PRATT - Although the foliage may be different in the fall, turkey hunting strategy is much the same as in springtime:  call a wild turkey within shotgun range in the best and safest way possible. With fall turkey season well under way in Kansas, here are some tips for the fall turkey hunting tactic known as the "scatter and call":

Look for sign. The woods can tell you what you need to know to find flocks if you look close enough. Feathers and droppings can tell you where turkeys have been traveling or roosting. Scratchings (v-shaped disruptions in the leaves) can tell you which way birds are traveling, what they might have been feeding on, and how long ago they were there. Dark, moist exposed ground means the birds may be close.

After finding a flock, determine its make-up. Is the flock comprised of hens with young-of-the-year birds, or gobblers? Decide if you want to attempt to call them in as a group (which can often work) or if you want to scatter the flock, which can lead to a lot of calling fun and increase the odds of success.

If you decide to scatter the flock, make sure that the turkeys scatter and don't fly off or run in the same direction. A flock that spooks off together will be next to impossible to call back in or to even catch up with for another scatter.

After the flock is scattered, set up at the point where you flushed them. Some hunters like to start calling right away, but more often than not, it will be 20 to 30 minutes before birds will settle down enough to start calling back to one another. Gobblers may take longer before they call back together. Mixed flocks with young birds may only take 20 to 30 minutes before they respond to a call.

Many of the same calls that work in the spring - the yelp, purr, and excited cutting - will work in the fall. The kee-kee and kee-kee run calls used by young birds when they are anxious to regroup also work. When you get a bird or birds to answer, make sure to match their cadence and calls note-for-note.

Above all, keep safety first and foremost in your mind. Conduct yourself as if you are not the only hunter in the woods because many times you aren't. Positively identify your target before pulling the trigger, and follow defensive turkey hunting tactics at all times.    

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