First time to LBL for youth

[Bgoodman30]

Little man and I arrived at 6 am Friday and heard 2-3 birds on the roost. After 7 am silence not another gobble for the rest of the day. Lot of boots on the ground in a pretty good looking spot I found on the map. We set camp close by to hope to hold our spot.

Opening morning listen for roosted bird and nothing but hear one about 600 yards away next ridge over. Heard another one in vicinity. Move on it and get set up about fly down time. No response to calls and zero ground gobbling. Finally get one gobble and he has moved 200 yards to south. About that time in that direction boom... He gobbles again and it wasn't him so we make our move. Get closer call and he answers at about 150 yards. Get set up and he is still drifting south.. With a 2pm baseball game I knew we better stay in his bubble and couldn't wait him out which may have been my tactic alone. We move another 100 yards looking for setup and boom... Silence.. Went for 3.5 mile walk and not another peep. Only 2-3 birds heard in 2 days and they wont be gobbling again. Plenty of hog and predator tracks and only one turkey tract. Lots of pressure I have hunted much smaller spots and rarely had a bird shot out from under me.. The boy and I still had fun camping and exploring though.

 

[Billboy]

Sounds like a great time hunting, unfortunately the turkeys didn't cooperate. Been deer hunting there for 30 years and the turkey sightings have declined drastically over the last 10 years.

 

[Iglow]

That place needs a chainsaw bad. I don't care for it.

 

[Bgoodman30]

Sounds like a great time hunting, unfortunately the turkeys didn't cooperate. Been deer hunting there for 30 years and the turkey sightings have declined drastically over the last 10 years.

Yeah it was like looking for a needle and a haystack.

 

[Bgoodman30]

That place needs a chainsaw bad. I don't care for it.

At least the area we hunted had recently been burned. The ground was covered with more un eaten acorns than I have ever seen in my life. Mainly chestnut oaks I think. You were walking on a carpet of acorns never seen anything like it.

 

[Buzzard Breath]

At least the area we hunted had recently been burned. The ground was covered with more un eaten acorns than I have ever seen in my life.

Like this.

 

[Bgoodman30]

Like this.

View attachment 221999

Yes, did you hunt in the same place? And did you kill our turkey? Lol

 

[Southern Sportsman]

We were there, but on the KY side. There were a couple of big burned areas and they were also littered with acorns. I found a lone turkey Friday evening just before fly up. I was about 80% sure it was a gobbler, but I couldn't confirm. If it was a gobbler, he didn't gobble the next morning. Hunted until 2:00 but never got in the game. Pretty day, though.

I'd never hunted the KY side, so I may have just been in bad spots. And I couldn't cover ground like I normally would since I was hunting with an 8 yr old. But I never found a track, poop, feather, or other sign of living turkeys except the one I saw Fri. It looks like four (4) turkeys were checked in on the TN side. Three gobblers and a jake.

 

[Bgoodman30]

We were there, but on the KY side. There were a couple of big burned areas and they were also littered with acorns. I found a lone turkey Friday evening just before fly up. I was about 80% sure it was a gobbler, but I couldn't confirm. If it was a gobbler, he didn't gobble the next morning. Hunted until 2:00 but never got in the game. Pretty day, though.

I'd never hunted the KY side, so I may have just been in bad spots. And I couldn't cover ground like I normally would since I was hunting with an 8 yr old. But I never found a track, poop, feather, or other sign of living turkeys except the one I saw Fri. It looks like four (4) turkeys were checked in on the TN side. Three gobblers and a jake.

Wow, yeah we found one hen track. Four birds checked in and I was within 200 yards of two shot. Also heard one other shot at around 10 am. Not good

 

[Coker]

That place needs a chainsaw bad. I don't care for it.

A chainsaw, tractor, disc, seed, etc....

 

[PickettSFHunter]

It's very unfortunate what's happened to LBL. The feds just can't seem to do anything to address the hogs. You see more done on private land to knock hogs back than you do that place.

 

[AT Hiker]

Yes, did you hunt in the same place? And did you kill our turkey? Lol

BB identifies as a youth.

 

[Coker]

It's very unfortunate what's happened to LBL. The feds just can't seem to do anything to address the hogs. You see more done on private land to knock hogs back than you do that place.

The mismanagement started way before the hogs arrived. Once TVA gave it up, it slowly started going downhill

 

[Buzzard Breath]

Yes, did you hunt in the same place? And did you kill our turkey? Lol

The week before, I was out there shed hunting and decided to walk through the burn. We didn't hear any turkeys or see any sign.

 

[nate17]

We were there on the Tennessee side. First morning we only heard a 3 or 4 gobbles far off and I was toting around a 6 year old so I didn't feel it was wise to attempt cover that amount of ground. We stayed in the area we started because several hens had flown down and were doing most of the work for us. We eventually walked up on a bird in full strut and I almost got him set up for a shot but was busted.

Second day we went to a new area heard a few gobbles far off so we started covering some ground with the wind cooperating better than day 1. We struck a bird at 0930. Finally worked the group of birds which consisted of 2 strutters and 6 hens to 60 yards by 1100. There were at 60 yards for probably 20 minutes. One strutter split off and come to 35 but my boy couldn't see him in the brush (I think he was probably locked on the other strutter which was in plain view at 60 yards). The hens eventually carried them down the ridge away from us.

Killing a bird would have been icing on the cake for what was a great memory for me and my boy. We hiked a total of 4 miles on Sunday and built a little character for him in the process.

 

[megalomaniac]

Great Dads, both of you! Kids don't need to be spoon fed turkeys from a popup blind. Getting a few unsuccessful hunts together in the woods before killing one builds character and will teach them to appreciate the occasional success!

 

[Bgoodman30]

The mismanagement started way before the hogs arrived. Once TVA gave it up, it slowly started going downhill

Would have loved to hunt out there in its heyday. Sure it was covered up…

 

[Bgoodman30]

We were there on the Tennessee side. First morning we only heard a 3 or 4 gobbles far off and I was toting around a 6 year old so I didn't feel it was wise to attempt cover that amount of ground. We stayed in the area we started because several hens had flown down and were doing most of the work for us. We eventually walked up on a bird in full strut and I almost got him set up for a shot but was busted.

Second day we went to a new area heard a few gobbles far off so we started covering some ground with the wind cooperating better than day 1. We struck a bird at 0930. Finally worked the group of birds which consisted of 2 strutters and 6 hens to 60 yards by 1100. There were at 60 yards for probably 20 minutes. One strutter split off and come to 35 but my boy couldn't see him in the brush (I think he was probably locked on the other strutter which was in plain view at 60 yards). The hens eventually carried them down the ridge away from us.

Killing a bird would have been icing on the cake for what was a great memory for me and my boy. We hiked a total of 4 miles on Sunday and built a little character for him in the process.

Awesome! Good to know they still live somewhere!

 

[Bgoodman30]

Great Dads, both of you! Kids don't need to be spoon fed turkeys from a popup blind. Getting a few unsuccessful hunts together in the woods before killing one builds character and will teach them to appreciate the occasional success!

Nah I'm looking forward to busting out that silver spoon next weekend!

 

[Southern Sportsman]

Great Dads, both of you! Kids don't need to be spoon fed turkeys from a popup blind. Getting a few unsuccessful hunts together in the woods before killing one builds character and will teach them to appreciate the occasional success!

My boy is 8, and this is his first year on the gun, so I've thought about this a hell of a lot lately. I decided that if he really wants to turkey hunt with his dad like he says he does, he's going to have like turkey hunting the way his dad does it. Which includes the occasional long, quiet walk through LBL.

 

[poorhunter]

My boy is 8, and this is his first year on the gun, so I've thought about this a hell of a lot lately. I decided that if wants to turkey hunt with his dad like he says he does, he's going to have like turkey hunting the way his dad does it. Which includes the occasional long, quiet walk through LBL.

I've taken a lot of youngsters turkey hunting over the years, and while I don't go up and down as many hills as I would by myself, I do not coddle or take it easy on them either. They walk through the cold creeks and up the hills, sit for long stretches and sometimes never hear a gobble or see a turkey. But they al love it!

 

[Turkeychaser]

This post brought up sweet my memories. I took my best friends nephew over there 14 years ago maybe. The first morning we had 5 Jake's come in but I couldn't get him turned right. The last morning we had two gobblers come in but his gun was pointing the wrong direction by 6 inches. My Stepdad has had some major issues the last few weeks and the last turkey we killed together was at LBL.

 

[deerfever]

LBL is a beautiful place and the area has lots of history. I had not been out in years and had hopes to hear several like the old days . Not the case at all, day 1 not a single gobble. My son said he walked 6.3 miles so I must have walked 10 as he slept in the truck while I scouted some areas for day 2 ! Lol. Day 2 we actually seen the hen go to a bird we were working off the roost. We then got after one that we heard sound off on another ridge as we worked the first one. 2.5 hours later 3 call changes , playing hard to get, scratching leaves, feeling the gobble vibrate off our faces,. hearing him spit and drum. He whipped us! I absolutely loved it , he was in the area he wanted us to come just out of sight and he wasn't budging over the crest of the hill where we waited and could see about 40 yards. It reminded me of one thing there is not as many but the LBL birds are still tough as ever! That's what keeps you going back for more, he had a good time.