The fall turkey season for bearded and unbearded birds got underway on October 31 throughout the state, but be aware that the length of the season varies considerably as you look at the different units.

In my area of the state, WMUs 1B, 3D, 4C, and 4E are some of the first units to shut down fall turkey hunting; we end here on November 8. Other units, including 2G and 4D, will remain open to fall turkey hunting until November 15. It’s important to check the Hunting and Trapping Digest for the opening and closing dates since the closing dates vary throughout the various units.

In the spring turkey hunting season, you are of course limited to taking a bearded bird only, but the fall offers a different situation.

The beauty of the fall turkey hunt is that you are likely going to have more opportunities for success since you can take a bearded bird or an unbearded turkey. Granted, some hunters are only interested in taking that gobbler, but if you are new to turkey hunting or if you just enjoy turkey hunting, gobbler or not, then the fall season is it.

I have often used the fall turkey season to introduce new hunters to the fun of turkey hunting.

Come fall, the mature gobblers are often flocked up with each other, and the mature hens will usually have their brood of young. In late fall, sometimes these hens and young will flock up with other hens and young, forming some good-sized flocks.

What I’ve done over the years is I have often located several flocks of birds while hunting deer in the archery season. On more than one occasion, when leaving my archery stand, I would try to split up a flock of turkeys, knowing that come early morning they would be calling and trying to get back with each other.

One of my wife’s first successful turkey hunts was based on that very situation. I broke up a flock of a dozen or so birds, and they scattered throughout the area to different trees, and I knew come morning they would be calling and trying to get back together. The next morning my wife and I set up, and I made just a few calls, and the turkeys began almost immediately to regroup. It wasn’t long until one walked within 20 yards of my wife and she had her first turkey; an exciting and fulfilling hunt for both of us.

If you are looking to locate some of those fall flocks, you are more likely to find them in the deeper woods and not so much out in the middle of a field. In summer, they are often feeding on insects, berries, and fruits found in the fields, but come fall they move into more wooded areas and especially where there are mature oak trees that provide the highly sought-after acorns. If there are mature hemlocks or pines in the area of the oaks, that’s an added plus since the hemlocks and pines offer good cover and roosting sites, especially as we move into winter.

Another plus about the fall turkey hunt, especially if you are introducing someone new, is that you can get by with limited calling skills.

Usually, a simple box call or slate call will be sufficient, and some simple yelps are often all that’s needed to bring a busted-up flock back together. It would be especially gratifying if the first-time turkey hunter was able to call the turkey in with a few simple yelps that he or she recently learned.

Well, there’s still some fall turkey hunting left in various areas of the state, and it’s not too late to introduce someone new to a turkey hunt.