Spring Turkey On Public Is Tough!

Spring turkey hunting on public land is TOUGH!!! Or at least it is for a newbie, lol. So far the four gobblers that I have encountered have been much smarter than me and I haven't been able to close the deal. I had one yesterday hung up at the fence to private and he just wouldn't commit to that last 50 yards, what's a fella to do. A lot of walking looking and listening but still nothing. I still have 3 more weekends left so anything can happen. Good luck to all of you in the rest of the season.

Gobblers can be tough anywhere, but put a fence, creek, or other obstacle between you and the tom, and it gets double tough.

Good luck

Gman

Are you hunting at LBJ? I had the same problem on one of the units out there.

^^^^ what he said. Next time, if you can, try retreating 100 yards and call. If the tom thinks your leaving, sometimes that will make him commit. Only do it if you have cover and cant be seen.

Yes Public hunting is difficult I have had success on public property by hunting later in the day for example try to locate a bird early, if you cannot get him to work but will answer go back to that area about 10 a.m. set up and do some soft to moderate calling but not a lot sometimes this will pay off on high pressure birds.

Ive tried it all on Ft Hood and have yet to seal the deal. Opening morning I had tons of birds all around me going nuts fast forward 2 weeks later and they aren't making a sound. Tried using locater calls right before daylight and nothing. So I finally get up walk around and see a couple but they are not interested at all and keeping walking the other way. Sooner or later persistence will pay off. I hope.

My buddy and I hunted from daylight until about 5:20 or so and this was the only gobbler we could locate. he came thundering in from a good ways after we hit the hen cluck, got in close and then threw on the brakes. Since I'm new at this game I didn't really expect anything more than learn as I go along. May still have a chance yet because the season isn't over.

Birds should get only more receptive to calling as hens begin to lay and nest. That 9:30 to 12:30 timeframe should begin to get real busy in the next few days.

Gman

Lots of gobbling on the roost but not responding to a call yet on Caddo in Fannin. Anybody else having this happen ?

Yes on opening day and Saturday. Saturday they were not roosting in same area they were on opening day.

^^^^ this



and that will make the harvest soooooooo much SWEETER!

I also think if there's a lot of pressure and calling from hunters going on, the turkeys get wise to the calls.

I was hunting LBJ, this is the third time that I have had a gobbler hang up. Twice by a fence line and once by a creek, just couldn't coax them over. Not going to give up yet, still have 3 more weekends to hunt. Would be nice if I can find some part of LBJ that hasn't been hunted so hard but hey, it's public and I'll just have to learn how to adjust.

The best thing to do is back up if you can do it without being seen, that usually gets them to commit. Also if they are henned up in the morning and don't respond to your calls, they may return after they are done messing with the hens they have. In more than one case, I have had gobblers wander off, only to return to that spot later in the morning looking for the hen...

This. I can't name the birds I've harvested by sitting tight in a turkey rich environment. It works especially well with Eastern birds.

Gman

My brother and his preacher went out on some public ground in E Tx for Easterns last weekend. They had a bird come in and hung up on the other side of this creek. So my brother backed up about 200 yds, preacher stayed put, and my brother called, and that old bird came on in right by the preacher. That bird had a 11 1/2 in beard. Then my brother went back this past Sat. Had about 5 gobblers out in front of him on roost. They ended up circling around him. Then about 9:30, he said he heard the last gobble of the morning, out in front to his right. He said he was going to hunt till noon and just stay put where he was at. The birds knew where he was by his calling. At that last gobble, he said he answered it and put his call up. He ended up falling asleep for almost an hour. He said when he woke up, he had a jake right out in front of him eyeballin him. Then he looked to his right and had a bigger bird 30 yds out and he shot that one. All on public ground.
Now it's my turn!!!!!!

Yep...easterns seem to be on fire this season. I've been itching to get back out and call for someone else since me and Charles from the forum took our birds on opening day. I'm thinking about taking a retired warden friend of mine out to a different location I've seem birds and just to see how we do out there next week.

Gonna make 1 more trip next weekend before the season closes. The last weekend is Mother's Day weekend so will need to stay home for that.

Moisture is better this year...hopefully have a good Eastern bird hatch this year.


Gman

I'm gonna be toughing it out one last weekend on LBJ, may end the season without a bird but not because I didn't try. I wasn't sure if I could pull it off or not since this is my first year of spring turkey hunting.

Went to lbj a few times this year and had trouble getting on them. I heard them coming from the west and hopped over to the next parcel and then heard them coming back from the east. It's like they knew where the private land was.