My best Opener

[TN Whitetail Freak]

Went to a public field I had scouted previously, it was my 5th spot I scouted and I determined it held the most birds....pulled in at 8:30 am this morning and realized this spot must produce annually beca use I was beat by others....there were 15 trucks there before I got there at 8:30 am.....the spot I wanted was already taken but I was able to get fairly close to the original spot and it turned out to be better spot as far as opportunity at birds....me and the nephew limited with 30 total and my buddy dropped and additional 13 birds for a total of 43 birds....there were multiple guys floating in the 11-14 range but we were the first to limit when we left. Thanks to TWRA and the state of TN for providing such a fine hunt for the public.

 

[tree_ghost]

Nice haul man!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MidTennFisher]

Wow I hardly ever hear of someone getting a limit on public fields, they're just too overcrowded. Congrats!

 

[JimFromTN]

I swore off public fields on opening day a few years back. You have to get there by 7am, shooting does not start until 12 and the birds don't really start flying good until 4pm and to boot, its usually the hottest day of the year. If you set up at the wrong spot, even on a really good field, you can go without getting a shot because the birds are dead before they get to you. Its as aggravating as sitting in a duck blind watching the blinds around you sky busting so the ducks never come in and work the decoys. Apparently, shotguns can take down a duck at 100 yds, you just need to keep trying until you hit one.

 

[Buzzard Breath]

Awesome!!! Nice bunch of shooting. It sounds like you put in the effort to have a successful hunt and capitalized on it. Good luck on your next hunt.

 

[MidTennFisher]

Apparently, shotguns can take down a duck at 100 yds, you just need to keep trying until you hit one.

You just have to use an extra full turkey choke, right? Surely when you shoot one 100 yards away and it falls in the woods it should be no problem to find.

 

[MidTennFisher]

Last year I scouted a public field a week early and saw doves all over the place primarily in one particular area of the field, I had hit a gold mine and I knew it. I used a vacation day from work and got up early, was at the field by 7am. Got to my spot and took a nap until about noon. Heard a few shots on the other side of the field but figured no biggie, they'll be flying all over the place here any minute now. Turns out, every spot on that field except where I scouted was hot and full of shooting. I shot maybe a box of shells all at very high and fast flying birds that somehow made it past several hunters before heading to my spot so by then they were blazing by. Plenty of birds would have given me a good shot if so many hunters weren't practically rubbing elbows with me and each other around me. People wanted to show up late and crowd the spot I got there early for. I was so disappointed and vowed never to do that again. I'll hunt the public fields in a couple weeks once the crowds go away.

 

[JimFromTN]

Last year I scouted a public field a week early and saw doves all over the place primarily in one particular area of the field, I had hit a gold mine and I knew it. I used a vacation day from work and got up early, was at the field by 7am. Got to my spot and took a nap until about noon. Heard a few shots on the other side of the field but figured no biggie, they'll be flying all over the place here any minute now. Turns out, every spot on that field except where I scouted was hot and full of shooting. I shot maybe a box of shells all at very high and fast flying birds that somehow made it past several hunters before heading to my spot so by then they were blazing by. Plenty of birds would have given me a good shot if so many hunters weren't practically rubbing elbows with me and each other around me. People wanted to show up late and crowd the spot I got there early for. I was so disappointed and vowed never to do that again. I'll hunt the public fields in a couple weeks once the crowds go away.

Typical dove hunt for me on a public field

 

[smalljawbasser]

TWRA does a nice job at lick creek wma. they put sticks every 100 yards, and you have to be within arms reach of the stick if you're hunting. if it's a farmers field that twra leases they can't really do that, but they should require the farmers to do it in the lease agreement. if you do that, it goes good, and if you don't what ya'll describe will happen. the skybusting is just part of it and happens at private fields too.

 

[CATCHDAWG]

Looks like a great hunt, congrats!

 

[DRSJ35]

kyles ford dove fields much better than lick creek.but thats an awesome haul congrats

 

[PalsPal]

Congrats.

Public fields are definitely hit and miss, with more misses than hits. With that said, 3 of us brought back 38 from a TWRA field yesterday morning in less than 2 hours (after they killed a boatload there opening day).

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

Awesome