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Started by Bolandstrutters, May 06, 2017, 12:03:12 AM
Quote from: Bolandstrutters on May 06, 2017, 12:03:12 AMJust got back to Missouri from my first Black Hills turkey hunt. Came back without s bird, but a ton learned and an awesome adventure. Hopefully my learning curve can help someone down the road that is researching this area. We arrived early last Friday to a fresh coat of snow. Around 6 inches. Got a few hours of sleep and immediately went out scouting. The area was a bit intimidating at first. It's a giant tract of land. Our first stop was a gas station and diner to talk to locals. I recommend everyone do this. The locals were very friendly and open to share their knowledge. We spent the entire first day driving around. Mostly north of Hill City. We did find one strutter, but he was just off of public on a private field. If you are driving around, don't expect to see a lot of birds from the roads. We learned these merriams don't use fields nearly as much as eastern. We ended up finding a good looking area with fresh tracts to try the next morning. The first morning of hunting it was 9 degrees and frozen as can be up in the hills. We ended up not getting on any birds at all. Good looking area, but didn't seem to hold many birds at all. So we drove around a bit more and ended up back at a diner in Hill City. A local deer hunter approached us and told us about an area that he deer hunts that is full of birds. He pinpointed on a map where we needed to be. So that afternoon we checked out that area and it ended up being s bust. It may hold birds in the fall, but there was no birds to be found plus it was a heavily used area for hikers and atvs. The second day of hunting was much like the first. Drove around. Found some good looking areas off the beaten path, but they didn't hold many birds if any at all. There are roads and trails everywhere. Probably the biggest downfall to the area. Makes access easy, but also makes it hard to get away from roads. Got some more intel from some locals that day and had a spot lined up for the third day. Other then seeing a random hen on the side of the road, no gobblers seen or heard.The third morning we pull up to the area a local told us about and immediately have a bird gobbling about 300 yards away. For anyone who hasn't been to this area. It gets light extremely early and the birds gobble early. By the time we get our gear ready, he flies down and is three mountains over. We ended up walking 12 miles that morning, but could never get on him. Hunted some other random areas that looked awesome that afternoon, but didn't find any birds. The forth morning started off slow. The first spot we tried was a bust. No turkey sign to be found. Nothing heard or seen. At about 9am we find a spot way far away from anything. 30 miles from the closest town. Which was a super small town. It's super windy so we set up on a meadow and I start screaming with a box call. Well about ten minutes in, we've got s bird hammering 75 yards in front of us. He's strait up a ridge, just on the back side where we can't see him. He gobbles his brain off, but nothing we did would pull him down that ridge. We got up and tried to get above him, but never ended up getting back on him. Hunted that area the rest of the day, but never got on any other birds. This spot by far had the most sign and no human sign. Foot tracks, tire tracks, etc. So the 5th morning we get back to the spot super early and decide to separate and try two different areas. I get close to where the gobbler was the day before and my cousin sets up about 500 yards away on a different ridge. Immediately I've got 4-5 birds hammering on a ridge just across a meadow from me. Probably 300 yards away. I give them some light calling, but shut up otherwise and wait for them to fly down. Well when these birds fly down, they hit the hills runnng. It's like they have an idea of where they are going and nothing is going to slow them down. They continued to gobble, but quickly dispersed into the hills far away. I end up getting back on one of the gobblers mid morning, but he doesn't want to play the game at all. Gobbled on his own, but was unresponsive to calling. Rest of the day is a bust. I set up that evening where the birds were roosted that morning, but they never come back. Similar story the last two days. Got close to them roosted on the last morning, but they pitched down with hens and hit the hills 100mph. I ended up walking 26 miles the last two days and didn't strike one single gobble. I was in absolute no mans land. Miles from any roads and in prime looking turkey habitat. I quickly learned that just because it looks good, doesn't mean there is s bird within 5 miles of you. I put over 60 miles on my boots and over 800 miles on dirt roads, but came back empty handed. As tough as it was, I already miss it.Some things I learned about the black hills and merriams. If you are expecting there to be s lot of birds, there simply isn't. There are small pockets of birds, but giant tracts of land that don't seem to hold any turkeys at all. Stay in lower elevation areas, but stay high on ridges in those areas. Ignore low fields for the most part. The birds we found wanted nothing to do with fields.. Also, don't expect merriams to roost in the same spot. I wasted a few mornings before I learned that. They are very random and almost impossible to predict. Have a coyote howler to locate birds in the evening and morning. They gobble early and late. Be mobile. Don't waste a lot of time on one area. Some of the best looking spots you could ever imagine didn't have birds. Have a good set of tires and s better set of boots. It was mentally and physically exhausting, but I'm already planning on doing it again next year! I'll consider this my scouting trip!
Quote from: tha bugman on May 07, 2017, 07:06:13 PMWell at least you saw some beautiful countrySent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Quote from: VA Gobble Addict on May 07, 2017, 08:57:32 AMThere are birds everywhere in those hills. All about timing. I went last year and they had 8 inches of snow the day before I got there. Spent the first four days doing the same thing you did. The weather finally broke and it got sunny and hit 70 degrees. It was like a switch flipped. I went from hearing and seeing nothing, to seeing gobblers everywhere. Heard 7 different birds in a quarter mile stretch of road that I had tried every other day. They're there, they just know how to hide in those hills.