got a text at work today "started logging at camp today" so naturally I had to ride out there this afternoon.
Not happy at all,any advise on how to possibly hunt this area while logging going on ??????
It want bother em. My family has logged for nearly 40 years. They will just stay back a little from the equipment. I don't know how many we've heard gobble at trees crashing into the ground
Never been through it personally, but i've had guys tell me that the birds stayed and worked around the logging and i've heard them say the birds moved right back in there as soon as the logging was done. Either way, the birds didn't leave. Sorry you had to have it happen right as the season opens though...it doesn't do much for your morale, i'm sure.
Don't know about during the logging but after they are done the turkeys will love it. IMO they love the logging roads b/c it's a strut zone and the shoots of grass that begins to grow in the spring. Also if they left the tops it makes for a number of good nesting sites for the hens. Hope this helps you stay positive about your situation.
I killed one about four years ago that I swore wasn't going to fly down until they cut the tree he was in. Equipment within probably 80 yards of his roost tree. I sat up on the opposite side and called him and his hen down a four wheeler trail. I used the loggers to my advantage, figured he wouldn't fly out towards them.
Unless they totally clearcut it, they probably won't go far.
The aggrivating part of course is the noise. Don't worry bout the turkeys, they will hear you. But it is hard to hear them. Most crews dont crank up at the crack of dawn so you will likely have an hour of peace at first light. They take breaks and shut down periodically when you can hear a bird and get on him before they crank up again. If legal in your state, consider hunting late afternoons after they shut down. And if they are not rushed too get the tract done maybe they won't work on weekends. Do you know if they are clear cutting or thinning and 5th rowing? How big is the timber? if not real big maybe they are just thinning and will move out before season ends. The birds will move away from the noise but not too far. Hopefully you have enough acreage to move off far enough that the noise won't be deafening.
Oh BTW, if i'm not mistaken, a member of my team put a kill video from SC last year and you could hear the saws running and trees falling while he was calling the tom in. Killed him just like nothing was going on. Go for it brother !
Hunt it anyway. Last club I belonged to got clear cut at the start of deer season all the way through turkey season. I got pissed off and hunted it twice. Wasted my money while other guys were killing turkeys. They'll still be there.
Man, that sounds like a controlled burn. Looks desolate to us but looks like pure heaven to the birds. We still going, right? This will be fun.
Thanks for the morale booster gentlemen
Quote from: FullChoke on March 06, 2014, 10:42:14 PM
Man, that sounds like a controlled burn. Looks desolate to us but looks like pure heaven to the birds. We still going, right? This will be fun.
Oh yea,we are still on,just ticks me off right here at the opener
They were logging a section of our club one time and I avoided it like a plague. I figured no bird in his right mind would be around all that commotion till I heard one gobble at a log trucks brakes. I killed him that evening. Hunt the edges where it's clear cut.
not a problem they don't care almost like farm machinery just seems natural take an atv through the woods game stares and watches you go by walk on foot they run outta town...only drawback is hearin gobbling over machinery
They shouldn't care too much. This farm I used to hunt on had a quarry a couple of hundred yards behind and they didn't seem to care when they fired up the machines. I had it happen quite a few times when birds were fired up and a machine started backing up, the bird would gobble at every beep.
I recently went out to check a pine thinning operation, on a place I've never seen a turkey. Got about 100 yards past the equipment and there was a big longbeard and a few hens. It will be a slight hindrance for you, from a hearing standpoint, but the birds won't be too far away.
Many years ago I was given permission to hunt an area deep in Southern Illinois in some beautiful country, just off a main highway that had excellent access. I scouted the area, heard and saw turkeys and was very excited about opening day.
The big day came and you can imagine my surprise when I saw that the pristine wooded land was was actively being logged. Trucks, equipment and men were everywhere. I was pretty much devastated. So much so in fact, that I just got back in my truck and headed to another spot.
Then I decided that I would not give up that easily and the next day, long before the loggers arrived, I was there and went much deeper into the woods where I'd also seen turkeys on my scouting missions. Shortly before daybreak, I heard a gobbler, then another and another.
The short story is that about the time I heard the loggers fire up their equipment, I was walking out with a nice gobbler.
I took the long way around the loggers, I did not want them to see either me or the gobbler, and went home happy.
I hope you have the same luck.
Thanks,
Clark
It still sucks from an esthetic auditory position, whatever success you have.
Quote from: surehuntsalot on March 06, 2014, 09:38:40 PM
got a text at work today "started logging at camp today" so naturally I had to ride out there this afternoon.
Not happy at all,any advise on how to possibly hunt this area while logging going on ??????
As a forester and turkey hunter I will give you some advice. Be there early as cranking a chain saw, trailer clanging on roads, back up alarms among others will many times get a gobble response. Your problem is going to be the noise that interferes with you being able to hear distant gobbling, drumming, etc.
If you know your woods you will still find birds where they have been. Keep a check on tracks , or any movement associated with logging activity. Get to know the loggers and find out when they start and stop, will they work on weekends, knock off early on Friday, etc. and see if they are seeing birds crossing roads, etc.
By next year the opening created by logging should create scratching areas for insects that the poults will love and adult birds will frequent as well. Sorry to hear of BAD TIMING but in the long run hopefully it will be a good thing. Last year on one of my huntable areas they burned off 4600 acres in two days, the entire lease three days before season opener. Started to buy some black bisqueen for my cammo outfit. :gobble:
again thanks everyone for the advise
I killed 2 in 2 days years ago as chainsaws screamed across the valley as the were logging where I was hunting. I thought sure it would have fouled me up but it didn't that weekend.
when there not there use there equipment for a blind lol or hide behind it they wont pay any attention