Idaho Turkey Hunting: How To Hunt The Gem State

When you think of Idaho, you think of potatoes. After all, that is what Idaho is famous for. It says so on our license plate. But you may be surprised to know that among a wide variety of big game and upland birds, Idaho has some pretty decent turkey hunting.

Idaho has some great turkey hunting opportunities. The western side of the state has some pretty decent turkey numbers and public land to hunt them on as well. Places like the Boise National Forest, Hitt Mountains, Payette National Forest, Nez Perce National Forest, and all throughout the panhandle are home to Idaho turkeys.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game released a great informational video on everything turkey hunting, and I will share with you a few of the big points they touched on. I will also throw in my two cents at no extra charge.

As always, please do your due diligence and thoroughly read the Idaho turkey regulations. If you have questions, call the local office and ask.

History

Turkeys were first introduced to Idaho in the 60’s and the first turkey season was in 1967.

Licensing

All you need to go turkey hunting is valid hunting license and an over-the-counter tag.

Hunting Fundamentals

Techniques

Turkeys are very hard prey. They have keen eyesight and see in color. So stealth is of utmost importance. The best way to hunt turkeys is to locate where they will roost the night before your hunt. Early before daylight, sit down against a tree that is within 100-200 yards of the roosting tree and start to call.

As long as you got in there without being seen, you should be sitting in a good position for contacting a tom looking for a mate.

Scouting

Some good tips for success mentioned in the video include spending sufficient time in the woods and covering a lot of ground. Sometimes hunting turkeys is just plain tough.

The difference between a successful turkey hunt and going home empty-handed can oftentimes come down to effort. Don’t give up; keep re-locating and calling, and do it all day long if you have to.

Calls

There is a variety of calls out there you can use. Some mimic Toms, some mimic hens, and some mimic other species, such as a crow. A crow call is used to locate a tom turkey. The turkeys are in such a fluster during their mating season, that they become very territorial and will call to anything in their area to assert dominance.

(Pinetrees and solitude may earn a commission from affiliate links in this article.)

You can find hen calls in the form of a mouth (reed) call, box call, or a slate call. These calls are most commonly used in tandem with a hen decoy. Set the decoy out in front of you and start calling, hoping the tom sees the decoy and comes to investigate.

Pre-season scouting

Macro areas

In the beginning of this article I mentioned just a few of the big national forested areas, that you could look to for a decent starting point to find the areas in the state that hold turkeys.

If you check out page 7 of the Idaho Wild Turkey Management Plan 2022-2027, it has a great map to show you where you can start your scouting efforts. Within the shaded areas, you can then use tools like onX, or google earth to start zooming on areas you might want to check out.

To be honest, if you don’t scout at all, you really are just winging it. I know that finding the time to get out there in the woods between seasons can be challenging, but if you can, it will pay dividends when the season opens.

The game wardens in the video put an emphasis on driving through the woods in the off-season and glassing a lot to find birds. When you find a good group, try and explore that area more to see where they might hold up for a roost.

Habitat

Some of the habitat mentioned in the video that you will want to look out for when scouting includes roosting trees, grassy meadows, water, shrubs, and try and find areas that are in the bottom of a drainage. They call this watery, wet environment “riparian”.

So use the above video and this article as a guide to get you pointed in the right direction. Facebook groups and Reddit forums can also be a good place to connect with hunters and ask questions if you are a newbie. So go buy a tag and get after it this spring.

If you enjoyed this article, check out these articles from Pinetreesandsolitude.com:

(This article was originally published on Pintreesandsolitude.com. If it is now published on any other site, it was done without permission from the copyright owner.)