Turkey Hunting's Three Seasons

Arctic Shield Pro Staff Hunter Art Helin has hunted turkeys all over North America and has guided turkey hunters for over thirty years.

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BY PASSION FOR THE HUNT

With so many turkey hunts that blur together over the years and across such diverse areas throughout the Country, Helin is quick to point out so many regional nuances.

“We have seen where osceola turkeys pitch right into the open field at day break because of the amount of predators and that created challenging hunting conditions. Merriams on the other hand required different adjustments because you have to often call so much louder. Even eastern birds can act differently from one county to the other depending on terrain, predators, population densities and hunting pressure,” explains Helin.

Particularly for eastern birds in his home state of Wisconsin, Helin stresses the importance of breaking down the spring turkey season into three distinct seasons... Early, Mid and Late. How you call, your overall strategy and how you use decoys has to line up with the breeding cycle of turkeys much like hunting whitetails during the rut. Think pre breeding, breeding and post breeding for breaking down each turkey season.