The Turkey Dog News

Winter forecast

If this forecast is correct, there's two things we can do for turkeys. #1 harvest all the youngest birds of the year you can, they won't make it through a Winter like this. #2 stock up on corn to feed the remaining birds during the roughest times this Winter. The meteorologist said 12 to 24 more inches of snowfall than average is expected for parts of the Upper Midwest and the Great Lakes regions.

Deer stare at dog.

Common occurrence. They don't see many turkey hunting dogs.

There's something up there.

Suki barked at something high up in this cedar tree, going upriver, then back downriver, where we turkey hunted today. Looking at the photo on the computer when I got home, looks like a dead coon, or maybe a cat. Suki knew something wasn't right.

Making old dogs young again.

Best thing to do for an old dog is take them hunting by themselves. Thought Lucky couldn't hear or smell anymore, but she got this bird off the ground. Made her and I both proud.

Turkeys 1, hunters 0.

The weather changed from mid 60's with 5mph winds, to mid 40's and 15mph wind, gusts to 25. Red had a hard time scenting, he unenthusiastically barked four different times and places in 90 minutes. With the high wind, he couldn't air-scent like usual, had to trail with his nose to the ground, like a beagle does a rabbit. We only saw 2 birds fly over the hour and a half. Red did 7.6 miles, must've been after adult males that would rather run than fly. Weather conditions favored the turkeys today.

There's some birds.

Let's go hunting.

Wanna see deer, go turkey hunting!

There was one turkey, we both heard it make one loud cluck, then Suki made one loud bark, just before they both ran across the road full speed, 300 yards into a deep swamp. Lucky they didn't get hit by a truck, not hunting there again.

I love October.

No Hunting signs

We never hunt anywhere without permission, but this puppy has her own opinion!

Ohio Jake

Compared to other areas I hunt, I don’t have a wealth of public land near where we live. The best option is a 4,500-acre State Forest, which the whole thing should probably designated as a State Park with the amount of trails and recreation users that frequent there. I only hunt there is the weather is unfavorable, or it’s during the week. Nowadays, I need to take a few hours off of work to check out areas before deer hunters begin filling the woods. We’ve been hunting there at least once a week since season opened on October 1.

Two days ago, I decided to check out a few areas after work. I encountered two horseback riders on the trail on our last walk out. They were very friendly (I’ve encountered some not too pleased with the dogs running around) and asked if I had any luck. I told them no and explained what we were doing. They told me that they encountered a good sized flock the week before a few ridges over. The next day I decided to check it out.

To access the area, you need to walk through a salvage timber harvest from a June 2022 tornado. They left plenty of slash and it’s not the easiest walking. Plus, the vegetation is starting to get pretty thick. When we were in the clear cut, Levi began to act like there were turkeys nearby. Once we got back into the woods, the dogs shot out to about 250 yards on the other side of the ridge. Based on their behavior, it looked like a good sized group.

The sit was pretty uneventful. At about the hour and a half mark (which seems to be the best time for us after a break), I heard some light rustling in the leaves (were in a drought, so it’s easy to hear things walking). I focus on that spot and see a turkey making its way up to us. Shortly after seeing it, it lets out some soft yelps. At this point, it’s well within shooting range and I just need it to talk from behind a small mound. He finally clears it and I shoot and miss. He becomes airborne and I shoot again, knocking him down into a spicebush thicket. I release the dogs and begin looking for the bird. I can’t find him anywhere! Both Lily and Levi begin barking about 70 yards away from me and I think I can hear additional birds running from them. I continue to look and still nothing. Levi returns to me and I see Lily is stationary. I walk up to her and she had the bird! I really don’t think it would’ve been recovered if I didn’t have the dogs with me. It was some great teamwork!

Juvenile male

9 lbs 2 oz

Making turkeys fly

Yesterday Suki flushed turkeys without barking, today it was Red. Both dogs just developed this new technique of silent trailing, to pressure them harder by not barking until the birds left the ground. Seems like they decided this on their own beforehand. Not something I could teach them.

Clear Cut Turkeys

I think everyone can agree that we all appreciate areas that turkeys hangout in consistently. We found a public spot where there are birds basically every time we are there. At the end of season last year, the state had come through and marked trees for a timber harvest in the area.

The cutting did not bother the turkeys and the dogs found them between the harvest area and a creek. We were treated to the sight of watching Lily and Levi chase a group of at least a dozen birds on the edge of the cut. Kaily did get an opportunity on a nice hen. It was an excellent October day!

October is the best month of the year

Turkeys vanished in thin air

Hunting turkeys is different every time. Today we saw a flock of 8 or 10 at 100 yards. Suki made them fly in another 100 yards. We got a 6 lb. Jenny, but never saw another one. The entire flock of first hatch birds disappeared into thin air. Never had that happen. Mystery.

Longbeard on a limb

A few years ago, a gang of gobblers were running Lucky in circles. One jumped up on a log 20 yards away from me, beautiful in the sun. An easy shot, but 'click', forgot to load it. Never forget that picture.

Well today, Red flushed a gang of gobblers, one big tom went up on a limb, 20 yards from my friend. He was one second from pulling the trigger, when the turkey bailed out and was gone. A great picture he'll never forget.

Sexing Turkeys

There's a concern when more hens are reported in the Fall Harvest than males (should be close to 50-50). Example of the difficulty Fall hunters can have determining the sex of turkeys - this 7# 11 oz. First Hatch Juvenile had both black and buff tipped breast feathers, about half and half. It had no spurs and the center tail feathers were shorter than the outer tail feathers, so no indication there. Most hunters would register it as female, but this little beard buried in the breast feathers confirmed it was male. Matt says: A hen will never have any type of black-tipped feather on the breast. So this was a male for sure. Join the Club

Wisconsin survey

We harvested birds from all 3 hatches so far:
First hatch May 20 - 7# 11 oz. Jake 10/3/025.
Second hatch June 23 - 5# 2 oz. Jenny 10/7/25.
Third hatch July 27 - 3 lb. 6 oz. Jenny 9/15/25.
Confirmation of the good hatch this year.

When the dog smells turkeys in tall trees -

but hunters can't see them with the leaves still on. 3 of us each saw about 5 different turkeys fly out. Dogs did the hard part. Suki 22.60 miles, Red 16.86. Hunting Wild Turkeys with a Dog

Southern Ohio

We had a great morning looking for turkeys in the rolling hills of southern Ohio. The 17-year periodical cicadas (Brood XIV) emerged here this past spring and early summer. It appears to be a good year for poult recruitment. We seen lots of sign and broke one flock, but no response. We’ll explore the ridge tops and hollows some more once the temperature cools down.

Red found them this morning.

Red broke 2 or 3 toms at 9:07am. Good video of the one that went North. Another one went East, might've been a third one. Could sit and call later, maybe get one to come. Sunny, high near 75. SSE wind 10 to 13 mph. Setup at the break, the sound will go right to the one that went North.
Red's daddy was a purebred Red Setter, his mommy was a Pointer.

Suki's turn

Suki just before she went on an eight and a half mile run looking for turkeys this morning.