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John's Journal... Entry 168, Day 5

HOW TO HUNT FALL AND WINTER TURKEYS

How to Hunt the Lone Wolves of Fall

EDITOR'S NOTE: The birds of fall and the winter are both the easiest and the hardest to take, depending on the lengths of their beards and spurs. The longbeards of the fall are the most-difficult turkeys to bag at any time of the year. But the jakes, the bird less than a year old, are easy to take. The hunter's strategy for taking the turkeys of fall and winter is completely different from the techniques he'll use in the spring. Sex is no longer important to the gobblers. The birds already have passed through their mating cycles, and the hens have made their nests, laid their eggs and reared their young. Fall calling and hunting tactics are based primarily on the social order of turkeys more than on the sex drive of the birds.

The lone wolf of the fall is the ultimate prize in all of turkey hunting because he's the most difficult gobbler to bag at any time of the year. Even though the one wolf tom's sex drive may cause his demise in the spring, in the fall he's the wisest, most elusive, most difficult to call and the most highly prized creature in the woods. A lone wolf may be the only gobbler that has survived from his entire year-class of gobblers. In most areas of the country, a lone wolf will be at least 4-years old. In the fall, he shuns the company of not only hens and jakes but also amigos. He much prefers his own company to that of any other bird, rarely is social and usually is moody. Because of his age, the lone wolf has learned just about every trick any hunter can try to play on him. To bag a lone wolf gobbler, you must learn all you can about where he lives, roosts, feeds and travels and when he goes where he goes before you ever attempt to call him. One of the best ways to obtain this information besides scouting may be by talking to deer hunters during deer season. Ask them if they spot a lone wolf in the woods to make mental notes about when and where he shows up and to share this information with you. Then you may have a chance to take him.

Once you pinpoint the area a lone wolf frequents, go there. Call very little. Just let the tom know another turkey is in his region. Then the next move is the lone wolf's. When he decides he wants the company of another bird, he'll come to your calling. If he doesn't want your company, he won't respond. Your most-productive strategy is playing a waiting game. More than likely when the lone wolf comes in, he won't announce his presence. He may spot you from 50 yards away, and you never will take him in that area. When a lone wolf does come in, he's keenly aware of danger and realizes he should see a hen. When he doesn't spot another turkey, he may leave the region. Then you must find another place and utilize another call to try and take him. A lone wolf may respond to gobbler yelps, hen calls or young gobbler squealing calls. Since this tom is an individual, no set rules can be laid down to bag him. Only by trial and error, the process of elimination and spending many hours in the woods can you learn how to most effectively hunt this turkey.

The lone wolf gobbler ...

* has helped to put avid turkey hunters in insane asylums,
* has the power to twist your mind as well as change your character and your personality when you become consumed with bagging him,
* is one a turkey hunter with a wealth of knowledge, who consistently has bagged turkeys each spring and has been successful with amigos and jakes in the fall, must hunt to prove himself as a master hunter,
* will test every bit of turkey-hunting wisdom you have if you hunt him fairly,
* will educate you in how to hunt tough turkeys -- more than you can learn from any book, video, magazine article or tape and
* will teach you patience is your greatest ally.

If you decide to go after a lone wolf, understand your chances of failing are at least 75 percent or more during the fall season with your odds for success far less than 25 percent. Your reputation as a turkey hunter will be in jeopardy, and many who know you may think you're crazy to spend so much time trying to take a turkey that fools you on every outing. But with every agonizing defeat, you have any opportunity to learn one more strategy that may aid you in your eventual success. If you do bag one of the lone wolves of the fall woods, you deserve the highest accolades in all of turkeydom, because you have achieved the pinnacle of success that few even strive for and even fewer obtain. You will be head and shoulders above all others who go into the woods to hunt the gobblers of fall.

 

 

Check back each day this week for more HOW TO HUNT FALL AND WINTER TURKEYS ...

Day 1 - How To Set Up on Fall Gobblers
Day 2 - How to Hunt the Young Birds of Fall
Day 3 - How to Take Young Gobblers
Day 4 - How to Hunt Longbeards in the Fall
Day 5 - How to Hunt the Lone Wolves of Fall


John's Journal