Sit and wait, or make something happen?

[chatterbox]

I'm gonna try something new for this season. I have been chatting with quite a few seasoned turkey hunters, and I have a question. How many of you run and gun to set up on a gobbler, and how many of you will sit and wait it out?
My new plan for the spring is to get boots on the ground and scout, scout scout. I'll bring nothing but binocs and my GPS.
I'm getting tired of sitting it out in hopes a gobbler will come to my calls. If he won't, I've decided to go find one that wants to die.
I hope my new style of hunting is gonna work. What do you guys think?

[renegade19]

First, I always try to set up on a gobbler that I know is there first thing in the morning.  If that doesn't work out, I love to cover ground with the old run n gun.  If you get set up, on a bird, be patient.  But, don't hesitate to mvoe if you need to.  Moving even a few yards can sometimes turn things in your favor.   Good luck!   

[M,Yingling]

In the spring i like to move around till i can get a bird to fire off ,,, In the fall iam more of a wait them out type hunter if the birds are in the area

Goodluck 

[Crappiepro]

First, I always try to set up on a gobbler that I know is there first thing in the morning.  If that doesn't work out, I love to cover ground with the old run n gun.  If you get set up, on a bird, be patient.  But, don't hesitate to mvoe if you need to.  Moving even a few yards can sometimes turn things in your favor.   Good luck!   

Thats the way I do it too. I also move around if they fly down and don't come in to the decoys. If i know the property I'll move around in front of them and try to cut them off too. Good Luck!

[Struttinhusker]

I have become more of a sit and wait hunter for a couple of reasons.  One is that I'm getting older and don't like to stomp around in the timber as much as I used to.  The other is I have a spot on my farm where I have been able to get two or three longbeards every year by being patient and letting them come within range of my calls.  Sitting and waiting works if there are birds in the area.  If they never show up in the area, you have to go look for them.

[drenalinld]

It will work. No right or wrong here. The most important thing is to know there are birds and stay positive.  I like to set up on a gobbling bird early, run and gun till lunch, sit and wait for a few hours, then run and gun till dark.

[DMP]

First, I always try to set up on a gobbler that I know is there first thing in the morning.  If that doesn't work out, I love to cover ground with the old run n gun.  If you get set up, on a bird, be patient.  But, don't hesitate to mvoe if you need to.  Moving even a few yards can sometimes turn things in your favor.   Good luck!   

I do the same.  Although I probably need to sit more than I do.  I hunt with a guy from time to time who will sit and sit and sit till the cows come home.  It drives me crazy but he kills a lot of turkeys.

[guesswho]

There are times to sit and times to git.   I'm all for moving around but I'm not a run and gun type, it's more of a turkey pace for me, slow and deliberate.   

Be careful running and gunning, just make sure you don't run off and leave one because you didn't give him time to let his presense be known.     

[unclerick]

Acording to my brother, I'm lazy when it comes to run-n-gun tatics, I sit alot due mainly to decreptic hips and knees, I enjoy just sitting somewhere knowing that any minute a bird will stick it's head around a corner, but there is alot to be said to getting up and trying to make something happen, I think after patients, patients, patients and then a little more patients it's time to move if only a few feet.

[keyser12ga]

It doesn't matter IMO.  Scouting is necessary as you know, but it is no guarantee even with gps plotting sightins ( I bought gps after this season).  This past spring, I made the error of sitting at the base of a tree directly beneath a roosted gobbler.  I let the spot sit for a week and the next time out, I picked a spot a few hundred yards out and sat directly beneath a roosted bird again. 

[gob09]

i will admit i need to sit more often. i can think of two or three times when i should have stayed put.
one time i sat for thee hours at corner of two fields where i knew turkey traveled through i got tired of sitting and got up went out to the decoys .as i bent over to pick them up i looked to my left abd there stood three hens and a gobbler within range.  but not for long they were gone in a second.n 5 more minutes and they would have been out in the open even though i still love to be on the move looking out for a turkey to kill but sittng and waiting have there advantages 

[deacon]

I really began filling tags when I learned to slow down and hunt. Slip from set up to set up, listen for crows, etc. and actually hear that turkey scratching over the ridge that I would have bumped back in the days I only wanted to hunt kamakazi toms. I like hunters with "happy feet". They make turkeys get long beards and spurs where I hunt on public land. Early season before greenup is when most guys make the mistake of not hunting carefully. The hunt is over for them long before they start to call.

Good info buddy!

[davisd9]

I really began filling tags when I learned to slow down and hunt. Slip from set up to set up, listen for crows, etc. and actually hear that turkey scratching over the ridge that I would have bumped back in the days I only wanted to hunt kamakazi toms. I like hunters with "happy feet". They make turkeys get long beards and spurs where I hunt on public land. Early season before greenup is when most guys make the mistake of not hunting carefully. The hunt is over for them long before they start to call.

Good info buddy!

That is a username that I like to see.  Glad to see you over here!

[gobbler336]

if you could only know the right answer everyday!  somedays they just are not gobbling and you need to sit and wait in a likely place or go take a nap, other days they are hammering but you maybe where they ain't and you would never no it just sitting in the silent woods, so what do you do?  i usually have a fast pace in the morning and as lunch approaches i slow way down and find a comfortable tree. 

[GobbleNut]

Good points being made.
For every hunting area, there are usually smart ways to hunt,...and there are dumb ways to hunt.  ...And the right hunting approach can be totally different in any two areas.  The trick is to figure out what hunting method is the most effective for the place and time you are there hunting. 

I think it would probably be safe to say that everybody agrees that setting up on roosted gobblers in the morning is the best approach to start the day.  After that, however, the decision making process becomes a bit more complicated.  After a day or two hunting in any area, the wise and experienced hunter will have made a good, educated guess as to what tactics,...whether it be sit and wait, or move and call, or call a lot, or call a little,...is most likely to be the best to use. 

The one critical factor for me in deciding whether to move around or sit in one place, is having confidence that there are birds nearby, and the likelyhood that they will eventually wander by the place I have chosen to set up.  If I do not have full confidence in my set up, I am much more likely to move and call until I find a spot that gives me that confidence, ...or better yet, until I strike a responsive gobbler.