After gaining permission to hunt a new property, I drove out to see it around noon. On arrival, the farmer’s daughter explained a basic overview of her family’s property, but she hadn’t been paying attention to the daily turkey routine. So, I had to rely on my experience to select a ground blind setup for the following morning since the flat property isn’t conducive to running and gunning. Not willing to risk spooking birds, I opted to leave and select my spot electronically. 

That evening on my HuntStand Pro app, I perused the property. Almost like a sore thumb, there it was: several hundred yards from the barn, two cow pastures adjoined the east end of a hayfield. Potential roosting timber bordered the hayfield’s north, south and west fringes. Anywhere in the linear-shaped hayfield could be productive, but the farm roads created a “T” intersection right where the pastures met the hayfield. While viewing the property in person, I noticed the neighbor’s field to the south had been freshly planted, and a farm road led right to that field — essentially a red carpet to a corn seed, worm and bug buffet.

The following morning before dawn, I carefully placed my ground blind in the hayfield a few yards north of the “T” intersection (see map below). A gobble boomed from the timber straight to the north. I quietly crawled 6 yards from the blind, plugged a hen and jake decoy into the dirt, and slowly crawled back to the blind to settle in with my Mathews Phase4.

I made a few soft calls, which the roosted gobbler answered. A hen soon landed 100 yards away in the middle of the field. She saw my decoys and began yelping and cutting, which really fired up the tom. I mimicked her, hoping to tick her off and attract the tom. He flew down 100 yards away on the farm road north of the junction and began displaying for his girlfriend. 

The hen hit the farm road and proceeded south toward me. Soon, she walked through the intersection behind my blind at about 5 yards. The reason I hadn’t put the decoys in the intersection was because the ground was too firm. No problem. The gobbler hit the intersection and experienced a fit of rage. He quickly came to confront my aggressive Avian-X HDR Jake decoy. He passed by the blind only 3 yards away with his fan blocking his view as I drew. He pounced on the decoy, and my arrow flashed through him. He stumbled and fell 20 yards away, his head still up. I delivered a second arrow, which yielded fast results.   

That 2023 Wisconsin gobbler is one of dozens of Easterns that I’ve arrowed over the years in the Midwest at point-blank range. I still get a huge rush whenever a boisterous Eastern comes charging in to 10 yards. If you want to experience it, I’ll give you some tips from my 22 years of bowhunting Eastern wild turkeys in the Midwest.

Here is a look at the plan that the author drew up for his morning hunt mentioned in the article. Although the entire area consists of good turkey habitat, he elected for a central location in the property where farm roads create a T intersection. The gobbler flew down, walked from north to south toward the intersection and came to the decoys 6 yards outside the author’s blind.

Meet the Eastern

Eastern wild turkeys are one of four subspecies that make up what the NWTF (National Wild Turkey Federation) considers the Grand Slam. They have the longest beards of all the subspecies. I’ve personally killed a couple of toms with beards that pushed 11 inches, plenty in the 10-inch range and many in the 9-inch range. From a distance, toms appear very dark, but close up and in the sun, you’ll see gleaming iridescent coloration. The wing feathers are sandy white with black bars, and fan tips vary in color. In central Wisconsin alone, I’ve seen everything from burnt red to chestnut brown to creamy tan fan tips. 

Easterns have booming gobbles that triumph over the other subspecies, but they can be difficult to call in, especially where they’re heavily hunted and pressured. Expect to set up on a handful of birds before one comes in. When a bird comes roaring in to your calling and decoys without hesitation, it’s often an overconfident 2-year-old tom, although an older tom will occasionally do that, too.

Finicky and unpredictable are two words that describe Eastern behavior, especially relative to the weather. I’ve had limb-hanger toms beeline to my calling and decoys in the snow and windy, 20-degree April temps, and I’ve also had them act uncannily skittish and quiet on calm, warm days. However, they’re fairly predictable in where they roost, which helps.  

Now, the Eastern’s home range spans across upwards of 38 different states, according to the NWTF. Other than a few random small-scale pockets, the Eastern primarily inhabits eastern Kansas to the Atlantic Coast and from central Maine all the way down to northern Florida. However, we’ll focus on the Easterns that roam the Midwest.

Once rapidly declining, Eastern gobblers are a huge conservation success story and are now found in significant numbers, especially in the Midwest. Eastern gobblers appear dark from a distance, but when the sun hits just right, the iridescent coloration is stunning.

Before we advance to tactics, let me note that while Easterns are currently prolific across their range — especially in the Midwest — many decades ago their subsistence looked grim at best. 

“There was minimal hope that they’d rebound since they were declining so significantly,” explained the NWTF’s Doug Little. “Wild turkeys were extirpated from as many as 15 states. Wildlife managers have aided their recovery using science-based decisions: trap-and-transfer, active habitat management, harvest regulations, law enforcement and educational materials. While trap-and-transfer is largely completed — save for a few cases like the East Texas Super Stocking Program — vigilant monitoring and research continues to help biologists better understand and address limiting factors.”   

Thanks to successful past and ongoing conservation efforts, the Midwest teems with Eastern wild turkeys and opportunities to hunt them. With that, let’s dive into hunting tactics that have helped me anchor dozens of archery Easterns.

Blind Setups and Scouting

Just about anyone with a good place to hunt, some patience, average hunting skills and a shotgun can successfully hunt Easterns. Bowhunters, however, face steeper challenges that drastically decrease success odds. Some obstacles include reaching full draw undetected, shorter ethical range, the need for an unobstructed shot, and hitting a sub-softball-sized kill zone with a single projectile on a critter that rarely stands still.

No tool makes reaching full draw on a sharp-eyed Eastern easier than one of today’s dark-interior commercial pop-up blinds. Wear dark clothing inside so you blend with the blind’s interior, and you can get away with way more movement than you can without a blind.

Placement is the key when hunting stationary from a blind, as my opening anecdote proves. Sure, toms are sometimes responsive from a distance, but if you put your blind and decoys in a high-visibility location or where turkeys are already traveling, your odds increase substantially. The good thing is Eastern gobblers have a small daily range compared to the roaming Merriam’s and Rio Grande subspecies found on the plains and prairies. An Eastern in the Midwest might spend his entire day on only 40 acres.

In other words, determining good blind placement is fairly straightforward. I suggest either setting up within 150 yards of a roosted gobbler or sitting somewhere along a flock’s daily route. Although on-foot scouting can be effective in identifying key setups, I prefer the low-impact method of driving by ag fields in the mornings and late afternoons. I’ll also pull off the road and kill the engine before dawn and listen for roosted toms on calm mornings. 

When you’ve pegged a roost site, it’s now time to peg the best spot within 150 yards. My No. 1 suggestion is to place your blind and decoys on the highest and most visible swatch of real estate that’s within 200 yards of the roost. I’ve found it fairly easy to call and decoy birds uphill, not so much downhill. Other experts corroborate those findings. If you have a turkey’s daily route pinned down, set up along it where birds can see and assess your decoys from at least 50 yards away. Setting up in too tight of quarters — there are lots of scenarios like this in the Midwest — can alarm the birds.

My favorite blind setup is right in the middle of a field. I’ve bow-killed piles of toms at 12 yards or closer from blinds placed in wide-open fields. Turkeys, unlike whitetails, accept a blind the same day it is set. In 22 years, I’ve had only a handful of instances in which I believed my blind spooked turkeys. The Midwest is ag-central, so there are lots of opportunities for field setups, especially if you’re willing to knock on some doors.

The disadvantage of a blind is you’re fairly static. It’s quite cumbersome to run-and-gun with a blind, decoys, bow and other gear. If you call and strike a response, it’s way harder to set up before the bird pops into view. Or, if you’re all set up and you hear the action transpiring elsewhere, it takes way more time and effort to pack up, move and set up again. To be truly mobile, ditch the pop-up blind.

Bow and Go

Since reaching full draw undetected without a pop-up blind is challenging, analyze your surroundings and carefully plan your setup. You must hide extremely well or completely disrupt your outline at the very minimum. Also, analyze how a tom might approach your decoys. Set up so he’ll have to walk behind trees or other obstacles as he approaches the decoys so you can draw your bow. If a gobbler comes from an unexpected direction with a lack of obstructions, resist the temptation to draw until his fan blocks his eyes, or draw while he’s beating up your jake decoy.

The beauty of hunting without a blind is you can be mobile and go find the action rather than wait for it to come to you. Terrain is your friend and lack of it is your foe. The Midwest has many regions featuring rolling habitat, creek beds, draws and other features that can help you cut distance. Keep your HuntStand Pro app ready, especially if you’re hunting a new property and don’t know exactly how it lays out. If you can pinpoint where the gobbler is, you can study the app’s Terrain and Satellite layers and pick a route that will keep you hidden while you move closer.

Calling Tips

I don’t believe there’s a secret sauce for calling. I like to keep things simple, so I focus on clucks, cuts, yelps and purrs. I believe the more important part is realism. These Midwestern birds hear everything from hunters, so the more realistic you sound, the better. I believe no call sounds more authentic than a high-quality mouth call. I got good with mouth calls during my late teen years when I’d pop a mouth call in while driving alone. I’ve fooled most of my birds into range with mouth calls because I can make them sound like real hens. 

Alas, some can’t play a piano, and some cannot master mouth calls. My next favorite is a pot and peg call. Buy cheap ones, however, and you’ll just sound like everyone else. Take a look at higher-end options from Zink and Woodhaven for authenticity.

Regardless of the call that you master, try to read every situation individually. If a gobbler is responding periodically but not moving, shut up. It might be 2 minutes or 2 hours, but curiosity often mounts and he’ll come looking. If he’s responding to every call and coming rapidly, keep calling because it’s working. Once he sees and commits to the decoys, I usually stop calling and prepare to shoot. If he’s coming in cautiously, call just enough to keep him interested. Whatever you do, don’t use an identical sequence each time you call. Change it up a little.

The author arrowed this gobbler in spring 2023 on a property he hadn’t previously hunted. He made some quick plans for a setup by using his 22 years of Midwest turkey hunting experience and his HuntStand Pro app, then swooped in the following morning and executed his plan.

Decoy Selection

A shotgunner can smoke a bird the second his head pops up within shotgun range, but a bowhunter needs an unobstructed shot at the entire body at close range. A realistic jake decoy is the ticket. In my experience, nothing brings an Eastern in like a realistic jake decoy set next to a realistic hen decoy. At least 70 percent of the time, toms that see my decoys come in if I have a good setup.

I used the cheap foam and rubber decoys for the first 8 years, and I had many birds shy away. Buying more expensive, realistic decoys is the best turkey hunting investment I’ve ever made. Bowhunting World Editor Dave Maas shares my opinion. In fact, in addition to using a few ultra-realistic DSD (Dave Smith Decoys) turkey decoys, Maas has four stuffed turkeys in his arsenal (one standing tom, two standing hens, and one bedded hen). “DSDs are great and I rely on them heavily, especially whenever rain is possible,” Maas said, “But nothing tops a taxidermy mount. I think it’s the way the wind moves the individual feathers. To be honest, it’s almost unfair.”

Persistence and Perseverance 

As I said earlier, Easterns can be finicky and unpredictable in various weather conditions, but about the only thing that will keep me in bed is a downpour, lightning or 30-mph winds. I’ve had successful hunts in the rain, snow, wind, cold and heat. It just takes the right day for a gobbler to become responsive, and that sometimes happens during conditions you wouldn’t expect. So, take the crummy weather with the good weather and be out there as much as possible. 

One last tip: When I’ve hunted a specific tom for a few days in a row and haven’t had any close encounters, I’ll often try a backup spot that I know holds a gobbler or two. If things aren’t working with plan A, popping in on another property has often served me well. 

The Midwest holds a bunch of loud Easterns, and nothing in turkey hunting excites like a thumper Eastern gobbler spitting and drumming or beating up your decoy 10 yards away. The tips I’ve discussed here don’t guarantee such an encounter, but they’ll surely boost your odds.

Sidebar: Decoy Distance

Ask 10 different successful turkey bowhunters how far away to place your decoys, and most will say 15 yards or less. I personally prefer to put mine 8-10 yards away. I try not to put them any closer than that unless I have to set up quickly, because then my arrow will impact low if I aim dead-on with my top pin. Hitting a turkey low is usually bad unless you take out both drumsticks. I also suggest not placing them farther away than 15 yards, because you’re needlessly lengthening your shot on an already small and tricky target.

If you’re a fan of aiming for a turkey’s head or neck with a broadhead such as the Magnus Bullhead, then it pays to place your decoys just a touch closer. “I typically set a jake and hen decoy at 5-7 yards,” said Bowhunting World Editor Dave Maas. “Instead of using my top pin (20 yards), I use my second pin (30 yards). That way, at point-blank range I hit exactly where I’m aiming. Test this prior to the hunt before trying it on a gobbler.”

Photos by Darron McDougal