ROAD HUNTER
Author Scott Haugen has been hunting turkeys throughout the West for over 30 years and credits much of his success to preseason scouting and preparation. He called this lone tom into a pair of Dave Smith Decoys, his favorite faux gobblers to use.
10 TOP TIPS FOR TAGGING A TOM OR TWO
Expert shares three decades’ worth of turkey hunting wisdom for chasing gobblers in the West. STORY AND PHOTOS BY SCOTT HAUGEN
ocused on a full-strut decoy 25 yards in front of my blind, the approaching tom had no idea I was near. When his bright red, white and blue head stood at attention, he never knew what hit him. It was my third and final Oregon tom that spring, and while the mature tom came in as I’d hoped, the hunt – and the season – was far from simple. A lot of preseason scouting and
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preparation went into making my hunts a success, a theme I’ve grown accustomed to in my more than 30 years of hunting these grand birds. Combined with a month of hunting to fill three tags, my two months of preseason scouting is what ultimately paid off. While I learn something on each hunt, there are certain details I pay attention to year after year. For me,
it’s attention to detail that makes the difference, and it all starts well before the season commences. Here are 10 tips I’ve relied on to help fill spring turkey tags throughout the West, and they can help you, too. 1. START SCOUTING The time to scout for turkeys is now, not a few days before the season. If cold conditions linger, birds may still americanshootingjournal.com 73
