Kill Success Rates?

[TRG3]

It seems like it all depends on the weather. Sunny, blue bird days often result in kills that morning. Rainy, windy, 40-50 degree weather days are better spent doing something else rather than turkey hunting, at least in my experience. Perhaps if I used a blind, I could just wait them out while reading a good book. If someone has a successful strategy for the latter mentioned cold and rainy type of weather, I'd like to hear of it.

[stinkpickle]

I don't know.  I'd say average is 2 or 3 days.  BUT...it's rarely ever 2 or 3 days.  It's either 1 day or 5-6 days.  Rarely anything in between.

[eggshell]

To me the part of season and the pressure where you hunt matters more than anything. Like Aaron above I can't remember the last time I failed to kill a gobbler or at least get a quality shot on Ohio's opening day. I do hunt private land and I am usually the only one on over 1,000 acres. So I am not a good reference. Actually,my tags are usually filled in hours not days, because of where I hunt. Now I do travel out of state every year and I usually will kill or have a high percentage opportunity within two full days out, and that is public ground. I think I could consistently kill gobblers within a 2-3 day window on early season hunts, later season hunts would probably push that out to 4-5 days. 

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

As eggshell mentioned, there are a lot of factors that one has to consider.  The quality of the land,  the pressure on that land, the frequency that you're able to hunt, the weather, and your capabilities as a turkey hunter.

My turkeys are killed on private and public land all over the country.  I expect to kill, guide a bird or have a good encounter everyday that I hunt in Virginia and several other states where I have private access that receives managed hunting pressure from very smart and talented hunters. That expectation is based on scouting, my capabilities as a hunter and the quality of that land. 

When traveling to hunt public or hard hunted private land around the country, you don't have the benefit of hunting scouted birds and consequently I expect to kill 1 bird per 2.5-3 days of hunting. That's an average, though.  Sometimes it takes a lot longer. It took me 6 days of hunting and almost 60 miles of walking to kill a turkey in New Mexico this year but there were days in other states before and after New Mexico where I killed turkeys in other states for consecutive days.

I wouldn't say my late season odds really deteriorated this year although as a generalization they tend to.  Gobbling is more sparse, birds are more dispersed, a lot of birds have been killed and the survivors have been harassed unmercifully. It's more difficult but the birds are still out there and still very killable through different calling strategies or bushwacking (I won't reap and I won't fan).

I think you asked a great question, OP.  Any turkey hunter who isn't looking at himself and his performance in the timber very critically is a turkey hunter who isn't out there looking to improve himself or identify his weaknesses/strengths.  There's nothing wrong w that, either.  Some guys are perfectly happy to hear birds gobble and to experience the beauty of spring.

However, I would encourage you to track these things and look at each successful hunt and, more importantly, each unsuccessful hunt critically in order to refine your approach to future opportunities and scenarios. 

[fallhnt]

100% on the birds that I am lucky enough to call in and kill.

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[ferocious calls]

It depends how serious I am about targeting a bird. I have been heard saying, give me 3 days and I will let you stroke his beard.

[g8rvet]

Odd year for me, so by your measure, one in 3.  I heard birds gobble on only 3 days and killed one. Was the worst gobbling season ever for me, but most of that was weather related on the days I could hunt.   

On the two private places I hunt (small tracts), on one of them if I hear him gobble on the farm and it is a Tom, I would say my odds approach 75% of taking him home, maybe more. I have hunted that place a lot and know by where they are roosted where that are likely to go. Did not hear a bird there this year.  On the other, if they fly down on my side, probably about 50-50.

On the public ground I hunt, I have no idea the odds, but they are not as good, not by a long shot.  Depends on where they are.  Have had them gobble in a bottom and worked in to them only to have them shot going out the other side.  Had one bird last year that stayed in a swamp so thick with deadfalls, I could not move much on him.  He never came home with me.  I usually hunt there from 0 - 14 days a year depending on what is happening on the private locations.

[DUCKDIGGLER]

I would have to agree with most of the guys here and say 3 to 4 days, weather and time of season dependent.  I did manage to punch my 3 tags this season on toms over 11 mornings afield. I have been chasing them since 1986 and am constantly learning and trying to become a better turkey hunter. It never gets old! 

Diggy

[DrDirtNap]

I used to always tell my daughter that it takes, on average, 5 hunts for every harvested bird but that has went down over the years. A couple of years ago I killed my three birds the first three hunts out.  This year I went the first 7 days and struck out but then connected on the next three.  I think 3 or 4 hunts on average is close to being right for me.   I hunt with or without decoys depending on the situation.


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[trefalga]

On average 3-4 days per bird.

Me too

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[appalachianassassin]

killed 6 in 10 days with 2 misses while hunting alone. no dekes or blind, some public some not. my success taking others is lower but not a lot lower depending on the hunter. took one buddy 2 for 2 but hes a good hunter as well.

[Farmboy27]

I've never really thought about it. I very seldom hunt 2 days in a row, let alone 3 or more. There's a good chance that any bird I hunt on Saturday will be dead by the next Saturday when I have a chance again. The majority of my birds have been killed the first time I hunt them. 2 years ago I did hunt the same bird until the 3rd Saturday until I got him. But in that time I only hunted him 3 days. Years back I had a streak of 6 years that I was done by 7am the first morning. Turkeys were everywhere then and it was easy to feel like a master turkey hunter!  Lol. The population obviously has a great effect on success rate for anyone.

[wvmntnhick]

I hear birds every time out when hunting near my current location. Unfortunately, they're often times on land that I've got zero access to and makes it quite difficult to kill them. Having said that, on the days that I was able to locate birds on property I'm able to hunt, the success rate is fairly high. First day I got to hunt here I scored on a nice tom and then had a bird that's given me the slip for a couple years (assuming it's the same bit anyway) continued to do so. I made a trip to another farm later in the season not expecting the birds to be there. Generally you've got to call them across several hundred yards of field and at least 3 fences. Anyone that says they can do it consistently is lying. Needless to say, I got lucky and there was a bird on the farm that got a free ride over my shoulder back to the truck. So basically, when the birds are in the right places, my success rate is around 65% or so. Not a great number in the eyes of many but considering the crap season from last year, I'll take it.

[mtns2hunt]

Average 2 - 3 birds a year past ten years. Many kills out of state on good gound with plenty of turkeys. On private land only hunt older birds and usually get the boss. This year didn't get him. Came in behind me twice. Lots of fun tho and I hunt about 30 + days a year.

[Cutt]

My year started off disappointing as I took a week off just to hunt Ohio, and the birds were just not there like other years. My mistake for not checking it out before hand and going with previous years success there. So then I was back to working nights and hunting just when I could manage to, and took 2 nice PA birds on 4 total hunts here. Managed a few more out of State hunts in Ohio, in a different area and not where I wasted my weeks vacation and got another nice one.

So I averaged 2 longbeards in PA on 4 hunts, and 1 longbeard in Ohio on 10 hunts, so I'd say the overall average is 6-7 days and that's all Public land birds without the use of decoys or a blind.