Video: Turkey Hunting in Louisiana

 

Turkey Hunting in Louisiana Transcript

On screen: TURKEY HUNTING BASICS, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries logo

Speaker: Spring turkey hunting can provide some of the most exciting hunting to be found, and Louisiana has hundreds of thousands of acres of public land available for pursuing the eastern wild turkey.

As with any type of hunting, following simple safety rules helps to ensure you have a safe and enjoyable hunt. Safety starts before you ever get into the field. Firearms should be transported unloaded and cased. Make sure that you have only the appropriate ammunition for your firearm with you.

Be sure while getting your equipment ready for the hunt that you always keep your firearm pointed in a safe direction and the safety on. Keep your firearm unloaded until you reach your hunting location, and make sure that the equipment you carry doesn’t catch or snag your firearm.

While turkey hunting, you may see turkeys at a distance in fields or open areas in the woods. You can use cover to get within calling distance, set up, and try to call the turkeys to you. The turkey eyesight is extremely sharp, so you’ll want to conceal your movements as much as possible.

Never stalk turkey sounds to try to get within shooting range, as you never know if those sounds that you hear are being made by another hunter.

Select a calling position that provides a solid background as wide as your shoulders and that will completely protect you from the top of your head down. Don’t try to hide so well that you can’t see what is happening around you. Hunters must be aware of their firearm muzzle and where it is pointing at all times.

When setting up at your hunting location, it is best to lay your firearm in a secure location to avoid accidentally pointing it at yourself or hunting partners while setting up your decoy. Be sure to avoid getting mud or debris in the barrel. You can cover the muzzle with your hat or lay it on your decoy bag to avoid this.

When setting up your decoy, even a hen decoy, be sure to set up defensively. If possible, you can place the decoy in such a way that you won’t be in the direct line of fire if another hunter makes a mistake and shoots at your decoy. You can also put a tree or other solid object in the direct line of fire. The decoy should be placed close enough to your position so that any gobbler that comes to it is within shooting range.

Gobbler decoys should be used with caution. Since your decoys are usually set up close to your position, you are within range of any other hunter that mistakes your decoy for a turkey and fails to properly identify their target. Setting up defensively is even more critical with these types of decoys, and the safest bet is to stick with hen decoys only.

Turkey hunters wear full camouflage, so they are very difficult to spot. This can result in hunters getting too close to each other unintentionally. If another hunter approaches your position, call out loudly, “Hunter here.”

Turkey Hunter: Hey, hunter here. (pauses) Hunter here.

A second turkey hunter hears this warning and raises an arm in acknowledgement.

Speaker: Always use your voice alone to get their attention. Never move or wave, as this motion can be mistaken for the movement of a turkey.

Never wear red, white, or blue clothing, as these are the same colors of a male turkey’s head and may send the wrong visual signal to other hunters. Black clothing should also be avoided for the same reasons, as gobbler’s bodies can appear to be completely black at a distance due to the coloration of their feathers.

Always take the time to properly identify your target, what is in front of it, and what is beyond it.

The large majority of turkey hunting incidents are the result of hunters failing to properly identify their target. In Louisiana, we can harvest only gobblers and only with shotguns or bows. This means all shots are taken at relatively close range, and we should always be certain that our target is a male turkey before pulling the trigger. Never shoot at movement or sound.

Turkey hunters can cover a lot of ground on a turkey hunt and encounter a wide variety of terrain. Care should be taken when walking through rough terrain or heavy brush, and always unload before crossing any fence or other obstacle. Whenever possible, the unloaded firearm should be placed safely on the ground, on the other side of the barrier, when hunting alone or passed safely to your hunting partner after they have crossed.

Ground blinds can be a very effective tool in turkey hunting. Watch your muzzle and be sure to unload the shotgun when entering or exiting the blind.

Be aware of your surroundings. In the excitement of getting an opportunity to harvest a turkey, we can get tunnel vision and fail to realize another hunter may be in the line of fire. Another hunter in the line of fire is the second leading cause of turkey-hunting incidents in Louisiana. Most often, the hunters were members of the same party.

Turkey shotguns and ammunition are typically designed for shooting at extended ranges, so your shot can carry quite a distance. Communicate with your hunting partners and know where they are. Always know what is beyond your target.

Prior to turkey hunting, all turkey hunters, regardless of age or license status, must obtain turkey tags and have the tags in their possession while hunting turkey. LDWF’s new Text-to-Tag program makes this even easier. You can now use your smartphone to tag, validate, and receive a confirmation number for your gobbler from the field. You must pre-enroll your mobile number at LouisianaOutdoors.com to use this feature.

Whether you use your smartphone or paper tags, hunters must tag the turkey immediately after harvesting and before moving it from where it was bagged. The hunter must provide the date and parish of kill and validate the tag either immediately, if using Text-to-Tag, or within 72 hours by phone or online if using paper tags.

While turkey hunters aren’t required to wear blaze orange or pink in Louisiana, that doesn’t mean you should leave your safety vest at home. You can wear it to and from your calling position. You can cover your decoy in it and place it on your bird while carrying it from the field.

Never carry harvested turkeys in the open. Use a game bag, your orange vest, or both. Decoys should also be carried in a bag or draped in blaze orange or pink when a bag isn’t available.

By following these guidelines, you should have a safe and enjoyable experience hunting the eastern wild turkey in Louisiana.

Agent Kimble: Agent Kimble here with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Law Enforcement Division, discussing turkey hunting today.

It’s important that all hunters are properly licensed, and all hunters, regardless of age, are required to have turkey tags as well as comply with the turkey tagging requirements.

In Louisiana, it’s important to consider your bag limits as well as your season dates for the specific area that you’re hunting turkey in.

For more information specific to turkey hunting, you can visit our website at www.wlf.la.gov.

Stay safe out there.