Photo by Ralph Hensley.

Hunters can expect good turkey hunting this fall, according to forest wildlife research biologist Todd Gosselink, Ph.D. Although the autumn action’s not as popular as is the spring hunt, plenty of gobblers will be taken as the temperatures cool.

“Wild turkey populations are doing excellent,” said Gosselink. “Nearly 60,000 turkey hunters took to the woods during last year’s spring season, and those hunters took over 22,000 turkeys, with an outstanding hunter success rate of 44 percent. With high turkey densities, Iowa has one of the highest success rates for turkey hunters in the nation.”

The 2007 harvest was comparable, and this fall, hunters will be shooting young-of-the-year birds as well as taking the occasional older tom.

Iowa’s best turkey hunting is in the southern, northeastern and western parts of the state, but turkeys are just about anywhere that suitable habitat is present. Turkey numbers are looking good, and the forecast for 2-year-old turkeys is excellent.

Some of the top spots are the old tried-and-true public lands whose hunting pressure can be heavy, while some of the areas promising good fall hunts are in lesser-known woods.

LOESS HILLS SF
“The Loess Hills State Forest is a truly unique natural area in western Iowa covering over 10,000 acres of public hunting access,” said Gosselink. “The intermixed forest and agricultural ground produces the highest turkey densities in the state.”

The prospects for turkey hunting in Loess Hills sound good -- until you get there. The terrain is tough going on foot in many sections, with high ridges and thick stands of oak. Prairie grass is interspersed with forest to create ideal turkey habitat and to provide hunters with navigable land.

Loess Hills SF consists of four units: Little Sioux, Preparation Canyon, Mondamin and Pisgah. All are in Harrison and Monona counties, and all harbor turkeys.

According to turkey guide Lynn Buswell, spring turkeys are a lot easier to take than are fall birds. In the spring, toms are looking for the ladies, and a lot of gobbling goes on, so calling is hands down the most effective hunting method.

“In the fall, getting a bird is a bit tricky,” said Buswell. “It’s important to do some scouting and find out where the birds are roosting so you can catch them as a family group. Turkeys still want to stick together, and that’s the reason scattering them works so well. The young birds aren’t completely weaned, and it can get loud when the mothers and poults are calling for each other. Your job is to join the calling and bring them back to you.”

For more information, contact the Loess Hills SF at (712) 456-2924 or the Missouri River Wildlife Management Unit at (712) 423-2426.

SNY MAGILL-NORTH CEDAR COMPLEX
“The terrain is forested in Clayton County,” said wildlife biologist Doug Chafa, “and that’s where you’ll find our crowning turkey spot. In Sny Magill there is really good access along the trout stream and right through the middle of the area. The bordering North Cedar area has little access, so a hunter can go up into the river corridor and get away from the crowds.”

Turkeys are abundant in the oak and maple forest and along the heavily wooded edge habitat. According to Chafa, much of northeastern Iowa didn’t fare very well in the 2006 turkey numbers survey, even though statewide turkey numbers are up. The numbers of poults per hen were down slightly, and the numbers of hens with broods were down about 17 percent. The good news is that turkey numbers in this part of the state are still high, so this fall’s hunter success rates should correspond.