Alabama turkeys

[Bgoodman30]

I have a new respect for AL turkey hunters. Another year whupped with no bird to bring home. Had 10-25 mph wind sustained start to finish... No roost gobbles last 2 days. Got close twice but lost one to a hen and another to a coyote.... Knees are bloody from briar thickets... Blisters on my feet. Tough hunting.

 

[ImThere]

curious, where where you at? Public? Private? I'll go on my first hunt next Thursday.

 

[REN]

I have a new respect for AL turkey hunters. Another year whupped with no bird to bring home. Had 10-25 mph wind sustained start to finish... No roost gobbles last 2 days. Got close twice but lost one to a hen and another to a coyote.... Knees are bloody from briar thickets... Blisters on my feet. Tough hunting.

haha I feel that. Turkey hunting alabama is how I cut my teeth for almost 20 years and that was even doing it on private land with a good population. Still to this day and in all the states I have hunted I still find true alabama turkeys to be the hardest turkeys I have personally ever hunted.

 

[megalomaniac]

Embrace the suffering. It's part of the spring rite of passage!

But it's hard to blind hunt an unfamiliar locale without intel/ a pin on a bird.

 

[Bgoodman30]

haha I feel that. Turkey hunting alabama is how I cut my teeth for almost 20 years and that was even doing it on private land with a good population. Still to this day and in all the states I have hunted I still find true alabama turkeys to be the hardest turkeys I have personally ever hunted.

That's for sure. No gobbling punks... Granted the conditions were some of the worst I have ever hunted with howling winds and obviously spooked birds. Only gobbles I heard this morning were far off shock gobbles from crows that we couldn't pin point..

 

[Bgoodman30]

Embrace the suffering. It's part of the spring rite of passage!

But it's hard to blind hunt an unfamiliar locale without intel/ a pin on a bird.

Oh yeah I was at my wits end yesterday when we would look at the map and my buddy would say "we can cut through here" next thing I know I am ripping through god awful thickets entangled head to toe... Finally said you can have it I am going to to logging road...

 

[Bgoodman30]

curious, where where you at? Public? Private? I'll go on my first hunt next Thursday.

Private, north of Auburn.

 

[REN]

Private, north of Auburn.

I grew up hunting about 45mins SW of auburn between Union Springs and Tuskegee, but also lived in Auburn for 4 years.

 

[Bgoodman30]

I grew up hunting about 45mins SW of auburn between Union Springs and Tuskegee, but also lived in Auburn for 4 years.

Pretty country. I could see for miles from our cabin at 1200 feet and I bet you could hear a couple dozen gobblers from there on a good day. Only problem is it also may the windiest spot in Alabama!

 

[nate17]

I hunted Alabama last year. It was tough and I have hunted a lot of public land. Not many birds where we hunted. Lots of venomous snakes. The only bird I felt like I was really in the game on, someone cut me off.

I had a weird encounter with a young wildlife officer while there that told me I had to be back at my truck by 1:00 and would receive a citation for being in the woods after that time because they could not prove I wasn't hunting if in the woods with a gun. I just politely nodded to her knowing that she was wrong and that citation wouldn't hold up in court.

 

[th88]

I had a weird encounter with a young wildlife officer while there that told me I had to be back at my truck by 1:00 and would receive a citation for being in the woods after that time because they could not prove I wasn't hunting if in the woods with a gun. I just politely nodded to her knowing that she was wrong and that citation wouldn't hold up in court.

I've been told different things by different officers on this. I reckon it is just up to the officer's discretion. I make sure to be back by 1:00 to avoid any headache!

 

[Setterman]

haha I feel that. Turkey hunting alabama is how I cut my teeth for almost 20 years and that was even doing it on private land with a good population. Still to this day and in all the states I have hunted I still find true alabama turkeys to be the hardest turkeys I have personally ever hunted.

Same for me, I got drug many days chasing bama birds especially early in the season

 

[nate17]

I've been told different things by different officers on this. I reckon it is just up to the officer's discretion. I make sure to be back by 1:00 to avoid any headache!

I have always hunted until the time it closes and then unloaded my gun and walked out. Everybody I know does the same. I even talked to a friend that was a conservation agent after I returned to get his take on that encounter and he laughed and said there's no way it that it would hold up in court. West Virginia has a law that you have to case your gun at the time that season closes each day. The law doesn't really elaborate on what "case" means but I think most people use a gun sock and most officers accept that practice as "cased".

Here is a fun one to play out. Missouri recently opened private land Turkey hunting up for the entire day. On public land it still closes at 1300. There are over 60,000 acres of privately owned land that is open to public hunting in Missouri. The land is owned and managed by a non-profit organization. Can you hunt it all day or not? Do you check your harvest in as a public or private harvest?

 

[yellalinehunter]

I have always hunted until the time it closes and then unloaded my gun and walked out. Everybody I know does the same. I even talked to a friend that was a conservation agent after I returned to get his take on that encounter and he laughed and said there's no way it that it would hold up in court. West Virginia has a law that you have to case your gun at the time that season closes each day. The law doesn't really elaborate on what "case" means but I think most people use a gun sock and most officers accept that practice as "cased".

Here is a fun one to play out. Missouri recently opened private land Turkey hunting up for the entire day. On public land it still closes at 1300. There are over 60,000 acres of privately owned land that is open to public hunting in Missouri. The land is owned and managed by a non-profit organization. Can you hunt it all day or not? Do you check your harvest in as a public or private harvest?

I would call that private. Not owned by the state or federal. I'd hunt all day and check bird as private. Some one owns it other than " the man".

 

[yellalinehunter]

I grew up hunting about 45mins SW of auburn between Union Springs and Tuskegee, but also lived in Auburn for 4 years.

I've lived in Troy and little Texas. Wonder if we have ever crossed paths?

 

[Spurhunter]

I listen to a lot of interviews with big name turkey hunters on podcasts. Almost 100% of them say alabama turkeys are the hardest to kill.

 

[REN]

I've lived in Troy and little Texas. Wonder if we have ever crossed paths?

There is no telling my dad went to Troy so been through Troy a bunch of times in my life.

I lived in Destin FL the first 17 years of my life but my dad lived in Montgomery and we had family land in Fort Davis Alabama so I was there a ton growing up hunting and seeing family.

 

[Gobble4me757]

I've only gotten to go 3 times…killed one, had a buddy kill on the second hunt, and came close to getting my father his first on the 3rd…I will say this, I've enjoyed hunting y'all's Tenn birds I'm going again today to a camp and hoping to add to the count. We have family land in the tombigbee bottoms of south bama and to me, they are the toughest birds in the country to kill. I hunt all over the state as well and can back that statement as well as multiple other states. We have a saying in bama…if you can kill these birds, you can kill em anywhere.

 

[AlabamaSwamper]

They are tough no doubt

You can hunt right up until 1. She was wrong. I wonder what county that was. I've been checked many times after 1 or even 12 when it was noon and as long as you wasn't calling and walking to the truck you were fine.

 

[ZachMarkus]

They are tough for sure. Put in 8 rough miles today on public, came close twice but couldn't make it happen.