Cold Weather Turkey Tactics | MeatEater Hunting

Turkeys don’t disappear when it’s cold, rainy, and windy outside, even though it may seem that way. They only have a short window to do all of their strutting, fighting, and mating, which means they’ll still get busy when the mercury drops. The trick is finding birds and using the right tactics to get a shot under any condition. Here are a few strategies to help you bag your bird no matter how cold this spring is.

When it’s cold outside, turkeys aren’t as active or ready to get out of bed. On our Alabama hunt, we watched a group of jakes stay on the roost until 10:00 am before flying down. They were dead quiet the whole time. In fact, most of our early mornings were unproductive, and hunters usually bagged birds closer to noon.

Hen behavior also changes during cold weather fronts, especially after they’ve started nesting. They’ll sit on nests longer to keep eggs warm, which can slow down turkey activity overall. If you’re hunting in the cold, prepare to be patient.

If I wake up to temperatures hovering around freezing on a spring morning, I like to layer up. Think of sitting out cold-weather birds like deer hunting. You’ll need to spend more time staying put on cold spring days until flydown, until the hens start moving around again, or until a gobbler realizes all of the hens are on the nest. The last thing you want is to get too cold and need to move around yourself. It’s a sure way to spook roosted birds and blow your hunt.

Turkeys group together when they’re feeling chilly. That’s why you should work hard to locate roosted birds and hunt them as close as possible. Pre-season and mid-season scouting plays a big role here, as birds can be quiet and even call shy during bad weather.

Stick to areas you know birds like to roost year after year, and use your eyes to locate birds right before they roost in the afternoon before you hunt. Glass field edges and look for sign under roosting trees. Then prepare to stick it out until flydown in the morning.

Cold spring days usually come with wind and rain, and just like us, turkeys are looking for protected areas to hunker down and feed. I like to keep an eye on leftover mast crops from last fall while out shed hunting in the spring, especially in areas that have deep depressions, like hollows and creek bottoms.

These low points in the landscape sometimes offer a break from the wind. If you’re hunting in the mountains, try hitting the leeward side of the hill and scout for things like scratching in the leaves. These will typically be the spots that turkeys hide out on windy days, and they make great spots to ambush a bird.

Wind and rain will obscure a turkey’s sense of hearing. If you aren’t seeing birds or hearing distant gobbles, now is not the time to be delicate. Keep high-frequency, high-volume friction calls on hand for bad cold-weather days, and use them to reach out to birds in the distance.

One reason a tom might be hung up is because he can’t hear you. You can start soft and escalate in volume every 15 minutes, or just go for broke and lay down a few loud yelps. When he comes in closer, switch to a mouth call or a slate to seal the deal.

At some point, the sun is going to come out, and you want to be in the right place when that happens. One of my favorite times to hunt turkeys is right after an overnight storm or closer to noon after the weather breaks.

Turkeys like to find a nice sunny field and dry out their feathers as soon as they can, and you need to be there before they are. Keep an eye on the forecast and plan on hitting big fields or power-line cuts ahead of nicer weather. Get there early, and before you know it, you might just see a bird peeking out of the woods for a little sunshine.