This could cover all your years hunting turkeys and include Fall as well if you go. I will list 3 different lands-but members could include more:
PRIVATE LANDS
PUBLIC LANDS
CROWDED GUN CLUB LANDS
OTHER...
My own ratio for both Spring and Fall over 28 years is-Public Lands-75% of my wild turkeys taken, Crowded gun club lands--25%, and Private Lands= 0%. I still have never taken a turkey on Private Land. Just 3 trips there. This could be an interesting thread.....
50 years of hunting, but this would be a close guess.
PRIVATE LANDS 2%
PUBLIC LANDS. 45%
CROWDED GUN CLUB LAND (Small property hard hunted leases) 53%
Similar to mine- Guesswho. Wow- 50 years hunting wild turkeys! I hope I can do that as well. I started at age 30 - so we will see. When I was 14 in New York and pheasant hunting-- there were NO wild turkeys around in Orange County at that time.
40 years of turkey hunting south central Missouri I would guess
Private Lands 15%
Public Lands 85%
I was lucky and grew up in South Central Florida and we always had turkeys to hunt on the WMA's. Back then not many people turkey hunted and the WMA's weren't over run with with people.
Mine is easy. Public land 50%. Hard hunted gun club/leases 49%. Private land. 1%.
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Public 2% only oos hunts
Crowded clubs 18%
Private (owner permission) 80%
I'm going to say it's close to a 50/50 split on public land and private property. I've only hunted a single morning on a club/lease. I was invited to go with a family friend. Never heard a bird.
5% private 95% public
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Roughly a 50/50 split between private farms and club farms. A few were so stomped out, they might as well have been public.
My first 15 yrs - 100% private. Last 15 yrs - 50% private 50% public.
In my 21 seasons, It's roughly 60% hunting club and 40% private land. The last few years. I've just about stopped hunting on the private ground for anything except taking the kids squirrel hunting, and setting a few coyote traps.
100% public
I haven't really kept track.. I do know some of the hottest "easiest" birds came from public.
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Quote from: TauntoHawk on May 30, 2017, 10:06:07 PM
I haven't really kept track.. I do know some of the hottest "easiest" birds came from public.
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Yes they certainly do.
Probably 95% private and 5% public :boon:
Public 75% Private 25%
All public for me, except for 2 Merriams off an Indian reservation years ago. I like big chunks of public.
60% public land and 40% hunting lease
100% while using decoys
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After 53 years of this obsession
about 95% public and 5% private
a long time ago.
Regards
Turk
Most of my hunting is on private property that is basically open to public hunting. It's probably hunted harder than any public ground around. I've only ever killed 4 on truely private land. 2 in Texas and 2 in South Dakota. Around here, if there aren't posted signs up then it's fair game. And I don't hunt any posted land.
100 % private land for 50 years
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100% private for me. No public land close by.
85% Public would be my best guess. Private is with permission, never hunted a club/lease.
100% PUBLIC
65% leased land
30% small private hard hunted lands
5% public gamelands
Even though there is a lot of public land in this area, it can only be hunted by being drawn & my name hasn't been drawn yet. My public land birds have come from gamelands ~100 miles away that is open to anyone 6 days per week.
Jim
81% public
19% private
For my home state of MS:
63% public
37% private
95% private
5% public
I would guess the ratio is around 95% public to 5% private.
I actually prefer to hunt public land in most cases, but sometimes it is just not available. Public areas are almost invariably larger in size than private parcels and if I am confined to a small parcel of land, I feel like a caged animal.
As for the difficulty of hunting birds on public as compared to private, there are both easy and hard birds just about anywhere, but on hard-hunted areas, whether public or private, the birds will almost always be harder to kill than on lightly-hunted areas. If I just want to kill a turkey, give me a lightly-hunted private parcel with controlled access any day of the week.
Probably 35-40% of my kills were made on private land with the balance of them on crowded public land. IMHO, killing a good bird on crowded public land is a more satisfying achievement since they generally seem more wary.
Thirty years turkey hunting in Montana - 100% public land.
95% private 5% corporate
25 years Private 25%, Public 75% Over all a surprising number of birds.
Every bird I've ever killed has been on private land. Very lucky to have that opportunity