Turkey Hunting on Public Lands
Paradise or Mass Confusion?
by Jeff Martin
My breath came out in ragged gasps as I
neared the end of the large finger ridge that I had been climbing for the
last hour. As I paused to catch my breath, I noticed there were at least
two sets of headlights winding around the gas-well roads far below me.
I had parked the truck at the base of the
ridge, then climbed over rocks large enough to keep all four-wheel drive
vehicles from following, often on all fours as I desperately searched for
footing. Now, only 15 minutes from sunrise, my efforts were about to be
rewarded.
After catching my breath, I let out the
8-note call of the barred owl. Almost immediately, three gobblers sounded
off below me. Conventional wisdom told me that in order to kill one of the
birds, I would have to get a little lower, a little closer. But this was
not a conventional situation. The birds were at the bottom of the steep
ravine, near a creek that I had spotted in studying my topo map.
My mind raced as the birds continued to
sound off, all three trying to gobble louder and longer than the other. I
quickly made my decision, and found a seat about 50 yards from where I was
standing originally. After a couple of soft tree yelps, one of the birds
double-gobbled, and I put the reliable box call down. My diaphragm was
already in place, and I readied my shotgun in the direction that I thought
the birds would approach.
At 6:45 a.m., the three birds popped up on
the little gas well road that I had been on originally, and began making
their way toward the earlier call that they had heard. At 6:50 a.m., the
largest bird, a three year old with a 10" beard lay at my feet. Fast
and furious...
The story above may sound like one from a
private piece of property, but it is not. Instead, this is just one of the
many adventures that I have experienced hunting on public land. Many
people will scoff at the idea of consistently killing birds on public
land, but for me, it has proven to be a highly successful area.
Most public hunting areas absorb a
tremendous amount of pre-season calling, and are generally over-run on
weekends. The key to my success on public grounds is two-fold:
- Hunt mainly during the week.
- Hunt as often as you can.
Luckily for me, I have been fortunate
enough to be located in areas which public land is abundant, and close
enough for me to often visit these areas before work during the week.
While it isn't a theory that most of the
"experts" will agree to readily, my philosophy is simple: if the
bird is there, I will kill him in the first hour, or we will play again
the next day.
If I can spend an hour a day in the woods
during the season, I will hear birds that others don't because (choose
your reason):
- it was raining.
- it is too cold.
- the birds weren't gobbling yesterday.
- too many people.
I think that most people will try an area
once or twice and then give up on it if they don't kill a bird
immediately. Hunting on public lands doesn't work like that. It takes an
enormous amount of effort, a superior knowledge of the birds and the
territory that they inhabit. Scouting plays as large a role in hunting
public lands as it does on private land.
Remember when scouting that these birds
have probably heard every kind of call from beginners to experts. There is
no need to add the sound of your calls to the others. A good locator call
is an absolute must.
Personally, I use my voice to imitate the
barred owl. I am lucky enough to be able to generate enough volume that
birds will answer even if they have heard hundreds of other hoots. I
generally start with low volume and gradually increase.
When pre-season scouting, locate a gobbler,
pinpoint his location, make a note of it mentally or on a map, and then go
find another. The more birds that you find now will provide you with more
opportunities when the season actually opens.
You will know the places to go which hold
birds (turkeys will rarely completely leave an area, much like whitetail
deer), and avoid places that don't hold birds. In addition, public lands
are just that, so locating one bird is a very bad move.
What do you do if you pull up on opening
day only to find another vehicle already there? It is public land, and you
are forced to find another bird. Do not ever try to cut another hunter off
or move in on a bird that is already gobbling to someone else's calls,
this is a sure-fire formula for disaster.
Avoid the crowds if at all possible. If you
discover a road or trail which doesn't allow vehicular access, you have
found the ultimate location on public ground. As in the beginning of this
story, my efforts to climb instead of drive resulted in the demise of one
very wise bird, yet others were driving right past the area that I had
decided to hunt.
Most public lands are well documented on
topo maps, so spend the time to observe where roads are, particularly in
relation to the area that you plan to hunt. Do not think that you are the
only one that can hear a turkey gobble. I have had dozens of hunts
"interrupted" because someone either tried to back-door me or
found a way to drive in on my bird through a back road.
While this is particularly frustrating,
chalk it up to learning experience and move on to another bird, or work
that bird another day. Again, hunting during the week will eliminate a
tremendous amount of pressure while on public grounds.
If you aren't lucky enough to be able to
hunt every day, follow this advice: Scout the same way, and take advantage
of every possible moment that you can hunt. For example, if you can only
hunt on Saturdays, stay until the last possible moment of legal hunting
time. Most hunters will be gone after the first couple of hours, and this
opens up the entire area for you, almost like having your own private
hunting area.
I will often drive along roads to a likely
(or pre-scouted) area and try a variety of calls. Hens will often return
to the nest by mid-morning, and this leaves the gobblers alone and ready.
Generally, if you can get a bird to answer
after ten o'clock, the bird is very killable, very hot, and already making
tracks towards your call. In the event that you use this technique, be
prepared to immediately set-up (off of the road the legal distance),
because gobblers will come in VERY fast. Unfortunately, this lesson has
been learned the hard way on more than one occasion.
When calling to birds on public land, I
will only offer this advice: take the temperature of the bird that you are
hunting. Remember that these birds are probably hunted hard. Less calling
will often be more effective than more. The bird may gobble to every call
that you throw out, but if he isn't moving toward you, you should do less
calling. He knows where you are. I only called to the bird above using
tree yelps, and the birds came in like they were on a string.
Other birds that I have killed by
practically beating my poor old box call to death, but the birds got
excited by my calling, and I was able to gauge their level of excitement
to my calling. This is something that you will only learn from experience,
and you may never get it exactly right. The key is that it doesn't have to
be exactly right. If anyone would have heard my first attempts in the
woods they may have laughed their heads off, but the little jake that fell
to my gun wasn't laughing.
If the only land that you have available to
hunt on is public, don't get discouraged -- get smart. Turkey hunting is
tough enough, but to kill one on public lands is a tremendous
accomplishment. Do it regularly, and people will wonder how you do it.
Don't broadcast your hunting secrets to the world. There is already a lot
of pressure on public grounds, you don't want to add more.
My last piece of advice relates to safety.
Turkey hunting can be a dangerous sport. It doesn't have to be that way.
Use common sense, don't "stalk" turkeys (it may be a human
calling), and respect the rights of other hunters (don't "move
in" on gobbling birds, don't hunt an area in which someone else
already is -- you are both camo'd and calling), and observe the rules of
the "landowner" -- public or private.
Editor's Note: Jeff Martin is
an experienced outdoorsman living in South Carolina. |
