The ones in Iowa roost about 20-30 yards up in large trees. We only shoot the males.

They startle very easily, and either fly or run away as soon as they are "spooked". They can see you even if you don't move, so total camoflauge is needed. Any non-camo surface on your body will give your position away.

I have startled them before while walking through heavy timber: I once nearly steped on one while hunting wild mushrooms. I think I probably drove it through the timber and into a barbwire fence where it had no where to go but up...With that incident included, I've only got withing rock throwing distance a total of three times in the last 10 or so years of mushroom hunting, so in my experience it doesn't happen often...and when it does happen, the Turkey is within rock throwing distance for only a few seconds at best. I'd love to hear stories people who have actually gotten one with a rock. I wouldn't believe them.

I suppose you could sneak up on their roost in the middle of the night (3AM or so) but in my experience, any noise at all will cause even a roosting turkey to startle and fly off into the night. Most turkey hunters therefore carry owl calls to trick the roosting turkeys into believing that the approaching hunters are just noisey owls...It really works!

In Iowa if shotgun hunting is to easy for you, you can always use a bow and arrow. I've never tried, but in some ways I actually think that might be easier than with a shotgun since a bows range might be a little bit further than a shotgun in this case...and the season is longer.

The only time I've seen wild turkeys walk slow is when they are strutting their stuff for the opposite sex (preferably my female decoys!), or when they are dining on newly emerged corn stalks in the middle of a corn field. You cannot approach a wild turkey in the middle of a corn field...It would just gobble (turkey laughter perhaps?) and then run or fly off into the sunset. (An interesting note: A not-so-big flock of wild turkeys can destroy a corn field in a few hours).

Scott (They are Good eating too)