Okay here's one big question on turkey hunting kinda a subject I want to see

[Bigspurs68]

I do what it takes but I enjoy "run n gun" by that I just mean covering ground and moving at whatever pace the woods and the birds allow me to do. I do believe that a person will learn and use more turkey hunting skills if they are moving and exploring the woods they hunt. Not saying this is the hardest way to hunt, I find it more difficult to wait out a silent bird.

[MazeNBlu3]

All of the above. I usually base it on what kind of mood the bird is in.

[Dtrkyman]

shotgun I am after them! But I mostly bowhunt now and blind hunt, I normally set up in the morning and do not move all day, sometimes I may move once and rarely more than once, some days I sit till quiting time and then move my blind where I had birds that morning so I am ready in the morning. One bird I missed this spring I did that, left decoys bow and vest all in the blind, sure was a nice walk in that morning!

[tomstopper]

I'm a run and gun hunter.  I like to meet the birds half way.  The fun of the hunt is the interaction.

This is me totally. Love it

[Marc]

I will add that when I do run & gun that I take brisk steps, I walk brush lines or thick treelines using animal or cattle trails, I avoid a skyline at all costs, and I like to cluck softly as I walk.

I have noticed a lot of other hunters drag their feet, and I have spotted many guys walking a saddle on a hill when the break the skyline.  I am a relatively a novice compared to most here, but I have been surprised at veteran hunters dragging their feet while walking; I think this is a burner for sure.

I have a canyon property that I really like to run & gun on...  The bank has steep cuts on the uphill side, and drops down quick enough on the downhill side, that the only way a bird can spot me is on the road (which has happened).  Before I hit a bend in the road, I will stop and try to elicit a response.

Interestingly, I have found that birds often gobble behind me as I am walking and clucking...  I think they get nervous that a nearby hen is walking away...  I have also found that getting a distant response gobble often generates a gobble of a closer bird I had no idea was there.

If I am trying to cut the distance to a bird, I will yelp or cluck the whole time...  When I pick my spot, I sit down and shut up for a bit.  This has worked out a couple times for me.  Sometimes when attempting to cut the distance, I might not take a direct line, but instead a 45° angle, and try to draw the bird into a better strategically located area.

No proof, but I have a gut feeling that a moving and talking hen is more enticing and realistic to a tom.  I have bumped some birds while walking and calling, and I have bumped into some birds that if I were more prepared I could have killed...  I realize there is a downside to this, but I have fun doing it.   I am still learning, as I am relatively new to turkey hunting (as compared to wing-shooting)...

I have enjoyed reading the tips and tactics discussed on this forum, and this seems a good one.

[GobbleNut]

I say hunt the way you like to hunt, within ethical and legal bounds...while respecting other hunters that might be out there doing the same.  We all have our ways that we like to hunt,...and reasons for doing so.  I absolutely HATE to sit and wait on a bird in ambush,...but there are times when it is the best thing to do both in terms of the possibility of killing a bird and not stumbling into another hunter while moving around.

As others have stated, "run and gun" is a lousy description of the tactic of moving through the woods and calling in hopes of getting a gobbler to respond,...but it is easy to say,...and it rhymes. 

I personally get much more enjoyment,...not to mention a lot more exercise and health benefit,...by moving along "prospecting" for a responsive gobbler.  To me, that is what turkey hunting is all about,...finding a vocal gobbler and calling him to me.  I may bump turkeys during that process at times,...but that comes with the territory, and I accept it as a risk of the methodology. 

Some people suggest that those of us that "move and call" are ruining the hunting for ourselves and others by bumping birds.  I, on the other hand, say that hiding in ambush and killing birds that just happen to wander by is just removing birds from the woods that us "movers and callers" might have a great, interactive hunt with at some point. 

Bottom line is,...its is all a matter of one's perspective as to what we want out of our turkey hunting....

[Bigspurs68]

Prospecting...yes.

[Prohunter3509]

Not sure who pushed the pestilent term "run and gun" on the turkey world.

Most people that call themselves run'n and gun'n run off more turkeys than they kill....I hunt slow and gun without blinds or da'coys but if I need to make a fast move I can.

I am with cox with me its most productive and don't
Spook that many birds

[mudhen]

4) Take a seat, and call them in.

90% of the birds I kill are called into range from a stationary location.

I won't hunt a piece after my run & gun buddy blows a place out...

mudhen

[GobbleNut]

4) Take a seat, and call them in.

90% of the birds I kill are called into range from a stationary location.

I won't hunt a piece after my run & gun buddy blows a place out...

mudhen

So, I guess the question I have to ask is...What constitutes "blowing a place out"?   Are you suggesting that a hunter that moves and calls through an area is going to affect the birds so much that you cannot be successful with your sit and wait tactics in that same area?  Not wanting to be confrontational about it, but that seems to me to be a bit far-fetched and extreme. 

Most places that get turkey hunted in this country are in areas where the turkeys interact with people all year round.  Turkeys become very accustomed to seeing humans being in all but the most remote areas.  Those human beings are doing all sorts of things and making all kinds of noises, often including trying to make turkey sounds if they see wild turkeys.  The idea that a turkey hunter that accidentally bumps a bird while moving and calling has messed up an area for the guy that wants to sit and wait is questionable, at best.

...And just to be fair, if a "run and gun" guy came on here and said he wouldn't hunt an area where his buddy sat around and waited to ambush a gobbler, I would say the same thing to him from the opposite standpoint.

Once again,... "I say hunt the way you like to hunt, within ethical and legal bounds...while respecting other hunters that might be out there doing the same."

[TauntoHawk]

Run and Gun is too lose a term.

I prefer to scout and execute, know where the birds roost and where they want to go. Slip in close and work them as soon as they hit the ground. i have killed a bunch of birds within 10min of fly down because I knew exactly where they were gonna be. Later in the morning i will slip around to good vantage points for listening or likely strut zones and do some calling series but I dont blow birds out or tromp around an entire property either.

I sat in a blind once with a youth hunter and could never do it again. feel like a caged animal

[BigGobbler]

40+ years of chasing these very additive mind boggling two legged magicians I have cracked a code on how to hunt them by using a mathematical code with the lunar tide and the barometric pressure this code will tell me exactly how to hunt them that day!

[stinkpickle]

40+ years of chasing these very additive mind boggling two legged magicians I have cracked a code on how to hunt them by using a mathematical code with the lunar tide and the barometric pressure this code will tell me exactly how to hunt them that day!

This. ^^^   

[mudhen]

4) Take a seat, and call them in.

90% of the birds I kill are called into range from a stationary location.

I won't hunt a piece after my run & gun buddy blows a place out...

mudhen

So, I guess the question I have to ask is...What constitutes "blowing a place out"?   Are you suggesting that a hunter that moves and calls through an area is going to affect the birds so much that you cannot be successful with your sit and wait tactics in that same area?  Not wanting to be confrontational about it, but that seems to me to be a bit far-fetched and extreme. 

Most places that get turkey hunted in this country are in areas where the turkeys interact with people all year round.  Turkeys become very accustomed to seeing humans being in all but the most remote areas.  Those human beings are doing all sorts of things and making all kinds of noises, often including trying to make turkey sounds if they see wild turkeys.  The idea that a turkey hunter that accidentally bumps a bird while moving and calling has messed up an area for the guy that wants to sit and wait is questionable, at best.

...And just to be fair, if a "run and gun" guy came on here and said he wouldn't hunt an area where his buddy sat around and waited to ambush a gobbler, I would say the same thing to him from the opposite standpoint.

Once again,... "I say hunt the way you like to hunt, within ethical and legal bounds...while respecting other hunters that might be out there doing the same."

Can't say I agree with much of anything in your reply.

I think your comment about most places seeing enough human interaction to bump them is pretty close to being as wrong as a statement can be.  I have hunted many places where brake lights on the vehicle sets the whole field of birds sprinting to the woods....

Maybe it's where I hunt?  I have only hunted turkeys in 15 states, so I certainly cannot speak for all 49 states that have a turkey season.  Also, 99% of my spots are private land, that only sees a few farmers or ranch workers.  Even then, hunting pressure, even light, can send the birds off the property.....

I've only got close to 1000 turkey hunts under my belt, but I definitely notice a difference with a property that has been 'runned & gunned', but that's just those 1000+- hunts or so, I know many guys that hunt waaaaaay more than I do, so I could easily be incorrect....

Also, please note, I stated "my run & gun buddy", so I don't know how you ran with that one and applied my comments to all runners & gunners.  I know some runners that shoot 50-75+ toms a year, so I doubt all runners spook birds.  My buddy has a special talent in chilling a property though.  He walks every square inch of every property we hunt together, so if he has been there, I tend to avoid it for a least a good period of time....

mudhen

[GobbleNut]

Also, please note, I stated "my run & gun buddy", so I don't know how you ran with that one and applied my comments to all runners & gunners.  I know some runners that shoot 50-75+ toms a year, so I doubt all runners spook birds.  My buddy has a special talent in chilling a property though.  He walks every square inch of every property we hunt together, so if he has been there, I tend to avoid it for a least a good period of time....

Fair enough,...my apologies for jumping to the conclusion that you were inferring that hunters that choose to move through an area and call will ruin an area for hunting because they choose to hunt that way.  I am sure there are places where reckless "running and gunning" can put birds on the alert, but I think that is more a function of turkeys having enough negative interactions with hunters, regardless of what tactics those hunters use, that it begins to affect their normal behavior.

I think our perspectives might be different because it appears you probably hunt small tracts of private land surrounded by other private lands that the birds can move to and where you cannot go hunt them, while I have mainly hunted large tracts of public land where the birds have to adjust to hunting pressure while having no place to escape to.  They are hunted wherever they go, and by hunters that use every tactic in the book to try to kill them. 

I have seen little evidence so support the theory that the birds I hunt get "blown out" by hunters who move and call.  They merely adjust their behavior to avoid hunters by gobbling less and by not approaching any kind of turkey call they hear without visual evidence that what they are hearing is a real, live hen turkey,...and even then, if that real, live hen turkey will not come to them, they will often not go to her.

As for the hunters that shoot 50-75 toms a year,....I have told you ten million times not to exaggerate!