Late-Season Gobbler Tactics
The Squirrel-Tailed Gobbler
 Editor’s
Note: When you hunt turkeys during the late season,
you’ll have to hunt the toughest gobblers on the
property. But hopefully, you’ll have a history
of those turkeys. You should k now
what they’ve done in the past, and what you can
expect them to do in the future. You have to decide
on a method you haven’t used in the past to take
those turkeys. You’ll have to abandon what’s
considered turkey wisdom and use off-the-wall tactics
to hunt these tough toms. Let’s look at some tough
toms I’ve hunted, the people I’ve hunted
with, and how we’ve finally taken our birds.
This turkey got his name because my buddy, Joe Smith
of Union Springs, Alabama, said this bird had a beard
as big as a squirrel’s tail. We caught up to this
gobbler in the late season as he walked through a hardwood
bottom, right beside a hill with a long green field
on it. The green field went from the top of the hill
down to the bottom.
"Let’s go to him," I encouraged Smith,
as we sat on the edge of the green field about half-way
between the top and the bottom. "No, we’re
not going to him," Smith said. "Why not?"
I questioned. "Because that’s what everyone
who hasn’t taken him has done," Smith answered.
Gobbling good, the Squirrel-Tailed Gobbler finally left
the bottom and started walking up the hill on the opposite
side of the green field from where we sat.
"Let’s go get him, Joe," I insisted.
"No, not yet," Joe replied. "That bird
hasn’t decided whether he wants to stay in the
bottom, walk the road on top of the green field or come
out into the green field. We’ll let him decide
what he’s going to do, and then we’ll know
what we need to do." 
After 30 min utes
of waiting, we could tell by the direction of the turkey’s
gobbling that he had moved up to the top of the field
and probably would walk the road to the top of the hill
to look down in the green field until he decided to
move out into it. "Let’s go now," Smith
said. "We’ll get up to the top of the green
field. When that turkey starts walking down the road,
you can take him." We moved quickly and quietly
and took a stand in the woodline at the top of the hill
on the edge of the green field. Within 15 minutes, Smith
announced, "There he is." Then he whispered,
"There’s a dip in the road. When that Squirrel-Tailed
Gobbler gets down in the dip, he won’t be able
to see you move, so make your final adjustment and get
ready to take the shot." When the tom vanished
into the dip, I got my shotgun on my knee and readied
for the shot. As he walked out of the ditch, I squeezed
the trigger, and the Squirrel-Tailed Gobbler went home
with us. On the way out of the woods, Smith explained,
"If you know everything that hasn’t worked
on a particular gobbler, then you can’t try any
of those same tactics, particularly if you’re
hunting him late in the season. You have to let that
tom tell you how to take him by listening to what he
does, and where he’s going. If you can determine
where that turkey’s going and why he’s going
there, you’ll have a real-good chance of taking
him."
Tomorrow: Ole Slick
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