FLTENNHUNTER1
Well-Known Member
If you could only hunt 1 weekend this season, which one would it be and why? Is there a peak breeding time similar to deer?
Best time to hunt
- Thread starter FLTENNHUNTER1
- Start date
For where I live in the SW portion of the state, days 1-10 are usually some of the best hunting, with the most gobblers still available (not killed yet), but where I hunt in middle TN, I typically prefer days 10-20.
It only gets a little worse each day...
More gobblers, less foliage first of season, less gobblers, more foliage, end of season. Take your pick.
whiskey
Well-Known Member
I took vacation for the week of 17th. Mostly because KY will be open, but also because I like it better a little later. More hens nesting. More foliage to cover me sneaking around.
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Southern Sportsman
Well-Known Member
I like the second or third week. Once hens have bread, they will go to nest leaving gobblers with less entertainment, making them easier to call. Plus the added foliage makes it easier to move and set up. If your hunting public, there will a few killed early in the season, but there will be fewer googans by week 3.
Setterman
Well-Known Member
I prefer the last two weeks. Woods have greened up so moving is easier and our birds tend to gobble more and aren't in giant groups any more
Third weekend has always been good to me.
On those really tough years, the last week is generally magic for me...a terrible season can turn fantastic is just a few hunts at that time IF folks just hang with it.
On those really tough years, the last week is generally magic for me...a terrible season can turn fantastic is just a few hunts at that time IF folks just hang with it.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
It depends on the number of birds you have available.
Realize that HALF of the ENTIRE season's kill is now just in the first two days of the 6 week season. The hunting is much less enjoyable that early, as most hens haven't started breeding yet, and even fewer have initiated nests in middle TN. That means the dominant gobblers are glued to their hens, and once the males get with the hens right off the roost, are almost unkillable unless you are willing to sneak in on them. Young gobblers are still easy to call in, especially if there is an older bird in the area that has claimed the local hens.
In the middle of the season, the adult hens are breeding, and leave their group for a couple hours each day to lay. The gobblers that weren't killed opening weekend now become much more vulnerable to calling (especially in the early afternoon). BUT, depending on the property, the majority of males may have already been removed, making for some tough hunting trying to locate a bird to work.
By the end of the season, most adult hens should be starting to set, and males can be desperate looking for the last few hens. Those males often start bunching back up into bachelor groups and wander much larger distances, so the hunting can be feast or famine depending on whether you are lucky enough to be near one of the bachelor groups.
Personally, my favorite time of the season is the 2nd weekend in middle TN. There is a chance at calling in a dominant bird if you catch him with his hens away.
That being said, I now always come up for the opener and am just happy killing off the 2 y/o's. There just aren't enough males left on my farms by the 2nd weekend to have birds to work all day long like there used to be in the past.
Realize that HALF of the ENTIRE season's kill is now just in the first two days of the 6 week season. The hunting is much less enjoyable that early, as most hens haven't started breeding yet, and even fewer have initiated nests in middle TN. That means the dominant gobblers are glued to their hens, and once the males get with the hens right off the roost, are almost unkillable unless you are willing to sneak in on them. Young gobblers are still easy to call in, especially if there is an older bird in the area that has claimed the local hens.
In the middle of the season, the adult hens are breeding, and leave their group for a couple hours each day to lay. The gobblers that weren't killed opening weekend now become much more vulnerable to calling (especially in the early afternoon). BUT, depending on the property, the majority of males may have already been removed, making for some tough hunting trying to locate a bird to work.
By the end of the season, most adult hens should be starting to set, and males can be desperate looking for the last few hens. Those males often start bunching back up into bachelor groups and wander much larger distances, so the hunting can be feast or famine depending on whether you are lucky enough to be near one of the bachelor groups.
Personally, my favorite time of the season is the 2nd weekend in middle TN. There is a chance at calling in a dominant bird if you catch him with his hens away.
That being said, I now always come up for the opener and am just happy killing off the 2 y/o's. There just aren't enough males left on my farms by the 2nd weekend to have birds to work all day long like there used to be in the past.
I like it a little later when the foliage is out more but really there's not a bad time to be in the turkey woods. Walking down the driveway this morning to get the newspaper there were 3 gobblers and a bunch of hens in my neighbors yard. Some were still in the tree and it's spitting snow while one of the toms is gobbling his fool head off. Definitely had my blood pumping to hear that sound.
WORM82
Well-Known Member
I like it before everything greens up. I guess I'm weird as most of you say you like it after green up. I wish the woods looked like this year round.
Southern Sportsman
Well-Known Member
megalomaniac":11k38m3x said:
Not to derail the thread, but is this a result of the strutter decoy fad/explosion? Dominant territorial birds getting killed with relative ease right off the bat?
Where I live if I had to pick 1 weekend I'll take the very first one. The first 11 days here are usually good then it gets tough
tree_ghost
Well-Known Member
I personally like the 2-3weeks. Seems like those are the best hunting where I'm at
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FLTENNHUNTER1
Well-Known Member
All great information and interesting seeing the different perspectives. I live in SE Tennessee but hunt West of Nashville. I think I will go this first weekend out West, I can always find something closer if needed towards the end of the season. Thank you gentlemen for the comments.
Harold Knight always said the best time to hunt gobblers is when the oak leaves are the size of a squirrels ear...
ImThere
Well-Known Member
Any time I can actually get in the woods!!
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At 20' up
Pretty sure he meant to say the first two weeks, which has been the norm for some time now.Southern Sportsman":3hy8e8kh said:
Right around the middle of April for most areas I hunt in my county. There is an area up on the KY line in the middle of well over 140k acres of public ground that I prefer to hunt around first weekend in May.
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catman529
Well-Known Member
that may have a little to do with it, but I'm guessing it's more to do with people getting fired up and going and killing a bird or two and then getting burned out and quitting.Southern Sportsman":1yt2ni78 said:
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Southern Sportsman
Well-Known Member
catman529":24yolr5i said:
Yeah, no doubt there will always be higher kill numbers around the opener for a number of reasons. But the way mega phrased it, it seemed like there is a more recent trend. He's pretty well read on the subject, so just curious what his take is. Not intended as a slight towards decoys. But there is no question they are WAY more prevalant now than just a few years ago.
......as well as getting distracted by traveling baseball/softball, crappie fishing, camping, spring festivals and car shows, etc. There are very few turkey hunters who eat, live and breathe it like we do and try their best to stay in the woods until season ends, either hunting, or guiding if they have tagged out early. Another thing, you would not believe how many turkey hunters I've encountered over the years that will only hunt first week or so because they claim they've seen more snakes middle to latter part of the season. I wish more were like them.catman529":u0kloon4 said:
Generally when dog woods are blooming.
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
Each portion of the season offers different advantages & disadvantages, and this is particularly true to different styles of turkey hunting.
If you're an adaptive turkey hunter, you can make each part work more for you than a against you, and enjoy the best of what each day brings.
The best time to go turkey hunting is whenever you can.
If you're an adaptive turkey hunter, you can make each part work more for you than a against you, and enjoy the best of what each day brings.
The best time to go turkey hunting is whenever you can.
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
From an overall perspective, I guess for me the best single week would generally be around the middle of the season.
Nice way of putting it, and he should know.Roost 1":7yd0906e said:
Setterman
Well-Known Member
Exactly and so many turkey hunters throw in the towel the first silent morning of the season. I know for me I could go two weeks not hearing a peep and if I've got an empty tag I'm still going. It's a disease and after a while you learn that even when it's brutally tough it can all change in seconds and a bird is dead or on his way to dying. For the diehards they embrace the season from day one until it's over, the good and the bad. It's all part of it and the spring woods are a wonderful place.Andy S.":1zzhuk10 said:......as well as getting distracted by traveling baseball/softball, crappie fishing, camping, spring festivals and car shows, etc. There are very few turkey hunters who eat, live and breathe it like we do and try their best to stay in the woods until season ends, either hunting, or guiding if they have tagged out early. Another thing, you would not believe how many turkey hunters I've encountered over the years that will only hunt first week or so because they claim they've seen more snakes middle to latter part of the season. I wish more were like them.catman529":1zzhuk10 said:
Wish there were more snakes maybe we'd have the woods to ourselves
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Andy S.":27q1xltq said:
No, I meant the very first two days....
it's a bit of an exaggeration, but still valuable information one needs to know when choosing when to hunt.
Lets look at last year.... according to the hunter's toolbox (whose information may not be exactly correct, but is the best we have), 27,302 birds were killed last spring (including 1216 birds during juvenile). If you take out the kids birds, a total of 26,036 birds were killed during the 44 day spring adult season.
Opening weekend alone, 7076 birds were killed... so 27% of the entire harvest was taken during the first 4.5% of the season length. Impressive.... then just add the following Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to opening weekend kills, and you are up to 12,471 birds taken in the first 7 days of the season. That's a whopping 48% of the entire season's harvest in just the first 16% of the season length!
The harvest definetly DOES seem to be shifting to front loading. It USED to be 50% of the harvest was in the first 2 weeks of the season, but now 50% is happening in just the very first 7 days of the season (and not even counting the 2nd weekend). The major reason is simply because there are more people hunting opening weekend. But part of the reason is that even inexperienced hunters have better chances for actually killing birds with modern decoys, etc.... that really doesn't bother me, as most of those birds killed over full strut decoys would probably have been killed otherwise by those choosing to stalk turkeys rather than call them in.
There is something potentially alarming about the recent trend of the season's kill becoming frontloaded to the extreme in first 7 days of the season however. I surmise (but have no proof statewide, just on my farms and the areas surrounding my farms) that the season is becoming so frontloaded because of the overall decline in population. There are fewer birds available in many areas, and after they are removed, there just aren't any more to hunt in those areas. I know from personal experience, I have had to shift my vacation time back a week to the opener and hunt younger birds. By mid season, mature males can be hard to find, as most have been removed, and I prefer not to take the last couple remaining mature males off the farms to improve nesting success.
Is the sky falling? Of course not. But I've been on here for almost a decade saying that TN's turkey population is going in the wrong direction. Can we continue present season dates, kill limits, etc??? Not without accepting the FACT that TN's turkey population will CONTINUE to slowly decline. A few simple tweaks could reverse that trend. For example, making jakes illegal to kill would ensure that males would remain in the population to breed the following season. Pushing season opener back 2 weeks would ensure that virtually all adult hens will have been bred and can initiate fertile clutches. Eliminate fall hunting until the population trend reverses itself. Keep the 4 gobbler limit... or heck, raise it to unlimited in the spring.... as long as there are adult males to breed all the hens prior to killing them, it won't hurt the population (but we won't be hunting for anything except 2 y/o birds... trophy birds would be rare as hen turkey teeth!).
10-4megalomaniac":3s427rrc said:
My comment was based on the fact that we have killed north of 30k birds the last 14 years, and it typically taking 12-14 days of hunting season (including juvenile weekend) to bust 15k. I can think of at least two seasons in the past decade where we hardly killed anything the first five days due to terrible weather.
