Struggle Bus

Mega I will tip my hat to you. I can honestly say I would not be enjoying that. I'd be mad at the world. I wish I had more of your attitude.

muddyboots said:

Mega I will tip my hat to you. I can honestly say I would not be enjoying that. I'd be mad at the world. I wish I had more of your attitude.

Click to expand...

LOL, I'm not mad at the world at all... a little mad at myself actually though for misplaying this season.

I made the assumption if we didn't have birds on my private lease, I'd be able to get on enough on public to keep me busy... but all the spots I found birds last year on public (I struck 4 birds on public in 2020) were completely devoid of birds this year... not even a track. So I ended up wasting the first 10 days of the season hunting places I had killed before instead of striking out to new ground. And those first 10 days are CRITICAL in MS. (Just like most states... 2/3 of the entire seasons kill is in the first 10 days.

So I struck out to explore new public ground. Found some spots that were perfect habitat.. just no birds. And a couple had birds 2 weeks before but they were already killed (the fellow I met yesterday told me when they were killed by others).

Lesson learned... the hard way... I won't be travelling as much next year and I will dang sure line up more private places to hunt locally.

But it has been nice since the kids are getting older and not as involved in spring sports. I'm getting to spend more time in the woods, and I'm not relaly looking to kill a turkey, just appreciate the experience for whatever it is. But I do regret that I've never really been in the game at all this year at having an opportunity to work a bird that was on the ground I was hunting.

And the second half of the season can be painful here. Run and gun to strike a hot bird is out, just have to find fresh sign, sit on it, and blind call hoping somebody comes sneaking in. But jeez, I can't even find fresh sign. Was pretty pumped about the tracks I found Friday on part of the lease I hadn't hunted... only to have called in the 2 jakes.

Don't want to jinx myself, but my private lease may be great again next year. I've gotten pics of 13 different jakes that have been on camera at some point during this season.

Is there room on the bus for me too? I'm struggling just to find time to chase them. It's awful deep into April and I've managed 2 mornings

megalomaniac said:

Had my butt handed to me in south MS. I've burned 7 vacation days so far, hunted 15 or 16 days here, covered portions of 4 counties, hiked 75 miles, and had 3 birds total gobble, but on private I couldn't access. No gobbles since Mar 25th.

I've called in 3 birds. A hen clucking quietly, and 2 jakes that came in silent yesterday.

Haven't even heard a single shot all season down here. Heck, only found 2 sets of gobbler tracks on public all season!

But I've enjoyed every minute!

Click to expand...

I have yet to even set up on a bird. Have seen one hen since season opened. Heard gobbles twice. Won't even try hunting the rest of the year and may not next year either. Used to hear and watch birds virtually all day every day 4 years ago but they are almost all gone now.

MickThompson said:

Is there room on the bus for me too? I'm struggling just to find time to chase them. It's awful deep into April and I've managed 2 mornings

Click to expand...

Load up!

megalomaniac said:

Had my butt handed to me in south MS. I've burned 7 vacation days so far, hunted 15 or 16 days here, covered portions of 4 counties, hiked 75 miles, and had 3 birds total gobble, but on private I couldn't access. No gobbles since Mar 25th.

I've called in 3 birds. A hen clucking quietly, and 2 jakes that came in silent yesterday.

Haven't even heard a single shot all season down here. Heck, only found 2 sets of gobbler tracks on public all season!

But I've enjoyed every minute!

Click to expand...

where are you hunting in S MS? My MIL lives in Ocean Springs right outside of Biloxi. Never seen a deer or turkey there. Hear they are covered with hogs... when I go I just fish, plenty of them.

You can PM if you want or not answer. I understand. more or less just curious.

PickettSFHunter said:

Since getting the bird in Indiana on Wednesday, I've hunted 3 different public lands in KY. I have found birds on them all but even during the week, people have been parked everywhere. I normally kill a high percentage of gobblers that I work, not here so far. Every one I've worked has shut up as soon as I make the first call. I've got within 60-75 yards of 4 different birds and can't get them to come check me out, just get ignored. I am not used to getting it handed to me like this I tried moving to a rough mountainous area to escape pressure but it's worse here!

Click to expand...

it is starting to get that way here on public. Saw 6 toms on private with 2 hens. usually one of the young ones will come look. not anymore.... they're scared now. on a positive note, seen tons of toms this year, tons of Jakes and seen some breeding, so hopefully we'll have a good hatch.

Bone Collector said:

where are you hunting in S MS? My MIL lives in Ocean Springs right outside of Biloxi. Never seen a deer or turkey there. Hear they are covered with hogs... when I go I just fish, plenty of them.

You can PM if you want or not answer. I understand. more or less just curious.

Click to expand...

I've been all over Desoto National Forest except the Chickasawhay WMA. Seen some deer, but no turkeys yet this year. There are a handful of birds around, I just haven't been lucky enough to strike one.

Called the ranger for Desoto, hes an acquaintance of mine (and doesn't turkey hunt). He has seen 3 turkeys total riding the roads since January on the 500,000 acres.

Got 2 more chances to hunt Friday afternoon and Saturday before season ends. Not going down without a fight!

Killed one with my son yesterday. We had to be a little aggressive with these knuckleheads I have been chasing for 2 years but glad to have one on the board..

TN hunter said:

Yeah. I think those hunters have made their way north from TN. We have seen several Arkansas hunters this year on public ground in TN.

Click to expand...

I've run into arkansas hunters in middle TN as long as I've been hunting. Everyone else kills their ducks, they kill everyone else's turkeys.

Bgoodman30 said:

Load up!

Click to expand...

I think this is my stop

Killed in 4 different states

Andy S. said:

Yes, the strong cold front that pushed through Tuesday afternoon brought 2-3 hours of wet blowing snow as the temps plummeted, with some of the elevated snow lasting overnight. That pic was taken Wednesday morning.

Click to expand...

We had snow in the northern part of MO that Tuesday

MickThompson said:

I think this is my stop

Click to expand...

Got him! Congrats!

My truck has been broke down now for going on 2 weeks.. This weekend looks the best weather of the season but I will be boarding a plane and heading west...

Bgoodman30 said:

That's a great attitude. I like the exercise aspect of public ground run and gun. Honestly I think I had just as good success when I used to hunt public ground. I decided that I was not going to hunt public this year because of the increased pressure but that proved to be a bad choice! My issue is time and hens. For whatever reason the last two years it seems the hens never leave the Toms. They are with them all day everyday.

Click to expand...

I had a spot like that back in 02. The hens never left the Toms but they gobbled every time we went no matter what the weather was doing

Uncle Jesse said:

I had a spot like that back in 02. The hens never left the Toms but they gobbled every time we went no matter what the weather was doing

Click to expand...

Yeah Its been since the first week of season since I was able to strike a bird without hens.