I've always hunted smaller private places that have fields and little woods. I'm gonna hunt a few public places this season pretty hard. How do you guys go about hunting big woods with little to no fields.
In your situation, sounds like you just lack turkeys period. If I was tied to the property I would just keep looking and scouting instead of hunting and save the hunting for when I find them.I'm not really that good in the big govt woods, just started last year, but I had some success.
What I did was look for as much habitat diversity in a small area on public that was fairly close to private. I tried to pick out 3 to 5 spots each day scouting/hunting to cover. Then I covered as much ground as fast as I could until I struck a bird or found fresh sign. I came back to the areas with fresh sign and slowed down. The harder to access the areas, the less pressure from other hunters. Some spots might be only a few hundred yards from the parking spot, but you have to crawl under the dense vegetation to get to the open woods birds will use.
Killing birds is EASY. Finding them is the hard part. In the past 2 weeks in South MS, I've hit over 20 spots on national forest covering ground and calling. I've yet to strike a single bird, and have only found one set of jake tracks. But there just is NO substitute for boots on the ground and miles and miles covered.
I did find a pretty waterfall today... just enjoy the journey and savor all the new experiences. Finding birds isn't supposed to be easy. But that makes it even more special when you do find the needle in a haystack.
I'm talking about rugged terrain. In your situation forget the terrain, focus on a spot that looks good and stick with it till you find em.I am a novice. What if there is no terrain such as these flat bottoms in west Tennessee? How do get an advantage there?
Correct, there are very few turkeys on the southern half of Desoto National Forest any longer. ( somewhat better population up at the northern half). That's what makes it fun. Plus, it's only 20 min from my house, so I can hunt more frequently and actually spend more time in the woods without having to make a long drive elsewhere. Heck, I covered 4.5 miles this morning and still made it to church on time. Saw 2 spots that should have a bird in them at some time during the season, and another 3 that were total busts.In your situation, sounds like you just lack turkeys period. If I was tied to the property I would just keep looking and scouting instead of hunting and save the hunting for when I find them.
Sounds just like my deer hunting in the Cherokee national forest! I got access to a small piece of private property when the kids go so they can at least see a deer.Correct, there are very few turkeys on the southern half of Desoto National Forest any longer. ( somewhat better population up at the northern half). That's what makes it fun. Plus, it's only 20 min from my house, so I can hunt more frequently and actually spend more time in the woods without having to make a long drive elsewhere. Heck, I covered 4.5 miles this morning and still made it to church on time. Saw 2 spots that should have a bird in them at some time during the season, and another 3 that were total busts.
At this point in my life, I've killed so many turkeys I'm looking for the experience itself. Killing a turkey is just icing on the cake. I'd rather get to spend 10 days in the woods hunting with just a chance at a kill vs only 1 day hunting with a guaranteed kill.
The bad thing is that it's really hard on my kids to drag them all over the national forest and never hear a bird. They get discouraged after just a couple hunt
Your last video was pretty spot on with how I attack big woods.Start on top of a main ridge where you can hear all the points coming off that ridge and also hear across the hollers on either side. Finding a bunch of points leading down into a creek drainage seems to be pretty consistent for me in finding birds.
Watch Catmans latest videoThanks guys. I have a few days off towards end of next week. I think I may ride up there and do a little scouting. At least try to find a few nice listening spots.