Fall turkeys are sometimes killed with high power lighting

Fall turkeys love to use the sunny side of the field at first light.  Food plots for deer are good places to start.  Soybean food plots and fall food plots are magnets for game when weather approaches.  They have just spent all night in a dark tree and are excited to start the day.   In a field setting this means you are setting up on the west or north sides of the field to catch those first rays of sun.  Check that gray skyline for areas of lower trees, or possibly even shade producing terrain features that control shadows and try pick a final spot based upon the first areas to get showered in sunshine.

Sunshine for big woods fall turkeys

Turkeys in a big woods setting like to start their day in the sun as well.  In mountain or hilly areas the terrain has obvious shadow casting abilities, and we should factor them into our setup.  Sometimes it is very difficult to visually pattern groups of fall turkeys in these big woods scenarios, and we can combine our roost knowledge with the heavily scratched areas nearby that receive that first light, and pick these spots as our early morning set up spots.  It’s not 100% but it will tip the odds a little more in your favor.

Homework first for fall turkeys

Dave Constantine was hunting fall turkeys when dinosuars still roamed the earth. He knows the game well.

We still need to put our time in and identify roost areas and adjacent feeding areas to help this fall turkey tactic work, but in scenarios where we know general areas the birds are using, picking the parts of the field to get the first light can pay dividends.  This is where those first grasshoppers get warm and wake up, and it’s also the part of the field predators become lit up so it’s a much safer area for the turkeys to hang.  Find your flocks and the general areas they are using, and utilize this tactic to help you pinpoint which part of the field or woods to set your blind and or decoys for fall turkey hunting success.