It is just over a week away until the one-day Youth Hunt for Spring Gobblers on Saturday, April 26, 2025. Then, the following Saturday, May 3, is the opening day of the month-long Pennsylvania statewide spring gobbler season. Those two Saturdays will sneak up quickly, so it’s “Crunch Time” to finalize where you will hunt and pin down, and pattern a flock or two of active turkeys.
Preparation for spring gobbler hunting actually takes on two forms. First, after the lack of exercise most of us have experienced over the winter months, it is important to focus on getting back into physical shape — particularly regaining the strength of your legs and endurance of your lungs if you plan on covering any distance in search of a longbeard this season. The second goal to accomplish over the next few weeks is to locate some turkeys and then spend as much time as possible watching them from a distance to learn their travel routes and feeding locations.
Hopefully, turkeys have started to show up at the places you have hunted in previous seasons, but if not, you still have a little time to access new locations. Don’t delay in trying to connect with new locations — the sooner the better. It is only common sense and good courtesy to seek permission to hunt on someone’s property well before the season begins. Don’t delay because few farmers or landowners appreciate someone showing up the day before or the day of the opening of the season to seek permission.
Once you have determined where you will hunt, it is time to do the legwork. It would be great to spot some birds feeding in a nearby field as you travel the back roads and hills, but if not, the more time you can spend hiking old logging roads, the greater your chance of spotting turkeys or some signs that they are in the area. After the long winter months of little food available, the birds will be traveling and doing a lot of scratching as they pass through forested areas in search of food. Pay particular attention to areas where there is an abundance of oak trees, particularly white oaks. Make sure to check for turkey signs of scratching under wild grape vines, black cherry, and beech trees, as well as picked corn fields.
Before the season begins, many spring gobbler hunters like to drive the back roads or hike through the woods looking for signs and call from time to time to see if they get any response from any turkeys in the area. I strongly urge you to consider not making any turkey calls prior to the season. Often, when a gobbler who is in hearing range hears your call, he may move in your direction and do so without gobbling in response to your call. There is a good chance that a bird approaching you silently will spot you and reverse course, and you will never know he was in the area. You didn’t see the bird, you never knew he was there, and all that you managed to do was educate the bird that what he heard was actually a hunter, not a hen turkey. If you must make a call of any kind to attempt to get a response from a nearby gobbler, use a locator call of some kind. The cawing from a crow call, the hooting from an owl call, or the raspy call of a peacock will sometimes evoke a response from a gobbler, and he won’t come your way trying to see what actually made the call. The wailing of a coyote call will also work sometimes to make an old Tom gobble back in defiance.
If your time is limited, or you just want to expand your scouting activity, consider placing several trail cameras where there is suspected activity to capture images of passing birds. Well-placed cameras will identify just what birds are in the area — are they all hens, or are there a few jakes or longbeards in the flock as well? If there are no apparent feeding areas where you can locate the cameras, place them along old logging roads since game of all kinds, including turkeys, frequently travel these roads.
Good Luck this spring, and remember to Always Positively Identify Your Target — and Beyond!
