the number of birds around. Especially younger males. After good brood years in 2023 and 2024, we’ve seen growth in the population of jakes and two-year-old gobblers. Hunters have been taking advantage. The number of doubles reported and witnesses on social media, indicates a lot of young birds moving together.
With most turkey seasons across the Midwest closing in the next couple of weeks, it’s time to get serious about filling any tags you hope to punch at home. If you have already done so, but are still suffering from the turkey hunting itch, there are several states open until the end of May, and Michigan closes out the Midwest on June 7. There are still plenty of birds out there to make any excursion worth the effort. You may have to dig deep and go with plan C, D or even E, but put in the work, and chances are you’ll end up with an opportunity, which at the end of the day is all we can hope for.
Kansas is kind to turkey hunters. The state opens its season early and stays open late. Having limited non-residents to 10,000 tags has reduced the pressure on many areas, and hunters are seeing a response in the hunting.
“There are definitely more birds this season than I have seen in the five seasons I have been hunting Kansas,” said Kansas City, Missouri resident, Ryan “Milo” Miloshewski. “I live so close to the Kansas line, it’s easy for me to hunt both states. With so much public land available in the southeast corner of Kansas and being so close to for a lot of turkey hunters to travel to, the area used to be swarmed with hunters. Now there are noticeably fewer, and it shows. Parking lots are less crowded early, and this time of year, they’re often empty.”
Milo says the turkey action is far from over in Kansas. The gobblers are not as vocal as they were earlier in the season, but you can still strike a bird, and if you do so in midday, you’d better find a tree and get situated quickly. A gobbler going hard later in the morning or into the afternoon is usually a gobbler you can kill. He’s looking for those last hens, but he also may be a little spooky. Don’t be surprised if he closes the distance in silence and shows up out of nowhere.
Minnesota is in the middle of its multi-tiered season, with season D, E and F still available to turkey hunters. The southern part of the state is the turkey hot bed, but there are many birds to be found in the vast wildernesses up north. They’re just more spread out.
Scott Mackenthun, a fisheries biologist with Minnesota DNR, said, “The first three weeks of the spring turkey season have passed, and hunters have enjoyed mostly favorable weather and above-average success. Nest-tending behavior by hens should get toms on the move as mid-season creeps in. Patience and intermittent calling will kill toms. So will cruising wood edges and striking a bird.”
Warm days and active birds appear to be ahead for Minnesota hunters as they round out turkey season. The best days of the season are here now or coming soon.
With plenty of season left to wrap your tag on a turkey, Wisconsin hunters are on the clock. Turkey season ends May 27 in the Badger State. With forests gaining in green growth each day, hunters are doing well on the edges of picked agricultural fields that remain bare.
“We run a dozen different blinds set up in fields we know are productive for turkey hunting year after year. Each night, the kids and I will take a drive to scout those fields. The birds may be local, but local might mean covering a couple of square miles. I want to see them feeding in the evening, so I know where to start in the morning,” said Captain Pat Kalmerton.
This time of year, scouting is more critical than ever because many birds you knew about before the season started may have been turned into turkey nuggets by now. A quick trip to the places you plan to hunt can save you a lot of time and frustration. If you can’t scout this way for whatever reason, then be prepared to move from spot to spot. There’s no reason to stay where you have no indication of birds being there.
Michigan is the last holdout as the only state to allow turkey hunting in June, where the season ends on June 7. Another Midwest state with drastically different topographies within its borders, it’s the big woods up north where turkey hunters are able to run and gun over miles, but it’s the farmland down south where most turkeys are killed. Ken Kirsch is a southern Michigan hunter who finds a lot of advantages to hunting with a blind.
“I’m no spring chicken anymore,” said Kirsch. “My days of hiking for miles are behind me. I’m spending my turkey seasons in a blind these days, and I don’t mind it at all. In fact, I kill more turkeys this way. I think by forcing myself to stay still, I give the turkeys plenty of time to work their way to me. And I enjoy the time spent in my blind where I can drink coffee, enjoy a snack, tackle a little work or whatever, without the fear of spooking birds. At least not as easily as if I were out in the open. I put out a flock of hen decoys and a couple of jakes. I want a gobbler to think he discovered the motherload when he sees my set. It keeps his eyes off me and lets me get set without as much fear of getting busted.”
Setting up a blind this time of year and staying put is another great tactic for taking a late-season bird. While staying mobile and moving until you strike a gobble is a favorite method of many, the exact opposite will also work if you have the patience to stay put even though you’re not hearing any turkeys. If you are hunting where you know there are turkeys, then chances are they’re around. They’re just being quiet. Play the long game and hold tight. You never know when a gobbler will appear.
TAGGED OUT Even after a late-night Metallica concert, this 10-year-old hunter took this bird in Kentucky. Bang Your Head With Will and Michelle for parents, Anse Brantley only had two ways he could go when it came to hunting. Either all in or completely rebel, as kids sometimes do when their parents are publicly recognized for their talent. Will being a foremost outdoor writer in the country, and Michelle his equal in all outdoor pursuits. Anse went the way our community hoped. At 10, he’s as accomplished of a hunter as men many times his age. He also has good taste in music.
“We were up until almost midnight head-banging to Metallica in Nashville,” Will said.
Not a productive way to spend the night before the last opening morning of the season, if you are determined to fill a turkey tag. But life is about choices, and rocking to Metallica seems like a good excuse to leave that bird alive. Sometimes, though, we have our cake and eat it too.
“We drove home the next morning, and when we were about a mile from the house, Anse mentioned it was the last day of turkey season. We’ve had a great one this year, but Anse had a tag left. And when we pulled in the drive, lo and behold, a strutter and three hens were in the backyard,” Will said.
With the power of a Metallica concert still surging adrenaline through a turkey hunting madman of a 10-year-old, Anse gave the yard bird no quarter.
“With all my gear in my hunting truck, I had to make do in my concert clothes and the closest pair of boots. But Anse had his Realtree CZ and pack ready to go and was dressed faster than Clark Kent. We snuck into position, made a few calls, and this old bird put on one of the best shows we’ve seen all season, even to rival ‘Enter Sandman’,” Will said.
Hunter : Anse BrantleyDate : May 4, 2025Location : Calloway County, KentuckyMethod : CZ Quail 20-Gauge ShotgunWEST REPORT Girl Talk: Learn How to Call a Hen, and a Gobbler Will Follow Mid-day calling for roaming gobblers also pays off. By Andrew McKean
It’s the best time of the spring turkey season, when you can sleep in and still manage to hit the best part of the day: late morning to mid-afternoon.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t be in the Western turkey woods at daybreak. Locating a gobbler while it’s still in its roost tree and calling it to the gun soon after it hits the ground remains the most consistently successful hunting method. But daybreak is so early—in Montana this past weekend, we were getting up at 3:45 a.m. to be in the woods for fly-down. On the other hand, the later-morning action is so good that you can be excused if you hit the snooze button on your alarm clock a few hundred times.
“Hens are nesting now, and midday toms are in search of love,” says Jody Smith at Jody Smith Guide Service in southern Oregon’s Umpqua River country. “With warmer weather, gobblers are strutting in shaded areas. It’s a very good time to call.”
Smith and other sources confirm that the magic hours are between 11 a.m. and about 2 p.m. You’ll encounter vocal gobblers at other times for sure, but that window seems to produce birds that are cut loose from nesting hens and are roaming. You should roam, too, walking logging roads and ridgetops and yelping with a high-pitched box call into canyons and draws. Your reward is increasingly a quick response and a highly callable tom.
Note that seasons are winding down—California’s spring turkey season ended last weekend, and New Mexico and Arizona are next to close.
I’m just back from several days hunting Merriam’s in southeast Montana and uncovered a trend that might work wherever you hunt.
We’ve all had the situation where our calls didn’t attract a hot gobbler, but rather repelled hens, who then drew the gobbler away from our calls. It can be a frustrating reality for much of the early half of the season. But now that hens are nesting, they’re cranky, territorial and much less willing to simply ignore a hunter’s hen yelping. That works in hunters’ favor because hens are extremely callable right now, and if you can work in a pissed-off hen, there’s every chance a charged-up gobbler will come after her.
That’s precisely what happened in southeast Montana’s piney woods last weekend. My hunting buddy, Dale, had already shot one bird, and every right-minded hunter would think it would be my turn on the trigger. We got a gobbler to respond an hour after daybreak and moved in on the bird. But the tom suddenly shut up, and as I sat there in the quiet woods, I learned why. I heard a hen cutt and putt in response to my yelps.
“Let’s see if we can call her in,” I whispered to Dale. I started a sequence of aggressive yelps and cutts. Every time the hen responded with her own, I upped my intensity and cut her off. She got spitting mad and started coming in, and just as our conversation escalated, the gobbler with her started responding. We laid eyes on the tom at 100 yards as he strutted a ridgeline, and he never came out of strut as I called to him with the same agitated yelping and putting I gave the hen.
It would have been a better story to tell you I shot that tom right in the face. But I was out of position and try as I might to call the gobbler to my side of our setup, he drifted to Dale’s side, and my friend shot his second bird in as many days while I forced a smile and congratulated his success.
A bigger takeaway than my considerable generosity and next-level calling talents is the tactic of calling to hens. It worked again later in the day. We got a hen fired up and called her out of buckbrush right to our setup. Unfortunately, in that instance, there was no longbeard companion with her.
We’re entering the best time of the year, with sunny days and generally good weather. Hens will be drifting off to set on nests starting mid-morning, and those gobblers will be available to hunters who can work a box call.
Extended hot and dry weather will concentrate birds around shade and water sources, so if ridgetops don’t produce, hit lower-elevation springs, ponds, creeks and irrigated areas. Also, insects will start to replace emergent vegetation as the favored foods of turkeys, so concentrate on meadows and field edges where bug densities are high, says entomologist Dwayne Jennings in central California.
If the warm weather continues into the last week of the month, gobbling activity will wind down. Birds will still gobble from the roost, but once they hit the ground, they pipe down, and it can be hard to get a gobbler to come to a call. After all, hens are just about to produce poults, and the breeding season has come and gone. So, make the most of the next week. It will be the best in the West for the spring turkey season.
Closing Dates, Spring Turkey Seasons 2025 Arizona – May 22 in most zones California – May 5 Colorado – May 31 Idaho – May 25 Montana – May 31 New Mexico – May 15 Oregon – May 31 Utah – May 31 Washington – May 31 Wyoming- May 31 TAGGED OUT NWTF's Regional Director for Montana, Wyoming and Idaho took the big tom on public land in Colorado. (Photo courtesy of Jason Tarwater) Magnum Merriam's Jason Tarwater, National Wild Turkey Federation’s regional director for Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, scored a magnum Colorado Merriam’s. He located the public-land bird about two miles from a trailhead and got set up about 200 yards from his location. “My buddy got behind me and called him straight to me for a 30-yard shot,” reports Tarwater. He was shooting a Franchi Affinity 3 20 gauge and Federal Premium TSS #7-9 duplex loads.
TAGGED OUT This California hunter took this tom at 35-yard shot. Tahama Tom Butch Waddell of Red Bluff, California, took this 21-pound Tehama County tom on the last weekend of California's season. The gobbler had a 10-inch beard with 1-inch spurs. Waddell made a 35-yard shot with 3-inch Hevi Blend loads.
Click to read "Top 20 U.S. Counties for Turkey Hunting"
EAST REPORT All States' Seasons are Open Mixed bag: hot action in some areas, stone cold in others. By Doug Howlett
It’s been a strange spring in the turkey woods across the eastern seaboard, with gobblers either red hot or stone cold depending on the forest or field you’re hunting. In West Virginia , former conservation law officer and Guns & Cornbread writer Larry Case reports things have finally started clicking during his annual turkey camp in Summers County.
After a slow build-up, gobbling finally took off over the past few days. But until then, overall, the season has been slow, he reports. One buddy of Larry’s punched a tag this past Sunday, and Larry enjoyed a close encounter with a gobbler within shooting distance, but the strutter never stepped into the open. The season runs through May 25, so there are still a couple of weeks to get it done.
Next door in Virginia , the story’s been more hit or miss. Drake prostaffer Chris Barham summed it up like this: “Either you’re tagged out, or you’re struggling.” While he managed to fill his tag on an otherwise uneventful hunt two Sundays ago, the whole season has been off. Gobbling has been sporadic at best, with some mornings producing total silence, others lighting up like it’s 1999 again.
“There’s been mornings I haven’t heard a turkey, and there’s been mornings where I heard 10 gobbling like they did back in the 90s,” Barham says. He and his son killed four birds between them, and those gobblers barely let out 15 gobbles total. Many hunters across Virginia report seeing gobblers still henned up. And the jakes are on strong supply, keeping some gobblers quiet or running to the call and interrupting an otherwise positive hunt.
For my part, after a South Dakota blow out where I managed three birds over five days, I’ve been hunting family land in southeastern Virginia and probably working the same two birds much of the season—one that only gobbles it seems the days I’m not at the property (my brother lets me know) and another still in the company of at least 10 hens and at least one jake hanging at the edge. The hens lead him away from me every time. Virginia’s season has just over a week left, so I will have to put in overtime to fill a tag this season in the Old Dominion. (And in the spirit of full disclosure, I missed the heck out of one the other week that was otherwise a textbook hunt, except I realized upon getting out there, my front bead was missing, so I used only the mid-rail bead. It should’ve worked fine, but it didn’t. So, I at least enjoyed what we’ve termed a “call and release” turkey hunt. I can hunt him again.)
Delaware and Maryland have largely been like Virginia. Very hit or miss depending on where you’re hunting, with some guys enjoying their best season ever and others wondering what is going on.
With the remainder of the region’s states finally opening on May 1, birds further north have been dropping and flopping.
In New York , Braden Lindsay reports a few ups and downs. A client of his got overexcited and mistakenly shot a jake instead of the two longbeards working their way, but his girlfriend dropped a gorgeous tom on day two of their hunt that came off the roost already locked on a hen. Overall, Lindsay has observed toms in his area still bunched up with jakes and hens—a sign the breakup is lagging a bit, and hunters are going to be challenged more than usual.
Up in Maine , outfitter and hunter John LaMarca says the toms are finally splitting into smaller groups, but they’re staying relatively tight-lipped, likely due to a rainy stretch that’s kept them on edge. His advice: catch them first thing in the morning or just before roost when they slip out to the fields. Midday, they’re deep in the timber and quiet, not even responding to calls. For his part, LaMarca tagged a hammer of a bird on opening day—21 pounds, 11-inch beard and 1 1/8-inch spurs—that came in dead silent but still scored high enough to crack the Maine record books.
In Connecticut , The Outdoor Drive podcaster Trevor Berwick says birds are acting committed—until they aren’t. He’s seeing plenty of hang-ups with hens cutting in and dragging toms away at the last second. Meanwhile, his fellow podcaster Steve Martic headed north and pulled off an impressive trifecta in Vermont , New Hampshire and Maine in a single weekend, proving that for some, it’s going to be an epic season.
Triple B Outfitters’ David Sichik chimed in with mixed results from the North Country. He had a client miss a nice one in Vermont in the opening days but had another score in upstate New York. Like so many hunters sharing what they’ve been seeing in the fields so far, he’s also seeing an unusually high number of jakes roaming around, disrupting hunts.
In Massachusetts , Game & Fish regional editor Gerry Bethge posed this question during a discussion this week: Can there be any such thing as too many hens and when do they become a bad thing? Definitely a worthy discussion from a hunting standpoint, as it used to be toms were henned up throughout the early weeks of the season but typically on their own in the later weeks as hens go to nest. But what many of us are seeing now are hens with toms throughout the season.
Bottom line? The turkeys are there. They’re just playing very hard to get. If you’re not hearing gobbles, don’t give up—adjust your timing, work your setup and don’t rule out a midday or afternoon sneak where all-day hunting is permitted. With birds almost universally shutting up as soon as they fly down, your best bet for locating one is to be there before the crack of dawn and listen as the sky lights up. It could be your only chance. And once you start calling, keep your eyes sharp and your head on a (slow) swivel; that big boy strolling in will likely be coming quietly.
Because, as this season is proving, the next bird might just come in silent—and swing hard.
TAGGED OUT Connecticut hunter Trevor Berwick took this 23-pound tom at the beginning of the state's turkey season. Meant to Be Trevor Berwick is the host of The Outdoor Drive Podcast and routinely hunts turkeys throughout the Northeast. Following an unsuccessful bid for a gobbler in Maryland this season, Berwick returned to his home in Connecticut to hunt the opening days of the season there and scored on this heavy New England tom on May 1.
“The hunting was tough,” Berwick admits. “The birds came down at first light, walked off with some hens, and I never heard another gobble.”
With that, he decided to head to another property to try his luck. His attack was to walk the edge of a huge corn field, stopping to call periodically and hope to strike one up.
“I walked the whole perimeter and didn’t strike a bird until the last couple hundred yards,” he says. “I was on the opposite side of the field, so I nestled into the edge and started lightly calling.” For the longest time, the tom would not break off the other side of the field and come up a slight knoll in the field where Berwick was hoping to draw him for a shot. And just when it appeared he was going to have to come up with a different game plan, the turkey suddenly turned on, “absolutely gobbling his head off,” as Berwick puts it, and finally strolled right into shotgun range “like it is meant to be!” The tale of the tape? Berwick’s trophy sported a 10½-inch beard, 1¼-inch spurs and tipped the scales at a very solid 23 pounds.
WHEN TO HUNT TURKEYS THIS SPRING Game & Fish Best Hunt Times Shutterstock image 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. Search for the Best Hunting Times in Your Zip Code
