Solo Spring Turkey

the ridge the turkeys were roosted on from the first tree I set up at

Many hunters engage in solo hunts, and there are entire communities dedicated to this practice. I know individuals who have embarked on solo elk hunts, spending over ten days in the wilderness. However, I am not one of those hunters. It's not that I find anything particularly wrong with it; it's just not something I've done. The closest I've come to solo hunting was in my youth at my family's hunting club. I would set out at dawn with a pocket full of cartridges, a knife on my belt, and a rifle over my shoulder, hunting alone for the day in search of a buck. Technically, I was solo hunting, but I never ventured more than a few hours' walk from home and returned when I got hungry. So, you could say I'm not a solo hunter in the modern sense. It's not a deliberate choice; I simply haven't pursued it. I usually hunt with friends 99% of the time. I enjoy the camaraderie and the company of my hunting companions. I appreciate the group effort, and when I'm with new hunters, which happens frequently, I have the opportunity to mentor and teach. Sharing the tradition of hunting is a passion of mine. Even when hunting deer, my partners and I often separate for several hours to 'solo hunt' different areas, but it's not truly a solo hunt.

This recently passed Spring Turkey Season I had the fortune of helping to mentor several hunters and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Several were successful in harvesting birds and that gives me great joy.  However, due to schedules and commitments I did not get to hunt myself until the last weekend of the season, and even then, I had only one day of the last two I could really spend any time at it.  I tend to get a little heavy on myself sometimes when I feel I am greedy or selfish, so I debated for the whole week if I was going to bother going for myself or not.  My wife finally said you need to just go and quit quibbling about it.

A friend has a ranch about an hour away, that I know has many turkeys on it spread out over the property.  I decided I was going to go and asked my long-time hunting buddy, who hunts that ranch with me regularly if he wanted to go along but he was too busy, so I would be going alone.  

I planned to go up Friday after work and try to get there early enough to catch some birds roosting to help form a plan for the morning.  I have some ideas where to start but wanted to do it right.  Well, the best laid plans, as they say, I got off work late, had some things that needed to be done before leaving for the ranch.  All said and done, I got there right at dark.  I was a little bummed. Actually I was very much in my head about how this going to be a failed hunt because I did not manage to follow my plan for success, but it was what it was. I grumbled at myself, and just decided to keep my chin up and do what I could do. I knew I was making excuses for why I would be unsuccessful tomorrow already. A defeated attitude.  I can get this way sometimes, tho most will never hear it outside of my wife! I am still learning to turn those voices off and be more positive towards myself, but it can be difficult at times. I have some great friends and mentors who remind me that I can do more than I think, and have done more than I recognize. A positive attitude takes work and help from friends.

I pulled up to the back door of the old ranch house and decided I wasn’t even going to start the generator to get power. I had a battery lantern and brought a cold dinner anyway. As I started to unload my things, I heard a gobble from two ridges south of the house, and my spirits lifted! I had a working plan again! The house had been closed up for a week or so and was hot and stuffy, so I opened a couple of doors to get some air movement and pulled an extra mattress into the living room to sleep on the floor in front of the door. I ate my dinner by lantern light and sat on the front porch in the darkness of the evening. The stars were out, so it wasn’t pitch black. A light breeze came off the lake, and it was very pleasant with just my thoughts and musings.

I went to bed at a reasonable hour since there were no distractions from TV or other electronic devices. My phone had a signal, but it wasn't strong enough for social media, which was actually quite pleasant! Falling asleep was easy, but staying asleep was another story. For some reason, I kept waking up and checking my watch, only to find that just about 20 minutes had passed since the last time I checked. Finally, around 1:30, I think I fell asleep until my alarm went off. When I woke up to my alarm, it was lightly raining.

I was slightly worried since I hadn't packed much raingear, but I wasn't going to let that deter me. Fortunately, the light rain ceased before I left the house and set off for the hills with my shotgun.

me with the ridges in the background I was hunting

I packed a few different calls, two collapsible decoys, and my shotgun. I aim to pack as lightly and efficiently as possible when I hunt. However, I often end up bringing much more gear than necessary! I have bins full of equipment that I 'might' need, and they always seem to end up in my truck!

The first ridge south of the ranch house features a single large oak tree at its peak, which is where I chose to begin my day. Between the house and that ridge lies a small stock pond frequented by turkeys, so I positioned myself under the oak tree as the morning light began to emerge. I placed my decoys to the south, facing the opposite ridge where several oak trees stood, suspecting the birds were roosting there. I heard a hen perform some roost calling, followed by at least two Toms gobbling from their roost. I called softly to signal the presence of another hen. I heard them fly down and gobble, though they weren't immediately visible. Eventually, I spotted one bird moving east along the ridge and resumed calling. He paused and gobbled before vanishing from sight. Almost every time I called, I received gobbles in return, but they were clearly moving away.

I decided to drop down off my ridge and try to jump over to the next ridge farther south of the ridge they had been on.  I managed to get there without seeing them, or being seen, at least I don’t think I was seen.  I found some trees at the upper end of the ridge and set down without putting out my decoys as there were quite a few trees and lots of tall grass, I just posted up and started calling.  I immediately had gobbles back from both toms about 100 yards to the northeast.  I called and they gobbled back, it was obvious they were milling around over there, sometimes closer, sometimes farther.  I thought I had heard a soft gobble from farther south behind me once as well, but that one seemed way off, and these other two were locked in on me.  I worked these two birds for probably 45 minutes from this spot.  It seemed as if they were slowly working my way.  I couldn’t really see the area I expected them to come thru so I decided that while they are still off a ways, I would move a little closer to them.  As soon as I stood up, I saw a red head in the tall grass about 20 yards in front of me staring right at me! The head just sank back into the grass.   It was the bird I had heard way off 45 minutes ago, he snuck in silently to my calls.  I only saw his head, and our Spring Season is for ‘bearded birds’.  I had no view of his beard, so could not be 100% sure it was a tom or jake.  I ducked back down and called again.  I stayed low and moved a bit and called from another location, hoping that maybe by some crazy idea, he would come back in.  I only heard the other birds that were still some 70 yards by sound away.  Another 15 minutes or so passed, and I figured that first bird was long gone and decided to go back to my plan of moving towards the edge of the opening in front of me.  As I started to head that way, that darn other tom was still there! But now he was moving directly away from me and I still could not see a beard!  I was able to see him until he finally turned and I could see a good beard, but now he was outside of decent range so I didn’t take the shot.  He never made a sound, just disappeared.

  The other two birds had now moved back up towards their original roost tree directly across from me now.  I moved back down the ridge I was on, posted up again and began calling again.  Again, they gobbled back with enthusiasm but headed down the far side of the ridge.  I quickly moved to the ridge they had been on and called again.  Now they called back and with my binoculars I spotted them, strutting in the exact spot I had set my decoys at first light!  ARGH!  I continued to call, they continued to gobble as they worked their way along the ridge away from me.  They gobbled all the way down the ridge in the open grass, all the way to road, all the way thru the fence into the Bureau of Reclamation land where hunting isn’t allowed.

I visited several spots where I had previously observed birds, but I didn't hear any more gobbles or even hens. This marked the end of my spring 2025 turkey season.

Although it wasn't an extensive backcountry multi-day event, that was my solo hunt. I experienced enjoyment, faced challenges, and encountered both success and failure within one evening and one morning. This encapsulates hunting in a nutshell. It's full of ups and downs and various firsts. I felt disappointed by my mistakes, yet exhilarated by the overall hunting experience. The true reward of hunting isn't always the game you bag; more often, it's the memories you create and the lessons you learn along the way. Even if it's as simple as spending a single night alone, relying solely on yourself for success.

the two toms circled in blue as they head for the safety of the no hunting zone

One note on my gear.  I don’t always wear camouflage.  I don’t like many of them, simply from personal opinion on looks mostly.  I believe mostly in just wearing colors that blend with your terrain being hunted.  That being said, I was wearing KUIU outerwear this hunt because of the rain mostly as it is water resistant.  I normally would have worn tan pants to blend with the dry grass, and some type of dark green shirt or a dark green camo.  The shirt I was wearing is from 1992 when I was the tour manager for the NRA Great American Hunters Tour, the belt I made when I was 16 and the buckle is the first shooting buckle I ever won at age 14! I don't buy much for new hunting clothes! The decoys I was using were Montana Decoy collapsible because they are easy to pack.