Turkey time is upon us for the 2025 season. Seasons are either open or close to open across the Midwest Region. We’re behind the southern states, some of which have been open a month already for turkey hunting, but here in the Heartland where the most turkeys are killed each year, we are ready to go and should have a great season.
Hoosier hunters have Youth Season on April 19 and 20, followed by the regular season opener on April 23. The last time I hunted the Indiana opener, I never heard a bird gobble until a bird was withing 20 yards. It took a lot of boot leather and some aggressive calling to finally entice the unmistakable spit and drum of a mature gobbler. The longbeard slipped behind me without making a peep. I clucked a couple of times just to see if he’d gobble. He did and I closed the deal.
Dave Miller, who owns the farm where I was hunting in Newton County, assured me the lack of gobbling wasn’t normal. The opener in Indiana is usually when you hear the most gobbling. Miller says the birds have been gobbling good on the roost for the last couple of weeks since the temperatures have warmed up, but they’re shutting up quickly after hitting the ground.
“Early on, when a lot of the gobblers are “henned-up” I would recommend being mobile. If you have an active bird on the roost, go to that bird. You may not have any activity close to you. Later in the day a bird could start gobbling just about anywhere at any time, so you need to be able to move on that bird,” Miller said. “I’ve seen a number of gobblers moving between different blocks of timber. I think the best advice right now is to just be out there. You never know when one will show up and turn on.”
In the Show Me State, turkey hunters kick off with Youth Season April 12 and 13, followed by the traditional Monday morning opener on April 21. Each year, Missouri produces a serious turkey harvest. In 2024, spring turkey hunters in Missouri took 47,119 turkeys. This is an outstanding number of birds, considering it wasn’t too many years ago when turkey had been nearly wiped off the landscape by unregulated hunting.
Through the combined work of the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and citizens, wild turkeys were restored to a population level greater than expected. Missouri’s restoration produced so many birds, the state served as a supplier of wild turkeys to neighboring states to further the restoration across the Midwest.
Missouri is rich with public lands loaded with turkeys. MDC manages around a million acres of Conservation Area lands open to walk in hunting. Meaning, there is no reservation system or check in process, in most cases. You simply find a parking lot, follow the rules, and go hunting. Some of the larger public properties are in the Ozarks, where I believe the wisest of all turkeys live. Any serious turkey hunter needs to take an Ozark turkey before I’ll qualify them as a true master of the game.
Kentucky’s youth season took place April 5 and 6, so their turkey population has already taken a little hit. The regular season opened April 12. From what Bill Konway, a staff photographer at Realtree is seeing on his Eastern Kentucky farm, there are plenty of birds left. Kentucky is another top turkey producing state. In 2023, Kentucky hunters harvested 35,665 spring turkeys. It was highest total ever in the Bluegrass State.
Konway has been sitting on his porch listening to gobblers at sunrise over the last two weeks. “It’s fun to listen to the progression,” he said. “You get excited when you hear one. Then the next morning it’s two. Then the next day four. Soon the entire holler is filled with gobbles. They’re going good, now.”
Kentucky is another state blessed with an abundance of public land. The Daniel Boone National Forest spreads across 21 counties and has over 2,100,000 acres within its boundary. This a lot of land to roam in search of a longbeard and a great place to experience a real turkey hunting adventure.
Indiana, Missouri, and Kentucky are all “over-the-counter” turkey hunting states. This means you can simply buy a license at a retailer or online. Many states have permit draw systems in place for turkey hunting, meaning you must apply earlier in the year and all licenses are allocated at this point. So if you are looking to hit the road in pursuit of a turkey elsewhere this season, then these three states are all a great choice.
See you down the trail,
Brandon Butler
driftwoodoutdoors@gmail.com
