Fall Turkey
Fall turkey hunting in Mid-America Hunting Association is for Eastern and Rio Grande Turkey on private lease land in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa for the self guided turkey hunter.
Fall Turkeys
The typical fall turkey hunter is one that is concurrently and primarily enjoying a fall deer hunting trip rather than a dedicated or exclusive fall turkey hunter. The next most common fall turkey hunter is that in Kansas and a bird hunter that allows his bird dog to point or flush turkeys. This fall hunt is typically along tall grass near a wooded draw where either sex turkeys occasional hold for point or near flush for shot opportunity. Kansas is the only state of our three that allows fall turkey hunting with dogs.
The dedicated or exclusive fall turkey hunter member is rare and there have never been more than around five in the Association any given year.
Turkey Scouting
Turkey scouting is a topic we cover and recover throughout this web site as we have many traveling turkey hunters coming in from wooded hill country where the run & gun turkey hunting technique predominates. We offer that when traveling out to Kansas, Missouri and Iowa agricultural country that very change in terrain necessitates a change in turkey hunting tactics. Evidence is that which we have observed through the years and that is the setup and call turkey hunter harvests more high scoring toms than the run & gun hunter.
Fall turkey hunting is managed differently than spring turkey season.
A spring turkey season hunter is limited to one numbered/lettered lease per day until changed. Each will typically be on a lease with a roost, strutting area and food and water source. The one hunter per lease per reservation is simply due to hunter pressure management to ensure no one turkey lease receives too much hunter pressure and all that hunt may expect to enjoy that advantage.
A fall turkey season hunter will reserve an entire unit of leases allowing him to hunt the roving fall flocks to whatever farm they may be on. While this may seem to be an unfair advantage to the fall turkey hunter over that of those in the spring, it is not. The spring turkey hunter has far better success in terms of less days hunted per tag filled and more tags filled overall as well as the largest toms. The difference as many will agree is that the spring flock is anchored to a roost and nesting area and the fall flock covers more ground without as predictable of a daily pattern.
In any case we encourage all that may have an interest to fall turkey hunt to do so as being out in the field is certainly better than staying home watching TV.
Western Kansas Rio Grande Turkey
