Any tips on how to make a move on birds in a field? Does anyone have any experience reaping turkeys?
:popcorn:
Not Reaping... but have killed many birds in fields by dropping back in to timber and moving to another call position, drop out of sight, keep below edge of field and re-set. Change up calls and Gobbler is now hearing another bird...
Are you using decoys? We have also let bird leave, changed our set-up and called them back in to new set-up and had luck, at times made a move to different part of field as part of this.
Can't help with the Reaping thing, not my style of hunt but others may be able to help with that. (I won't recommend it to anyone but if this is your thing Stay Safe private land is not always private)
MK M GOBL
Reap away
Couple of years ago, I watched some Toms sneak past me to feed in a last years soybean field. Time past and I went to see what they were up to. About eight of the darn things were out there feeding and strutting around. No way to get to them, but I remembered that deer like to return from a field the same place they left the timber because they feel safer. So I watched a bit and one tom was coming back my direction. I found a good hiding place and waited where I couldn't see the bird until he was in range and offered a shot. What I didn't know was all eight birds were coming in a group and when I killed the one I could see, it was like a covey flush of giant quail, birds flying everywhere. Funniest thing that's happened to me turkey hunting. It was weird because it was the middle of breeding season and these were all toms strutting around. No gobbling at all and no hens.
Quote from: supremepredator on March 19, 2017, 09:23:41 PM
Any tips on how to make a move on birds in a field? Does anyone have any experience reaping turkeys?
Can't decide if you are fishing or not???
Is so, lighten the drag a little.
If not, good luck to you.
Field birds can be tough. I would possibly roost him the night before and cut him off in the timber or set up a blind and wait for him to come to me if he has a regular spot. Bad thing about the blind though is if the bird is a no show or stays in the timber your out of luck. I'd rather be mobile outside of the information so I could switch things up if I need too.
Quote from: Kylongspur88 on March 20, 2017, 08:02:03 PM
Field birds can be tough. I would possibly roost him the night before and cut him off in the timber or set up a blind and wait for him to come to me if he has a regular spot. Bad thing about the blind though is if the bird is a no show or stays in the timber your out of luck. I'd rather be mobile so I could switch things up if I need too.
They will typically prefer a certain place in the field, find it and kill em!!!
:TrainWreck1:
Quote from: Dtrkyman on March 20, 2017, 09:28:20 PM
They will typically prefer a certain place in the field, find it and kill em!!!
I agree. We love field birds. We wait them out like deer. Patience kills field birds...and proper scouting
Scout scout scout. Be in the right spot in the field in the dark and there will be no moving. He will come in
Tnx for the advice guys. It's just frustrating seeing birds doing their thing in a wide open field knowing there's no way you can sneak in gun without them seeing you. It amazes me how Turkey's can pick up on the slightest movements. I bumped some birds this past weekend trying to sneak up on them, but the next morning i had like 5 or 6 hens at like 30 yards. I sat against a root ball of a fallen tree and they had no clue i was there!
My son is a duck hunting fool. Hunts here in Iowa and NoDak, Texas and this year Mexico. But he just doesn't care about turkeys. He shot his only turkey from my ground blind set up in the middle of the previous years soybean field. Had several hens toms in and around the field, some close to the blind. Turkeys don't seem to care about a blind in the middle of a bare field.
Generally with field birds it's not the most exciting way to hunt them but I will watch them a couple of days and see if there is a pattern to what they are doing. If there is I generally will get in well before daylight and set up where I have seen them moving through, if there is a pinch point on the field etc. If they are roosting around the field you can get in well before daylight and set up within 80-100 yards sometimes closer. If they are using the field middle of the day or there is no pattern, I try to see which way they are working and make a big loop around them using the terrain to my advantage to get in front of where they are headed. Decoys are also another option if you don't have a problem with using them. I like to find a contour in the field that they will have to walk around and will be in range when they do.
I personally can't stand hunting a field turkey haha they can be an absolute pain. I always struggle with patience more when I can see them then when I can't.
Quote from: 2eagles on March 21, 2017, 08:11:47 AM
My son is a duck hunting fool. Hunts here in Iowa and NoDak, Texas and this year Mexico. But he just doesn't care about turkeys. He shot his only turkey from my ground blind set up in the middle of the previous years soybean field. Had several hens toms in and around the field, some close to the blind. Turkeys don't seem to care about a blind in the middle of a bare field.
I have a couple spots here in Iowa that are nothing but fields. All the cover and roosting spots are on neighboring farms, but they always fly down and strut in the fields. There's no place to set up, so dropping a ground blind right in the middle of field is about the only way to tag 'em. The other way would be a .223 and an alibi.