Birds aren’t gobbling, what do you do?

[Duckdogdad]

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Stay in one place and try to call one up? Keep moving, hoping to find a gobbling bird?

[JMalin]

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I like to sit in an area I know they frequent calling every 20 minutes or so until one comes in or I hear a bird fire off in the distance.  I don’t like walking over birds, but if hunting large expanses of public, sometimes you just gotta keep pushing further in.

[charlesgoff71]

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Sit on sign and call occasionally.  If I cant find good sign I'll go to an area I scouted and saw birds in prior to season

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[BigSlam51]

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I hit a different property

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[Ctrize]

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The million dollar question. If your scouting says your in the best spot sit tight. But you dont have to thsts the besuty of turkey hunting. Before you move run through your calls ,soft calls clucks plain yelps then cutts lost yelps maybe a gobble then move.Make your move with stealth dont just move helter skelter

[mspaci]

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keep  grinding, believe it will happen, Mike

[GobbleNut]

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On large properties/areas, I keep moving and calling until I strike a bird,...all while being conscious of other hunters in the area and avoiding them.  On small properties where that strategy is impractical, I will grit my teeth and sit sign and call occasionally.

However, anywhere I hunt, I will research/investigate all of the possible areas I can hunt within an hour or so drive from my central location.  If the birds are not active, I will use that time to explore those other areas to determine if they have potential.  In addition, in areas of interspersed public and private land, having a land-status map is invaluable.

One of my fundamental strategies is to look for public access points to areas of public land that are behind private holdings, especially those with agriculture that attracts turkeys.  Find an area like that,...and that is far enough from any roads to discourage other hunters,...and you will usually find turkeys,...and often birds that you can fire up. 

[wchadw]

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I usually setup in strutting or feeding areas and call and stay still and wait and see if one slips in


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[Crghss]

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I wait until 10:30 - 11:00 am before I determine that they’re not calling. I think a lot of hunters give up after 9 to 9:30 if they don’t hear any gobbles.

If you have plenty of room to roam running n gunning is my favorite way too turkey hunt. But being in Florida now on high pressure public it seems to be best to hang tight.

[MK M GOBL]

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All depends on where I am hunting public/private and what I have learned during my scouting. I have spots I know birds show up at and I have patience to wait them out, I call infrequently at times just in case that traveling bird is roaming about. I always have a back-up plan as well, well maybe 2 or 3 backups. I am much more inclined to move around on public as I never know what I am walking into, who's been there before me and how "buggered-up" they have the birds.

I rely heavily on pre-season/season scouting and like to have 20-25 birds located by season, and keep tabs on them throughout the season.



MK M GOBL

[g8rvet]

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Today, I chose to move and call.  It is a special opp hunt and I only have 2 days.  It will be closed 2 weeks and then I will be a guest on another guy's permit, so today was about hunting, but also about intel. We also had rain pushing in and figured we needed to make something happen. 

Going same place in AM with a more sit tight plan in place.  We'll see. 

[Happy]

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I ain't the type to sit on my rear end wishin. Yes it sometimes pays off. Sometimes it dont. But I would rather scout new territory and gather Intel with the chance of finding a gobbler than sitting on my rear end learning nothing. Now I am not talking about running around scaring everything in creation. It's more a low key operation.

[TRG3]

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If you have confidence that there are turkeys in the area, I would place my decoys so that they could be easily seen and then find a spot for my turkey lounger that allows me good visibility and comfort because it could be a few hours before any turkeys come your way, if they do at all. By placing a camo-type netting in front of me, I can take a snooze, read a book, etc. while I wait for turkeys to respond to my occasional calling, including some gobbling. In the past, I've experienced being awakened by the sound of my Funky Chicken taking a flogging. Fortunately, the fumbling for my shotgun was hidden by the camo netting, allowing me sufficient time to successfully send a load of #5 shot the gobbler's way.

[Cottonmouth]

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Like some have already said, if you know the property and where the strut zones are. Get comfortable and do some light calling. I was on a henned up gobbler yesterday morning that shut up when he hit the ground. Took about an hour but managed to make it all happen.

[Rzrbac]

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I can’t bring myself to sit down unless I’m working a bird. I usually have a planned route I’m gonna walk and try to arrive at certain destinations when I think a gobbler will be there. As the birds become thinner on my public places I believe it’s imperative to log as many miles as possible.