I see lots of posts saying guys are on land "heavily hunted". Wondering what guys consider to label a place as so. What they do to avoid such places n why hunt there?
I mean are guys being sportsman n giving you a bird you're working? Do you like working the same bird someone just finished trying? Why not just go somewhere else?
I live in Jersey, also hunt NY. In 35 years I've seen guys twice in the turkey woods. A few more at trucks n i avoided the area they were frequenting. Id even avoid an area guys were scouting or driving past regular. Turkey hunting for the most part isn't a social sport so what's the attraction with heavily hunted areas?
Quote from: Bowguy on April 01, 2016, 06:29:24 PM
I see lots of posts saying guys are on land "heavily hunted". Wondering what guys consider to label a place as so. What they do to avoid such places n why hunt there?
Somewhere like Public that is hunted just about everyday by someone.
Quote from: Bowguy on April 01, 2016, 06:29:24 PM
I mean are guys being sportsman n giving you a bird you're working?
I wish it always happened that way, but not that often on Public.
Quote from: Bowguy on April 01, 2016, 06:29:24 PM
Do you like working the same bird someone just finished trying?
Sure if they are done, why not, very rewarding taking a bird that many have messed with.
Quote from: Bowguy on April 01, 2016, 06:29:24 PM
Why not just go somewhere else?
Limited to areas, and all areas will more than likely have hunters too, the last week is only time I actually find no one at all hunting on some Public areas, but that's not even a given.
Quote from: Bowguy on April 01, 2016, 06:29:24 PM
Turkey hunting for the most part isn't a social sport so what's the attraction with heavily hunted areas?
Some live in areas with not enough Public land, and way too many hunters, and they want to hunt too. You are obviously very spoiled with your hunting, I don't mean that in a bad way, but consider yourself lucky.
My 1200 acre lease with 6 serious turkey hunters chasing them 7 days a week is what I call over pressured. Now keep in mind all 6 don't hunt everyday , but there is never less than 3. On this lease there is only 3 areas that hold birds. The rest is 8 year old cutover. We have alot of birds but it went from hearing a dozen in the morning gobbling to almost none. I have killed a bird and another guy killed one. I have hunted ten days straight , most of the day and have heard 1 bird. 2 of the new guys run up and down every road we have hammering them with calls and bumping birds off their roost. Can't say much as its the lease holders good buddies. Sorry but this post just let me vent a little lol.
It's ok to vent n I also understand sharing leases but isn't there a mountain no one wants to climb? A walk in too far for most guys? A river you can cRoss to hit an isolated island? Man if not Id go crazy. I figured in populated NJ, not that I live in one of the more populated areas, but if we can escape I figured it'd be easier other places. We also share leases n some spots I avoid, the few guys that do hunt similar areas as me I normally beat there since I'll often be there sleeping for a couple hours before light. Thank God most guys in my area are gentleman n give you space
We have 3 farms we hunt and every year we let one sit out .. We call that farm the safety zone for that year and just let the birds do what birds do... 3 of us hunt just over a 1000 ac,, total... one of the three just hunts about 4 times the hold season...
99 % of the property in PA
I only hunt public and when I'm working a bird and somebody walks past me to get to the bird...that is heavily hunted.
Ok I uderstand the heavily hunted but I guess I'm wondering why that's just a given. I live in a town where we lease lots of land, lots of our old pieces are now public. Some easy pieces were great n if I hunted there Id have company. I make adjustments to be left alone by doing things I posted earlier. One mountain is often all it takes plus people don't see mountain birds n they're more natural. Isn't there any other land?
Quote from: Bowguy on April 01, 2016, 07:51:36 PM
Isn't there any other land?
Public only, private areas are a thing of the past unless you or a relative own the property. If you find any Private around here that let you hunt, they let everyone hunt, so it ends up worse than Public at times.
Sure one can drive a couple hours to other Public but you still stand the chance of other hunters. One year I was so disgusted with Public around my home and others boggering me up, I took Wed off work and drove 2 hours North to get away from others, Wrong! Got there well before daylight as I was the only car at the time. Had two birds working in from 60 yards and they all the sudden flew staight up in the air. Then here came a hunter right behind them non stop on a mouthcall. He parked where I did and saw my truck, but obviously did not care. Needless to say, I do not take days off and drive North anymore.
I have two types of land I primarily hunt. 1. Public land- large chunks of land with birds hidden in pockets. Believe me you can hunt all day and not hear a bird if you are in the wrong spot. It's first come and first serve. I always arrive early and head deep into the woods. Even if I know of birds closer to the road I pass them. I avoid "the fat man 500" at all costs. Most guys won't hunt an area unless there are birds that are audible from the parking lot. That's where my 500 yard rule comes in. I kill birds by hiking in deep and staying late and just basically out working people.
2. Club property- This club could be a hunting heaven but it will never happen. This is about 60,000 acres in the great state of Wv. Problem is there are gravel roads everywhere. The majority of turkey and deer seasons there are vehicles and side by sides everywhere. Rifles loaded and the window down. A popular joke is that the preferred camo of the club is tinted windows. These boys pretty well have no concern for anything. I have heard plenty of pot shots at birds while they are still on the roost and I don't know how many breasted out birds I have found along the roads. A lot of these boys don't have jobs and just drive and shoot turkeys every day of season. Doesn't matter what you say about it, nothing changes. To much ground and to few people to stop them and they know it. I kill birds by walking. I may take a bike a certain distance and then once I am ready to hunt I an a half mile from the bike and I don't get back on it until I am ready to go home. After two weeks of season these birds are night and day different and it doesn't pay to have any vehicle noise around when your hunting. Most of the "serious" turkey hunters drive 4 wheelers around and stop long enough to throw a bunch of loud yelps out on a box call (often times they don't even shut the bike off ) and then they roar off to another location. So in my typical season I am dealing with "pressured" birds 95% of the time. I don't believe in call shy but I do believe in pressure. I see it every year.
Once saw 75 cars parked at a 2700 acre public wildlife area....
Talked to two guys that hunted 10 days straight for a bearded hen...
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Anytime there are more turkey hunters than turkeys...
I've hunted the same club as mentioned above. He's not joking about the atv, trucks, and everything else. We've killed birds there during the third and fourth weeks of season but it can be quite difficult at times. Just when you think you've found a spot that you can get away from people, a vehicle of some sort comes blasting by. It's truly sad as the club could literally be the best turkey hunting area in the region but because it's not managed worth a hoot, things aren't all that great. I'd bet good money that there are guys hunting those birds right now and season doesn't open until the 18th. It's sad. As for public land, I try to stay away in our state for various reasons. We allow rifles and I've always been a fan. Used one for years and will probably still bring one into play at times. Having said that, because of the large number of guys that hunt it, I fear for my life when using a decoy. WV has one of the highest rates of spring turkey hunting "accidents." Not against the use of rifles. Just wish that guys would make sure that they're shooting at live birds and that the area around is clear of hunters before blasting away. I'd much prefer to see my wife and kids again. Heck, last spring we had two guys come sneaking in on us on some private ground that was only supposed to have us on it. Sad situation when one doesn't know or respect the boundaries set forth by landowners. Had to have a lengthy conversation with a fella last spring that was sneaking around on some property that I've got sole control of the hunting on as well. This leads to birds and land that's heavily pressured and shouldn't be. All for greed in the end. All because they don't take the time to secure property for themselves or because they won't take the chance on public land. Not everyone is lucky enough to find good private ground. It's made me very thankful to be on some of the property I have access to here. I've seen both worlds. It's not easy to get unpressured birds everywhere.
You want to see heavily hunted ....just come hunt turkeys in PA.
If you have never hunted heavily pressured land.......go to LBL in Kentucky. Then you will know what pressure is. Back here at home most turkey hunters want to be alone so it is rare that you run into people hunting on public land.........except in youth season. There seems to be people everywhere with no regard to how many or who else is around..........its a great way to teach your kids.
I consider it heavily hunted when one or more hunt an area often, I try to avoid people as much as I can and try not to take someone else's bird they are working and when someone is in the area calling frequently too much I stay quiet and prepare for a stray bird that may have been spooked. This one time I was sitting on the edge of a field and was calling in a Gobbler from across but this one guy thought he could stalk the turkey and make his way to the bird by walking between me and the Gobbler out in the field, i was amazed at how stupid this guy was but nothing is surprising and I know he knew I was there but that is the joy of Public Land.
Quote from: mudhen on April 01, 2016, 09:53:49 PM
Once saw 75 cars parked at a 2700 acre public wildlife area....
Now that's some serious pressure, figuring most of those vehicles might of had more than 1 hunter?
Wow lots of terrible posts. Stinks you're all going through that. I figured it'd be worse in this wonderful state. Guess I was wrong.
I consider the places I hunt heavily pressured, public and private alike. One piece of private land here by the house has five or six other guys with permission on it on any given day and there's always a few that sneak in. They all spend the mornings trying to call birds away from each other or sneaking in and trying cut the other guys off. I refuse to play that way, so a lot of mornings I'll hang in a good spot for an hour or two and listen to the show till they've had enough and leave. None of them seem to hunt very long and more often than not all they do is spook the birds. Once they're gone I get after the turkeys. There's very little respect shown for the other guy anymore and unfortunately, it seems to get worse every year.
I do have a couple spots where I can get away from all but a few of the diehards, but my knees are so worn out that by the time I get there, I wonder if I'm going to make it back.
Bob
Heavily hunted is an area that gives the green to go, the yellow caution and the black and white for the win. Thats my favorite area to take a trophy Tom.
If I could confiscate all the owl hooters from one block of woods I could save the snowy owl in a day.
If I could grab every striker we would already have the material to build the wall.
If I could grab all the box calls we could reassemble the Ark.
Steal all the leafy jackets and we could cover up more than the Clintons past 20 years.
Quote from: Strick9 on April 02, 2016, 11:07:10 AM
Heavily hunted is an area that gives the green to go, the yellow caution and the black and white for the win. Thats my favorite area to take a trophy Tom.
If I could confiscate all the owl hooters from one block of woods I could save the snowy owl in a day.
If I could grab every strikers we would already have the material to build the wall.
If I could grab all the box calls we could reassemble the Ark.
Steal all the leafy jackets and we could cover up more than the Clintons past 20 years.
That's awesome!
In my local area there are tons of people, very few birds, and no large tracts of public land
I have seen 10 vehicles for a 99acre chunk of SGL... That's like trout fishing shoulder to shoulder. I'd rather not go
I've spent hours and miles scouting and within an hour of home and found a few huntable birds in hard to get to spots on decent size piece of public but only on weekdays the weekends you'd still probably have to share a tree to sit under or struggle to find a place to park.
Private in this area is near impossible to get unless it's family. Most don't own enough acreage to effectively turkey hunt, and leasing is out of the question with what people want for poor hunting. Fortunately I have places up north and in NY that are the complete opposite and for that I am truly thankful. Fair amount of free access to private, and tracts of decently unpressured public with good bird populations. It's 4.5hrs of driving one way and I'll do that about 3 times a spring. One weekday a week a squeak out before work.
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Public land in FLA. Florida owns hundreds of thousands of acres of "public" land, but only some of it is open to hunting. Even less when it comes to turkey season. Then most WMA's have a permit system and you have to get drawn to hunt there. Then for those that do get drawn, there is a buddy system where you can bring a guest, which usually means darn near doubling the amount of hunters. For the WMA's that don't require a permit, it is chaos. If the place holds birds, there are literally hundreds of hunters, most of which have zero courtesy and many have no clue as to what they are doing. There are idiots driving up and down the roads spooking birds. More idiots walk and call because that's what they've seen on TV. Public land Osceolas don't gobble hard like the birds you see on TV. They often come in silent, and these idiots spook them. So it ends up that you have a bunch of very educated birds in most FLA WMA's. That is why I'm very selective about what WMA's I put in for, and I avoid the open WMA's totally.
To make matters worse, there are many beautiful "public" lands that are home to a lot of turkeys, that are not open to hunting. Hikers, bikers, campers and equestrians get to recreate on them for free while the hunters that cannot access them foot the bill. >:(
You've got to be rich to own or lease private land. Florida is being developed like crazy, so the hunting lands are shrinking. Land owners know the value of their land, and of their Osceolas. Thanks to the NWTF and their Grand Slam, hunters all need to come to Florida for an Osceola. The outfitters snag up as much land as they can, then charge $2,000 for one Osceola. That's why the average Joe cannot afford to lease land. Pretty aggravating when you have to go through so much just to hunt a bird in your home state.
End of rant. ;D
The public land I hunt
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Simply put...there are 0 secret spots to turkey hunt in AR. Even on private land, miles from any public, my place (doesn't have many birds anymore) I have had up to 3 guys setup with decoys inches from the property line to attempt to work a bird I was on.
If you have a secret spot, consider yourself lucky. I have been burned on numerous occasions trying to find that Spot for myself...now I do different. I go to the areas that hold a moderate amount of turkey for that given property, get there early (sometimes 2-3 hours), park in an obvious fashion to let people know where I'm going, have my vest on, gun against a tree, and stay ready to jump out of the truck as soon as I see headlights or when it comes time for me to go.
This has worked for me more than anything.
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Ive got a new property this year that I have permission to hunt. about 500 acres and I'm told by the farmer that I'm the only one turkey hunting there. Seems ideal, and Im super grateful and excited for the opportunity, however the landowners grandkids and all their buddies are out there all the time shooting guns and riding 4 wheelers. In this situation i can't say much, since its more theres than it is mine, I just hope I can get in there and get on a bird or two without them possibly messing up a hunt. I already have trail cam pictures of them stomping around the woods.... but I also have a few nice birds on camera
Try Missouri public land , a parking spot for yourself, good luck with that. heck even a lot private is hunted at the boundary to boundary .