A fun and effective approach to running and gunning for turkeys

It was late May in 2022 when my daughter and I got positioned against a huge oak on a narrow tree line between crop fields for our last turkey hunt of the Minnesota season.

The toms already were gobbling as first light peeked over the horizon. I waited a few minutes and then let out some soft yelps on a mouth call. A tom 75 yards down the ridge below us cut me off with a thunderous gobble that left Aubree and me looking at each other with wide eyes.

Aubree was 9 years old at the time and hoping for her first bird. This tom flew off the roost and came plenty close, but it was behind us in a field we had permission to cross, but not shoot onto.

We could only listen to him spitting and drumming nearly on top of us before the bird moved off and started gobbling its way across the field.

“Aubree, we can do two things,” I told her. “We can sit here and see if anything else comes out, or we can go after that one. I think I can call him back if we can set up in a new location.”

Aubree liked the more adventurous plan, so we used a low area in the field to move about 600 yards. I could see the tom strutting a couple hundred yards away as I belly-crawled the final distance to place a lay-down hen decoy in the field.

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The bird was fired up, so I got aggressive, letting out a series of loud yelps and cutts on the box call before interrupting that with my mouth call. The tom came in on a rope, closing the distance in full strut as he got to almost 10 yards from us.

Aubree did everything perfectly in the lead-up to pulling the trigger, holding steady so the bird wouldn’t see us, but he ended up too close. Her shot was a clean miss.

I wish we could’ve closed that deal after such a memorable morning, but it is the perfect example of how being mobile can turn the tide of a turkey hunt. You can sit tight in a blind and shoot turkeys by waiting them out, but that often requires a lot of patience and can still lead to hung-up birds out of range.

Sometimes, an aggressive approach is more effective, and, in my estimation, a little more fun. Here are things to consider if you want to bring the action to the turkeys this spring.

Mimic the birds

Turkeys are often on the move, which is why I think shifting your location can be effective on birds that won’t make that final commitment into bow or shotgun range initially. By calling from a second spot instead of over and over from the same spot, you are more realistically mimicking what birds do.

Of course, you need the right terrain to make this work. Land with some topography or timber that allows you to adjust is critical.

Aubree and I waited on that tom for almost 15 minutes before he finally disappeared over the top of a small hill in the field. That allowed us to move quickly out of sight until we had to crouch and move slowly the last 30 yards.

By the time we got repositioned, he was gobbling like crazy. It felt like the best tactic at that point was to call aggressively. That doesn’t always work, but when it does, it makes for quite a show.

Decoys or no decoys?

You can kill turkeys with or without decoys, so whether you use them or not comes down to personal preference.

I tend to use them almost every hunt. Part of that is because I like the experience of watching a bird commit to the decoys, but mostly it’s because I’m often bowhunting turkeys. They can be a pain to carry when on the move, but decoys are important when it comes to getting a close, controlled shot with a bow.

My go-to decoy spread is a lay-down hen and a half-strut jake. If I am really on the run and traveling long distances, I will stick to just the lay-down hen that is easiest to carry.

I like to place my decoy(s) about 15 steps away and a little left of my location. As a right-handed shooter, that is my most comfortable shot with a bow.

This can be a guessing game, but think about where you expect birds to come from and place the decoys so you are not in the bird’s direct line of sight as it’s approaching. Do your best to be concealed, and then stay still.

Toms that commit to decoys can become so fixated on them that they’re oblivious to their surroundings. Trust you will get an opportunity to draw a bow or get a good shot with a gun. Wait for the tail fan or some other obstruction to block the bird’s sight and then make your move.

Use the terrain

It is less necessary to use decoys when hunting with a gun, but it’s important to use the terrain to your advantage. You want the bird to come within shotgun range in order to explore your calling.

Years ago in the Black Hills of Wyoming, a buddy and I were working a vocal tom through the pines that would answer my calling, but not break free from his hens. We used a drop in the landscape to get close.

A few soft clucks on a mouth call got him excited. We could hear him spitting and drumming out of sight just over the top of the ridge, but he wouldn’t budge.

I finally motioned to my buddy to sit tight while I slowly moved back 30 yards to mimic a hen leaving the tom. It took just a few yelps from my new location to draw that bird to the top of the ridge for a clear shot for my buddy at less than 20 yards. We never would have had a chance at that bird if we would not have gotten aggressive. 

Does the run-and-gun approach work all the time? Nothing does in hunting. But it’s a fun way to fill turkey tags on those days when they don’t run into your decoy spread right off the roost.