I got a question?

[Flydown]

If you had 1000 acres of private land to turkey hunt and you hunted it every single day of your turkey season and consistantly killed turkeys would it still be considered easy or would it be kinda the same as hunting 100,000 acres of public land and killing turkeys every day? Just curious what you guys think?

[sugarray]

The only thing I would worry about would be not having turkeys to kill in a few years.  But on 1000 acres, you might not have to worry.

I don't care where or how large a tract you hunt.  If you can consistently call in and kill turkeys, you are working hard and getting the job done.  We took 2 turkeys off a 75 acre piece and there are at least 3 more long beards and 10-15 jakes there.  Now they travel some, but if I could kill 4 there year after year I would.  I just like to hunt different places for that chance at a monster or double, or whatever.  Also, I am worried about not having turkeys to kill the next year if I take too many off year after year.

Now this was only my 4th year hunting and I have only ever killed 2 turkeys from that tract.  But I am up to 9 total, and my 7 yr old has killed 3, so we are doing well.

Keep hunting, kill turkeys, and help all the new hunters you can.  That is all that matters!!

[Hognutz]

I think that anytime a person hunts private land, no matter how big or how small, you are at a distinct advantage. Just knowing that you are the only person chasing birds on that particular tract, makes your hunt easier. Granted, there is public land out there that never gets hunted, but one never knows who or when you are going to have a hunt ruined by some smuck that walks into your set-up. I will take private land any day of the week, even if the ratio is 100 acres to 1. The success ratio is probably higher than that. Just my two cents woth, and of course, YMMV...  Mike

[Flydown]

Advantage? We shoo away our share of poachers and like I said we hunt this track Every day of or 47 day season. What is the differerance in hunting public land? Still not convinced why there is a difference?

[Eric Gregg]

With the scenario that you laid out here is what I see:

Public land: more land to cover plus public access to hunters equals harder to hunt.
Reason is more area to locate birds and cover but the big factor is the number of hunters you have to compete with.

Private land-less acerage which means turkeys will be easier to locate, no other hunters which means less competition, equals more chances of success. You can deal with the poachers that will creep up

We have some guys on team that consistantly get the job done on public lands and I consider them guys that I would listen to when they start talking turkey. i

[barry]

I wouldn't say it would be easier but you could pattern the birds and thus pick the best places to set up on them. I think it would get old huntin' the same place everyday and I have a place just like you're speaking of - 1200 acres with big open pastures with strips of hardwoods in between and about 300 acres of continuos hardwoods. It's my favorite place to hunt but I think 3 times is the most I ever hunted in one season.
If I kill a bird one one farm I rarely go back and hunt it again that same season, but then again I have farms that will go unhunted, at least by me, on any given year. The 2 birds that I struggled to kill this year were on 2 new farms that I had never hunted.
Yes, I'll take private land everyday of the week.

[TRKYHTR]

Advantage? We shoo away our share of poachers and like I said we hunt this track Every day of or 47 day season. What is the differerance in hunting public land? Still not convinced why there is a difference?

If I was a turkey I wouldn't want you and Ronnie hunting me every day. The only thing I would say is if you hunt an area a lot you get to know the land like the back of your hand. You know different trees to use or dips in the ground cover or obstacles and even know where the turkeys are going and such. But you could also get that if you hunted the same piece of public land every day.

TRKYHTR

[hobbes]

I don't care for the public vs. private debate.  Private land is nice, but I like the amount of territory that comes with NF and feel that can be an advantage over private.  I don't usually look at it in an "its easier here than there" or a "my birds are tougher than yours" sense.  I got my butt handed to me on public land this year, but I didn't chalk it up to public land is tougher than private.  I try to play with the hand thats been dealt and just leave at the turkeys either win or I do instead of a "I could have done better on private".

[Hognutz]

Advantage: How many food plots do you have? How many areas do you cut to make a place for them to hang out. I understand that poachers are poachers, but they are probably not there every day, in droves. All public land is not equal, I will grant you, but given the choice, I doubt that many would opt for it if they had an abundance of private land to hunt..

[bird]

1,000 plus acres of private or public land would give me a woody!

[Shotgun]

Too many factors to call.  I will say not all private land hunting is easy and not all public land hunting is hard.

I hunted 19 days this year combined between 5 states of public and private land.  Here are the stats.

9 days on private land = 6 dead turkeys
10 days on public land = 7 dead turkeys

With them stats I would say it's pretty much even.

[redarrow]

Private land.Although you have the occassional poacher/tresspasser ,you also have knowledgeable hunters such as yourself and your invited guests. You know how and where to set up.

Public land .While you do have knowledgeable hunters you are going to have more than your share of novices that dont know a buck snort from a gobble. They hear you calling and they come running one way and your bird just took off the other way.

If given a choice I will hunt 10 acres of private over 100 acres of public everyday.

[guesswho]

Hunting 47 days on a familiar private 1000 acres in a good spot should easily produce 8-12 longbeards.   I expect similar results on public land in a good spot.  The problem with private around here is the size.  The biggest piece of private I have is 400 acres, and most pieces being in the 100 to 150 acre range, and some as small as 40 acres.   And even though it's private there are still other paying members hunting these tracts.  It's don't take many hunters on a 400 acre tract before it gets crowded.  I've heard the debate between private and public and hunt both.  From my experience success depends more on the hunter than whether it's private or public.   And I take the bet you can't kill one here challenge every year from someone.

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

If you're a killer, you will adapt and overcome.

I'll take advice from the guy who kills 15 private land turkeys a year over the public hunter who kills 2.  Why? Because the guy who kills the most has the most intimate knowledge of his quarry, has more regular interaction with turkeys and knows more about executing on opportunities when he encounters them.

A killer is a killer, public or private.  A wanna be is a wanna be.  The turkeys are all the same, the habitat and pressure just alter their behavior regardless of the public or private status of a piece of ground.

[bird]

If you're a killer, you will adapt and overcome.

I'll take advice from the guy who kills 15 private land turkeys a year over the public hunter who kills 2.  Why? Because the guy who kills the most has the most intimate knowledge of his quarry, has more regular interaction with turkeys and knows more about executing on opportunities when he encounters them.

A killer is a killer, public or private.  A wanna be is a wanna be.  The turkeys are all the same, the habitat and pressure just alter their behavior regardless of the public or private status of a piece of ground.

Now I really like that explanation right there.