turkey problems

[cammogunner]

hey guy's i have had a problem with turkeys..i have some land i hunt on all the time it has a good deer population and i have seen hens there in the past but never any toms or jakes just hens if i am lucky the land is about 250 acres it has a nice creek running through it a pond lots of acorn trees persimon ect and yet dont evan here a gobble i thought this would be a good problem for you more seasoned hunters to talk about..thanks guys

 

[redneck2]

If there are hens, there are toms. Period. You just gotta sit still and wait them out. If you keep walking around looking for them, you'll most likely never see them before they see you.

Now, one mistake (among many) that I used to make was thinking that, if I saw turkeys there at another time of the year, they'd be there during season. WRONG!. Turkeys almost always nest close to a green field. Chicks can't eat grain or seeds for the first 6 weeks. Gotta eat bugs/worms.

If the hens are nesting, they'll come out to feed for maybe 10-15 minutes and disappear. Show again a few hours later to feed and disappear again. They're going to sit on the eggs. If you have that, there will be toms. Sometime during the day. Every day.

Sitting and waiting is worse than watching paint dry. But, they move all thru the day. If you're not there, you'll miss 'em.

 

[Captcurt]

They are close.

Redneck is right on. If there are hens, there the gobblers are close by. You may start to see or hear some when the hens start to set the eggs. Sometimes they gobble later in the day. If I can find one gobbling after 10:00 I can usually kill him. Well, at least screw up on him.:banghead:

 

[Lennyjoe]

Wish I had that problem!

 

[eastbank]

find the hens and wait the gobblers out,some time it happens very quickly and other times its like watching grass grow. good luck. eastbank.

 

[rcmodel]

Follow them home to the roosting trees at sundown and the toms will be right up in the same trees with them all night.

Be there before daylight the next morning and see where the toms fly off too.

BTW: If the hens are already laying eggs and nesting, the Toms already did their husband duty and are no longer interested in those hens.

Probably going off to a singles bar in the next woods over hoping to get lucky again this year!!

rc

 

[pikid89]

Keep in mind, some gobblers have pretty large ranges. At least for the Osceola's here in Florida, some biologists think that a dominate gobbler can have up 300 acres to himself. I work on a 1800 acre hunting preserve and our biologist says no more than 12 can be taken each year.

 

[27hand]

turkeys

watch the robins carefully
http://youtu.be/n1hLYQTVYpw

Which group do you think will win the race?
http://youtu.be/F41wwaBBSvw

They peck at my old Rangers bumper and my Forester
http://youtu.be/97dE3vq6e7E
http://youtu.be/Rt2aS0fk9Nw

I have numerous groups of birds in my back yard.
Sometimes it's all bearded birds as many as 8
Sometimes just hens. As many as 15

Smaller groups and sometimes combined groups.

I was welding a steel pistol target stand and a hen walked between me and my house.

I could start turkey hunting with a brick.

 

[cammogunner]

i like it 27hand you would really save on ammo..lol..so evan if i don't hear gobbles in the morning it would be a good idea to wait anyway..there is a lot more land just across the road the turkeys cross sometimes..thaks alot guys i had no idea that toms had such a wide range

 

[gamestalker]

I have a secret weapon for locating gobblers in the roost at sunset, or as I like to term it, putting them to bed. About every 500 yds. or so I let out a loud howl, it will shock gobble them. I don't use the howl, or any other shock gobble method until I've attempted to get a gobble with a turkey call, usually a gobble call works best at this time of day for a first attempt. Once you have the gobbler located, come back in the dark of morning and get set up 50-75 yds, from the roost and call them in when it gets light.

Once it's light out I will simulate a wing beat against my pant legs, then follow up with what I call a tree call. The tree call is a barely audible purr that I only do once or twice within the first couple minutes of the wing beat. If they haven't flown down yet, I follow up with some scratching in the leaves, then a real soft putt. Nothing fancy is needed, KEE, KEE Runs and all those other fancy and intense calling technique's are unnecessary, turkeys are as dumb as a box of rocks. More often than not, the gobbler will fly down right in front of me with the first tree call, "boom" turkey hunt is finished!

GS

 

[gamestalker]

One other thing to mention about turkey hunting. Most of those I have taken on a hunt are unaware of how easy it is to spook a turkey. Actually, they often way under estimate their vision and hearing, which is actually about all a turkey has going for it. All I can say is, don't make any unnatural sounds or noises, what may seem barely audible to us can be heard by a turkey with ease. And don't move at all when a bird is within 150 yds. of you, and try not to blink your eye's when they are within visual range of you.

To reduce the amount of movement necessary, I will prop my shot gun on a shooting stick, or just use a branch of proper length, thus eliminating the movement associated with lifting it off my lap to shoulder it. And I always wait until the bird with walks behind something that momentarily blocks his view of me. Or I'll wait until his tail feathers block his view of me for a brief moment, I then make my move to shoulder up and take aim.

Keep in touch, I may have an opportunity to treat you to a free New Mexico or Arizona hunt next spring. The cost of the tag, food, and gas would be your responsibility of course. Lodging would likely be free. I can't even describe the amount of joy I get seeing someone take their first gobbler, even more so when it's someone who has invested a number of years trying to kill one.

GS

 

[27hand]

turkeys

I just opened my window to fill my bird feeder and spooked 2 hens.
As the second one ran, I shook the seed in the plastic cup I use and she froze, turned and ran back almost directly under me. Although I was joking about hunting them with a brick, I probably could drop one on an unsuspecting seed eater. .

 

[eastbank]

yesterday i went to check two of my turkey stands and i saw 6 turkeys while i was there, i sat on the stands for about one hour each, just sat there,no calling.it was a very nice day, but it looks like rain for the first day on sat. the 3rd. i,m realy looking forward to the first day,my shotgun is sighted in and my gullie suit is sprayed with tick juice. good luck every body who is going turkey hunting this week. eastbank.

 

[herkyguy]

closest I've come in 4 years of hunting turkeys was two weeks ago when a hen came within 10 yards of me, did a circle around my decoy, then walked off into the brush.... she never saw me.

i had my gun drawn on three jakes down in florida, but they were of course on the edge of a campsite where hunting was prohibited. if they had been 50 yards in a different direction, i would have smoked one.

a tough critter to hunt for sure.

 

[cammogunner]

i agree herkyguy they are alot harder than deer imo