Fall season wrap up...banged out my 4 bird limit in a few days, my old man got one, and my college buddy's first hunting trip in decades bagged him a bird, too.

Fall turkey hunting is a LOT different than spring hunting...I almost never called, and heard very little in the woods coming from the birds, too. Not surprised by that, but it is the exact opposite of springtime.

Birds were really flocked up, entirely by sex...except for one lone tom in a big flock of hens who ended up being #4.

In the spring I move around a lot, both daily and immediately when out in the field, trying to bring toms to me...it is so loud in the woods in the fall, and the birds are generally so unresponsive to calling, that sitting tight was the preferred method.

There are four things that I took into account...roosting areas (so loud in the woods I did a lot of guessing here rather than significant locating), water, pine nuts, and grassy areas.

Turns out the grassy areas were the key...any remotely green grass was food, and this time of year the grass was loaded with grasshoppers, a favored turkey snack...find that within a few hundred yards of water, in between said water and a set of likely roosting trees, and you were in the game.

I have never hunted turkeys out of a blind, but I set a few up last week and of the 6 we bagged, 4 came from blinds. My attempts at spot/stalk worked out one time, just too loud to be able to get close enough consistently...and even that one success was much more prefaced on guessing where they were going and getting myself in front of them, and still waiting for them to come to me.

There are enough turkey and deer in the area I hunt, and they frequently use the same trails, so finding an active trail, setting up, and waiting was the most successful.

I had a couple of conversations with hens in the woods, but when it comes to talking to them, they are far more discerning than are randy toms in the spring...worked well enough once, but I quieted them right down the other few times after a few back and forth calls...they busted me rather easily.

It was a little strange to target hens; I had never hunted where they were legal to harvest before. In my unit the fall limit is 4 birds, two must be beardless, and the other two can be either sex.

On that note, the hens were far easier...I could have harvested a dozen of them...the toms are just as wary in the fall, and less blinded by lust...but I was still able to harvest two of each.

Saw a few nice bucks, whitetail and mulies, one if which I hope to shake hands with in a few months ;-)

Went walleye fishing on Sunday for a few hours and caught enough for a good dinner, so the turkey/walleye cast and blast was a solid win.

Fish on...

Todd