As the end of the 2022 spring gobbler season is closing in on us, I trust you all have tagged a mature gobbler. For some of us, the season in our part of turkey country has been less than exciting. From the weather not cooperating to lack of gobbles, it seems like many of us have struggled to find a bird to hunt.

There’s still time, however, to pull it off this year if you haven’t tagged out yet.

Turkey hunting, like most types of hunting, can either be the most rewarding and fulfilling experience you can have or the most frustrating and confusing thing in the world. When you talk about late-season turkey hunting, it tends to be an extreme case of both somehow. On one hand, the birds are seasoned survivors, so they know most of the tricks up your sleeve and will continue to avoid you despite your best efforts. And yet, when you do manage to kill a late-season gobbler, you definitely feel like you’ve earned it and can wear it as a badge of honor.

Over the years, I have learned many things during the late season that I couldn’t have if I had already tagged out.

This week we are going to discuss the six things that, hopefully, will help you in your chase for late-season longbeards.

Hunt late-season turkeys like you hunt deer. Set up where the turkeys want to be and areas where they have been traveling through. Find the short grass, where turkeys can strut. Mature gobblers want to, and need to, strut, so find and hunt strutting zones. Hunt mid-morning for difficult-to-kill toms. Hunt the boss gobbler. That bird is the boss for a reason. He is actively breeding and also on the move looking for his next girlfriend. Don’t be in a rush with late turkeys. These birds have been pressured a lot, so patience will help you kill mature gobblers in the late season. Tone down your turkey calling. Again, mature birds have been there and done that, so don’t over call during the later part of the season.

Let’s talk in depth about a couple of these points.

One of the best tips for hunting late-season turkeys is setting up in the right locations and then completely disappearing where you are. Setting up along travel routes and food sources is the best option to surprise a tom. After flying down from roost trees, toms will make their way to feeding areas.

You can confirm that birds are using a given area with some light and fast scouting the day before or by the use of trail cameras. If you can stealthily sneak into a strip of trees between mature pines/oaks and a clover or alfalfa field, you should be able to surprise some turkeys in the timber. If not, green clover fields are magnets to turkeys in the spring, especially for late-season turkey hunting. You’ll often find a turkey roost or two surrounding and in close proximity to green fields like these.

By this point in the season, most gobblers have been harassed by all kinds of hunters and are pretty cautious. They generally won’t come running into fields and decoys as confidently as they did in the early season. They will hang back and make sure the way is safe before proceeding. Because of that, you need to make absolutely sure you can hide from their keen eyesight.

We have found that hunting from pop-up blinds is more crucial in the later season than most any time of the season. Mature birds don’t generally come marching across the field at the first site of decoy or sound of your call. They will no doubt pop out of nowhere and you will be facing the opposite direction. Hunting from a blind can help you make the last-minute adjustments to tag a late-season gobbler.

If the turkeys in your hunting area are suspicious birds, take some time to brush your blind in a little using natural vegetation from immediately around the blind. This small act can do wonders for making your blind completely disappear, even in a wide-open field. Be sure to wear black clothing and maybe even black face paint when you hunt inside a blackout interior blind. No gobbler will see what’s coming for him. This approach is pretty much mandatory for turkey hunting with a bow due to the extra movement involved in raising and drawing it.

Now onto the hot topic of calling. Some of you will disagree with this, but for the most part, calling in the later season should be kept at a minimum.

Spring turkey calling is a tricky thing because it changes so much from the beginning of the season to late-season turkey hunting. As we all know, early season turkeys are pretty likely to come running into a series of hen yelps without too much prompting. But late-season turkeys are a different breed, and the conditions are very different. The hens have mostly been bred and the activity is dropping off fast. Therefore, there are fewer hens calling, and those that are vocal are timid.

You could completely rely on stealth and make no calls at all. This is a great option for areas with lots of turkey traffic and for surprising, pressured turkeys. It feels like more of a deer hunt since it’s a complete ambush.

You could also try to keep your calling limited to a few soft hen yelps and cuts, followed by long pauses of at least half an hour, unless, of course, you hear a turkey respond. If you hear a hen call to you, try to mimic her tone and cadence in response. If you hear a gobble, call back and try to read the excitement level. He may be excited and still come running over, or he may shut up and silently sneak closer. It’s a case-by-case basis.

If you get a gobbler that hangs up out of range and sight, but keeps gobbling back to your hen yelps, you may want to get mobile. Assuming you have some good camouflage clothing, silently sneak away from the gobbler, making a few calls along the way. Then set up for a shot, stop calling, and just listen. Sometimes, this simulated hen leaving him will make a gobbler change his mind and come running in hot pursuit of his lost opportunity.

Finally, if you notice gobblers starting to travel together in bachelor groups in the extreme late season, it might be time to give up the hen calls altogether. Toms may just be looking for other toms to hang out with for the summer and could respond better to a gobbler yelp than a hen yelp. Try letting out three slower, lower, and raspier yelps to simulate a tom instead of the faster, higher, and clean yelps of a hen.

Late season has its challenges but when everything comes together there is no better feeling of accomplishment than putting your tag on a mature longbeard.