BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) – Unlike the American woodcock’s skyrocketing flight or the mating dance of sandhill cranes, wild turkeys communicate through different vocalizations during the breeding season. The thrill of hearing gobbling is a call that many hunters cannot resist.
This season, Kentucky hunters can expect to hear plenty of excitable gobblers in the field. This should make for especially good turkey hunting for 2023.
Kentucky’s 2023 spring turkey hunting kicks off with the youth-only season held the weekend of April 1-2 followed by the general hunting season opening April 15 and continuing through May 7. Kentucky’s spring hunting season is structured to give turkeys ample time to breed before introducing hunting pressure while giving hunters the opportunity to hear plenty of gobbling.
Zak Danks, wild turkey program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, forecasts a good year for gobbling by 2-year-old birds based on the above-average turkey brood survival rate recorded in 2021. Brood surveys, which are conducted in July and August, help the department make season predictions.
“We have observed more large groups of gobblers and other indications that further support the forecast for great opportunities for hunters to harvest mature gobblers,” Danks said. more
Turkey doesn’t get enough credit.
I had a Turkey Pot Pie last night.
Turkey & gravy with potatoes is fantastic.
Not just for Thanksgiving…
Mitch McConnell joke in 3, 2, 1 …
I’ve bagged a few wild turkeys over the years. Missed a few also.
It’s not that they are smart. They have very keen eyesight and are extremely skittish.
A few years ago I was hunting on public land. I was calling a Tom toward me and suddenly a gun fired just over the hill between me and the Tom. It scared the crap out of me. Some guy was between me and the Tom and I called it right to him. He told me afterward that he actually thought I was the turkey and the Tom was another hunter. He said my call seemed more realistic. After that I always wear an orange cap while turkey hunting on public land and hang it on a tree branch above me when I set up to start calling.
“Danks urges caution with tactics that rely upon imitating another gobbler, such as using a turkey tail fan to lure a gobbler into shotgun range. Other hunters could mistake you for a turkey.”
Like a turkey call doesn’t?
(see above comment)
Hunting is becoming like riding a motorcycle, you have to watch out for all the idiots and assholes.
Jarhead Cracka – That would be turtle hunting season…
So far this year I haven’t seen very many turkeys. And we see a lot here, all seasons. Not sure how they react to hunters but we’ve seen them strut right through our yard. Daring the dogs to do anything. Especially when they have chicks. Alone they will fly into the trees. But they most definitely stand their ground with chicks.