When Does Alabama Turkey Season End?

Map of Turkey’s Zone between 2022 and 2023 The Saturday and Sunday of the week before the start of the spring season will be reserved for a SPECIAL YOUTH HUNT. (DECOYS ALLOWED) One day before the start of each regular season, there will be a special hunt for disabled hunters.

1. Participants are required to satisfy the medical prerequisites outlined in rule 220-2-.109(2). (d).
2. DECOYS ALLOWED) DURING THE FIRST TEN DAYS, NO DECOYS ARE ALLOWED Bankhead Ranger District; WMAs – Lauderdale, Freedom Hills, Black Warrior, Coon Gulf, Riverton CHA, and Martin CHA: April 8th to May 8th (daylight – 1 p.m.) REMAINDER OF NATIONAL FOREST DISTRICTS AND WMAs THAT ALLOW TURKEY HUNTING: April 1st through May 8th (Talladega Ranger District, Shoal Creek Ranger District, Oakmulgee Ranger District, Tuskegee Ranger District, and Conecuh Ranger District) (daylight – 1 p.m.) BAG LIMIT One gobbler each day, with a maximum bag restriction of four gobblers during the whole fall and spring seasons combined.

No more than two gobblers may be taken from any one WMA, CHA, or National Forest Ranger District. No more than one gobbler may be taken from each WMA, CHA, and National Forest Ranger District during the first ten days of each season. ZONE1: 25th of March through 8th of May (DECOYS ALLOWED APRIL 4) The following counties are included: Autauga, Baldwin, Barbour, Bibb, Blount, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Chilton, Choctaw, Cleburne, Coffee, Conecuh, Coosa, Crenshaw, Cullman (except for the areas north of Lewis Smith Lake and north of Cullman County Road 437 and west of Interstate 65), Dale, Dallas, DeKalb, Elmore, Escambi ZONE 2: April 1 – May 8 (DECOYS ALLOWED APRIL 11) Colbert, Cullman (north of Lewis Smith Lake and north of Cullman County Road 437 and west of Interstate 65), Franklin, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Morgan, and Winston are the counties that make up this region.

Can you call turkeys late season?

9. Get in close and personal with late-season turkeys. – According to Tim Herald, “One frequent quality of toms who have faced some pressure is a desire to gobble, but a hesitancy to go far to a call.” This is a characteristic that is shared by toms that have seen some pressure.

“Even while it is often recommended to go as close to a turkey as possible before calling to him, it is very necessary in late season, after birds have been bumped, and after the height of the mating season has passed.” The fact that the late season has more foliage makes it considerably simpler to accomplish this goal, which is excellent news.

” Before I even consider picking up a call, I want to be within 75 to 100 yards of a gobbler at the very most. If a bird is roosting in the tree, there will be a broader canopy and darker shadows, which will make it easier to approach up close. If I come across a bird during the middle of the day and I am unsure of his precise location, I will utilize locator calls to zero in on him before I sneak up on him and start calling.” Put up your blind at a dusting site like this one, and a gobbler is likely to pay a visit at some point in the near future.

Do turkey decoys work late season?

There are an infinite amount of turkey decoys available for purchase on the market nowadays; yet, it might be challenging to select the best ones. To make matters worse, it may be challenging to comprehend how and when they should be used. Turkeys, like whitetail deer during the rut, go through distinct stages of their mating season.

1. These stages are similar to what whitetail deer go through.
2. Every decoy arrangement delivers a message.
3. Are you sure you’ve sent the correct one? If that is the case, does it take place within the appropriate period of the year? The beginning of the season offers some of the most exciting opportunities for hunting turkeys.

In most cases, the birds are still huddled together and determining who will be the dominant species. It is not unusual to find a number of gobblers along with a flock of hens spending a significant amount of time in a strut zone. You might be able to coax one of those toms away from the area every once in a while, but a strutting decoy is probably going to be your best bet at this point in the season.

1. Because birds will be seen in strut zones throughout the day, you should position yourself in a recognized strut zone and wait there, even if it is a bit farther away from the roost.
2. The presence of a strutting decoy as well as a hen will almost certainly enrage the toms who are using that location.
3. Not only does the strutting decoy show off in front of other toms, but it also shows off in front of other females.

When you bring in the women, the longbeards will follow your lead. The arrangement relies heavily on accurate timing. Gobblers have a natural desire to compete with one another for supremacy, which brings them within shooting range. LEARN MORE: TURKEY DECOY STRATEGIES: FULL STRUT TOM + BREEDING HEN As the season moves on, it is typically time to strip off some clothes and additional weight.

Trade in your full strut jake decoy for a half strut jake decoy and leave the full strut decoy at home. At this point in the hunting season, the effectiveness of a jake decoy can hardly be overstated. The breeding process is in full flow as we reach the middle of the season. It doesn’t matter whether the gobbler is two or three years old; pickings are few when there’s a jake on exhibit with a hen.

When confronted with a juvenile bird, an adult bird will not hesitate to steal a hen from it. If you want to reduce the load even more, you should leave the hen decoy at home. Even if the approaching longbeard can’t see a hen, the jake’s stance and the sound it makes mimicking a hen’s call both indicate the presence of a hen in the area.

1. The use of this decoy tactic is best suited for a hunt that takes place in the late morning or afternoon.
2. There are certain hens who breed early and have already begun to nest at this time, making it more difficult to locate hens.
3. Gobblers are in a state of full-on search mode at this point in the day.

A solitary tom will have a difficult time avoiding the decoys that have been placed up here. LEARN MORE: TURKEY DECOY STRATEGIES: JAKE + HEN The activity of hunting turkeys late in the season might be the most exhilarating. Gobblers are said to have a very loud voice and are as solitary as they have ever been.

• Because more hens are choosing to nest during the day, the level of competition for live hens is at its lowest point since the beginning of the season.
• Time to make it easy! During this particular time period, you will only require a single hen.
• Don’t make things more difficult for yourself; gobblers want hens, so give them what they want.

It is easier for a hen to demonstrate her interest in a gobbler when she maintains an erect position. In the event that the gobbler reacts to the call, you must move fast to position the decoy and be ready. Talk the talk, and you’ll see the gobbler there in front of you.

• The single hen decoy is an excellent choice for hunting late in the season for all day long.
• LEARN MORE: TURKEY DECOY STRATEGIES: THE LONE HEN It is essential to have a thorough understanding of the message that your decoy configuration is sending to other turkeys.
• The birds are still free-flying, as they have been in the past, and each circumstance is unique.

Learn from your mistakes and adjust your hunting strategy accordingly, especially if you’re pursuing the same species of birds day after day. Always remember to maintain a natural appearance in the decoy installations. It’s possible that if you do this, you’ll have some of the most exciting and fruitful hunting experiences yet!

Why do turkeys stop gobbling late season?

During a “post-game” fireside talk regarding the just concluded spring wild turkey hunting season in Ohio, some recurring topics were brought up. These questions included why the birds were so quiet for such a significant portion of the season and what the upcoming seasons will be like.

• The idea that years of hunting pressure have chosen out the most aggressive birds is a fascinating theory that sometimes pops up in certain posts on blogs devoted to turkey hunting.
• This theory has the potential to explain why there is less gobbling.
• In a nutshell, according to this interpretation of events, humans have eliminated the more boisterous and eager toms while allowing the more cunning and reticent ones to continue passing on their genes.

According to Ken Duren, a wild turkey scientist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, there is no solid data or studies to back that claim, despite the fact that it makes for a great story to tell over the campfire. He believes that the silence of the birds may be attributed to one of two primary causes, the first of which being the timing of the season.

The beginning of the season in a state is purposefully and judiciously scheduled to begin after the peak of gobbling, which occurs around two weeks before the majority of hens start sitting on their eggs. This is done as a conservation strategy by the state. According to Duren, this is the time of year when gobbling by tom turkeys naturally slows down after the “hide and seek” phase of the mating game has reached its height.

The gobbling activity picks up a little bit again at the end of the season when the tom turkeys start to feel lonely and start searching for receptive hens. However, the intensity of gobbling throughout the late part of the season does not come close to that during the preseason.

1. In connection with this topic, Duren stated that pre-season calling by turkey hunters on scouting expeditions is a mistake since it conditions birds to remain silent as they learn that the excessive and untimely calling is not connected to responsive hens.
2. In the long run, eliciting quick replies may be entertaining and give you a boost to your ego as a caller, but it is not helpful.

The severe hunting pressure in particular locations, which includes an excessive number of hunters, an excessive amount of calling, and an excessive amount of shooting, is the second key cause in silence. As an illustration, Duren uses his personal experience from this past spring.

He was successful in killing an easily gobbling tom on private ground where there was little hunting pressure in the vicinity. However, he had to put in a lot of effort on public acreage that was heavily worked in order to kill his second bird, which came in quietly. He stated, “Gobbling isn’t everything,” and I quote: “However, it is undeniably a great deal more enjoyable.” Regarding the other turkey-related issue brought up around the campfire, namely the future, Duren predicted that the year 2016 will be a good one for Ohio’s wild turkeys, if not the turkey hunters.

This is owing to the fact that a significant, cyclical hatch of 17-year cicadas is expected to take place throughout a large portion of the eastern half of the state. Cicadas are an excellent source of protein for turkey poults because they are large, juicy, and come at at the correct time after the poults have hatched.

1. Lots of food equals high survival.
2. According to what Duren observed, the most recent couple of 17-year cicada cycles were followed by an increase in the number of gobblers harvested the next year, as well as record harvests the year after that.
3. This bodes well for the state’s turkey population as well as the hunting chances in 2017 (there will be plenty of jakes) and especially in 2018.

(longbeards). Go but not least, if you want your turkey “season” to last longer, you should participate in the yearly public survey of wild turkeys and ruffed grouse in the state by reporting sightings of these gamebirds and their broods. This will allow you to prolong your turkey “season.” For the purpose of the brood survey, members of the general public are asked to record their sightings of wild turkeys and ruffed grouse throughout the months of May, June, July, and August.

1. On the Turkey Brood Survey website, which may be found online at wildohio.gov, hunters and other people who observe wildlife can report their observations.
2. The survey assists in the forecasting of future wild turkey populations and provides direction for the hunting rules in the state.
3. During the study that was conducted in 2014, more than 6,000 turkeys were recorded, and an average of 1.76 young turkeys (poults) were produced by each adult hen turkey.

The long-term average of 2.5 poults per adult hen was lower than this average, which was lower than this average. In 1962, biologists first started keeping note of summertime observations of wild turkeys. In 1999, ruffed grouse were included in the study for the first time.