What are y’all seeing pressure wise for the public land hunter…

[Hduke86]

My selfish reasons I love the delayed opener. Yesterday they were fired up 95% of the day even though I made some bad moves and had a rookie hunter in tow. It was probably the best day of turkey hunting I've had in years and we didn't even kill…..

Now the question for y'all public land hunters. Have y'all noticed an increase or decrease in pressure from people. They place I hunt was drastically down compared to the last 3-4 years

 

[CrossVolle]

Was out on public yesterday in some spots that has always had a pile of birds in the past and did back in February. Heard 1 bird gobble 4 times. Covered over 20 miles. Only saw one other group of hunters.

 

[Wahoo98]

Was out on public yesterday in some spots that has always had a pile of birds in the past and did back in February. Heard 1 bird gobble 4 times. Covered over 20 miles. Only saw one other group of hunters.

Was out on public on Monday. I heard 2 gobbling from the roost. I set up on one and had 2 hunters come in a spook it before fly down. I covered 9 miles and averaged about 1 hunter per mile. That's the most people I have seen in the past 3 seasons.

 

[deerfever]

People are all over on public, usually two shooters and one camera man ! Everyone wants to be a star. Ran into that twice now

 

[Hduke86]

People are all over on public, usually two shooters and one camera man ! Everyone wants to be a star. Ran into that twice now

Dang that's nuts

 

[30-06 type of guy]

I've Hunted public since juvi and it was only 1 other juvi there then. I've been at the same area just at different gates since Saturday. Birds are there and what ppl that is there have been gone by 9 if that. I'd say there is a big drop off of ppl in the areas I have been. The most cars I've saw at 1 spot is 3 but it's either 1 or none. Saturday is the only day I've had a bird that wanted to die. I've heard birds every morning that are either a distance away or across the river. I just need 1 . Also today is the first day I've heard a boat. Usually they are wide open before day light

 

[megalomaniac]

People are all over on public, usually two shooters and one camera man ! Everyone wants to be a star. Ran into that twice now

Wow, just crazy!

I'm fortunate to have enough private in TN to not have to hunt public, so no input on public inn TN specifically....

That being said, I heard far more shots the first 4 days of season while hunting private than normal.

As far as south MS goes, there was even less pressure on the public places I hunted. In fact, only had to move from my morning plan A once this entire season after being beaten to the pull off spot. And I wasn't arriving more than 20 min before legal shooting time. Now that being said, I've only heard 1 bird gobble since I started scouting Feb 23rd (killed him), and that's with 19 days in the field in MS. In fact, I've only found 1 set of gobbler tracks since season opened Mar 15th. Haven't heard a SINGLE shot either. So that might explain why the spots I picked to check had no pressure.

If I had a crystal ball, I'd suspect overall pressure on public in TN to be a bit less than past couple years early season (simply because so many other states are open now as well), but late season (May 15 thru 30) will have a bit more pressure than the last 2 weeks of season compared to years past. But pressure on public last 2 weeks will still be very light compared to first 2 weeks of season.

 

[DeerCamp]

There's going to come a point where more public land goes to quota hunts.

 

[hoghunter65]

There's a lot of turkey at South Cherokee, while fishing Parksville Lake you can hear them up on top of the ridges, I ride through the mtns about 3 times a week and this year I ve seen 1 vehicle in the past 2 months, nobody hunts it anymore, back in the 70's and 80's there was so many hunters that hunters were calling to other hunters.

 

[Southern Sportsman]

My selfish reasons I love the delayed opener. Yesterday they were fired up 95% of the day even though I made some bad moves and had a rookie hunter in tow. It was probably the best day of turkey hunting I've had in years and we didn't even kill…..

Now the question for y'all public land hunters. Have y'all noticed an increase or decrease in pressure from people. They place I hunt was drastically down compared to the last 3-4 years

I've found a few public turkeys before season and I've been battling with them the last couple days. Came really close to killing one this morning, but he dug his heels in 10 yards too far. I have yet to see another soul or footprint in that area this year.

 

[Levee Jumper]

Lots of people on the few public places Ive been this year. Killed a couple and found a couple kill sites. Lots of boot prints and tire tracks. Places that you need waders to get to helps but its gonna be gnarly in the dark with the cottonmouths when it warms a bit more.

 

[redblood]

People are all over on public, usually two shooters and one camera man ! Everyone wants to be a star. Ran into that twice now

im not meant for this world- facebook, you tube, tick tak, nothing is done for its enjoyment of the activity anymore- its all about impressing someone you never even met

 

[megalomaniac]

There's going to come a point where more public land goes to quota hunts.

There are a few spots in middle TN that should be quota already from a safety standpoint and quality of hunt standpoint for sure the first 2 weekends. That might be a viable option... draw hunt first two weeks, then open up to nonquota after that....

 

[deerfever]

Don't worry though the one crew that showed up one hour and half later than me was more than nice and offered to let me stay and hunt with them as they didn't want to run me off. Lol, I was very nice and cordial but I did try to convey to them proper turkey hunting etiquette. There was only one road bed on the place that I intended to walk in and listen moving forward until I heard or struck one. There we all four stood listening together, I tried to leave at first but someone was already at the other gate about half mile away and the place was covered up. I assured them if it had been the other way around I turn my truck around and leave. They had a dot on ONX as to where they were going so they would not turn back. Young guys 20s and nice enough but hopefully they thought about it later as I just told them to go ahead down the road and I left after we heard nothing at our initial listening spot. They did at least agree I could go after the first one if we heard it! Lol. I do my best to have patience on public as some of these guys especially the younger 20 s type just have not been taught. They all had drove separately so it looked like a ballgame crowd at the gate! I try my best to just leave when it happens and basically that is what I did but I was taking them up on I could go to the first one offer! I had been there since 430AM EST.

 

[kaizen leader]

My selfish reasons I love the delayed opener. Yesterday they were fired up 95% of the day even though I made some bad moves and had a rookie hunter in tow. It was probably the best day of turkey hunting I've had in years and we didn't even kill…..

Now the question for y'all public land hunters. Have y'all noticed an increase or decrease in pressure from people. They place I hunt was drastically down compared to the last 3-4 years

Hunters all over WMA at Percy Priest. To crowded.

 

[C1295]

People are all over on public, usually two shooters and one camera man ! Everyone wants to be a star. Ran into that twice now

It is so annoying

 

[Southern Sportsman]

Places that you need waders to get to helps but its gonna be gnarly in the dark with the cottonmouths when it warms a bit more.

That is likely the reason I haven't had any competition. A mile walk in with hip waders tripping over cypress knees in the dark isn't fun. But once I get where I'm going it's a beautiful place to be.

 

[dammitbobby]

Saturday morning was an absolute circus on public in middle TN. I had a few spots scouted out, showed up at 5AM at one and group of guys from Georgia were getting out. Drive to another spot, parked and started walking in and saw a headlamp coming from behind me. Guy clearly sees me yet casually sets up a decoy spread right there by my truck. I kept walking and got away from him and actually got on some birds in the tree. They pitched to a private field so I decided to go home and get the boat to get away from the madness. I take the boat to the furthest spot from a road I can find on the map. I got out and started walking up to a little clearing up ahead and sure enough I started hearing manufactured hen calls coming from a guy standing right out in the open. Opening day always sucks on public though. I'm sure it'll get better. People have been consuming all kinds of turkey content for months getting fired up so naturally they'll be out in force early. That's just part of public land hunting.

 

[Remington700]

There is a piece of public I always start on that has little pressure. This year I saw one person on juvi and two opening day. I walk far enough that I never see anyone. It typically has more people on it on opening day. I am not sure why it did not this year, but I am not complaining. Reading on here it seems as though the other side of the state has more public land hunters that we do.

 

[Bone Collector]

My selfish reasons I love the delayed opener. Yesterday they were fired up 95% of the day even though I made some bad moves and had a rookie hunter in tow. It was probably the best day of turkey hunting I've had in years and we didn't even kill…..

Now the question for y'all public land hunters. Have y'all noticed an increase or decrease in pressure from people. They place I hunt was drastically down compared to the last 3-4 years

well I have been 2 times. On Sunday it was raining and I didn't see another hunter in woods, but they were out about normal.
Opening day, well I ranted a bit on my kill post. I had 2 different guys walk up on me at different times. they were hammering pretty good though. will be interesting to see how this stretch of cooler weather effects them.