Crockett County Turkey

Any reports from anyone down in the Crockett County area? I plan on heading out to Ozona this weekend. Also any tips for a later season turkey hunt? Im fairly new to Turkey hunting and will take any advice you guys got!

They're unpredictable most of the time, but late season can work in your favor. Lots of hens will be nesting already, so toms usually are more receptive since they won't be as henned up. I wouldn't give up too early in the morning either, mid day can be a good time for the same reason.

Hopefully they're gobbling for ya. If so try to find the roost and setup close to it. Call lightly at or just before fly down to let 'em know you're there. Then run and gun from there, that's the fun way to go. If they're being quiet I'd setup somewhere that you'd expect them to be, like on the edge of a pasture or pinch point. Settle in and give it some time cuz the dominant tom isn't always the biggest. Subordinate toms that are tired of getting their arses kicked will come in quiet. You don't have to go nuts calling, just a bit every 15 to 30 minutes. If they're around they'll hear ya. If you get one fired up then call more at him as long as he's responding. Purr if he hangs up.

Last year I didn't kill one at the lease till May. We don't have a ton of birds and they don't roost there. He didn't start showing up until then when all his wimmens started nesting.

Great information, Thank you for the advice!

Do you think I need a decoy this time of year?

^^^ If you're runnin and gunnin after gobbling birds, prolly not, but it can't hurt. If they're quiet I'd certainly use one if ya got it. I use one almost all the time cuz I'm not a young buck and my knees and back make it hard to sit completely still for a long time. And I hunt with my dog a lot so I like their eyes off of me and focused elsewhere.

You can't go wrong with a hen decoy or two. Where you can get in trouble is using a gobbler or jake decoy. Sometimes they won't want to mess with it. But on the flip side, if you get a dominant bird it can be a heck of a show. If you don't know, I'd start off without the jake/gobbler. This was 7 years ago in the hill country. Man I miss that place. Lots of birds and most aggressive I've ever hunted. My brother and I sat in a deer stand cuz he's even older than me and has a more messed up back LOL. This went on for half an hour. He'd take a break every 5 minutes or so.

How did it go? I was in ozona this weekend with 3 youth boys. Killed one Saturday afternoon, other 2 missed on Sunday morning. Saturday was extremely tough with the wind. Birds seemed locked down but responded better to chirps. Had to set up between the roost and their places to feed as they didn’t want to venture from that path. Birds were really loud on Sunday.
The bird we killed had a 10 1/2” beard