When spring rolls around, many of us turn our attention to turkeys and the sound of a gobble gets the blood boiling. You can help improve your chances of seeing birds and filling your tag by using a Sportsman ATV or Ranger UTV from Polaris. Whether you’re scouting before the hunt, working on habitat projects to improve the hunt or headed out to the woods for the hunt, the right machine can make a huge difference.
If you have a bigger chunk of land, or are hunting public land, scouting for turkeys is vital to success when you don’t have specific habitat prepared to draw birds in. A good pair of binoculars and an off-road vehicle make scouting fast and efficient.
For example, there are several locations where I can glass open areas for turkeys from a nearby ridge. Using a Polaris Sportsman to move along the ridge, stopping frequently to glass the areas below is the most efficient way to scout the area. Once I have spotted birds, getting set to hunt that area is easier.
Outfitting your ride for scouting is part of the fun. I keep a pair of binoculars in one of the compartments of the machine. The Sportsman has a nice area under the front rack where I can store a set of binos, as well as some tie downs, zip ties, duct tape and small tools like a hand saw. This gives me everything I need to construct a natural blind when I find birds. If I am looking at bigger areas, I can strap in a compact electric chainsaw, too. If I am using my Ranger for these tasks, I keep stuff in the glovebox inside the cab, as well as in a cargo box in the bed. Keeping everything on the machine and ready to go is a huge help when I find a spot that is holding birds.
Scouting
It’s no secret that habitat projects such as food plots and forest management are crucial for deer hunting success, but the same applies to turkey hunting. Food plots for turkeys work amazingly well, and can be the same basic plots you use for deer with some additional plants added for bringing in turkeys. You can add chufa, millet, sorghum, sunflowers and clover to existing plots for turkeys, and it has been proven that these plants also add to deer health as well. Just be sure that the timing and crop types don’t constitute baiting by local game laws. In addition to these crops adding a sustainable food source for turkeys, they have the added advantage of being a food source for insects, which is an additional draw for turkeys. As an added plus, these types of crops provide ground cover for poults when the egg hatch rolls around. This cover is important for the overall health of the turkey population and future hunting opportunities.
If you are looking at food plots for turkeys, you also need to consider size. Unlike deer, turkeys are very cautious about size and open spaces. To be comfortable, narrow food plots can serve as a travel corridor for birds, but to get them actively feeding and holding in a plot, you need to have the plot be at least a ½ acre in width so the birds can feel secure from predators. If you know there are birds frequenting an area, you can use narrow plots and cover crops to help funnel birds toward areas you want to hunt. Crops like Egyptian wheat planted thick can help push traffic a specific way, but don’t expect birds to stay close to these areas. Building food plots in harder to reach areas is easier with an ATV. Kolpin makes a sweet set of implements [can we list a couple of examples here of the “implements”? for your Sportsman or Ranger that can prepare ground for planting in quick order.
Another big plus to scouting with an ATV or UTV comes from mapping out the location. When I am hunting public land, it is a huge help to map out exactly where I am planning to hunt. Having this information makes it easier to find my way back to the exact spot on the morning of the hunt. Using GPS is the easiest way to do this. If your Sportsman ATV has Polaris’ Ride Command system, this is extremely easy. Ride Command does a lot of different things, including using a built-in GPS system for mapping locations, which I can share with anyone, so if I don’t come home on time, that person knows where to look. It is added safety as well as being convenient for me to find my way.
Habitat Projects
Using an off-road vehicle, like a Polaris Sportsman or Ranger, will never replace putting in the effort it takes to properly scout and prepare for a successful turkey hunt. However, using one for these tasks makes things a little easier, faster and more efficient, which makes you a better hunter, especially in this day and age when time management is a critical part of actually getting outside.
Hunting smarter
If you have a bigger chunk of land, or are hunting public land, scouting for turkeys is vital to success when you don’t have specific habitat prepared to draw birds in. A good pair of binoculars and an off-road vehicle make scouting fast and efficient.
For example, there are several locations where I can glass open areas for turkeys from a nearby ridge. Using a Polaris Sportsman to move along the ridge, stopping frequently to glass the areas below is the most efficient way to scout the area. Once I have spotted birds, getting set to hunt that area is easier.
It’s no secret that habitat projects such as food plots and forest management are crucial for deer hunting success, but the same applies to turkey hunting. Food plots for turkeys work amazingly well, and can be the same basic plots you use for deer with some additional plants added for bringing in turkeys. You can add chufa, millet, sorghum, sunflowers and clover to existing plots for turkeys, and it has been proven that these plants also add to deer health as well. Just be sure that the timing and crop types don’t constitute baiting by local game laws. In addition to these crops adding a sustainable food source for turkeys, they have the added advantage of being a food source for insects, which is an additional draw for turkeys. As an added plus, these types of crops provide ground cover for poults when the egg hatch rolls around. This cover is important for the overall health of the turkey population and future hunting opportunities.
