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Turkey Talk

Bigterp

Bigterp

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SH Member
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Sep 11, 2017
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Baltimore, Maryland
Hey guys I’m just as guilty for clogging up the gear thread. Let’s put it here. I absolutely live turkey hunting & am usually deer scouting the entire time as well…… just got back from a few days in southern Va. had a couple close encounters but no shots fired, hunting mountain birds is tough business. All 3 sessions should’ve ended in dead birds if I knew the terrain better. Either way if you don’t get fired up at a turkey gobbling inside 100yds while the hammer is back you need to find something else to do…..,,.,
 
moved from the new gear forum:

Turkey numbers are definitely on the decrease here too. Like @enkriss said I personally blame it on yote and fox populations increasing. That said we've had a couple of rough winters in a row also. The flocks I saw in Late March/early April were pretty rough looking. I think the late second cold fronts and snow storms seem to get them. FWIW I also think those late winter onsets are where the deer suffer the most too. Things just start getting better and then they're socked with another layer of snow and cold. It's enough to take its toll on an already physically stressed population.

I'm not hunting turkeys this year but I did do a drive thru some of my usual hunting areas yesterday and didn't see a single bird from the road . . . pretty unusual for this time of year.
 
Bigterp said:
Hey guys I’m just as guilty for clogging up the gear thread. Let’s put it here. I absolutely live turkey hunting & am usually deer scouting the entire time as well…… just got back from a few days in southern Va. had a couple close encounters but no shots fired, hunting mountain birds is tough business. All 3 sessions should’ve ended in dead birds if I knew the terrain better. Either way if you don’t get fired up at a turkey gobbling inside 100yds while the hammer is back you need to find something else to do…..,,.,
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You should hook up with @PEEJAY because he seems to be near your area and turkey hunt like crazy.
 
I may go a few more days to the club since it is close and do some deer preseason preps while I am there. I really need to get out and hunt hogs under the aegis of turkey season before it ends. I'm just pretty burned out of turkeys at this point. I'm ready for it to be over so I can devote all my time and energy to this fall's deer season.
 
To piggy back what was said in the other thread, I find as well turkeys are in groups. So one parcel can hold 8 toms, and that's IT for miles around.

As someone who baited in his late teens and early twenties, and looking back with regret and cringe, I know exactly what baited turkeys looks like and that's exactly it. Toms should naturally be on the move looking for the next hot hen especially later in the season as many hens start nesting. So birds should move between public and private and vice versa all day.

When birds are baited, they are stuck like a magnet to the bait. Their range dramatically shrinks. They will roost right over the bait, move maybe a half mile tops from the bait throughout the day. Then return to the bait to hit it again before bedtime.

This completely ruins hunting for so many people as all the gamelands can be completely devoid of turkeys. And they will never cross into the public because they have no reason to be. It enrages me.
 
bigmike23 said:
To piggy back what was said in the other thread, I find as well turkeys are in groups. So one parcel can hold 8 toms, and that's IT for miles around.

As someone who baited in his late teens and early twenties, and looking back with regret and cringe, I know exactly what baited turkeys looks like and that's exactly it. Toms should naturally be on the move looking for the next hot hen especially later in the season as many hens start nesting. So birds should move between public and private and vice versa all day.

When birds are baited, they are stuck like a magnet to the bait. Their range dramatically shrinks. They will roost right over the bait, move maybe a half mile tops from the bait throughout the day. Then return to the bait to hit it again before bedtime.

This completely ruins hunting for so many people as all the gamelands can be completely devoid of turkeys. And they will never cross into the public because they have no reason to be. It enrages me.
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I've found here that the turkeys seem to head for private land as soon as the pressure starts. They'll strut around houses and in private land fields but it's getting increasingly difficult to call them off the private onto the public. I know they have a brain smaller than a walnut but it seems they figure out where the boundaries are and that "No body messes with us here" as long as they stay on the private.
 
boyne bowhunter said:
moved from the new gear forum:

Turkey numbers are definitely on the decrease here too. Like @enkriss said I personally blame it on yote and fox populations increasing. That said we've had a couple of rough winters in a row also. The flocks I saw in Late March/early April were pretty rough looking. I think the late second cold fronts and snow storms seem to get them. FWIW I also think those late winter onsets are where the deer suffer the most too. Things just start getting better and then they're socked with another layer of snow and cold. It's enough to take its toll on an already physically stressed population.

I'm not hunting turkeys this year but I did do a drive thru some of my usual hunting areas yesterday and didn't see a single bird from the road . . . pretty unusual for this time of year.
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I’ve been scouting for a few weeks now before work. It’s rough and there’s still a few in winter flocks as of Friday in Petoskey outskirts. I got the may 2nd tag and I’ll be around emmet and chandler hills area
 
Badfishmi said:
I’ve been scouting for a few weeks now before work. It’s rough and there’s still a few in winter flocks as of Friday in Petoskey outskirts. I got the may 2nd tag and I’ll be around emmet and chandler hills area
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Good Luck! Knee replacement Thursday so I didn't even buy a tag this year. I cruised my normal spots around Chandler the other day and never even saw a bird. Lots of folks camping in the Slashing Road area.

EDIT: Your profile picture looks really familiar to me, I suspect we hit the same areas a bit. ;) :tearsofjoy:
 
boyne bowhunter said:
Good Luck! Knee replacement Thursday so I didn't even buy a tag this year. I cruised my normal spots around Chandler the other day and never even saw a bird. Lots of folks camping in the Slashing Road area.

EDIT: Your profile picture looks really familiar to me, I suspect we hit the same areas a bit. ;) :tearsofjoy:
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You gonna have to put a tennis ball on the bottom of your one stick? Hope it goes well and you heal up fast.
 
I did a 3 mile loop out on public today. I heard no gobbles but did bust up a hen on the walk out. I think she was nesting and heard me and spooked. I stuck around the area a while after she left hoping there was a gobbler nearby. If he was he didn't have anything to say. I was going to switch gears and do some pig hunting up the road but by 1 the wind was switching from all directions so that was a no go.
 
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