There are a few turkey hunting tips that I have to continually remind myself of at the beginning of each turkey season. A few of those tips are as follows… A roll of toilet paper is just as important as your shotgun. A shotgun without shotgun shells is just a very heavy stick. Commerically manufactured turkey calls make much more realistic turkey sounds than blowing on the cardboard tube from the center of the roll of toilet paper. And you don’t have to be sitting down against a tree to kill a turkey.
I want to focus on the last of those tips today. You do not have to be sitting down against a tree, or in a blind for that matter, in order to kill a fired up, gobbling, mad at the world turkey. In fact, sometimes, you may actually not get a shot at a turkey if you are sitting down with your back against a tree. Terrain, thick vegetation, and the actual approach of the turkey may prevent you from getting a sitting shot at a turkey. I have been sitting against a tree before and had to roll off of it and onto my side to get a shot at a turkey because he approached me from the wrong side of the ridge. After I shot that turkey, I told him he was supposed to come up the other side of the ridge because that is how I set up for him. I’ll never know if he learned his lesson or not, but I do know that he was delicious.
Kneeling, laying flat on the ground on your belly, or standing are oftentimes much better options than sitting against a tree. After all, sometimes, God just didn’t put a tree in the ideal spot for you to kill that turkey. Personally, since I’m older and not quite as nimble as I used to be, kneeling is about the most uncomfortable position I can be in, and I’ll fall asleep if I lay on my belly for more than about 60 seconds. Hopefully you already know that asleep is never a good place to be if you have turkey killing on your to do list, but that is a different tip for a different day. Since I’m not very comfortable kneeling or laying on my belly, standing is the next best option when it comes to killing turkeys.
Standing while you are turkey hunting can be a huge advantage in certain situations. Where the terrain is hilly, standing against a large tree can offer you a few more feet of visibility over the top of the ridge and down the hill where the turkey is approaching from. Where low level vegetation is thick with honeysuckle, wheat, switchgrass, or anything else that is difficult to see or shoot through, a standing position can give you much needed visibility to see a turkey as soon as he enters your shooting range.
Another advantage of a standing position when turkey hunting is that you will have 360 degree range of motion with your shotgun with very little motion so that you can get a shot at that gobbler no matter which direction he approaches you from. You probably have had turkeys completely circle your set up before and come in at 3 o’clock, which is about the worst position for a right-handed shooter. If you are in a standing position when you get the 3 o’clock approach, you should easily be able to twist your body into position for a shot with a small slow step or twist of your body when the turkey cannot see your movement.
Lastly, a standing position requires no movement from your walking position. If you stop in the woods to call while searching for a gobbler, he approaches you silently until he’s at a distance where he can see you and he gobbles, and then you sit down, you are busted! You’ve spooked that bird, and he’s gone. I actually have had that happen to me several times. The most memorable time was a mid morning hunt on a bird that I never did kill. My hunting buddy, George, and I stopped to blow a crow call and crank on a box call on our way back to the truck. It was the end of our morning hunt, and we were pooped and had been skunked that morning. After 10 minutes of calling and listening, George and I completely let our guard down as we had silently conceded the morning hunt to the turkeys, and the gobbler living in that area ripped off a gobble no more than 30 yards from our location. George and I were just inside a small brier and honeysuckle thicket, and we just plopped down where we were. We never heard from, or saw that turkey, again. Had we just stood still instead of sitting down, we would have been able to get a shot at that bird. He quietly approached until he was in range, and then he let the world know that he was THE MAN in that area. We completely blew that hunt that never was a hunt.
So, the next time you are turkey hunting, just completely ignore the turkey hunting rule book and stand up instead of sitting down. You know the turkeys rarely play by the rules when you are hunting them, so it is only fair that you break a few of the turkey hunting rules as well. You may find that the added visibility and mobility of a standing position give you just enough of an advantage to turn the turkey hunting game in your favor.
For more turkey hunting tips, explore the website more and come back to this blog often. Also, feel free to leave a brief story about how you have tagged a turkey while standing up. If you have additional standing while turkey hunting tips to share, then by all means, please leave those too. This is your site, and we love hearing from you.