How to Kill A Turkey in the Evening

A morning in the spring turkey woods is one of the best times to be outside. Walking in the dark, listening to the birds wake up and turkeys gobbling on the roost is exciting and nothing beats hearing those vocal gobblers. It’s great to kill a gobbler right off the bat in the morning or in the late morning when the hens go off to nest.

However, sometimes a morning hunt just doesn’t work out. Especially later in the season, when turkeys have been called to by hunters every morning for two weeks, they might not be as responsive to calling first thing in the morning. This is when you might consider trying an evening turkey hunt. The past two years, I have killed spring turkeys in the last hour before sunset, as they are heading back to the roost. Both times, the gobbler I killed came in silently and in a group of three toms. Evening hunting can be a great way to bag a spring turkey, but your tactics will differ from early morning turkey hunting.

• First, make sure evening hunting is legal in your state. Some states have noon or 2pm cutoff times for turkey hunting, and others have regulations in place on state lands cutting off turkey hunters in the early afternoon to accommodate mushroom hunters and other forms of outdoor recreation.
• Hunt a food source. Sitting a field edge where you know turkeys spend time in the evening feeding can be productive.

• Hunt between the food source and a roost area. Be careful not to get too close to the roost tree, as turkeys will take off far from the tree in order to fly up into their roost location. If you know of a ridge top or general area where turkeys are approaching their roost trees, this is a better spot to set up than right under the roost tree.
• Travel routes. While this tactic is more similar to hunting whitetails than turkeys, it works! Find the areas where turkeys move between feeding areas and roosting areas and hunt there.

• Be quiet. Too much calling in the evening can seem unnatural to turkeys. Some quiet calling is great, but avoid excessive calling. On one evening hunt, I watched a lone gobbler come out of the woods 300 yards away and start cutting across a field. When I yelped a few times at him, his head turned white and he sunk down low into the grass. All I could see was his head peeking out, periscoping the field. He sat like that for 45 minutes, just observing his surroundings. If I hadn’t seen him come out of the woods in the first place, I never would have known he was there. Turkeys are extra cautious in the evenings as they make their way back to the roost.
• Being quiet and still is always important while turkey hunting, but I would argue even more so in the evening. Like the situation I just described, cautious turkeys might sit and observe their surroundings for long periods of time before coming in to check out your calling. They are extra sneaky and might not come in riled up and gobbling. You want to see them before they see you.
• Be patient! I saw the turkey I killed this year from 150 yards away over an hour before he came up into shooting range. I watched him notice a hen decoy from that distance, and sure enough he and his two companions came up to investigate much later, without ever gobbling.

Once again, it’s important to check your state regulations to see if evening turkey hunting is legal where you hunt. If it is, it can pay off and be a ton of fun.

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