This time of year I'm always thinking about what I can do differently this season for more success.
Here's a couple on my list:
Hunt the 80 acre place near my hometown (4 hours away) more...just got rights back to hunt it last year....took a big Rio there and there were several more toms on it.
I hunt mostly agricultural fields....might consider a strutter decoy this year for times I use decoys.
Hunt the new ground I picked up last year near where I live more....in heat of season I went to my old faithful places and didn't spend as much time getting familiar with the new ground.
Thinking about video taping some hunts this year for first time.
Great thread.
Our season will now be opening up a week sooner here in WV. I'm hoping that will mean better and more aggressive responses from field birds to my stutter or jake decoy so they will be out more this coming spring.
I'm also going to try my hand at filming hunts as well.
I've got 2 scratch boxes on order from SS calls, I'm anxious to call in a bird with a style of call I have never used before.
I often get in a rut and try to hunt the same place a few days in a row. That turns into being consumed with a certain bird or two and I end up missing out experiencing the spring at different farms. It will be tough but I'm gonna try to not spend too much time after one particular bird.
Every year in Feb-Mar. I scout new areas of public land I order topo maps of the new area and mark roads I've been down areas I've scouted. Then late March right before the season I go as often as I can and listen for gobblers in the new spots and the old familiar. I've been doing this for over 10 years and have a pile of maps and different places to hunt. It will really pay off this season because I will probably work every day right up till opening day.I hate to miss the early scouting its one of my favorite things to do almost as much as the hunt itself.
When I am at my friends farm hunting turkeys I want to have more patience.
I am going to try to keep hunting after 11:00 am when it is getting warm even knowing that the five acre pond is full of good size bass that just want to smash something. :)
Pre season, scout more and smarter.during the hunt, sit longer. :boon:
Try and make the most of the time that I do get to hunt.
Get a turkey..... ;)
I got a new scratcher from the SS boys as well and will be trying to incorporate that into my calling arsenal.
I hunt public land in SE Michigan and have a couple of spots that have been very productive for me over the years so I tend to really concentrate my efforts on those spots. This season I hope to explore some of the other state land areas within my hunt zone.
The last three seasons I have been very fortunate to work with a local not-for-profit group that provides hunting and fishing opportunities for disabled vets. Three years running I have been able to hook up with one of their members and call a gobbler in for them. Hoping to keep that up this season and maybe host one or two more.
Scout. Haven't done that in over ten years. The hunting club I am on has timbered a large quantity of my favorite spots so I need to move on. Want to scout new publication land spots as well cause my old ones aren't as good as they used to be. Less birds.
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I am going to be more patient and less persistent with my calling. I think last year I called way to much, called wrong calls at the wrong times.
I did not use my ears to just listen to the woods and I was too excited the couple times birds where around.... Not sure how to change that last part, but I definitely need to calm down and think more about the situation at hand instead of just reacting.
I definitely need to scout more (even though it's tough to do when my hunting grounds are 3.5 hours away). And definitely work on getting more camera time in my hunts.
I plan on burning some more vacation time at work !!! But that's not really anything different.
I do want to hit the public land a little harder this season though.
Well it looks like I'll be doing a lot more driving to hunt since my lease and public land close to home have the lowest turkey #'s I've ever seen. It's gotten so bad I'm close to calling it an un-huntable population. :'(
I'll be burning more vacation time. I'm hunting a new WMA in Alabama for the opener and plan to hunt my local WMA a lot more.
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not get hung up on one bird,like last year
:OGani:
Quote from: oldturk on February 06, 2016, 06:05:26 PM
not get hung up on one bird,like last year
:agreed: Same here. (But it would have been great to close the deal on him!)
#1 is get more/better footage this season. I have been getting into this aspect of the hunts more and more every year, it's a great way to "share" the hunt with family, friends and been doing some "Outdoor Show" work as of late for friends.
MK M GOBL
I am going to focus on killing one with a trumpet. Bought 2 from billy Buice last july. Been practicing with them about 30 min. Almost daily. I think I have gotten really good with them. Not a expert but consistent and good enough to fool a tom.
Going to use my head a bit more. Hunted some with a buddy and we called too much on a couple of birds..even though I kind of knew better. actually, I can't blame it all on him. I messed up doing that by myself once. Just got excited and couldn't understand why they didn't pop right over that ridge.
Quote from: oldturk on February 06, 2016, 06:05:26 PM
not get hung up on one bird,like last year
I would like to say "EXACTLY THIS !!"
But, truth is........................ there's a bird right here behind the house that made it personal with me last year and ate up most of my hunting days. He won.
I'd like to say I won't do it again, but............................ he's got one comin'
I live on the Front Range in Colo where there is a gob of country with relatively few to 0 birds. This year I plan on hitting the hills a little earlier than normal to see if I can pin down more areas that "may" hold birds. I don't want to spook the few birds that exist out of the country but I also want to find new locations.
Quiet everything down. I think the coyotes in our area have the birds much more quiet once they're on the ground. I think I'll follow suit and be calling less and at lower volume.
The main thing I'm doing differently this year is taking my 6 year old grandson out with me as much as possible. His Mom agreed to let him go with me this year and I can't wait. :happy0064:
He's scouted with me, seen some birds and heard a few distant gobbles, but he has no idea what he's in for. ;D I'm going to throw a couple brush/log blinds together before season to help combat the fidgets and let him do some calling. He's been practicing with a box call and I'm hoping a bird will cooperate. I'd love to have one come in close and strut and gobble for him, bust just having one answer him would be awesome.
Bob
Kill More Coyote's.!!
Not make fun of people who miss when they hunt with me. That probably wont last long.
More pre season scouting and try some different public land.
Hunt more by myself, take a nap everyday, and get the wife to mow during gobbler season.
:OGturkeyhead: :OGturkeyhead:
I pretty much hunt National Forest land here in WV and VA and last year I killed a couple of birds by purposely trying not to get too close to the birds gobbling after on the ground. Both came a long ways with soft calling and putting occasionally. Worked then but who knows this year.
Quote from: lonnie sneed jr. on February 14, 2016, 02:53:10 PM
Hunt more by myself, take a nap everyday, and get the wife to mow during gobbler season.
:OGturkeyhead: :OGturkeyhead:
You have to be careful. New spring grass is fragile and It's not a good idea to cut it much before June 1st here in NY. After our May turkey season closes is just about right. ;)
Bob
I'm going to fish more
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Quote from: OldSchool on February 15, 2016, 11:10:33 AM
Quote from: lonnie sneed jr. on February 14, 2016, 02:53:10 PM
Hunt more by myself, take a nap everyday, and get the wife to mow during gobbler season.
:OGturkeyhead: :OGturkeyhead:
You have to be careful. New spring grass is fragile and It's not a good idea to cut it before much before June 1st here in NY. After our May turkey season closes is just about right. ;)
Bob
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Got a new push pin call, made by Paul. Butski, gonna try to kill a gobbler with it
Hunt more.....
2015 Old Gobbler contest Champions
Have a longer season which means Kill in multiple states, put some friends on some birds this year. Last year my season was over in 30 min and every time I had plans to take friend something came up and i didn't have the time to hunt other states. Haha more than likely means that it'll be a hard season and I'll eat my tag.
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Listen more and call less. These Alabama turkeys get pressured. Going to hunt that different WMA I been thinking about hunting for 2 years.
well i goose egged last year and i know why. this year im going to slow down and just enjoy the hunt.
1. call in my first bird with a trumpet
2. call in my first bird with a scratch box
3. be more patient and let the birds work themselves in
4. try new areas!
Keep Arkansas struttin!
I'm Chomping at the bit to start scouting. I know its a little early but that's what I want to do differently this year, scout more I'll probably wait a couple weeks
Just put more days in the woods. Last year working night shift I only put in 3 good days. Screwed up only shot I had too.
I think this year I will try to kill a few of them rather than scare them all off. :toothy9:
This year I won't walk off and leave my gun laying where I shot him, and have to hike a mile back uphill to get it :toothy12:
My turkey hunting properties are at about 2500 feet... Got some new property a bit lower this year, and will likely hunt the lower property early in the season, and go up higher as the season progresses...
I am going to take my 5 year old daughter with me for the first time this season (she joined me on several duck hunts this season)... So this will be my first season hunting from a blind and being less mobile for a couple hunts... I hope to create a situation that she can see through the blind without alerting the birds...
Time constraints generally preclude any degree of scouting, but with my daughter in tow, I am going to make a bit more effort... Probably take both the little ones out for some pre-season scouting (giving mom the day off)...
Not to mention that having two cute daughters in the truck is a great way to get some sympathy when trying to garner new properties in the area to hunt...
Take more time choosing my set up this year. Last year poor setups cost me some opportunities at birds.
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This year I want to find more turkeys. I get a lot of birds in the same areas and that could change at some point. So many private land birds now and nothing on public. I want to find more public land birds and take some pressure off of what little private land areas I have to hunt.
Communicate better with my 6 yr old.
I did a poor job instructing him and he missed a stud the last morning of the season. I have had a whole offseason to criticize myself. Hoping for redemption. He shot well killing 3 deer and 2 pigs this winter. As a result of doing so well with scoped rifle, I put a Bushnell TRS-25 on his mini bantam
Cover more ground and dont get caught in a rut. There are several places that I like to hunt,but aint worth hunting. If I get a tag that is. I ordered them very late so I have my fingers crossed that I even get an Illinois tag. If not looks like I'll be in Arkansas and Tennessee !
Be more patient on public land. When hunting a massive WMA, I tend to want to bounce around to much. If he answers my call, sit there, even if he walks off and wait for him to work his way back. I know it. Plenty of ya'll have told us that works. Saw it first hand last year on a bird that was driving us crazy. We had been on him on the roost several times and he would not come straight in. Always went off another direction. My nephew was working him from the south and I was set up to his north. The bird flew out by me and worked a big loop and after about an 90 minutes was right back where they had started calling him and they had left by then. I kept waiting to hear their shot.
Also, try to think like a Tom when sitting down. Make him look for me (the hen) not the other way around. I am struggling with this, but I know it is good advice.
And my number one priority? Get my daughter a bird!
I would love to video a hunt, but I'm concerned about blowing a chance with a Big Thunder Chicken. My opportunities are few and far in between for sure. I will get the nerve up someday to give it shot. Good luck.
Hunt more and find new spots!
Quote from: WyoHunter on February 27, 2016, 04:45:34 PM
Hunt more and find new spots!
I need to knock on a few doors around here myself. I've lost three spots in the past five years and another is up for sale. The one that's for sale now is gonna be a heartbreaker, I've hunted it for years.
Bob
Be Patient. Had 350 private acres of good turkey hunting on permission from land owners and spent most of my time getting exercise (still an awesome few days) but this year Im going to focus on about 80 acres of permission land and the excellent public i have right here by the lake in Iowa. Still haven't figured out how to slow down and quit feeling the pressure of filling the tag, turkey season just doesn't last long enough, but then again it wouldn't be as special if it did. Ready for the magic of spring turkey mornings :turkey2:
If I get one to answer me; stick the call in my pocket and let him come in. I think I blew a couple of chances by overcalling last year.
Trying to aquire more places to hunt, get my 11 yr. old daughter her first bird. She's finally wanting to go.
Quote from: Clif Owen on February 27, 2016, 10:45:35 PM
If I get one to answer me; stick the call in my pocket and let him come in. I think I blew a couple of chances by overcalling last year.
yep i did the same last year i got impatient and called to much.
Hunt less, unfortunately, due to having my first child. But the time I go I'll hunt harder than ever.
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I am brand new to turkey hunting and have no one to really show me the ropes. Last year, I had toms calling all around me, but couldn't get them to come in (I did bring in a hen, though.) I did a little research, and it looks like I was calling too much.
I also picked up a jake decoy to go with my hens, in the hopes that in may bring in a jealous tom. I'm also going to scout the public land right near my house and see if I can find some roosting spots.
When I'm squirrel hunting in late summer/early fall, I'm always scouting for deer and turkey. This past season revealed turkeys at two new locations which I'm planning to hunt first with some of my older stand-by spots as backups. A couple of trips just before the season opens hopefully will reveal the habits of these birds so that I'll know where to set up on opening day. The challenge of trying to outsmart turkeys is what makes hunting them so much fun!
Hopefully kill my first Rios
Don't really know what to do different. Last spring I hunted 4 days till I heard a gobble! Killed that bird then hunted the rest of the spring without hearing another. Worst season of my hunting life by far!! I guess this year I'll pray to the turkey gods a bit more!
#1 Take my son
#2 Spend more time bowhunting.
Consentrate more on my surroundings even before the hunt begins. Know where all my openings are without obstacles in a 360 degree circle around me. Concentrated so hard on the bead last year and blurred out a 3in sapling, killed the sapling.
Quote from: Farmboy27 on March 05, 2016, 06:52:40 PM
Don't really know what to do different. Last spring I hunted 4 days till I heard a gobble! Killed that bird then hunted the rest of the spring without hearing another. Worst season of my hunting life by far!! I guess this year I'll pray to the turkey gods a bit more!
Locate more birds and different areas before the Season, so when they are quiet, you'll still have confidence they are there.
Quote from: Farmboy27 on March 05, 2016, 06:52:40 PM
Don't really know what to do different. Last spring I hunted 4 days till I heard a gobble! Killed that bird then hunted the rest of the spring without hearing another. Worst season of my hunting life by far!! I guess this year I'll pray to the turkey gods a bit more!
I can relate. I don't know about your area of the state, but birds were all but nonexistent here around the house last spring. The population had been going downhill for the past several years, but last spring was pitiful. I couldn't get out scouting, so I didn't realise just how bad it was. I killed a bird on the third day and when it dawned on me how few birds were around, I quit hunting. Hopefully things are better this year. Good luck!
Bob
Well, I found a SUPER area on public land! And for once, I found a goldmine- before the May 1st opener in New York-LOL! This great area is very open --except for briars in different areas. They are not that thick and the turkeys can weave their way through---but a hunter with just camo pants on will come out with cut-up thighs and calves! I scouted this area just this morning for 2 hours and had on my brown pheasant-briar pants. I will have to wear them also for turkey hunting in this area as well. Maybe spray some olive green paint on them to break up the brown. No trails in this area. I do not think it gets hunted hard as the one thing that Spring turkey hunters avoid are areas with briars.
Kill more turkeys
I have yet to kill a gobbler on the 120 acre farm I occasionally hunt that's 8 miles from the house. I've seen hens and a few jakes there, but no longbeard (yet). Last year on the day I notched my final tag at some public land a few counties away, the farm owner called as I was driving home and asked me if I intended to come kill the huge gobbler in her lower field that has been standing there gobbling for the past hour. :angry9: I'm going to try to make this the year I break the ice out there.
Jim
Probably nothing, hunt as much as possible!
As season gets closer I find I am doing some things different I haven't even planned on....
Guns...usually I am ready and set up, loads, chokes, sighted in etc. This year I changed up some guns and am doing musical chairs with adjustable sights and I ordered a Simmons 1.5 - 4X Pro Diamond Shotgun Scope for my Stoeger 3500 (since I already had a scope mount for it). Ended up with Tru Glo Pro Series Magnum Gobble Stoppers on my Super Black Eagle...came off my BPS 10.
Also bought a Turkey Lounger chair and will be using that some instead of my web seat with short folding legs.
Hopefully call one in with my mouth call. Still not sounding good yet...might have more luck calling in geese than I do a turkey haha
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I'm just hoping to call one in. This is going to be my first season, so I honestly don't care if it's a jake or a world record. I just want to call one in and hopefully get a shot off.
WMN2,I thought your avatar meant that the states in red where the only states left to complete your US slam. Good luck to you this season. As for me...hunt all the early seasons I get permits for in IL. so I don't have to put up with the mushroom hunters and all the other safety issues the public land I hunt has. Makes me want to hunt only on days with thunder storms.
Quote from: wmn2 on March 09, 2016, 09:53:18 PM
I'm just hoping to call one in. This is going to be my first season, so I honestly don't care if it's a jake or a world record. I just want to call one in and hopefully get a shot off.
I hope you have a great season, good luck. :anim_25:
Bob
Quote from: fallhnt on March 09, 2016, 10:50:14 PM
WMN2,I thought your avatar meant that the states in red where the only states left to complete your US slam. Good luck to you this season. As for me...hunt all the early seasons I get permits for in IL. so I don't have to put up with the mushroom hunters and all the other safety issues the public land I hunt has. Makes me want to hunt only on days with thunder storms.
No it's each sate the team members for my team in the contest are from. I'm public land only too so I just hope to not have any run ins with crazies.
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Hunt more and spend more time with my son. This will be his last year to hunt spring gobblers with me for a few years as he has accepted an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His mom and I are very proud of him as it has been a long difficult process for all of us. I am a Army veteran as was my father, grandfather, great grandfather and great-great grandfather but at this point I must say AIM HIGH, GO AIR FORCE!!! :smiley-patriotic-flagwaver-an
Thank you and your family for the service for our freedom wildtigertrout!
Not leave candy wrapers in the vest for the rats to chew holes trying to get to it.
Find lonely tom's instead of hened up ones.
Evening hunt more.
Take my son more.
Call less.
Not get hung up on all of my preconceived notions that hold me back.
Learn a little more patience!
Hunt more, hunt smarter.
I listen to area farmers who are having real or perceived damage problems from turkeys pulling up their grain in order to eat the sprouting seed. Often these folks will let you hunt turkeys when they might not let you hunt anything else. Typically, I find a couple of new places to hunt each spring such that now I have 7-8 different farms to hunt which is great since spring rains often eliminate some of these places due to flooding, etc. With Illinois offering three permits over five spring seasons, this gives me several options.