The peak days of Missouri turkey hunting

Donna White tags a turkey she shot during an earlier fall hunt. (Ken White/Daily Mail)

The fall turkey season slipped up on me this year. Usually I've made plans a month in advance of opening day, but with all the summer-like weather, I guess I was thinking more about waterfowl season.

When looking out the kitchen window this week and seeing six big turkeys in the yard, it was time to get serious about getting a Thanksgiving bird.

Although when you mention turkey hunting most hunters think about April mornings and a gobbling tom. There is no question this is an exciting time to hunt turkeys in Missouri. Some of the most enjoyable sport for these big game birds is right now, during the remaining days of October.

A view of six wild turkeys from my kitchen window this week. (Ken White/Daily Mail)

Fall turkey hunting has its attractions and many hunters prefer it to the spring hunt. Some of those attractions include the fact that the turkey population is at a peak while most spring- born flocks are intact and their numbers are a lot higher than they will be after the birds have endured the ravages of winter and the hunting season. In addition many of the birds are young-of-the-year, making them easier to call. Both hens and toms are legal in the fall and hunters have a full day to hunt compared to a half --day hunt in the spring. The big birds move in large flocks, thus leaving more sign and noise as they move through the woods.

There are enough challenges in the fall to make it appealing. You might have to do more hunting instead of just calling or listening for the gobbles. A hunter may cover a mile or more of ground searching for a flock that can scatter before calling some of the birds back with yelps clucks or kee-kee calls.

The month long season should give hunters plenty of time to bag the main course for Thanksgiving dinner. To make the most of a hunter's time in the turkey woods this fall, here are a few tips that might help a hunter get a bird.

Carry several calls to lure in fall turkeys. A diaphragm, box, glass or slate call will all work, but on any given day one may preform better than the others. The successful hunter carries two or three types, offering the birds a second or third choice if they don't respond to the first one.

Use binoculars to scan ahead and to check on objects far away that might be turkeys. Search for fresh sign such as droppings, loose feathers, dusting areas and scratching's in the leaves. Also, search for favorite fall turkey foods including wild grapes, acorns, persimmons, corn, clover, berries and insects like grasshoppers.

When searching for turkeys, use your ears as well as your eyes. Turkeys purr, cluck and kee-kee as they feed through the woods. They also make a lot of racket as they work through the woods. Many times you will hear the birds before you see them.

A trick that has worked for me many times in the fall, is when you spot a flock of turkeys, a quick decision is necessary. If you haven't been seen, try circling ahead of them in the direction they are headed and wait for the birds to work within shooting range. If they do spot you, the best tactic is to rush a the birds and try to flush them so they fly in different directions. Then set up and try to call them back. You might walk 25 to 75 yards in the direction that most of the birds flew, then set up against a tree as thick as your body and wait. When the birds start calling, try to imitate the call they are using, but don't over call.

Don't get discouraged if you don't bag a bird the first time out. Fall turkey hunting is not that easy. There will be days when you might walk miles and not see a bird. In time, however, you'll find turkeys. When you do rush into a flock of birds and send them flying then succeed in calling one back and bagging it on a crisp October day with the smell of fresh fallen leaves in the air you will have experienced one of turkey hunting sweetest pleasures.

The archery season for turkeys continues through Nov. 15 and resumes again Nov.25 through Jan. 15, 2016. The firearm season runs through the rest of October. Details about both fall deer and turkey regulations is contained in a booklet available wherever hunting permits are sold.