Am I the only one who will have as little as four or five days to hunt this season?
For those of you in the same boat as me, how do you deal with only having a few days to hunt?
Does it change the way you would hunt if you had all season?
If I could only hunt 4-5 days I would be very aggressive.
It's better than none , but I would be devastated. I would scout as much as I could and find as many birds as I could. On the days I hunted , I would constantly be moving from place to place trying to find those 2 year old kamakizi birds.
I normally only get weekends, luckily I get Sundays to. That's 7 days, season ends on a Saturday . Don't seem like a lot when you see guys posting about going to different states and Hunting for months. If you have to scout or if you know where the turkeys are I'd spend as much time in the woods as I could. I know some guys that are back home by 8 or 9 am if they can't get one on the roost they quit. I stay till I have too be out of the woods. I'd do what you normally would. Being confident can go a long way.
I would kill myself. :camohat:
If I only had one day to hunt, I would hunt the same as if I had fifty. It's not like you have to kill him. It is enough to hunt him on his terms.
I am planning for about 12 days of turkey hunting this year, split between New Mexico, Massachusetts, and Kansas. For me it means getting out to my spots real early (before anyone else) and hunting as much of the day as I legally and physically can. Beyond that, I don't think it would be that different if I had 30 days, with the exception that I know of a couple of hard to hunt gobblers that have been in the same area for at least three years now. If I had more days, I would love to spend more time going after those toms.
I generally only get 4-6 days to hunt NY with the most I've ever got up there at 9 days. Fortunately We've got great places and I've never had an issue filling both tags and calling a few for others most years. I have to hunt any weather when I'm there and I guess you could say I hunt aggressive but I just consider it just turkey hunting and as long as I'm Mobile I won't be a sit and wait all day bird hunter.
My home state of pa I'll spend a few days hunting public when I can and I've never filled both tags, lack of private access makes it tough and I'm happy to usually get one down.
I get maybe a dozen total days in the field. Mostly weekends.
Quote from: Rapscallion Vermilion on March 01, 2015, 07:10:42 PM
If I had more days, I would love to spend more time going after those toms.
It is none of my business, but we're I you, I would hunt one of the old men with the mindset that I could not hurry him and would have to kill him on turkey time. It is just as likely that a two year old will walk up and ruin your plan before he gets there anyway.
Quote from: silvestris on March 01, 2015, 06:56:41 PM
If I only had one day to hunt, I would hunt the same as if I had fifty.
I agree. Every day I go hunting, I do so with the intention of killing a bird... Not necessarily the expectation, but certainly the intention. ;D
I will say, if I know I am going to hunt an area again, there have been times when I have left birds alone that I would go after if I only had one day though...
I'm gonna get a few days this yr to hunt being my first baby girl is due April 22 our season opens the 11th of April and close about the same time in May
Quote from: Quackwacker NC on March 01, 2015, 11:10:57 PM
I'm gonna get a few days this yr to hunt being my first baby girl is due April 22 our season opens the 11th of April and close about the same time in May
Congratulations! I enjoy deer hunting more than anything in this world, but when I had to miss the last month of deer season in 2013 because my daughter was due on Dec. 28, and born on December 10, I didn't even give the deer a second thought. I ended my season on the last day of November so I was sure to be home in case she came early. I can promise you, you will not even be thinking of turkey hunting come April 11.
Better than nothing!
I've had some short seasons, and they turned out fine....
Hunt hard. Make any shot count!
Good luck!!!
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I'll have about 14 total days to hunt three different states. if I had all season to hunt, I would be more selective in what I kill. One state, I only have one day; I'll take the first two year old i can get an opportunity on.
I always hunt our first Iowa season which is only four days long. And I most always hunt public ground. My advice..... Hunt in an area you know has turkeys. You need to know there birds for confidence. Get in the area very early - be first one in. Hunt all day if legal. Last year first day snowed and didnt see or hear a bird, but I knew they were around. Second day I shot my bird at 6:35 PM. Hit'm hard!
I work a crazy swing shift schedule but I hunt everyday anyway. I'll use 2-4 hours of vacation each day that I work. I'm also going to hunt NY and PA this year. My goal is to kill at least 1 bird in each state but I will not stop until the last minute of the last day. I don't have any idea what your particular situation is but my point is sometimes you have to get creative to put more time in the woods.
I get about 12 mornings to hunt in our month long season. Use whatever time you have between now & then to scout your area thoroughly to make your hunting time count. Hunt hard, but be patient.
I hunt every day like it may be my last, because some day you won't be able to hunt.
Jim
Here is my A-B-C's of spring gobbler hunting:
1) Scout as much as you can before the season. If you have time for "on the ground" scouting, try to locate as many birds as possible,...and especially birds that might be in places away from roads or are otherwise hard to get to. If you have time, learn where the birds roost. If you cannot physically scout the area, then use maps to try to determine areas that might be productive;
2) Learn good "roosting tactics", including the effective use of locator calls, and use them religiously at dawn and dusk until you have found a concentration of birds that you are planning on hunting;
3) Be in the woods before first light every morning,...set up on a roosted bird if you know where one is,...or use mobile, early morning roosting tactics to find one;
4) Evaluate set-ups in relation to where birds are and then set-up wisely;
5) Learn basic calling skills with the tools you are best with, and then learn to "take a bird's temperature" in your use of calling. Always start your calling conservatively,...remember, you can't take back aggressive calling;
6) If your roost set-up each morning is not successful, learn from the experience so that you will know better on what to do the next morning,...turkeys are habitual to a great degree. Don't repeat things that didn't work.
7) After each mornings roost set-up, determine what might work best for your daytime hunting. Should you set-up somewhere, be patient and wait for birds in a good area you have identified? ....Or should you move carefully through your hunt area prospecting for active gobblers with your calling?
8 Keep the faith and keep hunting hard,...don't get frustrated and give up. Stick with it during all legal hunting hours and throughout your hunt. Sometimes it takes a while for it to come together,...and that can happen at any time.
9) Repeat....
I get 5 Saturday's to hunt here in PA and I get to hunt days that it's raining since we don't pour concrete in the rain and I usually take a long weekend to go to Kentucky
I can personally attest to the effectiveness of GobbleNut's advice, which I have been following ever since I met him while hunting. (A small-world story for another time.) Jump started me about five years on the learning curve.