How to Hunt Pressured Turkeys

Scout Thoroughly

This is the most important thing regardless of the type hunting you’re doing. Failure to scout a property greatly decreases your odds of success. Instead, spend time learning the land you plan to hunt.

Another thing to remember: The scouting you did before the season and early in the season won’t be very beneficial for pressured turkey hunts. Those birds change their behavior when hunters hit the woods. Turkeys move to other locations, use different travel routes and do different things in most cases. Hunters have to change with them.

That’s why when the season is already rolling, I like to slip in the day before I hunt (with gun in hand in case an opportunity presents itself) and see what the birds are doing. I’m very reserved during this scouting trip. I don’t go bumbling around. I don’t get after the turkeys aggressively. I’m observing, more or less, and I'm a very passive (not aggressive) hunter while doing so.

Then, when it’s time to move in to hunt that group of birds, I have a better idea of what they are doing. It’s all about the intel.

Photo credit: Heartland Bowhunter/Realtree

Adapt Calling Techniques

I’ve hunted with a lot of people who chomp down on that call like it’s the last time they’ll ever run one. That’s a mistake anytime, but especially when chasing a pressured bird. Instead, be more reserved.

I prefer to use soft yelps, clucks, and purrs. Combinations of these calls are great, too. It’s all about moderation.

If you start calling and a bird fires up hot, increase your aggression level to match his. “Take his temperature,” so to speak. Then act accordingly.

Photo credit: Russell Graves

Change Decoying Strategies

Decoying is another important thing to keep in mind. Turkeys are beaten and bruised. They typically shy away from confrontations with other birds. The only exceptions are extremely dominant gobblers, but more on that later.

For pressured turkey hunts, I believe one hen decoy or a pair of hens is the best option. Putting a lot of decoys out might make a pressured turkey nervous. Using a jake or tom decoy might be enough to keep a subdominant bird from committing to the setup.

All in all, use one or two hens when hunting in the open. That said, it’s a different ball game when hunting in the woods. If it’s somewhat thick and isn’t completely wide-open timber, I don’t use a decoy. Doing this will keep a gobbler moving forward as it searches for the hen it hears. That bird might hang up if it eyeballs a decoy from 60 or 70 yards out.

Photo credit: Bill Konway

Sit Longer

A man I hunted with in Kansas once told me, “You want to know what’s killed more turkeys for me than anything?” "Of course," I said. “Patience,” he replied.

That hit home for me. I catch myself being too aggressive a lot of the time. I’m a “run-and-gunner” at heart, and I love to get after those turkeys. But that isn’t always the best method. Part of being a good turkey hunter is recognizing when to be bold and when to be subtle. Pressured turkey hunts are a time to be subtle.

With that, if you hear a bird gobble or know where one is, get as close as you can without bumping the turkey, and set up camp. Put out a decoy. Talk sweet to him every once in a while. And wait him out. Chances are that turkey will come looking for you.

Photo credit: John Hafner

Crawl to Them

Here is that exception I spoke of a minute ago. Very dominant toms want to fight all season. It doesn’t matter how pressured or unpressured they are. They see red, and they’re going to do something about it.

If the patience game doesn’t work on one of these brawlers, break out a tail fan or strutter decoy, and crawl to those turkeys. Go here to read more on how to do that and be safe while doing so.

If you don’t have a fan or decoy, use the terrain and slip closer to that bird. But move slowly. No fast motions. No sudden movements. Turkeys have eyes better than most animals that roam the woods. Perhaps the best. So you’ll need the terrain, vegetation and everything else in your favor to pull it off. But it can be done.

Photo credit: Russell Graves

Editor's note: This Realtree.com evergreen mega-feature was first published May 6, 2016.

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