Compare turkey to elk hunting

Elkeater · May 1, 2018

I have very limited turkey hunting experience. In a discussion with a fellow elk hunter, an accomplished turkey hunter, he said the patience required is the same for both.

Over my years of elk hunting I have learned to slow down and work parallel to the ridges. Stop and glass more often; from about a third of the way down from the top.

In my youth I did a lot of pheasant hunting, pure fun. But with limited hunting time big game wins out with the greater meat reward.

Good old Feltwad has perked my interest in turkey hunting. I may get back into it.

azmntman · May 1, 2018

Turkey is wayy more fun IMHO :grin: Something about that gobble getting closer and closer.....chills the spine just thinking about it. Elk and duck are tied for 2nd. Elk pays a much bigger dividend for this ol meat hunter though!!

nhmoose · May 1, 2018

Never called any elk to me by banging a feed pail on the fence saying here chick ,chick, chick. Wild turkeys, I have such wilily birds.

Turkey in NH = rats with wings that eat the grouse eggs.

azmntman · May 1, 2018

:haha:

I recall my pop in the great smoky mountains standing on the picnic table with a pan and spoon banging away trying to keep the bears off his prized amish ham :haha: We had hot dogs :rotf:

Skychief · May 1, 2018

Glad to hear you might go after a turkey. I think you'll love it.

I've never elk hunted, though I'd like to someday.

That being said, I know it doesn't take a mule to haul out a gobbler. I'd consider that a plus maybe. :hmm:

Good luck, Skychief

Elkeater · May 1, 2018

My horse's job is to be my hunting partner. I wonder if he would have a spook effect on turkeys. It would be on Nat Forest.

Paladin would be tickled to haul out a fat turkey.

jrmflintlock · May 2, 2018

What Skychief said! That is why Turkeys are at the top of my list. Calling in a love struck bull or tom has the same affect on the old ticker! SO I love them both. And yes the gain of meat on an elk is by far greater, so is the work required to get it home.

There have been many a bull that lived another season, when times my heart says lets go but my knees say hold on when I hear the lusty bugle from down in a deep dark canyon!

But when its a gobble, its game on! 20 lbs of turkey is plenty when the hike is long and steep!

Hunting western turkeys, NM, CO WA, ID and OR, is very much like hunting elk! The mountains are the same and you are just as likely to hunt in snow as sun!

Turkey season is nice and long so I (used to) get lots of days in the woods while chasing them. Most elk seasons are short and so there is more pressure.

The bugle does not last that long and most states give that time to the bow hunters, since they need to get them close. Us ML hunters usually catch just the end. Cause the state does not realize real ML need them to come in close to. Not like the unmentionables that shoot them at 200 yards, at least that's been my experience!

So there you have it, My two cents!

PS. the spooking will be on the both of you! A turkey trying to get airborn under your horse will be a rodeo!! Leave the horse in camp. Turkeys are wary and unless they see horses all the time they will keep their distance!

Good Luck!!

Vaino · May 2, 2018

I'll admit to never having hunted turkey and the reason is the same as for duck hunting.....just sitting there doesn't appeal to me......I'm a mover. Love hunting grouse, squirrels, rabbits and elk because I constantly move....slower for squirrels.

Have hunted elk for many yrs and the appeal is that you have to move while either bugling or cow calling. Elk are tight herding animals and require a lot of walking to come in contact w/ elk. Have bugled in a bull or cow called elk in and both cows and bulls responded, but this usually occurred after a lot of walking to locate them.

I see no similarities between hunting turkeys and elk......anyways, the way I hunt elk.....Fred

azmntman · May 2, 2018

Turkey is real close to elk, LOTTA walking to get a gobble (or driving if you havent scouted enough). I will get 3-4 roosts located, choose one and before light set up about 200 yds away (if you scout well you also know which way they fly down). Then you set up and YES ya gotta sit and become a rock.

On the other hand when the game isnt as intended and they dont come in yer afoot walking the woods n ridges (just like elk)trying to get ahead of them etc. and hen calling every 200 yds or so till ya get a gobble. Then I stay put and call again in 5-10 mn. Now if Tommy is destined to meet Jesus he has cut that distance by half and the gobble will be much closer. NOW you set up and become a rock! Or I will run to what I believe is about 1/3 the distance from the gobble and set up so he thinks yer working his way (he DOES know exactly where you first called from and WILL know you've moved, they can come right to you as they apparently have built in GPS).

Believe me on the days (when "it aint happening") I get home or back to camp every bit as tired as if after elk!

Stumpkiller · May 2, 2018

From what I hear elk are more effort to carry back to your campsite.

I haven't hunted elk, but turkey are a hunt of sitting still and getting them to come to you.

We used to raise Narragansett turkey and many mornings I'd come out and find more than our regular flock. In fact, sometimes I would come home from work and wild turkeys would be standing in the road just staring stupidly at my SUV with a confused look about them.

For a smart bird they can be pretty stupid. Like adolescent men - get them when they have p . . . lenty else on their minds.

Elkeater · May 2, 2018

flehto said:
I'll admit to never having hunted turkey

I see no similarities between hunting turkeys and elk......anyways, the way I hunt elk.....Fred

:idunno:

Elkeater · May 2, 2018

Yes, I'm seeing more and more similarity.

Elkeater · May 2, 2018

We are fortunate in CO in that the ML elk season is 9 days in the middle of September. I will draw an either sex tag this year.

Due to family weddings in Sept of the past 2 years, I've hunted in October cf seasons. So I'm excited to be going to the Sangre de Cristos in my favorite month.

jrmflintlock · May 2, 2018

I guess the similarities depends on where you hunt them. East of the Rockies the Turkey hunting will be very different. Out west they inhabit the same country. In NM where I have the most turkey experience, the birds rarely used the same roost tree. Sometimes not even the same ridge. I did find some well used strut zones but even those were not visited like clockwork, so just sitting there was not always productive.

As far as Colorado elk, I have only hunted cows with the ML and the unit we were hunting we never heard a bugle in the whole 10 days. Not a lot of elk in that unit either though so...

So I hunted them like I hunt elk. Spot and stalk and blind calling. Sometimes if they were tight lipped I would bump them, yes but if I moved slowely enough I could get lucky.

What I mean by spot and stalk for turkeys is not stalk in and shoot but spot them across a canyon, and stalk within about 100 yards hopefully and then try and call them in.

When hunting known strut zones I would sneak in before daylight (4 mile hike) and hope they were roosted near by. Sometimes they were, sometimes they were not. Then I spend the rest of the day spot and stalk.

Yes Patience does work. but I don't have much. so I hunt them more like elk!

When I hunted Missouri a few years ago, I had permission to hunt a 100 acre woodlot. That was a sit and wait game. Heard more gobbles than I have ever heard in my life but they were still henned up. I think a few more days of hunting would have worked out but alas I only had two days to hunt!

As far as Colorado goes I have only hunted ML Cow. We never heard a bugle in 10 days of hunting.

Patocazador · May 2, 2018

Except for the fact that you can call both animals to you under the right circumstances, I see no similarities. :shake:

BTW, I have hunted both and killed both.

Elkeater · May 2, 2018

jrmflintlock said:
I guess the similarities depends on where you hunt them. East of the Rockies the Turkey hunting will be very different. Out west they inhabit the same country. In NM where I have the most turkey experience, the birds rarely used the same roost tree. Sometimes not even the same ridge. I did find some well used strut zones but even those were not visited like clockwork, so just sitting there was not always productive.

As far as Colorado elk, I have only hunted cows with the ML and the unit we were hunting we never heard a bugle in the whole 10 days. Not a lot of elk in that unit either though so...

So I hunted them like I hunt elk. Spot and stalk and blind calling. Sometimes if they were tight lipped I would bump them, yes but if I moved slowely enough I could get lucky.

What I mean by spot and stalk for turkeys is not stalk in and shoot but spot them across a canyon, and stalk within about 100 yards hopefully and then try and call them in.

When hunting known strut zones I would sneak in before daylight (4 mile hike) and hope they were roosted near by. Sometimes they were, sometimes they were not. Then I spend the rest of the day spot and stalk.

Yes Patience does work. but I don't have much. so I hunt them more like elk!

When I hunted Missouri a few years ago, I had permission to hunt a 100 acre woodlot. That was a sit and wait game. Heard more gobbles than I have ever heard in my life but they were still henned up. I think a few more days of hunting would have worked out but alas I only had two days to hunt!

As far as Colorado goes I have only hunted ML Cow. We never heard a bugle in 10 days of hunting.

I have investigated (maps) turkey areas that are within 90 minutes of my place. In mountains not as severe as my elk mountains.

Generally it takes me 3 days of hunting to locate elk. More often then not I blow the stalk; a cow that I didn't see barks and there gone. I lack patience too.

Having the horse, in a wilderness area, gets me up past the foot guys; where I enjoy solitude and the sound of silence.

Brokennock · May 3, 2018

It's not always a sitting game. When I used to go out almost every day of the season, when my brother still could go, I would often, "walk, talk, and stalk." Meaning, if I'd sat for a while with no audible response to my calling, and no birds seen, I'd get up and move slowly through the woods to and through likely areas, stopping to call now and then, and always listening. If I got a response to a call, I might try to close some of the distance, depending on terrain and how far away the bird sounded, before setting up quickly for a "hasty ambush." Sometimes, if the bird sounded close, but I felt the terrain kept me unseen, and if I could move away uphill, I'd sometimes call again and try to put another 50 yards or more between us, set up, and call once. Playing hard to get sometimes would heat up and pull in a curious but lukewarm Tom.

Elkeater · May 3, 2018

Your " walk, talk and stalk " could describe a successful western elk hunt. I like to be above the game also.

azmntman · May 3, 2018

Have any others here noticed it appears easier to coax a turkey (and a bull) to your call/decoy from above? It seems they will more easily walk uphill to you than down (least I have noticed it)

Jimbo47 · May 3, 2018

azmntman said:
Have any others here noticed it appears easier to coax a turkey (and a bull) to your call/decoy from above? It seems they will more easily walk uphill to you than down (least I have noticed it)

I've always hunted turkeys from up on high ground.
Seems the turkeys were always in the bottoms, and I positioned myself in order to have a better sight for turkeys approaching from a distance.
I hunted that way since I was a kid, so being taught that way must have burned itself into my brain.
Sound also carries farther from high ground, so that had a lot to do with it as well.

Compare turkey to elk hunting

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