DON'T PARK HERE!!

[arkrem870]

If there is a truck I move on. I don't care if it's 1000 acres you will both be on the same turkey at daylight more than likely.   Not worth it. I don't want to be near anyone else if I can help it.

[Number17]

It's not always about guys sleeping in or being lazy. For the past 12 years I've been taking my kids to school every morning so I often can't even get to spot until 9am or later. I became a 10am-noon killing machine. LOL
I'm not putting in the effort and driving to a location, finding another guy there because he has a different schedule than I do, and turning around to go home. If my options are hunt there or go home, I'm hunting.
I don't purposely try to cut anyone off and I'll actually avoid them as much as possible. If they are working a bird, I'm not trying to pull that bird away, but the moment that bird loses interest and moves off....that resets the game for me.
I've killed more than one bird sitting in silence and playing off what the other hunters are doing. If they were there first, they get the first try at him.

It's been a long time since I've run into any trouble on public ground with turkeys. Most guys are happy to talk shop for a bit and then part ways.

[Kylongspur88]

The public land here generally has a limited number of parking and access points and not many people want to mess with the places I usually go anyway. If someone is there before me or pulls up after me I'll be polite and ask which way they're headed. If they want to play coy that's fine. I'll just proceed as usual. I've found only a very small percentage of hunters go as far in as I do anyways. Most go a about a quarter mile in and sit down. I'm also surprised at how many grown men are afraid of the dark and will hang around the the parking area until day starts breaking.

The boys in my neck of the woods that come from out of state must be track stars or better at reading maps than me because I run in to tracks and trash 4 or 5 miles from the only parking spot I know of on some national forest I run around on. I've got a little something for them boys this year though, every other morning I get up at 4 am and strap 35 to 55 pounds on my back and go hike anywhere from 5 to 12 miles. Come turkey season, ain't nobody out walking me for a bird.


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I'll do the same. I'm not finding too much sign of people as far back as I'm going on the NF land I hunt but I'll pack a day pack and start hiking at about 4am to get as far as I can and stay as long as I can. There's been a few times I've hiked in and cold camped out of my hammock.

[quavers59]

   The area,I am talking about is close to 7,000 Acres. The 4 main parking areas get crowded  by 4.30am. If 1 Man is there ahead of me,I am definitely going in.
   Usually though 95+% of the time,I am first . Back in the 1990sto around 2010 or so- it was feasible to find another parking area if you were late .
   Now Spring Turkey Hunting has grown in popularity so much- you might as well stay with that first parking area as the next one will just be getting Crowded as well. And no one wants to drive that 15miles home without even attempting  to Turkey Hunt.

[Tom007]

I am ready for this, I have plans, B,C,D. I will get to plan A so early, if by chance someone is there before me, (they camped there), I'll have hours to shift gears.  I hunt Solo most of the time and want to avoid people. I'll just move on so I can enjoy a problem free pursuit of a Wiley old Gobbler.....

[Yelpster]

too many variables. i hunt a 4500ac spot with one access. plenty of room for more than one. another spot i go is controlled access with about 10 tags issued and only 8 parking spots. so in theory if they are all full some of you expect to just leave and go home? when hunting the controlled access area, there is no other spot to go. that tag is site specific. i have had many conversations in the morning and never had a problem working it out with other hunters

[Old Swamper]

A crowded wma parking spot, or gate, to me, means turkeys. I'll come back around 2, and have the whole place to myself most times.

[Greg Massey]

Let's look at this from another scenario, lets say this is a WMA draw hunt and from previous intel, this place has a bunch of gobblers and only 2 access parking areas with 10 permits allowed. As you pull up someone is already parked at one of the access points and left his vehicle, so are you leaving and going to the other access point where other vehicles are parked.  Are you driving back home or are you going to hunt?
                                                                                                     
This is a 3 day hunt and you have one of the 10 permits

[ScottTaulbee]

Let's look at this from another scenario, lets say this is a WMA draw hunt and from previous intel, this place has a bunch of gobblers and only 2 access parking areas with 10 permits allowed. As you pull up someone is already parked at one of the access points and left his vehicle, so are you leaving and going to the other access point where other vehicles are parked.  Are you driving back home or are you going to hunt?

If it's a get drawn once in five years good for a couple days specific draw hunt and I'm 200 miles from home, I'm hunting. If it's the usual 40 or 50 miles from home and it's good for all season, I'm going else where and coming back later. There is absolutely nothing that I enjoy more than turkey hunting, on the same token, there is absolutely nothing that makes me as mad as the new breed of turkey hunters with no respect for the birds or other hunters. If I can avoid the headache and the others by going 20 miles up the road to a different patch of ground until they clear out, I'm doing it 100% of the time.


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[Tom007]

Unfortunately or fortunately for me, I hunt mostly private. I avoid public, especially crowded public, I have no interest in competing against other hunters, especially Turkey hunters. Our sport is a one-on-one confrontation between us and him. I don't wish to add competition with other hunters into the mix. Safety is always on my mind, whether it's walking in to a roosted Tom in the dark, or setting up on a gobbling turkey. Just the way I choose to hunt, I realize others enjoy the public grounds and I have the utmost respect for those who do.....

[zelmo1]

Let's face it, humans are bad animals. Have a plan B/C/D if you are hunting public land. We dont have draw hunts up here, all unposted land is accessable. Just be courteous and respect the land owners. We run into" slobs" as well. Show up 5 minutes before flydown, when we have been there for an hour, and trash the place. We had the same 2 guys drive by a spot, open to the public, and park and rev their engine because we beat them there. Easy remedy is get out of bed, lol. We shot birds there both days they thought thy were harassing us. It just made the birds gobble and we pinpointed them with no calling or effort from us, other than getting out of bed early. My idea is that I won't let a " slob" ruin my day.  Z

[g8rvet]

Not all parking areas, not all 1000 or 7000 acres tracts are created equal and it all varies based on access, turkey population, creeks or rivers, hills or mountains, etc.  I would say 95% of the time, we know if we are crowding someone or being crowded by someone.  People that don't care or justify their actions are the same type of people that cut you off in traffic, crowd you when fishing, etc.  Treat people with the same respect you want and you will most likely be fine.  If their momma and daddy did not teach them, it is highly unlikely you will. 

[ruination]

That's really tough.  Depends on overall access to the property, how lard it is, how many areas are even huntable. 

During covid one of my main spots got absurdly crazy.  10 vehicles per gate, crazy.  Not sure how that piece of public got blown up that much.  Drive another 45 minutes to get away from crowds, still expect at least one other opening day.


After opening week I will try to find a gate to myself.

[squidd]

Find another p-spot unless I see the individual getting gear ready. 

If I do run into someone heading in the same direction, will discuss and go a different direction with backup areas in mind. 

60K-acre romp-n-stomp to hunt if I do not draw a permit; even if I do find a p-spot to myself, I still see more hunters than turkeys.

If I do hear a gobble within a few hundred yards, will try to maneuver.  Otherwise, I'll sit tight to see if anything further out will come in or someone else bumps him my way.

I'm sure my calling is not the best, but already this year, I have had five hunters walk-in to my area in the last two hunts.  TSS to the face would suck!!

[GobbleNut]

First of all, I haven't hunted anywhere where I have had or seen this kind of problem, so the whole concept is foreign to me. Again, my condolences to folks that are faced with these kinds of circumstances.

As others have stated, there are lots of variables to consider, though. Obviously, a primary consideration would be the number of vehicles in the parking lot relative to the size of the area.  Another would be the number of other options/areas available to hunt within a reasonable distance...or even the number of options available in terms of trails or directions one might go from a parking lot.  These are just a couple of considerations that come to mind.

If this destination required a long-distance trip with limited time and limited hunting options, I think I would consider just entering the area simply with the intention of making sure I did not interfere with any other hunter while at the same time evaluating the area for its potential for another time.  Entering an area at daybreak knowing that it might be saturated with hunters and inconspicuously listening for gobbles and evaluating sign without actually hunting would be something to possibly consider in those sorts of situations.