What type turkey hunter are you?

[davisd9]

Turkey hunting personalities vary greatly. You have hunters that are run and gun, blind hunters, roosters, slip hunters, gobble hunters, patience hunters, and etc.  I am sure we all hunt in a mixture of these types of hunting situations, but what is your starting/go to method?

I am a rooster type hunter.  I like going out in the evenings driving, slipping around fields, and walking roads to find Toms and then follow them back to their roost.  Roosted is not roasted everytime, but I take great enjoyment in putting a turkey to bed and being back when he wakes up.  My best hunt doing this strategy was on 4-3-10.  I put a bird in a tree the evening before.  Got out there before light.  He gobbled at 6:50 am for the first time and I walk out of the woods with him over my shoulder at 7:15 am.  He flew off the limb to about 10 yards from me.  He did not go where I expected so I had to slowly half turn as he was looking at me.

I also gobble hunt, listen for birds who gobble then try to set up on them, if I did not get a chance to roost the bird or if it is later in the day and plan A does not work out.  I am a patience hunter also.  I believe that sitting there the extra 15 minutes paysoff.  Early in my turkey hunting, I made the mistake of getting up or moving too soon to see my bird running away cause he was quietly slipping in.

The only form of hunting that I stated that i can say I have not done is blind hunting.  Nothing wrong with it in my opinion, but it just kind of hinders you and I would rather be making moves than just sitting and waiting, that is my deer hunting strategy.

[trkehunr93]

They say roosted don't mean roasted but going out in the evening before you hunt can better help lay out the next mornings plan.  I have been able to slip in on birds well before daylight and kill them right off the limb when they hit the ground.  Even when I've roosted a bird I do whatever the situation calls for, if I am hunting before work and only have an an hour or two I get up where I can hear a good ways and then move to a gobbling bird.  If I hear nothing I move to places I have killed birds before and blind call.  If I have all morning I will troll around to see if I can strike up a gobble and if that doesn't pan out then I find a good set up spot and will blind call for a couple of hours, throw in some scratching in the leaves, maybe a fight or two.  Make it sound like a flock of birds just hanging out.  Most of the turkeys I have killed, fall and spring, have been killed by being patient.  Most of the guys I know can't stand to sit for hours but that was how the old timers did it and they were successful, I learned from an old timer how to turkey hunt and he has plenty of beards to prove that being patient is deadly. Again I still let the scenario dictate my next move.  That's what i love about turkey hunting, it is like a game of chess.

[dirt road ninja]

I would say over the past couple seasons I've gravitated from more of a "run and gun" to a patient hunter. I live about 180 miles from my hunting ground, so on Saturday mornings I don't have one roosted. I normally start out in an area that historically has held birds (ours roost in the same areas) long before sunrise. I don't hoot or call, just listen. Once I hear one gobbling on the limb, I try to slip in closer, set up and listen more. If the bird gobbles again I will do a few tree yelps and if he answers me I don't call again until he's on the ground. If I can talk to him once he's on the ground I'll sit there until I kill him or I'm sure he left the area.  This phase of my day lasts until about 9 o'clock. Now I'm sure he didn't go to the next county, so I won't move to far I'll just move to where I think is going to be set up and cold call. This is when I might pull out a decoy if I have one with me. This is also when I kill most of my birds. I'll do this until I get hungry, then its back to the jeep to cruise the roads and eat lunch. About 3 o'clock I head out to slip down roads, ridge tops and check food plots stopping to call every few hundred yards. Then about an hour before fly up I go sit in an area that they roost cold calling and might throw out a deke.  I'll sit till I hear them fly up or kill one. I hardly ever kill birds in the afternoon, but I try on Saturdays.
I hunt mostly planted pine with a few hard woods mixed in around the creeks. We have a lot of cut over as well and it's hard to see which tree they fly to, but you can see where on the ridge side they are flying to.
This year I plan on decoying and blind hunting much more as I will have my son with me. I'm sure with scouting and planning we can be successful hunting them more like deer then turkeys. In fact, all deer season we had birds on top of us. I've got close to a dozen blinds to put out, so we might sit  for an hour then move to another until he gets bored with it.
I've only killed one turkey out of a blind and it was out of a box stand on a green field during a heavy rain.

[M,Yingling]

I like to get out in the evenings and Walk the ridges try to get one to gobble My main hunting spot is some pretty big woods so knowing them well i  can pretty much guess where their at and sneak in the morning,,Many of my spots got 1 or 2 flocks rouning around Their very hard to patteren ,,First few weeks we can only hunt to noon so by 9 am if not seeing anything i ll start looking
Just got some cheap o decoys at walmart First time i used them ,,The first bird of last year i think they helped a bit He came into them ,,But the second it was jake paid no mind to them,,Never hunted a blind ,,Always just pull up a tree 

[JVA54]

   
     I mostly gobble hunt sometimes when I take my son's we will roost one. Usually I will wait and listen for them to start gobbling if they don't I will use an owl call to locate them. My boy's are not very patience so we run and gun a lot. When I hunt by myself I sit and blind call more. On days it rains a lot we will take a blind and set some where we been seeing birds put out a decoy and call. In Illinois you can only hunt until 1:00 pm.

     

[tcook7]

I'm a gobble hunter myself.  For the most part, I hunt the same land I've been hunting my whole life so I have pretty good idea of where they like to roost.  Once I get on one on the limb, I won't call until he's on the ground.  From here on out, my strategies vary but for the most part, I'm a patient hunter.  My calling depends on the bird and time of the season.  I continue to learn every year just how important the set up is and how unimportant the calling can be. 

Later in the day, it becomes more like deer hunting for me.  Find myself a spot I have confidence in and blind call.

[Turkeykiller12]

I'm a gobble hunter myself.  For the most part, I hunt the same land I've been hunting my whole life so I have pretty good idea of where they like to roost.  Once I get on one on the limb, I won't call until he's on the ground.  From here on out, my strategies vary but for the most part, I'm a patient hunter.  My calling depends on the bird and time of the season.  I continue to learn every year just how important the set up is and how unimportant the calling can be. 

Later in the day, it becomes more like deer hunting for me.  Find myself a spot I have confidence in and blind call.

What TCOOK7 said! Almost word for word how I would describe my turkey hunting.

[Bustabeak]

I'm pretty much a gobble hunter myself. If I have the chance I like to go to the property I'm hunting the afternoon before the hunt and just sit and be quiet to listen to see if I can roost any birds. Most of the property I hunt is 1 to 2 hours from the house so sometimes its hard for me to get out there the afternoon before. In that case I'll run a owl hooter and walk the roads until about 45 minutes after light. If I still have't got a gobble I'll just start the run and gun style if the tract of land is large enough. If I come up on fields or food plots I'll take a break, set up and call there on and off for a hour or so. I couldn't tell you how many times I've just sat up and called and eventually got some type of action. I've called in a lot of hens doing that but it is still fun to me to watch them and learn. But you just can't beat and hunt that is quick and back at the waffle house within an hour! But I do like to use my primos real wing when I get one gobbling on the limb and do some cackles and flap that wing. Most time thats all the calling  I'll have to do. Of course you all know sometimes if just ain't that easy but I have to make sure my real wing is with me. I once left it by a tree one morning after I called one in for my buddy. I drove 100 miles that afternoon just to get it. I know you can use a hat or something like that but I just like my wing!