My job generally lets me put in my vacation a few days prior to wanting to take it. This year they want it turned in by the end of next week. I am planning on taking 2 weeks during spring gobbler and I have 2 weeks in mind but what weeks would you guys take off if you had to pick 2 (week 1, week 2, etc, etc)? I hunt Augusta County.
Apr 13 - May 18 is a nice long window. The way the weather has been acting, I don't know I would trust putting all my time in one or two blocks of time. If you hunt private land, you can hunt Sunday's, correct? If possible, I would use my 10 days of vacation in 2 or 3 day chunks, paired with the weekends to cover multiple weeks (S, Su, M, T, W - S, Su, M, T - etc). This would spread your time to allow for different "phases" of gobbling activity, and guard against periods of bad weather.
Just a suggestion... I don't hunt Va. - but I do hunt 100? miles north of you.
I, too, take two weeks off every year in April to chase gobblers in Virginia.
I hunt the first two weeks of the season; I'm lucky in that if it's a really bad weather day I go in to work and save a vacation day
You will get some henned up birds, but the action has always been better than late season (at least on the places I hunt)
I'm a couple hundred miles south of you, so breeding phase may be different between here & there, but my preference is to hunt the 3rd quarter of the season, depending on how much hunting pressure there is around where you hunt. It gives the woods time to green up, some of the hens to start nesting, and the gobblers get lonesome.
Some guys hit it hard early on and get burnt out, or spend too many vacation days at the start of the season, leaving less pressure in the middle of the season. Granted, there will be fewer birds and some will be more educated. I'm assuming you have weekends open to hunt, so I'd opt to spend my vacation days mid-week, when there's fewer hunters in the woods. I've had more success hunting Tuesday through Thursday than I do on weekends.
Jim
I grew up and still hunt Craig County. (WOBR) The last week of April and first week of May seem to historically be the best weeks for us.
Lord willing, I will be there at that time this year as well.
If I had to pick 2 weeks I would take weeks 3 and 4. It is usually cold and sometimes we get snow here in SW va. In early April. If you can split it up I would hunt Thursday, Friday, Saturday the entire season.
Here to the south of you in NC. All my kills in my have always been end of the 2nd week and beginning of the 3rd week.
I would go for the end of April, beginning of may
My plan is to see if I can break the 10 days and hunt every Thursday-Sunday or Saturday-Tuesday but with the new boss I'm not sure if that will fly or not. I work 3rd shift and get off at 7am during the week so I can hunt 9-noon any day I want. After damn near missing the entire past 2 years due to work I am trying to maximize my time in the woods this spring.
I hunt in Northern Virginia......and I have a saying...."there are never more turkeys and deer than opening day" so I like taking the start of season off both Turkey and Deer season.......so it really depends on how much pressure you have from other hunters. Private land? or Public Land? Plus I have also found that in the start of season there are always a few gobbles that are still without hens and are easier to call in. I call those easy birds...but once all the easy birds are gone it gets tough.....I would consider taking the first week and maybe the third just to split it up.......Good Luck
In SW Va mtns early can be tricky I usually find 2nd week is better
Hunted thirty years in VA Campbell, Bedford, Pitts. First week is good most years. After that I'd put my money and time last two weeks of the season. Hunting is great. Hens are on nest. Most of the birds are in strut zones they have called up hens during the season, they will gobble good then move on to the next spot. Get there first.
Also 900 to 1000 is magic. If the old birds did have hens they leave them and they go into a panic. Get close you'll kill him.
You can PM me if you have any other questions.
Good luck.