burning out a spot

[g8rvet]

The guy is asking questions about this place, so folks are answering.  He is just trying to learn how to call and not move, I don't think he said he was gonna camp there.  But I hunt my smaller private pieces infrequently as well.  Mostly hunt public, but they hold a bird or two now and again.  Maybe he lives a long way from a decent public place. 

[LaLongbeard]

The guy is asking questions about this place, so folks are answering.  He is just trying to learn how to call and not move, I don't think he said he was gonna camp there.  But I hunt my smaller private pieces infrequently as well.  Mostly hunt public, but they hold a bird or two now and again.  Maybe he lives a long way from a decent public place.

If public is not possible the answer is still give the area a break. Doesn't matter if you use a stopwatch and computer generated random calling sequence lol you keep hammering the same spot everyday you will shut the Gobblers down completely, period

[bassman95]

Im going to try another piece of private land I have access to tomorrow. Ill probably stay out all day. It is pine plantation with some hardwoods around a big river. Its a big piece of property, several hundred acres at least. I plan to do some moving because I don't know where the turkeys are going to be.

Do you guys refrain from calling/hunting from around 8-10 in the morning as the toms are henned up or do you hunt these hours like all the other hours?

[g8rvet]

Several hundred meaning 300 acres?  Or 1000?  I hunt a piece that is about 300 and I am very careful about moving around.  I have also killed the majority of birds there at the times you mention. 

[LaLongbeard]

You should really read some books on turkey hunting. This is not like changing your oil for the first time you can't watch a YouTube video or ask someone to walk you through it over the phone lol. There are several really good books that after reading you would be way ahead of were you are now. You need at least a basic understanding of the game your after to have anything other than blind luck.

[bassman95]

great. what are the books called?
Ive read a a few books online about turkey hunting and think I get the general gist of it, I didn't think I was signing up to being a rocket scientist when I decided to go turkey hunting

[silvestris]

A lot of people miss the rocket scientist part.

[LaLongbeard]

great. what are the books called?
Ive read a a few books online about turkey hunting and think I get the general gist of it, I didn't think I was signing up to being a rocket scientist when I decided to go turkey hunting

There's been several posts about new Turkey hunter books ...look them up. I'd recommend Turkey hunting Digest by Jim Spencer. From the questions your asking it seems like your having some issues.

[GobbleNut]

great. what are the books called?
Ive read a a few books online about turkey hunting and think I get the general gist of it, I didn't think I was signing up to being a rocket scientist when I decided to go turkey hunting

A lot of people miss the rocket scientist part.

  Just go turkey huntin', enjoy yourself, adjust your tactics as needed, and try to learn from each experience.  Ain't none of us huntin' under the same conditions.  Even Sergeant Shultz and Happy got it down after a while... 

[tomstopper]

The Art & Science of Wild Turkey Hunting" by Lovett E. Williams Jr

The Old Pro Turkey Hunter" by Gene Nunnery.

This is some more. Feel free to ask as many questions as you like on here. It's how you learn and there are a lot of good people on here that are more than willing to help out.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk

[bassman95]

The one I read was called pro turkey tactics by bob Humphrey.
At this point, I feel like I get the idea enough that what I really need is just experience getting out into the woods and finding the areas turkeys frequent and hunting around there. I haven't been able to find a roost yet even though I've looked all over the lands I hunt around the base of the largest trees. However, I've found plenty of sign and have even called in a few, so I figure my calling at least sounds somewhat like a turkey.

Ive been told that turkeys like to roost in the tallest trees with horizontal limbs around water; Im thinking loblolly pines in my area(central Mississippi). Is this true in most of yalls experience? I bumped some birds out of some tall pine trees this morning and I think they may have been turkeys even though it was dark. Im not sure what other birds roost up in trees like that(vultures possibly?). Whatever they were, they were probably 3/4 birds in the tree and they had loud, heavy wing beats. I looked around the base of the tree and didn't see any feathers/droppings from turkeys and I walk past this spot every time I hunt this area and haven't seen birds roosted in these trees before

[tomstopper]

Vultures are big and do roost in trees so could have been them or turkeys.

Remember, you don't have to sound like a competition caller. There are are a ton of videos on YouTube of hens that sound like they smoke a pack a day.

I would focus more on cadence and just listen to turkeys talking and see how it changes from on the roost in the morning, how it sounds later in the day, evening etc. I also suggest learning body language of the birds. All of this can be read about but you were spot on about experience. As you experience more, your turkey hunting will improve.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk

[bassman95]

If I hear no turkeys around first light/sunrise talking should I just assume they aren't in the area or do you find that they are often around even if you don't hear a peep?

[GobbleNut]

If I hear no turkeys around first light/sunrise talking should I just assume they aren't in the area or do you find that they are often around even if you don't hear a peep?

Not knowing where you hunt and what the turkey numbers are like, it is hard to say for sure.  Gobblers in some places are less likely to gobble on the roost than in other places.  However, in my experience, if there are many turkeys around, you will generally hear some gobbling at first light,...somewhere. 

If you have been on the property several mornings at first light and have not heard any gobbling at all, I would speculate that there probably aren't any gobblers roosting within earshot of where you are listening from.  They might move onto the property at some point during the day, but you should be seeing some evidence of that, as well. 

If you haven't already, you should walk the property boundary at first light listening for gobbling on adjacent properties.  Later in the morning you should do the same and call to see if birds respond.  There is no rule against calling birds off of other properties on to your own (although you should not do that if you know someone else is working a bird you hear).  If you have 100 acres to hunt, you can easily triple your hunting area by calling along your property boundaries.

[bassman95]

If I don't know the location of roosts would afternoon hunting likely prove more effective? Id imagine during the afternoon id have more luck just sitting and calling as opposed to moving and calling as the turkeys are less likely to gobble back, so id spook them by moving. Is this correct and in this situation would I benefit from a louder call such as a box call?