During Iowa’s youth season, the weather was fairly warm, and the bugs were out. On April 24, 2017, we had a light snow that was enough to cover the roofs on a few houses, and the bugs seemed to disappear. The weather has been fairly cool here at the end of the season, but we’ve hunted here in the snow in Iowa during early May. Typically, we only hunt turkeys in the snow during the fall, but for several years, our area has had a late snow. We have had to hunt turkeys in the snow in the spring. The turkeys don’t seem to be bothered by the snow. If snow falls during the breeding season, the gobblers are still going to be penned-up with the hens, just like they will be if there isn’t snow. They still strut and gobble with snow on the ground, as they do when there is no snow on the ground. The weather just does not seem to affect them that much. The only problem we have when we have to hunt turkeys in the snow in the spring is we can’t get quite as close to them as when there’s no any snow on the ground. The turkeys can spot us moving better with that white snow on the ground for cover.
I am often asked what Mossy Oak camo pattern I wear when hunting turkeys in the snow. I don’t have any of the new Mossy Oak Country pattern yet, but I believe that may be an ideal pattern for hunting turkeys in the snow. For me, my favorite patterns for hunting turkeys, whether I am hunting them in the spring or the fall, is Bottomland because that pattern looks like a tree trunk. Regardless of the time of year, and whether the forest floor is brown in the fall from the fallen leaves, or is green in the spring due to the green-up on the tree trunk, Mossy Oak Bottomland works. Bottomland is a great pattern to use when I am deer hunting in the fall or turkey hunting in the spring and fall.
