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Fall Turkey Dogging 101
The strategy is simple: your trained turkey dog scents, finds, and flushes a fall flock. Near the break site, you hide that canine and yourself, and try to call those scattered birds back to your setup.
It’s not enough to have a turkey dog though. You have to know how and where to use it.
It’s best if you’re a serious fall turkey hunter before you become a flock dogger. You need to understand fresh ground sign in the form of tracks, molted feathers, droppings, and scratchings where your dog might find turkey flocks based on your scouting efforts. A trained dog can then be used as a tool to help you find and flush turkeys.
Breeds differ, of course. Individual canine hunting abilities exist among the range of retrievers, pointing dogs, versatile breeds, and hounds, and so it is with those used as turkey dogs. John and J.T. Byrne of Lowry, Virginia are widely renowned for their Plott hound/point/setter line of turkey dogs. Outdoor Life’s Gerry Bethge is a longtime practitioner, as am I.
Some weak-nosed dogs may find turkey flocks visually, setting after them in open fields or big woods situations. Other canines locate flocks both by sight, and with their solid bird-scenting abilities. Other hyper-aware turkey dogs with superior noses put visual evidence and location sense together in a way that tells them wild turkeys are just over the next ridge. This quality of terrain recognition is hard to beat. All types can help your hunts though. I’ve owned all three.
No matter how able your hunting dog is, if you’re a fall turkey enthusiast—and assuming the tactic is legal in your state—you can use that canine to help you find and flush flocks. Bottom line, your dog (whatever the breed) needs an inborn, instinctive “prey drive” so you can build on it.—Steve Hickoff
This is getting good!!! My buddies back home (Arkansas) get a good chuckle every time I bring up turkey dog's, they think I'm trying to pull one over on them....... Wish they had internet..........
Dirty
Posted by: Dirty | July 17, 2008 at 05:26 PM
Hey Dirty...Yeah, first time I heard about turkey dogs was when I was a junior editor at Outdoor Life and the Hunting Dogs editor, Larry Mueller, wrote a feature story on it. That very same fall, I tried it and instantly knew that I NEEDED to get me a turkey dog. Jake is 12 now and although he's certainly slowed down a bit, his nose is as good as it was on Day 1. There's NO better way to spend a fall day than to bowhunt deer in the morning and late afternoon while running turkeys during the middle of the day. It's completely awesome.
Posted by: Gerry Bethge | July 17, 2008 at 09:01 PM
It's important to check to see if hunting fall turkeys with dogs is legal in your state.
As of this writing, 29 of 44 states that offer autumn turkey hunting allow hunters to use the tactic. Ontario, Canada does as well . . .
Note to Dirty: It's legal down your way in Texas, but not over in Arkansas where your buddies hunt.
Thanks for the interest,
Steve
Posted by: Steve Hickoff | July 18, 2008 at 07:16 AM
Oops, my bad. Just double-checked my sources and learned that while serious efforts are underway to permit fall turkey dogging in Ontario, Canada, it's not yet permitted. British Columbia has recently legalized it though.
As always it's best to double-check regulations as each season approaches, as hunting laws change.
Stay tuned here at the SZ for updates . . .
--S.H.
Posted by: Steve Hickoff | July 18, 2008 at 07:30 AM
Thanx for the info, fella's. Good to know.
Dirty
Posted by: Dirty | July 18, 2008 at 05:22 PM
Who is that in the picture?
Posted by: | July 18, 2008 at 05:23 PM
Never mind, when you roll over it tell's you, top Steve, bottom Gerry.
Posted by: Dirty | July 18, 2008 at 05:28 PM
Yeah, I'm the better-looking guy on the bottom! :-) BTW--as I write this, it's Friday night here in New England and I've been a bit busy this afternoon cruising a few of my favorite summer turkey fields. Only problem is that the grass is still a bit high for full-fledged early scouting. Did, however, see a hen with 5 poults.
Posted by: Gerry Bethge | July 18, 2008 at 06:24 PM
So what's a big old hen turkey with one poult do when she meets another hen turkey with 6 poults? Why she breaks out into full strut and back her off, of course. I saw this cool scene this morning while out scouting my turkey woods. Looks like the hatch here in the Northeast is coming along a bit better than I previously thought. The single poult, btw, was the size of a mature grouse while the six others were woodcock/quail sized.
Posted by: Gerry Bethge | July 19, 2008 at 01:43 PM
Never seen a hen in strut, that's gotta be cool.
Posted by: Dirty | July 21, 2008 at 07:10 PM
A handful of years ago two buddies and I were filming a fall turkey hunt in Vermont for public television . . .
My dog Midge broke up the flock on a hilly saddle. We set up near the flush site, called. The first turkey to arrive--an adult hen--popped right into strut, and paced back and forth as the camera caught it all. I kept calling, and she kept right on strutting, calling.
One by one turkeys regrouped. I couldn't get a good shot, and they drifted away as sometimes is the case, but it didn't seem to matter on that hunt. Pretty cool stuff.
Steve
Posted by: Steve Hickoff | July 21, 2008 at 08:29 PM
very cool
Posted by: Dirty | July 22, 2008 at 05:35 PM
By the way, if you guys have any specific questions regarding turkey dogs and fall hunting, both Gerry & I would be happy to try to answer them here at the Strut Zone.
Let us know . . .
Thanks,
Steve
Posted by: Steve Hickoff | July 25, 2008 at 11:08 AM