Fall Turkey hunting with dogs

[bdg848]

I did a quick search and couldn't find anything. I've seen a few articles and videos recently of guys using their bird dogs to break up fall flocks of turkeys or otherwise hold point on any stragglers that tried hiding instead of flying. If all the birds flew, the hunter then grabs the dog, throws a camo cover over them and calls in a single from the busted flock.

This sounds like great fun to me. Is there anyone who has actual experience training their dogs for this? I want to know how to train my GSP to do this. My dog would surely run around the woods and chase any turkeys it may find but I want to know if there is more SPECIFIC training that needs to be done besides just getting the dog lay still next to me while calling. Is there particular strategy to the flush that I need to work towards with the dog? Thanks.

 

[ORHunter]

My dogs have pointed several, but I haven't targeted them with a dog. Always gets the heart going when you expect a pheasant to flush, and it's a flock of turkeys that sound like an Apache helicopter taking off.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[Macintosh]

We’ve hunted them in the overgrown brushy ditches between cornfields with flushing dogs as if they were gigantic pheasants, and shot them on the wing. For a lab, flushing birds is fun, flushing pheasants is fun x 100, flushing turkeys is fun x 1,000,000. But thats not what you asked about!

 

[Gman12]

Fall turkey hunting with a dog is a thing here in Virginia although it is not nearly as popular as it once was. A good friend of mine has an excellent turkey dog and it is a fun hunt. There is no pointing involved. It is strictly the dog roaming within a few hundred yards and flushing the flock. He uses a Garmin tracking collar so he can tell where the dog is at all times. The dog will bark or squeal when he flushes and then the hunters go to the spot and set up. Wait a few minutes and start calling. Oftentimes, particularly with a hen and her young of the year birds, they will want to gather back and become pretty vocal not too long after the flush. His dog is a dedicated turkey dog and he is also good at tracking/finding deer.

 

[rgroves79]

My experience (also in VA) mirrors what Gman outlined. Used to work with a guy that had a turkey dog and went with him several times. Dog would roam and you would hear her go ape s**t when she busted the flock. Go to the spot, build a quick blind, and then call them back in. Dog just needs to find the birds then lay still and quiet from there. Good fun!

 

[Wildcats32]

I’m assuming there’s no pointing? They just bust them? Have you had issues with your dog getting beat up by the turkeys?