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Wind Hinders Turkey Hunting
Tony Dean • For the Argus Leader • April 30, 2008
Bruce "Wickerbill" Crist is my turkey advisor, and he once told me that windy days aren't worth a hoot for calling turkeys.
After a dozen tries on windy days, I'm a believer. I haven't been out on a single day without winds at a near gale force. Nor have I heard a single Tom Turkey gobble this spring.
As Wickerbill told me, "They just don't talk much when the wind is blowing."
I checked the forecast Sunday night after trying to hunt that day in breezy conditions, and I was pleased to see it called for light southeast winds. They were hardly moving when I left Pierre after lunch Monday. By the time I arrived at my turkey hunting grounds in Haakon County, I had to lean into the wind to stand.
But I was there and had nothing to lose by trying. I saw three turkeys, all hens, walking around in a clearing. They saw me too.
Still, I set up my hen decoys there, knowing full well that as good as wild turkeys can hear, the high wind likely would damper my calling efforts. An hour later, I decided to move.
Decoys should be set in a prominent location so they are visible. I was hunting a wooded creek bottom, and at each bend, a small grassy bench met the hardwoods. And that's exactly where I'd seen birds while scouting.
The problem was that this was where the wind was blowing the hardest. Undeterred, I placed my decoys, huddled at the base of a cedar tree and, a half-hour later, saw a gobbler approaching.
I hadn't called, so I can only guess he was simply wandering and saw the hen decoys and became interested.
At about 50 yards, his tail fanned and he began strutting. Five minutes later, he headed right for the decoys, when an untimely gust blew a decoy off the stake and sent it rolling and flopping down toward the trees. Real turkeys don't get blown around like that, so it hightailed it in the opposite direction.
Now, I'm waiting for one calm day, just one.
The only calm day I can remember this spring was the day I fished with John Cooper at West Bend on Lake Sharpe.
Speaking of which, the walleyes and smallmouths are on the bite in the mid-section of that reservoir. The fish typically are still located on the first break where the depth goes quickly from 9 to about 17 feet.
A jig tipped with a fathead minnow is the best presentation.
Walleyes are also hitting well in the Missouri River inside Pierre as it flows between the capitol and Fort Pierre. And on some days, a few anglers are catching salmon above the dam in Lake Oahe.
However, this time of year, the salmon can be almost anywhere in the gigantic impoundment, and the lack of fish showing up on the sonar indicates they are probably scattered around the length of the lake.
The fish can also be anywhere from the bottom up to the top because water temperatures allow such movement. The Chinooks favor 55-degree water, while Oahe's surface temperature consistently runs in the low 40-degree range. Warmer weather and a few calm days could work wonders on Oahe salmon and South Dakota wild turkeys.
Tony Dean, an outdoor broadcaster, writes a column every Wednesday for the Argus Leader.
Wind Hinders Turkey Hunting
