What's Your Strategy?


NiteRunner

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Re: What\'s Your Strategy?

The way our group hunts in the spring season is we scout pre-season and try to learn their habits a bit. Then we come up a day before the season and single out a particular bird to watch where he roosts that night or where his current strutting zone is. If where he roosts is out of a legal hunting zone we'll setup a blind by his strutting zone or somewhere we think he'll travel instead for the next day. We'll either be blind still hunting the birds based on patterns or if the bird we're after gets harvested or disappears we may walk and use a locator to find another. Once we find another we try to estimate where the bird will be heading and we position ourselves to where we think it is headed and try to call it in to us hoping we guessed correctly. We never stalk turkey sounds nor turkeys, since it's illegal during our Spring season in this state to stalk turkeys.

Edit: I edited this to reword it since it caused issues because people have different definitions for each method of turkey hunting and not everyone has the exact same definition. I didn't want to mislead or start an argument on what the correct definition of any of the hunting methods listed. wink.gif

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Re: What\'s Your Strategy?

Just like Strut said...whatever it takes. I do a lot of turkey hunting before work so most of the time I locate the turkeys prior to the hunt and sit and call the next morning. If I don't seal the deal within the first little bit after fly-down, I slip out the leave them alone. If it's the weekend and they get by me after fly-down, I'm on the move. grin.gif I also pattern them during the early season too. Their feeding habits and traveling patterns are somewhat more predictable before the mating season kicks in. Best of luck with whatever strategy you use this spring.

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Re: What\'s Your Strategy?

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Run and gun hunting isn't legal to do in spring gobbler season in this state. Stalking any turkey during that season will get you in serious trouble.

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Sure it's legal. I think you have the wrong idea of what the "run & gun" method is.

"Run & gun" is when you cover large amounts of distance in a msall period of time, stopping to call or locate at some interval. When you "strike" a gobbling bird (get him to respond to your calling) you set up and kill him. It does not involve stalking (which is illegal in PA). Only thing you have to remember in PA when on the "run & gun" is to wear your wonderful blaze orange hat. mad.gif

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Re: What\'s Your Strategy?

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Only thing you have to remember in PA when on the "run & gun" is to wear your wonderful blaze orange hat. mad.gif

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Really??? confused.gifsmirk.gif

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Yep. Really. mad.gifmad.gifmad.gifmad.gifmad.gif

A couple idiots each year seem to have a hard time differentiating between a 20 lb. featherd critter and a 6 foot tall dude in camo. So rather than hang a guy up by his toenails for mistaking a man for a turkey.......they make 500,000 hunters wear a blaze orange hat while moving. mad.gifmad.gifmad.gifmad.gif

What more would you expect from a state that won't allow #2 shot for fall turkeys but a .460 Weatherby is legal?????? smirk.gifconfused.gifsmirk.gif

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Re: What\'s Your Strategy?

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Hunt and Hope

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grin.gif I like it!!

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Me too. I guess I use that strategy more than any.

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Same here and hunt to me means do whatever feels like the right thing to do at the time.

Like Strut, I could write forever on different things I've done hunting turkeys.

BTW...Patterning is just part of scouting turkeys to me. Even though patterning starts before the season, it never ends until the season closes or you're limited out...whatever occurs first.

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Re: What\'s Your Strategy?

I start the season off hunting some family land in southeastern Oklahoma in the foothills of the Ouachita Mtns. We know the strut zones and roost areas from previous years, so we get in early in between roost and strutting/feeding areas and go from there.

If I'm lucky enough to fill my two tags for that county/region, then I'll shift to a different area of the state to try to get my final, third OK bird. But I haven't been that lucky, yet... :-)

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Re: What\'s Your Strategy?

I have had great success with the run & gun. There are a ton of birds in the area I hunt. I usuaully get deep in the woods to a spot an hour or so before daylight and wait for the birds to start gobbling on the roost. I try to get to the closest bird and cut out all obstacles between us and set up...If he starts heading away or has hens with him, I'll move on to a different bird. I continue locating birds and closing in until I can get one to come to the call close enough for a shot. There has been a couple times where I gave up on 6-8 birds until I found a hot one that came in. I have killed my bird opening day the 3 years I have hunted this public land. Two of the three times it was 3:15pm and 4:30pm before I actually connected. But my persistence has always been rewarded with mature toms. Stay consistent and hunt as long as legally possible.

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Guest psefirestormlite

Re: What\'s Your Strategy?

Run and gun is my favorite. I like a little challenge when I'm hunting for turkey. Those pop up blinds make it a little to easy when your turkey hunting.

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