On the level about Gobblers

Do turkeys like walking up hill or down hill?

Most of my turkeys roost in creek bottoms of the little side hollows against the ridges. That means

a) They have to go up hill every morning if they want to go anywhere besides down.
b) Some time during the day, they have to walk or fly back down to their roosting tree.

That is an over simplification. I actually have seen them pitch down in the morning, head down to the mouth of their hollow and roam the bigger bottoms fairly frequently. The point is, turkey go up and down hills all the time. This is like the old myth that deer only travel with their noses into the wind. If that were true, all the deer in the state would be gently drawn to the west and you would never see them again.

Where they come out into the pasture and I can glass from a distance, you can see what they are really up to. Turkeys generally do not walk straight up a hill and the only time you will see them go straight down is if they are scared. Instead, they take an angle and walk along the contour of the hill, gently angling up or down to suit their needs. This is not a hard and fast rule. I’ve seen lone gobblers and entire flocks walk straight up a hill in the middle of the woods, when they had a mind to get to where they were going. However, if you have a flock of turkeys that are out feeding, you will find them generally walking along a hillside, and never directly gaining or losing elevation in a big way.

What does that mean for turkey hunting? Your chances of luring a gobbler to you somewhat depends on your relative elevation. If you have a gobbler that is far below you or far above you on a hill, there is less chance that he is going to come straight to you. If you want to ambush him, you should be on the same level or close to it.

Let’s say you’re out cruising for gobblers and you use your locater call and get a response that is well above or below your current level on a hill. Do not charge straight to the gobbler. Instead, try to get closer to his elevation by doing an end- around in the direction you believe he is moving. How big of an end-around? Give the gobbler enough room to gently move up or down to your final destination on a gentle angling slope.

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