Taking my nephew tomorrow, hoping to get his first bird. Looking like a hard frost tomorrow morning. How much do you guys think it will affect the birds tomorrow?
Juvy Hunt tomorrrow
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mayberryrick
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It definitely could. I've seen on days like tomorrow that up mid morning could be better.
cbrock84
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Been sitting here since 5:30 listening and watching 5 toms and 18 hens. Their gobbling really good this morning. Heard a couple more across the road
Find a sunny place either in the woods or in the field and go from there when the sun comes up.
Turkeys will be doing what turkeys do, some of my best hunts have been 20 degree mornings , some of my worst have been clear and 60 degrees! Just get out there and get after em!! Good luck
well it was cold has heck this morning and heard a lot of gobbling this morning while in the tree. In my experience the temp doesnt really make a huge difference and would even say those cold crisp clear mornings I generally hear more activity. I have found those warm, humid, muggy mornings to be much much worse then the cold ones.
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What he said. Good luck!
Southern Sportsman
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X2. In my experience, the first morning of a cold front will often shut them up. But when we have a high pressure system with sunny days and cool mornings for a few days in a row, those mid-30s, light frost sunrises are magical.
I don't love an east wind, but other than that, IMO, the weather for tomorrow could not be better.
Thanks everyone, for all the advice and tip, I do appreciate it. I am not the most experienced turkey hunter but want to give my nephew the best chance I can.
Anyone have any recommendations on decoy placement? I have a strutter and two hens, planning to setup all three by our blind.
Anyone have any recommendations on decoy placement? I have a strutter and two hens, planning to setup all three by our blind.
TheLBLman
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Let me preface this by first saying I have no "ethics" issue with your using turkey decoys.
Just want to share a few of my thoughts that came from experience using them.
Having experimented with decoys for many years in times past, if I were starting out teaching a new hunter about turkey hunting, would probably just not take the decoys.
Am assuming you plan to stay put in a single location?
Even if "staying put, single location",
I can overall come up with more decoy negatives than positives.
One liability in particular many novices miss is that you are often seen
either placing or retrieving (or sometimes re-setting one the wind messed up, etc.).
If a roosted bird sees you, that bird is typically not going to gobble, and will then fly down away from you. Ditto if a nearby roosted bird hears you make "unnatural" sounds, such as are sometimes made by decoys rubbing up against something, or decoy stakes rattling against each other, etc.
Another negative is that decoys repel about as often as they attract, when seen by a distant bird.
A decoy will often cause a distant bird to "hang up", come no closer, when it sees the decoy.
For a less experienced turkey hunter I'm guiding, I will sometimes use a sitting hen decoy, but is typically placed in such a spot/manner that the only turkey seeing it should be under 30 yds, i.e. already within good range. I do not want any turkeys seeing it from afar, as it is only something to draw an in-range Tom's attention in hopes of a better shot placement opportunity.
My "sitting" hen has no legs (no stake) and I often hide it in some low weeds whereby only it's head is visible. It's only real purpose is to maybe give a less experienced hunter at least a few more seconds for a cleaner head/neck shot. Often, when an in-range Tom sees it, his head will go up like a periscope, and he may go into strut rather than just walking.
If we arrive any later than 35 minutes before sunrise, even if we had planned to place that sitting hen decoy, we don't use it because I believe the risk of being seen by a roosted bird negates any benefit of that sitting hen.
When I'm hunting by myself, I don't want the hassle (and/or liabilities) of any decoy.
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Bgoodman30
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Pressure rising. Tomorrow looks like perfection. They should be hollering. Although this morning around the house roost gobbling was almost non existent. Guessing they are pretty henned up already.
Thanks LBL Man, I am thinking maybe I should not use them at all and see what happens.
Remington700
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Curious how the day turns out. Looks cold here in the am and then up to almost 70. Noticed yesterday that the foliage was thickening up. Should be fun regardless.
Good luck to all the young ladies and gents going afterem this weekend!!! Shoot straight!!! They are showing up on alot of my cameras this morning here in northern middle TN. Should be a great weekend
Was a light frost in Wayne Co this morning & they hammered from 5:59 to 8:00. I listened at 13 different spots & heard birds every time. Tomorrow should be great as well.
As far as decoys go, my 12 yr old grandson has killed 3 gobblers the past 3 years. We've never used a decoy even though he killed two birds on plots. We'll be hitting the woods in the morning and won't be toting any either.
The one experience I had with decoys a long time ago was a huge negative, and never fooled with one since and never felt disadvantaged either.
Good luck in the morning & hope to see your nephews pic here !
Bgoodman30
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We have a 8:15am cutoff due to baseball. Hopefully enough time!
in the same boat but a 9am cut off for a swim meet in Brentwood he has to go to.
Bgoodman30
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Its too cold to swim!
Good luck!
We saw two toms but sadly they both had hens with them and we were not able to call them away. Just setup in the wrong spot. We had fun though.
