How late into the season are mountain birds still doing their thing in the southern part of the state?
I killed one May 11th, came in gobbling all the way. Last year I hunted the last week of the season and heard virtually no gobbling, killed one near water.
I think it was more due to hunting pressure than them being done though. Was shocked by the pressure on opening weekend this year, first year I hunted the opener.
I was in CO last week for 2 days; I did not hear a turkey gobble and I didn't kill one, either.
I'll be heading out from Texas in the morning. Will start somewhere in San Isabel and may end up moving west to San Juan national forest if I find myself not liking the looks of the country. Will attempt to roost birds from forest service roads and if that's a bust, find a hiking trail that hopefully puts me on a ridge top where I can listen to a lot of country.
Will look forward to your report on your hunt. From my admittedly limited experience hunting there, southern CO, and especially that southwest quadrant, is a tough place to hunt,...limited access, relatively few birds scattered over a big area, lots of private land, and concentrated hunting pressure due to all of those factors. Good luck!
Good luck, be ready to cover some ground and keep us posted.
How important is it to actually be in ponderosa? Some of the country I'm looking at is above 10k feet and looks to be more spruce/fir country. Lots of piñon/juniper country as well, which I know can have birds as long as there's some roost trees in the canyon bottoms.
Quote from: JMalin on May 24, 2022, 10:41:21 AM
How important is it to actually be in ponderosa? Some of the country I'm looking at is above 10k feet and looks to be more spruce/fir country. Lots of piñon/juniper country as well, which I know can have birds as long as there's some roost trees in the canyon bottoms.
Again, limited experience in CO here, but all of the birds I found in my trips there in the early to mid-May timeframe were in the 8,000 ft. elevation range plus/minus. I saw some of the best-looking Merriam's habitat that I have ever seen both above and below that elevation, but could not find turkeys in either.
You need trees large enough for roost, they love Ponderosa but it is not the only tree they will roost in.
I have heard they will hang at high elevation but I agree with gobble nut, find them mostly 7k-8500k.
Looks like it may be raining up there right now, otherwise I would have told you to focus on water as it had been extremely dry!
Six inches of snow on the ground above 8000' where I ended up scouting. Any forest service road that doesn't have a residence or run through private is going to be impassable from all the moisture. Cut a couple sets of tracks yesterday that were fresh, but appeared to be a small hen and Jake. Saw a group of male birds in the foothills on private yesterday afternoon a few miles from where I ended up. No gobbles this morning, though I was a bit late getting started. Gunna look at rain/snowfall totals and head to the driest ground.
Punting on San Isabel and heading to San Juan. Too much snow and moisture for my liking on front range
Should be no issue with snow in The San Juan's.
No snow and plenty of ground is accessible but finding turkeys is another story. Some not fresh droppings is all I've found and my attempt at roosting this evening turned up nothing. Was in some very pretty country too. The 8400-8600 range is where I found elk and the ground is more lush than the 8000' country I walked earlier in the day. This feels like it's going to be quite the challenge.
It is a tough hunt, most of it looks like incredible habitat and very little of it holds birds. Big problem is the isolated birds are pressured like I would have never believed!
I hunt a lot of public, mostly in the Midwest, and rarely on the opener. Was in Colorado for the opener and it was a circus! I think residents get a turkey tag with their license? That would explain some things. Worst pressure I have dealt with anywhere.
Elk and turkey are often in the same terrain, keep poking around and check any water you can find.
I cut several sets of gobbler tracks that were fresher than any boot or tire tracks, but still haven't heard a gobble. I'm kinda thinking maybe they're done and/or combination of being pressured, but even pressured birds I've dealt with in the past will still gobble on the limb.
When I was there last week of season last year I heard virtually no gobbling, however I did have one good morning where a group of jake's and one tom roosted close together and there was good gobbling, called in the hens and jakes but the tom stayed one ridge over.
Got him to gobble one evening with a Coyote howler, he was silent the next morning and I even heard him fly down.
I drug a pine branch across the trail I found gobbler tracks on so that I'll know that any track I see in there again is fresh. Also set up a trail camera. This feels more like deer hunting than turkey hunting unfortunately
Logged 10.2 miles today. Got a spot I'm going to listen from in the morning and if it's a bust, I may end up just treating the remainder of the time in Colorado as a vacation
Hunting turkeys is a vacation! Just keep poking around and enjoy the views!
I get so into hunt mode I forget to stop and smell the roses!
At the very least, I put in some ground work should I return earlier in the season. I'm in sign. Scratchings of pine needs, old droppings, some tracks. Just can't get on a gobbling bird to save my life.
Was out in that area of the state from the 10th til the 15th, filled my tag and my buddy came very close to filling his. We covered about 50 miles on foot in 4 1/2 days. With the only snow being above 10,000 for the most part, we ran into pretty much all of the birds/sign ABOVE 8k. The bird I killed was around 8,500 and we actually saw a group of hens as high as 9500. That being said, it was pretty obvious that the toms we were hunting were some of the few to survive the earlier part of the season, which might have to do with them booking it up the mountain to the high meadows. I'd look for access away from traditional campgrounds and larger streams that have decent fishing. Seems that a lot of these areas with birds get noticed during other seasons / activities and people come back to hunt them.
I probably spent too much time in an area with easy access. No gobbles again this morning. I kinda think it's a combination of things being about done on the breeding cycle and the easy to get to birds getting killed. Getting a hotel the next two days to regroup and get rested up. Will target some higher areas that are hard to get to, but kinda feel whipped and ready to just sight see.
I don't think anyone not local realizes the pressure there.
I was shocked, absolutely pounded opening weekend, and guys could care less about coming in on your hunt!
I parked a half mile from where I started opening morning, when I left there were two trucks between mine and my set up!
Saw 11 trucks at one trail!
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Quote from: Dtrkyman on May 27, 2022, 06:55:21 PM
I don't think anyone not local realizes the pressure there.
Reminds me of the first time I hunted in CO. Went into a Walmart to buy a license about May 10th or so. Ran into a couple of out-of-staters who had apparently been hunting for a few days. The dejected look on their faces should have warned me about what we were about to face. "Shocked" does not start to describe it!
Personally, I like a challenge when I go to a new place to hunt, but the conditions we found,...giant country with limited access and very few turkeys that had obviously been scared sh*tless by the time we got there,...were a bit more than even I had bargained for. A guy can kill a gobbler there, no doubt, but it ain't a walk in the park to get it done!
I'm now in a lot of fresh sign with two hens sighted on public. Finally feels like I'm in them. Backing out for now. Will come back in here this evening to hunt/roost.
Get on them!!! Hammer time!!! Best of luck to you! Please post up pictures.
Have a good one
Bo
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Good luck with them. Been keeping up with the thread and rooting for ya!
This has been a fun thread to follow!
Best of luck sir.
Greg
Dealing with a bird afraid of his own shadow it seems. Didn't do any good yesterday evening. He gobbled one time this morning after the hens he was roosted with gave out their first tree yelps. I thought I had gotten past them and wanted to be able to shoot the forest service road I figured they'd use based on the fresh tracks in the road I had seen yesterday. Instead I ended up within 70 yards of them, well below them and as soon as I sat down they started putting. After about 10 mins of off and on putting, they calmed down with the hens continuing with tree talk. Flew down a bit later than I expected (probably due to my presence) with what I assume was four hens and the one Tom. Hens yelped a bit on the ground, but I never heard another gobble. As soon as they worked off, I got a 1/4 mile or so further down the road and set up on a cut I figured they might travel down with a nice bend in the road. Kept mostly quiet at this point. 30-45 mins later a group of three hens came in from what would have been further up the road. They take off running past me. Wasn't sure if they had seen me or what. Then they headed up to the cut and played chase with what I think was two of the hens the Tom had roosted with and the Tom himself. One starts yelping and I start calling back. The Tom then steps out at 80-100 yards, peaks from where I was sitting/calling from, and proceeds to move off quickly leaving live hens in the process. I know I wasn't moving. Just a pressured turkey I assume. Will try for the roost ambush tonight. Won't make a peep. None of us turkey hunt for that sort of thing, but I'd sure like to sleep in tomorrow and not try to locate a different bird to hunt.
Definitely sounds like a heavily pressured bird, even though I prefer calling in birds I get a certain satisfaction killing a silent bird!
Good luck.
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Some pretty strong wing gusts, clouds, and light rain moved in during the last hour of daylight and as I sat there waiting for anything to happen, I had strong case of home sickness set in. I thought I had heard a hen making some noise from back behind me, but never did hear anything fly up and at this point I was convinced it was time to call it and head home. I honestly don't even think I would have stayed another night for a guaranteed shot opportunity the following morning. I ended up making a little over half the eight hour drive home before pulling over at a rest stop, getting a couple hours of sleep before making the rest of the drive back to Lubbock.
Lots of things I would have done differently and I'll likely return in the future (earlier in the season) armed with the knowledge gained from this trip. Hunting alone in remote country is super isolating and I say this as an introvert that does a lot of things alone.
Quote from: JMalin on May 30, 2022, 01:21:20 PM
Hunting alone in remote country is super isolating and I say this as an introvert that does a lot of things alone.
When the action is slow and conditions tough, it doesn't even have to be remote country before it starts taking a toll on you mentally! I always start thinking about the vacation time I could be saving, how much I have to do back at home and at work, etc. I commend you for sticking it out as long as you did. You'll get one next trip using what all you've learned from this one. I'd just recommend going earlier!
I first went to Colorado in 2016 and the turkey hunting pressure was minimal other than a few locals. I know some folks who've hunted the same area in recent years and it is night and day difference. Marketing and social media has no doubt been extremely successful on getting western big game hunters interested in turkey too.
Quote from: deerhunt1988 on May 30, 2022, 03:17:44 PM
Quote from: JMalin on May 30, 2022, 01:21:20 PM
Hunting alone in remote country is super isolating and I say this as an introvert that does a lot of things alone.
When the action is slow and conditions tough, it doesn't even have to be remote country before it starts taking a toll on you mentally! I always start thinking about the vacation time I could be saving, how much I have to do back at home and at work, etc. I commend you for sticking it out as long as you did. You'll get one next trip using what all you've learned from this one. I'd just recommend going earlier!
I first went to Colorado in 2016 and the turkey hunting pressure was minimal other than a few locals. I know some folks who've hunted the same area in recent years and it is night and day difference. Marketing and social media has no doubt been extremely successful on getting western big game hunters interested in turkey too.
I admire anybody that will stick with hunting anywhere for an extended period when the birds are not vocal and/or there are just very few of them around. The location I have hunted late-season in Colorado (which I think is where we are talking about here) fits squarely into that category for me in the times I have hunted there, which have been fairly recently.
I will add that this particular area seems to have had a significant decline in turkey numbers based on what I have been told. A local there told me that the population dropped considerably around 2015 or thereabouts (saw the same thing in equivalent country in Utah). Add the increase in interest in hunting turkeys from the locals and us out-of-staters, and we find ourselves in the apparent situation that seems to exist right now,...tough hunting for relatively few turkeys that are now being highly pressured.
Being the eternal optimist I am, I am planning on giving CO a go again next spring. Fingers crossed that maybe things will be different. :D ;D
I am almost always solo, too many guys backing out over the years and i like to just go when I can! The walls tend to close in on these slow hunts, I generally just pull out of an area and head elsewhere when things are tough.
I really enjoy new places and finding birds in a new area is nearly as fun as killing them!
Enjoyed following along as I was basically in the same situation last season and was really fortunate to get a bird on the last day of season!
Enjoyed following along. Was rooting for you. Give it another go earlier next year