Turkey Frustration and Q?s

[lindy rig]

Don't get me wrong.. I like the hunt and the challenge and spending time outdoors. But my turkey frustration is reaching all time highs. We hunt in far SE Minnesota in the hill country. Sometimes public, sometimes private. The private land we have access to is a gorgeous piece, about 200 acres up on top of a ridge. The owners usually hunt the 1st 3 seasons, almost always bagging birds in each season. Then we show up for 4th season and struggle. We have been doing this for 7 or 8 years (I'm actually losing count) and I've yet to shoot a Tom. My questions are these:

1) Do turkeys become 'wary' as the seasons progress, and they've been hunted on the same property. Are we better off hunting somewhere else that hasn't been pressured as much?

2) If we do continue to hunt this particular property, we have considered camping on the property vs. a public campground further away. Would this be a bad idea? Only add to the pressure? or will the turkeys just avoid our little camp area and not be affected very much?

[sticknstring]

Quote:

1) Do turkeys become 'wary' as the seasons progress, and they've been hunted on the same property. Yes. Are we better off hunting somewhere else that hasn't been pressured as much? If possible, absolutely.

Like deer, birds will feel pressure and will alter patterns. Birds will become more silent on the roost, more reluctant to come to calls and/or decoys, or move off the property all together. I've seen what you are describing every year I hunt D or later. I would recommend not camping on the property unless it's quite a ways away. They won't tolerate much human intrusion and will lead to an even more difficult hunt.

The way I hunt late season birds is far different than the early season unless a bird you find a suicidal tom that's lonely. More scouting, less calling, less intrusion.

My recommendation is to find another farm to try out and save the frustration. If you've hunted 7 seasons without tagging a bird, they've caught on or there's another factor hindering your success.

[DonBo]

I'd push that hunt back a week or two to let them settle down some. I'm still having plenty of action right now. Mid May is NOT too late to hunt.

Can't answer the camping question without knowing the set-up. If you can camp far enough away from where you're actually going to hunt, I'd say go for it. (assuming the landowners don't mind)

[Borch]

In regards to pressure, Yes turkeys feel it. However, what you're describing isn't heavy pressure that some of the more popular public pieces end up with over the course of a turkey season. Hunting later seasons often means changing it up a bit in order to bag bird. I think several of us have mentioned already that scouting during the season, calling less, raking leaves instead, hunting all day, (part of this is that the PM is a good time to shoot a bird but it also leads to scouting). Making moves when you see a pattern develop or if you feel you can head a bird off based on scouting will all lead to more success but nothing is guaranteed.

I find myself moving blinds and backing off on my calling or bringing out the gobble call instead. Sometimes decoys are your friend and other times they will push birds away. Got be willing to change it up when what you're doing isn't working. Sometimes I'll jump to another property or blind to try and find a hot bird at some point in the day.

As far as camping goes I'd say whatever leads to you spending more time in the woods. When you get frustrated it's easy to pull the pin and quit for the day when the opposite is often the best thing to do. At times when I get frustrated I make a move to see new trees, field or sign. Bumps up my confidence which helps me stay out longer and hopefully cross paths with a receptive tom.

Good Luck and remember that turkeys are dumb but have unbelievable survival instincts. They often cover a lot of ground meaning that they may be on a neighbor's property much of the day. But because they move they could suddenly show up when you least expect them. The first day my dad and I didn't see or hear a turkey until shortly before I shot mine about 2pm. We talked about all the turkeys and sign we saw scouting but it's funny how the earth swallows them up when you're hunting until that moment when all of a sudden there they are...

[rbs]

I have been having the same problem with birds where I hunt. It is private land, but we are the only ones that have been in there. So it isn't pressure for me. It is that the birds are not coming out to the fields and since I am bow only that is where I have been hunting. This morning I had a hen and two huge toms across the field (200yds) and the one tom was non-stop gobbling. He came out into the field about 15yds and strutted and never came any closer. I had my 2 DSD's out (submissive hen and Jake) and he just hung up and would not come. He could definately see them!

I can't hunt till Friday now so on Friday I am going to wait at first light to hear where they are at and I am taking the blind and heading to them. Try to get in a opening in the woods as close to them as I can get without scaring them. I have to try something different!

[Cheetah]

lindy,

it sounds to me like you are getting a raw deal on that property. If the owners and family pound it for 3 weeks, then you get to come in and pick up any scraps, its no wonder you haven't shot one yet. Probably half the gobblers are shot by the time you come around, and the few that are left are call shy or moved off to neighboring farms.

There is lots of public land in Houston county, I've turkey hunted a lot of it over the years. Bird numbers are much lower these days than they used to be, but they are there and accessible if you put in the time and miles. It isn't what it used to be in terms of numbers though.

If I were you I'd explore other opportunities. Either a longer trip so you can spend more days spread out on other properties in SE MN, or try going out west Nebraska, Kansas or South Dakota.

[1eyeReD]

I've only been out two mornings and started my season this past week. Started off with a late evening just to get out and hope to "put em to bed" but didn't. One of the 3 sits I had action. This morning was eerie quiet for gobbling. After I got tired of sitting I walked a ridge calling into each ravine I crossed. Nada. Chirping birds kept it interesting though. Man, even the pheasant shut up.

The frustration is setting in as well.

[rkhinrichs]

1) Do turkeys become 'wary' as the seasons progress, and they've been hunted on the same property. Are we better off hunting somewhere else that hasn't been pressured as much?

my answer... well yea!!!! they been hearing call seeing decoy set-up for 3 weeks. WASTE OF TIME!

[Wanderer]

Lindy,

Do like Don said, move your hunt back if you can. Let those birds settle down a bit. Chances are by third season the landowner is still killing birds because he knows where they'll be rather than having super human calling skills.

We're in a similar situation property wise in the same area as you. I've always hated coming in on the heels of others. If our season winds up being nice weather after a stretch of bad, then I'm more confident. But there have been seasons our property was devoid of birds for a few days after others had hunted in front of us.

Camping on your property: it's nice but it affects the birds some. If you can stay close to a farm house you'll be better off. We camp in the farm yard so to speak but away from the house a good 100 yards. Sometimes we get birds roosting on the hill above us but they always seem to know we're there.

Farmer says there's been Turks in the lower corn field by the house every day, till you boys showed up.

If you're camping in your hunting area, keep hunting while you're camping. Try to minimize your presence.

[123fish]

Pressure definitely makes a difference in my opinion. I started turkey hunting in the late nineties in the Caledonia area. We always hunted the fifth season. The first years of hunting there we would have good action hunting fields and wood edges with birds coming into the decoys and responding to calling and doing what you hoped they would do. This was private land with people hunting a couple of the seasons before we got there. When they switched to the 5:00 p.m. closing and then to all day hunting you could tell the difference. They basically wouldn't come out of the woods any more and we weren't good enough hunters to get them in the woods. We eventually stopped going there and went to Nebraska where you would see more birds in one day than five days at Caledonia. Now when I hunt s.w. Minnesota where there might be one gobbler every twenty miles if I know someone has been hunting one of the gobblers I have scouted I'll drive the twenty miles to find an unpressured bird. Works pretty good for me.

[lindy rig]

When they switched to the 5:00 p.m. closing and then to all day hunting you could tell the difference. They basically wouldn't come out of the woods any more and we weren't good enough hunters to get them in the woods.

This is exactly my experience also.

Thanks a lot for all the input guys. I do feel somewhat better just by reading this and knowing I'm not just crazy (well not completely anyway )

Like I said, this is years and years worth of effort. We've tried all sorts of adjustments while hunting, but nothing seems to work. I guess I need to put myself in a situation with a higher probability of success, either my moving seasons, or changing locations. Nebraska sounds nice :)Just getting on the board would go a long way.......

[Borch]

Knocking on doors and having more options has usually worked for me. Seems that birds are going better on one than the others any given day or season. It's really frustrating hunt one property even if there are birds there when you can get anything going. At least making a move renews hope.

[Hoyt4]

There has been a lot of good advice.One thing I'm not getting is all this field talk and wood edges. Too me if you hunting you have to adapt. Most my birds are taken in the woods only a couple in the spring are off the fields. I do not limit to just hunting them on fields you have be in the woods. MN , WI, SD, NE all birds this year taken in the woods called in.

Scout , Scout is the biggest thing. This hunt in WI was one of the hardest I've ever been on the birds were not talking or being seen too much. Numbers really took a hit in our area. We took a day of our hunt to scout hunt as we did but we got in an area we new held birds each year. Sure enough we had some to scout watched were they were comiing in and out of the woods. It's a place we could not make a move on them but we could get in to get setup in the dark.We did end up getting one bird doing this. We shot 4 birds 3 of the four were from in the woods. I did get one in the field Sunday our last morning but I know this bird was going to be there after seeing him a few days. He came in from roost and put on a great show.

[Wanderer]

I think people prefer fields just due to the fact turkey hunting is such an interactive sport. Both sound and visual. Most of the time we see birds is when they're in the fields so that's wat we picture in our minds when we day dream about em. It's such a rush to see em and KNOW they're around rather than having blind faith they're in the brush.

Two things I tell myself about woods hunting:

If you're not seeing them in the fields, they're in the woods - and we don't see them in the fields most of the day.

If it's dry, they probably won't sneak in undetected. Turkey's make a lot of noise walking through dry leaves. Don't worry about not being able to see em a long way out. You'll likely hear em before they see you.

I've taken at least half of my birds in the woods but I still like watching open spaces. I always have my binos with though so I can scan anything I have a vantage point over. It helps pass the time and keep my head in the game when I'm in the sticks.

[Sinker]

I'm thinking that in general they're getting more wary, not just each spring because of pressure. Noticed during the 2nd season in central WI. that sometimes there would be no gobbling off of the roost and I wondered if winter took it's toll. But later you'd see some strutting in fields or roaming around. I know some still do but in general it seems they don't come running in anymore to the calls. I always had good luck calling to them when they were with the hens and later in the morning they would come back around looking. Just seems they don't do that as much now. Heck, the first tom I ever shot was back in 2001 and it came gobbling and running in because of the noise I made after a I had stepped on a stick! Did buy a leftover tag this year and shot a nice tom this past Friday when two of them silently came into the field from my right.