What type of hunter are you? Aggressive run and gun type? Are you the patient hunter who can sit all day at one tree? Or do you fall in the happy medium range where you get aggressive but know when you should stay put? I fall under the aggressive category. I love to find the hot bird but I must say it has back fired on me many times. i have give up on birds to early and move on. Next thing i know i hear a gobble where I just came from. I hunt a lot of pressured public ground here in Pennsylvania so as it gets later in the season typically you hear fewer and fewer birds being vocal. I tend to fall in the happy medium category usually at that point. I have 4 buddies who are turkey crazy like myself and I usually hunt with each one of them a couple times a season and we are all completely different hunters. However each of us usually have pretty good success during the season. I decided the one day to sit with my buddy who can sit all day at the same tree we called in 8 birds in one day. And we really weren't hearing to many gobblers just knew we were in the area of birds. So it definitely pays off to be patient if your rear end can handle the sitting.
I am an aggressive runner and gunner too. Big woods first and a reclaimed mine here and there. I can't sit unless a bird is coming in.
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Slow and steady. Don't matter to me if I kill him ten minutes after fly down or ten minute before fly up.
I don't push them but I don't let them wander off either. I know if I don't kill him that day, I learned enough to where I can kill him the next day.
Given a choice I'm more comfortable as the aggressive run and gun turkey hunter. I hunt alot of public property and can cover some ground trying to get a bird to sound off. I can sit for quite a while too if I know that a gobbler is in the area. I hunt fast when I can and slow when I must!
IT really depends on what phase of the season we are in for me,but most of the time I try to stay slow and steady.There is a time and place for both styles,paying attention to what the birds are doing today lets me know how I will be hunting that day.
Quote from: WildTigerTrout on February 15, 2013, 10:21:21 PM
Given a choice I'm more comfortable as the aggressive run and gun turkey hunter. I hunt alot of public property and can cover some ground trying to get a bird to sound off. I can sit for quite a while too if I know that a gobbler is in the area. I hunt fast when I can and slow when I must!
I'm like WTT above. I have a lot of public ground I can cover and cover as much of it I can. I started riding a mountain bike last year and covered even more ground, but silently.
I wish I could sit against the same tree for 3 or 4 hours, I just can't sit still.
I am more agressive. I probably have an undiagnosed case of ADHD, which is why I love turkey hunting! I am getting more patient with age, though. I can now sit for about a half an hour without hearing a gobble before I feel like I need to move.
I tend to be more on the paitent side. Most of the areas I hunt are hit pretty hard. Generally I do most of my moving early on in the morning. I get to my listening spot, hustle to where the birds sound off at and try to set up. Generally the gobbling quiets down shortly after flydown and I will slowly work my way to areas where I know birds will frequent and set up there for the remainder of the morning (hunting ends at 12 here) But I am quick to move if I hear a bird and try to make something happen. I usually dont do a ton of walking and calling though, never really had much success with that.
It depends on where I'm hunting. In the south I'm a lot like guesswho and slow and steady. In the mid west I'm more of a run and gunner.
I'm whatever I need to be. On a henned up field bird I can sit all day or run and gun if its called for. Every bird is different and every area is different. I'll do what it takes to bust beaks.
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Quote from: birdyhunter on February 16, 2013, 02:34:37 PM
I'm whatever I need to be. On a henned up field bird I can sit all day or run and gun if its called for. Every bird is different and every area is different. I'll do what it takes to bust beaks.
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Im with you. I let the birds tell me what were doing today.
Quote from: mikejd on February 16, 2013, 04:27:49 PM
Quote from: birdyhunter on February 16, 2013, 02:34:37 PM
I'm whatever I need to be. On a henned up field bird I can sit all day or run and gun if its called for. Every bird is different and every area is different. I'll do what it takes to bust beaks.
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Im with you. I let the birds tell me what were doing today.
X 2!
I can hunt either way, usually depending on several factors, such as where I am hunting, phase of the season, etc.
Usually i'm a happy medium, but really depends on the temper of the turkeys
sometimes I am a great hunter (if the birds work right) other times I think good grief what were u thinking lol
Guess Im going to have to be an aggresive one. I'm not normally going to sit for a half day and wait on any gobbler. I'll find one that wants to play by the script, spend the rest of the day lloking for one. I will be patient if I know he is somewhere close, but waiting him out, naw too many turkeys where i hunt for that.
Quote from: guesswho on February 15, 2013, 09:18:15 PM
Slow and steady. Don't matter to me if I kill him ten minutes after fly down or ten minute before fly up.
I don't push them but I don't let them wander off either. I know if I don't kill him that day, I learned enough to where I can kill him the next day.
This ^^^
I try to roost birds and be where they want to be at flydown, but if I am not I find out where he is and play his game. I will kill him today or tomorrow - doesn't matter. I will hunt from daylight to dark never coming out of the woods if I can stay on a bird.
I think I got my patience from hunting in the South. I just have to wait a bird out sometimes. If all else fails, I will leave him at lunch and be waiting for him at his roosting spot that evening.
I hunt highly pressured public land for Osceola's and have learned the patience to sit tight. I kill a lot of my birds after 10:00am and a bunch have come in silent. Running and gunning would have passed over the quiet ones.
I run and gun. I shoot gobbling birds, and could care less about deer hunting them. Sitting somewhere and waiting on a bird that may or may not be there, to come in silent, is about as much fun as watching paint dry. This is my opinion, don't have anything against people who do this, as it can be very productive, but I'm blessed with the ability to hunt nearly any day of the season I want, so I would rather call it a day if I can't get one to gobble. The only exception to this is if I am out of state and on a limited time frame.
I cant stand to sit in one spot all day for a bird but Im not a "run and gun" type guy either...but I will do either if I feel like it gives me the best chance to kill one on a given day/situation.
That's a pretty general answer but every hunt is different so my approach tends to change based on the situation.
It all depends on how many naps I want to take that day :funnyturkey:
Quote from: redleg06 on February 25, 2013, 03:59:58 PM
I cant stand to sit in one spot all day for a bird but Im not a "run and gun" type guy either...but I will do either if I feel like it gives me the best chance to kill one on a given day/situation.
That's a pretty general answer but every hunt is different so my approach tends to change based on the situation.
Which is why you kill turkeys! You have to hunt them day to day based on what they are doing!
aggressive
Quote from: atoler on February 25, 2013, 12:22:22 AM
I run and gun. I shoot gobbling birds, and could care less about deer hunting them. Sitting somewhere and waiting on a bird that may or may not be there, to come in silent, is about as much fun as watching paint dry. This is my opinion, don't have anything against people who do this, as it can be very productive, but I'm blessed with the ability to hunt nearly any day of the season I want, so I would rather call it a day if I can't get one to gobble. The only exception to this is if I am out of state and on a limited time frame.
Could not have said it better. I can't sit still unless I know I'm working a bird. I don't like blind calling. If they're not gobbling, I'll try a few spots that I know have worked in the past. If those don't produce, then I'll try another farm or come back the next day. I know patience works, too, and that is how I started out, but I just can't do all day sits in one spot anymore. To me, that's what treestands are for during the rut. Now, I don't trounce through the woods all morning looking for signs of turkeys -- I'm calculated in my approach -- but I don't stay in one place too long.
I also hit 3 or 4 states a year, so I am definitely more patient and spend more dedicated time in out-of-state spots when I'm on a limited timeframe.
I'm a minimalist. Get in early, carry in as little as possible, take a seat and wait. If nothing happens have a nap and try some run and gun tactics for the afternoon. It's a day long adventure.
I used to be super agressive in moving on birds and my calling. Now I am the complete opposite. I hunt a lot of crop fields so I have learned to be patient and I know that if I wait and sound like a turkey should during that certain phase of the season, then I will have success. If it doesn't work out right off of the roost then I will move on to a field that I have scouted beforehand and leave the roosted bird for the next morning with a different game plan.
I used to do a lot of r&g but these 55 year old knees won't cooperate most days. Now I take it slow and steady and kill just as many birds. I really enjoy hunting with a laid back strategy. Last year
I couldn't find a gobblin bird nowhere. I remembered a place that had a lot of old and new scratchings and such so I went to the area and set down and would call about every 20 minutes. Just basic stuff. I did this for 3 1/2 hours and called up 3 longbeards. They never made a sound.One went home with me.This has happened at least once every year for the past 8 years. It takes a lot of patience going from an aggressive hunter to slowing way down. But killing a few like this gives you the confidence to hang in there.. I really like to set up near roost sites in the afternoon.
Again, I'm slow and steady. But I spend about 80-90% of my hunting time on my feet, just not of the run and gun variety.
My hunting approach changes with the way the turkeys respond and the area I'm hunting.
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Quote from: guesswho on February 27, 2013, 07:31:11 PM
Again, I'm slow and steady. But I spend about 80-90% of my hunting time on my feet, just not of the run and gun variety.
Understood.
I think that both ways work great but I'm leaning more to run and gun. I spend enough time sitting still during deer season. I just want to move more since turkey hunting allows it. I find it easier to introduce more people to hunting with a run and gun approach because they find sitting in one spot harder. They are either not comfortable or ADHD kicks in.
Slow and steady for me but i cover alot of ground.I know my hunting areas well so if one gobbles i can move to that location and hearing that one gobble gives me the patience to wait him out.
I hunt the ridges and drainages of Shawnee National Forest, Il. and try to cover as much ground as possible during the early morning prime gobbling times.
What ever it takes.......to bringum home !!!! :z-guntootsmiley:
Quote from: Byhalia on March 03, 2013, 12:04:56 PM
What ever it takes.......to bringum home !!!! :z-guntootsmiley:
X2
I will sit and wait them out even if i have to sit a week . i don't like to bump birds .
definitely a run and gunner here :turkey2:
I'm more of a run-n-gun style, but I can sit and wait 'em out if I have too.