Hunting Gobblers in Fields

When I first started hunting turkeys many years ago, it was strictly a woods' game. The stately black and brown birds were found mostly deep in forests amid towering oaks. And that's where I hunted them.

After a few years of woods' hunting, though, from time-to-time I would catch sight of turkeys in fields feeding on bugs, wheat or last year's corn crop leftovers. Finally, I got the message! Following one particularly challenging morning woods hunt when a friend and I had seen and called to birds for hours with no luck, we passed a field with turkeys in it and decided to do something about it.

Looking through binoculars, we saw that they were four longbeards. Calling drew no response, but gradually we saw a pattern to their movement. Circling wide, we snuck along a creek bottom, hunkered down ahead of where they were going and clucked softly. In short order four trophy birds appeared. Two of the biggest went home with us for dinner.

Since that encounter, birds in fields have provided plenty of turkey hunting adventures for me. But the experience that day illustrated several key lessons about this type of hunting.

First of all, it was late in the season, and that's often when you'll find turkeys in fields. Since gobbling is winding down at this time, hunting fields offers a good way to harvest toms that aren't talking.

It was also mid-morning. That's consistently proved a good time to check out fields.

Birds may peck around in the woods for a while, go to water along a stream, perhaps mate if they're lucky, and then drift over towards a meadow or pasture. They find lots of insects there, sometimes even flipping over cow dung in search of bugs and larvae, as well as wheat, clover and other grains and forbs. Fields are also attractive to toms because they can strut there and show their stuff for long distances.

That day we used two tactics you can put to work on field toms.

Study Your Hunting Field

The first approach, simply attempting to call the birds from where you are, is a difficult proposition. It's worth a try, though, particularly if it's a situation where time or terrain won't allow you to study the turkeys and get ahead of the direction they are traveling.

Normally, though, the birds will simply go where they planned to before you arrived. Finding out where that is and getting to that location undetected is almost always the most effective tactic.

After you watch the flock in a field for a while and have a good idea where they're heading, study the terrain and see how you will have to loop around to get in front of them without being seen. Use creek draws, swales, hollows, and ridges to circle around and set up. Stay totally out of sight at all times during the move.

When possible, putting a decoy or two out where you anticipate the turkeys heading is a good idea. Birds rely heavily on their vision in fields. If they can't see a turkey where they hear calling, they may grow suspicious. Put out one or two hens and a jake if time allows.

Calling Tactics

It's possible to harvest turkeys in fields without calling at all. If you see the birds and can predict, which way they are likely to head, setting up at the exit point is all you need to do.

It usually won't hurt to call, though. And it may help. I'll normally make a few soft yelps and clucks and see how they respond. If they begin to stray out of range, give them some excited cutting or try multiple calls to lure them the final yards needed for a shot.

Hunting Fields Without Turkeys

You don't have to see turkeys in a field to make it worth hunting. Don't just plop down on any opening, but if you find fresh sign (droppings, feathers, scratched ground, tracks, etc.), or have seen birds in the field at a similar time in recent days, simply setting up and waiting can be a good strategy. Try to determine by scouting, which part of the field the birds normally enter and exit from, such as an old logging road or narrow corner, and pick whichever location offers the best setup.

Since no birds are present, it pays to take the time to set up at least a couple of decoys. You can even erect a portable blind or build a makeshift one from brush if you like. Try calling every 10- or 15 minutes with a few yelps or clucks. With patience, a gobbler with a whiskbroom beard might just sneak into shotgun range.

That's when field hunting really gets exciting!