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Turkey season, spring’s best game in town, is once again upon us. We start with high hopes, but I wonder how many of you are going to be sniveling with excuses at the end of the season? Over the years I have heard ’em all: The turkeys were henned up. They wouldn’t come to a call. You didn’t hear many gobbles. You just don’t think the turkeys were there.

Trust me, I know all of the excuses because I’ve used them myself. But the truth is, it’s pointless. The birds are there. And yes, they can definitely be tough to hunt even where plentiful. If they weren’t, it wouldn’t be worth the time to hunt them. We’d go fishing instead. But you can still kill them, even when they are henned up, even when they don’t gobble and even when it doesn’t seem like they want to come to a call. Follow these tactics and you’re guaranteed to fill a tag or two.

Close the Distance
When a tom gobbles (and is out of sight) but refuses to come in, get up, move around in small circles while yelping and then walk directly away from the bird; calling the whole time. Go 30 to 50 yards and then shut up. Run back toward the bird, covering half the distance between the gobbler and your original position, set up and stay quiet. The tom, wanting to stay near the hen, will finally move, and you’ll be in position when it does.

Lay Out for Field Toms
Got a tom that pitches into the center of a field every morning from the roost and refuses to come anywhere near the cover of the woods? Toss a lay-out blind designed for goose hunting near the spot the longbeard likes to strut and climb inside before light. For added realism and an increased jealousy factor, place a hen decoy and a strutting tom in front of you. Don’t call. When it gets light enough, the gobbler should pitch down within shooting distance.

Turn Down the Volume
Back off the volume of your calls. As a tom gets closer, it can hear you clearly. Calling loudly will simply spook it – like someone in the same room as you shouting instead of talking. Never call when turkeys are close enough to see your position. They can pinpoint where sound is coming from, and if they don’t see the hen they expect to see, they’re gonna be outta there.

Act Fast
If a gobbler begins to get nervous – raising its head and quickening its pace – but is already in range, it’s time to act. Even if the bird’s head is not obscured, adjust your aim slowly and deliberately toward the tom’s head and fire as soon as you get on target. Slow movements will not immediately spook a bird and will buy you a second or two to take your shot before the longbeard bolts.

The Field Challenge
Today’s craze over full-strut gobbler decoys is well placed. They work wonders on field toms. Stake a gobbler decoy where it can be seen in the open and within 20 yards of the hunter. Place two or three hens around the gobbler decoy to make the real tom think some of his hens have slid off to be with the newcomer. Include a crouching hen decoy for the ultimate insult. Longbeards will run in and face off with the fake tom so turn it looking away from the hunter if using a shotgun to get a clean head shot or toward the hunter if using a bow so the real bird’s fan will be facing the hunter. Add a lifelike turning motion to the gobbler with the Sidewinder Motion Stake.

Woods-Wise Hen Setup
For woods setups, go with hen decoys since they fold and carry easier. Set them where you can see them clearly, again only 15 to 20 yards away. Should the dekes cause the tom to hang up as he approaches, he should still be in range for a shot. A tom will mount a hen for breeding from the rear, so face a crouched breeding or feeding hen toward the hunter. Don’t face alert hen decoys toward the hunter as it can alert a tom to your position. And don’t use more than two or three hens – one is often enough. While a jake decoy can add some competition to the setup, never use more than one as jakes gang up on gobblers and can send a real bird scurrying.

Get ‘Em Talkin’
If a tom is reluctant to gobble. Hit it with loud, excited cutts and yelps. If it starts responding, keep pouring it on until you work the bird into a frenzy. Don’t let up; keep the bird coming until he’s almost within sight. Only then should you go easy on calling to avoid being busted.

All Worked Up
If a tom gobbles to every call but stays in place, hit him with a series of excited calls to work him into a frenzy and then go silent for at least 20 minutes. The idea that the hen has left could bring the longbeard looking.

Get Tight
Roost a gobbler the night before and get as close as you dare under cover of darkness the next morning so you’re the first hen the tom hears. As soon as he gobbles, hit him with a few soft tree yelps. Once he gobbles in response, be quiet. He knows you’re there. Just as it’s getting light, toss out a fly-down cackle combined with flapping your hat or a turkey wing to simulate a hen pitching down.

Bust the Roost
When roosted hens surround the tom you plan to hunt, wave your arms and spook them from their roost. If the hens scatter without scaring the gobbler, great – call from that spot. If he blows out of there, give him time to settle down and wait for a gobble. Then, slip in from a different direction and call him in.

For more information on Turkey Hunting Tips, please click here.

What’s the best time of year to hunt predators? All hunters have their preference. Some say late fall, after big game season has ended. Others say late winter from January to February is best. Nonetheless, all devote predator hunters will agree that you can be successful 365 days a year. The key is to understand the different behaviors during each season.

Spring predator hunting is often overlooked as much of the nation is in a turkey frenzy. Coyotes, however, are very hungry during this time of year and looking for an easy meal. With the right tactics, predator hunters can find great success. Here are a few tips to consider for those of you wanting to put a dent in the predator population right before or during spring turkey season.

Early Spring Predator Hunting
For our purposes, consider “early spring” late February through March. During this time of year, coyotes pair up with a female for breeding purposes. Coyotes tend to be very territorial as they travel in pairs to protect denning areas from unwanted visitors and hunt for food. Breeding has more than likely taken place, and momma needs to eat. Locate and set up in these denning areas. Use a coyote decoy to add a little confrontation and take the attention off yourself, especially if calls are coming from your location. Don’t be surprised to have two dogs coming into your calls. The female will often lag behind the male. As the “rutting” activitity declines, switch to a Miss Hoptober and rabbit-in-distress call to tempt dogs looking for an easy meal.

Late Spring Predator Hunting
April and May are key months for hunting coyotes, especially if you are a landowner trying to protect and grow the deer population. Most whitetails give birth to fawns in late April and into May. Coyotes diets are said to switch to a predominantly fawn diet during this time. Mortality rates have been argued and tend to vary from state to state, but one thing’s for certain, coyotes love an easy meal. Use periodic howls to locate the coyotes before you move in to set up. As it gets hotter, look for predators to be near shade and water. Distress calls and predator decoys can be deadly in late spring. Get specific with your calls. In this case, use a fawn in distress call. All in all, if it sounds like a meal, they will come in.

But what about turkey season? No one can resist turkey season in the Spring. Just don’t be surprised to see a coyote show up. Take the opportunity to put one down (where legal) and call the day a success. You can always come back for turkeys tomorrow with the piece of mind that one less predator is out there.

For more Spring Predator Hunting Tips, please visit MontanaDecoy.com.

Four tips from one of America’s top sporting clays instructors will help you break that bouncing bunny.

Most shotgunners are adequately equipped to break targets that fly through the air. After all, trap, skeet, and sporting clays presentations all rely on the same principles—you must swing through the target, shoot at the right time, and follow through. The angle, speed, and distance to the target changes, but the basic physics doesn’t. However, there is one target that breaks all the rules—the rabbit.

Bounding across uneven ground, changing speeds, and alternating between straight-line rolls and spasmodic arches, the infamous rabbit can be the bane of even the best shooters. It doesn’t follow a pattern, and it can make you look like a fool so quickly and so absolutely that more than one shooter has waited until the disc stopped rolling to take vengeance on the stationary bunny.

You rabbit haters out there, take heart. David Judah, an NSSA Level III instructor and the lead instructor at the Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia, shares your pain. The rabbit is tough to hit, and it’s a tough target to teach. But Judah offers up these important tips to remember the next time you face the demon rabbit.

1. Cut the Lead
“Rabbits present somewhat of an optical illusion,” Judah says. “As the shot is taken, the ground explodes with dust and debris into the space surrounding it. As the rabbit passes through, it appears that the shooter missed just behind the target. At this point, any additional lead will simply compound the error. A good general rule is to take as little lead as possible while moving slowly through the target.”

2. Use Larger Shot
Sometimes you might hit the target without actually breaking it. “Try to avoid small shot sizes, like 9,” Judah says. He prefers to use 7 ½ shot, which will create visible breaks so you won’t “dust” the target.

“If you look at the unbroken targets on the field, you will see some with small holes in them because the shot was not large enough to shatter it.”

3. Find a Good Spotter
One of the best ways to improve your game on rabbits is to find a friend to help identify the problem. But he needs to understand the illusion that rabbit presents.

“Shooters should make sure anyone spotting the misses is making the correct call. Of course, rabbits can be missed behind, but the majority of them are missed in front, so good calls are very important.”

4. Slow Your Roll
All targets slow in flight, but no decrease in speed is as dramatic with flying targets as it is with rabbits.

“Remember that the friction of the ground under the target is slowing the target down considerably as it rolls along, so a nice slow swing will be far better than a rushed attempt,” says Judah.

For more information on Rabbit hunting, please visit OutdoorLife.com.

This time of the season, my dogs simply cannot keep weight on. They run, on average, three or more miles for each one I trudge in the field. They burn thousands of calories on a hunt; their stomach’s ability to store energy can’t keep up with the depletion of their intense activity.

You simply can’t jam enough dog food into a hard-hunting pooch this time of year for a number of reasons. Here they are:

1. There are simple mechanical and physiological reasons not to feed your dog the morning of a hunt.

Try this experiment: Take off your sock (representing your dog’s stomach and intestinal track), drop your car keys (ersatz “dog food”) into it. Hold it horizontally, and the dog food will settle in the heel (the “stomach” in our example G.I. tract). Jiggle it, swing it back and forth, whip it around a little like a dog on the hunt. All that weight will make the sock swing, bounce up and down, possibly even twist. Veterinarians call that gastro volvulus, and it is often fatal.

2. Your dog’s athletic performance is another concern. Nestle-Purina studies have shown that a dog with food in its gut runs slower, is less agile, and has less stamina than one hunting on an empty stomach.

3. The gut is not using the body’s finite amount of energy to digest food when it could be fueling muscles that are chasing birds.
No guilt trips here. Your dog’s metabolism is unlike yours. Sending your dog into the field without breakfast will have no ill effects. Unless he’s got other health problems, he won’t develop “low blood sugar.”

So what are the solutions to this hunt-season feeding regimen?

Solution #1
Feed him twice as much at night (many hunters do this all year), and you’ll take the edge of the calorie deficit. But if he’s hunting hard, you will still see more and more rib as the season progresses.

Solution #2
Unlike humans, who rely on simple carbohydrates for quick energy, dogs get theirs from fat. If you can’t resist giving Gunner something during the hunt, give him a high-fat snack that won’t fill his belly. You can make your own, or simply offer him some of your salami sandwich (just the meat). There are plenty of commercial versions out there in tubes, droppers, and blocks. The key is low volume, high fat to keep the belly as empty as possible. I like an imported product called “Kronch Pemmikan,” dominating the fat-content field at 59 percent.

I also like to supplement my dogs’ nightly feed with extra fat. You want to be careful about how much fat, as there is a risk of pancreatitis, but a tablespoon of butter, olive oil, coconut oil, or a commercially available powdered pork fat product will re-fuel his metabolism without over-filling his belly.

Some of the best hunting occurs after the wimps have called it a season. Football playoffs, snow, and cold have a way of winnowing the field, leaving it to guys and dogs willing to pay the price, in calories. Just make sure you repay that debt when you can. Your dog will respond with a harder hunt, deeper into the winter.

http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/game-changers/how-put-weight-active-hunting-dog

Jump shooting a buck can be a good tactic to use in the latter part of the season when mature bucks tend to hunker down and hide when people walk near them.

Like most whitetail hunters, Brian Bice normally stand hunts. But it was a cold, rainy day during the late segment of Illinois’s gun season and he figured bucks might not move much in the nasty weather. He decided to try to jump up a buck.

“With the rain, I thought it might be a good day to try to walk up a buck. I could move quietly and the deer wouldn’t be likely to hear me. I also figured with the cold, wet weather they’d be bedded down and I probably wouldn’t see much if I just sat on a stand.”

Working along a strip of timber and thick brush between two fields, Bice came upon a huge buck bedded just a few dozen yards away. Raising the shotgun to his shoulder, he fired one slug, and then a second as the buck tried to race away.

Both shots found their mark and the buck fell just 30 yards from where he’d jumped it. One of the biggest non-typicals ever killed in Illinois, Bice’s 27-point buck scored 256 1/8 net B&C. The deer was aged at 6 ½ years and had 29 and 30 inch main beams, an outside spread of over two feet, and 65 inches of abnormal points.

Bice is modest about his accomplishment. “I was just hoping I could kick a good buck up out of a brush pile or tall grass. I was just messing around, really.”

Now I won’t promise you a buck like Bice’s, needless to say. But trying to jump shoot a buck like he did can be a good tactic to use, especially in the latter part of the season when mature bucks tend to hunker down and hide when people walk near them.

That’s what an 8-pointer did the first time I tried the tactic of jump-shooting bucks on a hunt in South Dakota years ago. I surprised the buck along a creek where he was bedded, but didn’t see him at first.

When I paused to search my surroundings for deer movement in nearby hills, the buck suddenly lurched out of his bed just 40 yards away. A quick shot connected and the heavy-bodied deer dropped on the spot. The next day on that 2-buck hunt, I found an 11-pointer hunkered down in a side pocket along a ridge. With two shots from my Melvin Forbes ’06 Ultralight, I filled my second tag, again by jump hunting.

That trip demonstrated how exciting jump hunting can be. It’s a good tactic to turn to for a change of pace if you’re tired of sitting rock-still on stand 8-10 hours a day. It’s also especially valuable for areas that are new to you. The method lets you move moderately fast and cover a lot of ground to discover where the best habitat is and learn about the area for future hunts. It’s also good late in the season when pressure has moved deer around on your home turf and you’re not really sure where the bucks have holed up.

Still hunting is a popular tactic. But few hunters try jump shooting. Instead of moving through the woods slowly, walk at a faster pace, like a forester or hiker might. Sometimes this nonchalant demeanor will let you get amazingly close to big deer. (Just ask Bice!)

The buck might simply freeze, figuring you’re not dangerous. But usually at the last minute, it will burst out. That’s your chance.

Raise your gun quickly and try to get a shot off as the deer is standing up, but before it runs. If the deer is running before you get your gun up but you have a clear shot at the vitals, pull ahead and squeeze the trigger right as the gun swings in front of the deer’s chest. Make sure there’s a solid background behind the deer that will stop the bullet or slug if you miss.

Good spots to try jump shooting include creek bottoms, benches and side hills along mountains, ridges, brushy hollows and swamps. Hunt through dense vegetation such as laurel, greenbrier, plum thickets and blackberry brambles or skirt the edges of these areas if they’re too thick to penetrate. Pay special attention to deadfalls and brush piles, pausing there to unnerve and flush out skulking bucks.

Set your scope on its lowest power or use a red dot sight. Carry the gun at the ready port arms position in front of your chest. As you walk, scan the habitat broadly and watch for movement or patches of solid gray. Be ready for a buck to jump up just like you’d prepare for a flushing grouse.

The instant you see a deer, raise the gun to full mount position, butt against your shoulder, cheek down, eyes on the crosshairs or red dot. Don’t worry about trophy quality If it’s a doe or small buck and you only want a mature buck, simply lower the gun. If you’re willing to settle for any legal deer, take the shot at this point if it’s safe and clear.

You may get lucky and get a shot off at the deer in its bed. More likely, you’ll be firing as it stands up.

Time the shot to the moment it gets to its feet and aim at or just behind the shoulder. If the deer is running before you can get on it, swing with the buck’s body like you would on a pheasant, then pull ahead of it. Squeeze the trigger smoothly the second your crosshairs see daylight in front of the buck’s chest. By the time the gun fires, the deer will run into the bullet.

If the animal takes off directly away, don’t take the shot. There’s too much risk of wounding it.

No, I would never jump hunt every time out. But this little-used technique is a good tactic to have in your bag of tricks for times when your go-to methods fail to produce.

For more information on jump shooting bucks, please visit GrandviewOutdoors.com.