How to Sleep in When Turkey Hunting and Still Kill One

There isn’t a lot wrong with turkey hunting, except for waking up early. In the spring, the sun rises between 5:00 and 6:00 am, meaning you need to wake up at 3:00 or 4:00 am to beat birds off of their roost. Some hunters can grind day-in and day-out like this, but I’m not one of them.

For a few days during turkey season, I like to sleep in. But I’ve always felt I was cutting my odds of bagging a bird in half by doing so. That was until I spoke with Rick Grubb of Waccamaw Hunting Services in South Carolina. Grubb and his son are top-notch turkey hunters in a state where you have to be good to get your hands on a gobbler. Their outfit was voted Best of South Carolina in 2024, and Grubb spends most of his season chasing birds all over the southeast.

According to Grubb, it isn’t just possible to punch your tag during the late morning or afternoon, it’s something you can count out. Here are his seven tips for turkey hunters who like to sleep in.

Scout Often and Know What to Look For

If you’re going to get out of bed late, you still need to do your homework, and that means boots-on-the-ground scouting. Before a hunt, Grubb builds a milk run of spots that birds are going to hit after they come off of the roost. He likes to dig around for places with plenty of hot sign, like scratching and strutting tracks, and he puts a pattern together of where he thinks birds are headed throughout the day.

“I understand there’s all of these turkey calls, decoys, camouflage, and new-and-improved stuff on the market, but people forget that you have to be a good woodsman to kill a turkey,” Grubb says. “It’s not called turkey calling or turkey decoying, it’s called turkey hunting for a reason.” He stresses the importance of knowing the terrain, knowing the vegetation, and knowing what turkeys like to eat in your area. Any time Grubb is out in the woods, he’s looking for things turkeys like and sign to back it up.

Get Set Up and Be Patient

For a typical mid-morning hunt, Grubb is going to head to an area he knows turkeys like to feed after they hit the ground. He’ll then set up in a bit of cover and wait it out. Grubb calls every 15 or 20 minutes with a yelp, cluck, or purr—nothing too aggressive. And because toms can come in quietly, he won’t move or deviate from this plan for an hour.

“I have patience, but I don’t have that much patience,” he says. “If I don’t see a bird or get an answer, I’m going to assume that there aren’t any lone gobblers nearby. If I can hear a bird, but can’t get him to come over, I’d say that he’s already with hens, and he could care less.”

If Grubb doesn’t see a bird, he won’t resort to run-and-gun tactics. He’ll go to the next spot he’s marked while scouting and set up again. “In my experience, I don’t like to walk and try to call a bird, because while I’m moving, I’ll usually run into a bird and spook him. For me, my greatest fear is bumping a bird and educating him. I try to be patient.”

Leave Your Decoys at Home

Grubb won’t use decoys when he’s set up during the day. He’d rather have birds looking for him rather than working to a decoy. “Sometimes a gobbler can come in quiet, and I’ve found that a lot of times—especially if you’re in the woods—a decoy will spook a bird. If you call a gobbler, he knows exactly what tree you’re sitting at. If he comes around the corner and sees a decoy 25 yards from where he heard you call, he’s not going to expect that. I have absolutely seen that happen with my own eyes.”

Keep Your Calling Under Control

Once you get a response from a bird, you’ll want to figure out what he wants to hear. “It’s like taking their temperature,” says Grubb. “Some of them want to hear a whole lot, while some of them don’t want to hear anything. If I don’t hear a lot of cutting, I won’t cut, but if I do, I’ll try to match them.”

Once Grubb hears that birds are getting closer, he tones it way down regardless of how they’re calling. “They know where I’m at,” he says. “I like to just shut up and let them hunt me. I know the urge is there. You want to hear him gobble, and you want to know where he is, but it is so important to be quiet and let a bird work in on his own.”

Know How to Deal With a Henned-Up Tom

Depending on the time of year, late-morning and mid-day gobblers will likely have hens around. If they do, Grubb suggests turning your focus to the hens instead of the gobbler. If you can get them to come in, you’ve got a chance at a shot.

“If the hens are vocal, I’ll give it right back to them,” he says. “I’ll match them and be even worse. Be more aggressive than the most aggressive hens you hear. If you can do that, she’ll bring that gobbler right down your gun barrel.”

Have a Hail Mary Play in Your Back Pocket

In South Carolina, you can hunt turkeys all day. That may not be the case in your home state, so you might want to disregard this tip and just stick with the gameplan above. But as the sun starts to go down, and you’re not seeing any birds, you need a last-minute play to get some action.

First, you’ll want to go back to your scouting notes and focus on places where you’ve glassed birds in the afternoon. What you don’t want to do is head straight for the roost. Pressuring birds off of the roost can screw up your hunting for the rest of the season. Instead, stick with field edges and open areas that birds like to hit one last time before walking off and flying to a tree.

Late in the day, if he hasn’t seen anything, Grubb will reach for the decoy bag. The thing to remember is to match what you’ve seen in the field before. If you’ve seen a gobbler pushing jakes around, go with a jake in half-strut. If the gobbler you're after is more shy and has maybe been pushed around by a pack of jakes, try a lone hen in a dust bowl. Set up and call every 15 to 20 minutes, and don’t expect an answer. Turkeys, especially easterns, aren’t very vocal in the afternoon.

If you’re ahead of known birds in the area, you’ve got a good chance of getting them to come in close for a shot. If you don’t get your shot, don’t leave your blind until after dark. The last thing you want to do is let a turkey know where you plan to hunt them tomorrow. Sneak out undetected, and you’ll save your spot for another day.

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