Question for the Run & Gun guys

[Mossberg90MN]

For me and where I'm at as a hunter there's a time to "run and gun" and I time for patience. Most of the time if your setup is good, in a good area, it's the time for patience. I try to give a bird a couple hours off the roost. Sometimes if your not right in the area they want to fly to and strut, you have to wait on them. Every situation is different but I've had better luck being patient the first few hours of the day. When I do run and gun, I go to areas I know turkeys to be or suspect if I don't know the property. If turkeys aren't gobbling a lot I will do a lot of 1 hour setups, cold calling just here and there.

That's not a bad idea... last season I did some cold calling for about an hour. As I get up to walk away I hear a Tom drum, too late, he busted me as I stood up about 20 yards from him.

[Mossberg90MN]

Really depends on the size of the area you are hunting....
Smaller property, I am more likely to set up in a high traffic area and hope for a different bird if I do not kill the bird I roosted...  Larger property, I am more likely to search for a willing bird.

This^^    How I hunt an area begins with what I have available, as well as my assessment as to how many turkeys are there.  I absolutely hate the "patience game",...that is, sitting around waiting for a gobbler to show up,...but sometimes that is how you have to play it.  Running around helter-skelter on 200 acres hoping to find a gobbling turkey is a good way to either run the birds off the place or get them to clam-up altogether while sneaking around trying to avoid you.

However, you can extend a small property to something considerably larger by easing along the perimeter of the property and trying to strike a gobbler off of an adjacent property.  That is a strategy I have used many times hunting places where I was restricted to a small area.  You may be restricted to a particular piece of property, but gobblers don't know property lines.

On large tracts, I am going to go prospecting for gobblers pretty quickly.  The only exception to that is if I am aware that the woods are saturated with other hunters and that I might interfere with their engagement with a bird.  That is where having knowledge of the area you are hunting,...via experience or the use of good mapping systems,...makes a major difference.  Knowing where to head to get away from the competition (and being in condition to be able to get there) makes a world of difference in finding a gobbling turkey.

I plan on hunting larger pieces of public, 5,000 plus acres. Some much bigger, some a little smaller if they hold birds.

[Mossberg90MN]

It goes without saying that every situation is different, however, it's hard for me to walk away from a gobbling turkey.  If he shuts up when he connects with those hens, and I can hear another turkey gobbling, I very well may leave him and go chase the other one. 

If he still continues to gobble, then I would try to circle around and intercept them (if I know where they're going) or try to pick a fight with the hens.

I think this is a good plan B if the terrain allows you to circle him without getting busted. Probably will be my 2nd attempt if off the roost doesn't work.

[Missouri hunter]

For me and where I'm at as a hunter there's a time to "run and gun" and I time for patience. Most of the time if your setup is good, in a good area, it's the time for patience. I try to give a bird a couple hours off the roost. Sometimes if your not right in the area they want to fly to and strut, you have to wait on them. Every situation is different but I've had better luck being patient the first few hours of the day. When I do run and gun, I go to areas I know turkeys to be or suspect if I don't know the property. If turkeys aren't gobbling a lot I will do a lot of 1 hour setups, cold calling just here and there.

That's not a bad idea... last season I did some cold calling for about an hour. As I get up to walk away I hear a Tom drum, too late, he busted me as I stood up about 20 yards from him.

Yeah sometimes you need an hour and a half... haha. It's pretty awesome when you don't know ones there and he gobbles at 50-60yds looking for you. I've had to work on being more patient as I messed up a lot of birds in my early days by moving when they had already broke to come in to the setup. Some I've them I flushed and some I just wondered what happened. I guess the main thing I'm saying if your going to run and gun make sure you slow down and hunt to. Last year I got called a bird in that my brother was able to harvest. We had an early setup on a bird that wouldn't work to the calls. Then I flush a satellite bird that was coming in but never gobbled except on the roost a long way away. Heard him walking and tried to swing the gun on him...
After all that played out around 9 we headed for a spot I know birds to hang out. Took about an hour just to get in the area (this was all on a big piece of public). Slowly moved out the ridge calling every 50-75yards stopping to listen. It was breezy... We had just called and then waited about 5 minutes while talking about setting up for awhile and then he gobbled. Either for the first time or the first time we could here him. While we are talking about where he is and what to do he gobbles again 50 yards closer. I told my brother to grab a tree and 5 minutes and a couple more calls to him once we were set and we we're standing over a hot 2 year old. It was awesome! If we would have been in a hurry and just started marching after my calls we never even would've known he was there.

[GobbleNut]

I plan on hunting larger pieces of public, 5,000 plus acres. Some much bigger, some a little smaller if they hold birds.

Having those options on large properties, you can play your cards however you want to.  The general rule is to never leave a gobbler that is responding to your calling.  For me, however, there is one exception,....and that is having another bird (or more) in the distance that is answering your calls and showing more interest. 

There is another possibility by doing that, as well,...and that is by changing your focus to another gobbler, and perhaps relocating towards that bird, your original bird may change his attitude and decide to come take a look before the competitor gets there. In addition, even if the first gobbler has no real interest in coming to your calls, if you are calling to another bird that is approaching you, the first gobbler is very likely to come to confront the second bird.

I can't tell you how many times the above scenario has played out for me when dealing with a henned-up, or hung-up, gobbler. 

[eggshell]

I agree, if your working a bird that is not moving and then a second bird opens up you better turn to that bird. He'll be the first to show up in most cases, or as Gobblenut said your in the middle of a fight and that's a good thing.

I think staying on birds and moving around them, will ultimately result in a spooked bird, and is one of the most common mistakes made by turkey hunters. I absolutely will pull off a hung up gobbler, no matter where I'm at. I will try him later that day or another. If your on a small property, then go scout for another spot. To think turkey hunting is only in the woods is also a mistake. So many people think they have to kill that bird right now, but that's not true. On public ground your worried someone else will get him, so what, they bought a license too. Have confidence in your ability to find and kill birds.

Example: My buddy and I were on a very tough bird that wouldn't move. We decided to pull clear out of the plot. We were driving down the road looking at possible new areas. I saw a yard sale and decided to pull in because I saw some antiques ( I'm a collector ). So we strike up a conversation with these locals and I buy a couple small things. They want to know if we done any good hunting (keep in mind we have out of state tags ) and we share our stories. Then one of the guys says you should go down here to BIlly Bob road (fictional) there's a bunch of turkeys down there and no body hunts it, they don't even know the National Forest comes up on the back side. So I get out my phone and check "OnX Hunt" and bam he's right. So away we go and mostly we just scout, but we actually see a bird on the road. The next trip down we hunt that spot and kill two birds. It's now one of our regular stops. The next day we went back on the old hung up bird and killed him right off the roost. All on public land.

[EZ]

It goes without saying that every situation is different, however, it's hard for me to walk away from a gobbling turkey.  If he shuts up when he connects with those hens, and I can hear another turkey gobbling, I very well may leave him and go chase the other one. 

If he still continues to gobble, then I would try to circle around and intercept them (if I know where they're going) or try to pick a fight with the hens.

This for me.
I'd also call it "walk and kill" as opposed to "run and gun"!!!

[g8rvet]

My brother's FIL killed many many gobblers before he died.  He told my brother if the gobbler sounded very interested, but walked away with live hens, he would stay put and kill him when he made it back around to check on that hen from the morning.  I have done that on small pieces of land.  I vote for the go back and check on him crowd-if there are enough birds in the area that your odds are good of striking one.  If not, I would stay put.   Later in the season, I would also be more likely to stay put as I assume the hens will likely head off earlier.  Just depends on the geography of the tract too. 

[TauntoHawk]

Once I find one, I try to stay with them until one of us makes a mistake. If I lose tabs on him then I'll go look for another, but it's hard for me to leave a bird to find a bird.

This was going to be my answer - if he goes the other direction and completely shuts down and leaves me with no idea where he's at or where he's going I will back off, try to find another bird, and possibly come back to the area later. If he's with a hen moving or stationary but still announcing his presence either to me, her, or crows I will try and re position to come at him from another angle or slip in closer until something happens.

The only time I'm leaving a bird that I know his location is if he's positioned himself deep into a property I do not have access to.

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[hotspur]

Western turkeys move more  call  more, eastern turkeys move less call less, western turkeys are good for run and gun hunting

[Happy]

Just for the record. I am not a fan of "Run and Gun". Prefer more of a silent and methodical approach.

[strum]

Here in North Ga I stay put most of the time . Very seldom does moving around profit me.

[Turkeyman]

Back in the day when I started turkey hunting there was no such thing as "Run and Gun". I'm neither running as opposed to  walking nor gunning unless the opportunity presented itself. Thus I always called it "Walking and Calling"...same thing but less pizzazz with the today's younger hunters regarding the nomenclature!! If I had a tom gobbling well but he off and left me I assumed one of a couple things...1) he was off with a hen(s) or 2) he was headed for a strut zone. In either event, I would canvass the area for a bird that wanted to play the game but would always return to that spot a couple hours later. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

[Mossberg90MN]

Thanks for all the responses guys. I appreciate all the info!

[Spitten and drummen]

An old man told me that if a bird honors your call with a gobble , at some point during that day he will show up. I have sat tight and took a nap only to be waken up by a gobbler gobbling , drumming or crunching leaves coming in.