No blind turkey gang!

[moleman]

Last year was my first for hunting turkey and  i tried the run-n bow method and I got in on a few but got busted every time. I chalk that up to a learning experiance. Im still gonna do the same thing this year with a few refinements to my strategy. Pack less gear, carry something i can throw up behind me to hide my silhouette [camo cloth or burlap] and try to bring them to me more than running to them.      

[SPRAYM]

My best advise.  Get their head behind when you start your draw. (Can't see you through a tree) or when they're strutting looking away)  Don't move if there's nothing between you and the bird.(They're super jumpy when it comes to movement) That is unless you're really good shooting running targets with small vitals.  Get a mouthcall.  Decoys will help as well.  Be careful.  It's an awesome sport, but many times everybody's converging on the same bird.  I always carry an orange vest inside my jacket and slide it if I see another hunter.

[perry f.]

Rob, I tried the ambush approach with my oldest daughter a couple years ago. Watched birds for weeks, had them patterned. Season came in, set blind up, daughter and I set in it and listened to birds all morning. I just knew one would show. By 9:30am, still no birds and disappointed kid. Next time out, back to old run and gun, called in several, no shot but if she'd been a little more experienced it would have been easy. Now blind only goes when rain is flying.

[DKdc]

I have been successful without a blind. I hunt several large drainages that are loaded with gamble oak and ponderosa pine that supply good cover. when i get a bird hot I generally try to call him into an area that has open trees and little brush. As he gets closer I shut up and make him look for me and use the trees as a block to draw. I dont use decoys either they spook most birds in my neck of the woods. I also call from known strutting zones when the birds are on the roost. I shut up when they come off the roost. remember that hens go to toms most of the time. The idea is to call from an area he is comfortable in and set up on a strutting zone. I am not really calling him in I make it sound like there are  hens in an area and wait for him to come strut and ambush him. This works great because he isnt look for another turkey in his strutting zone when he shows up.  Hopefully this made sense.
Dk

[PA stickbow boy]

I'll try and search through JoeBucks threads.  Thanks

[RC]

I use both. I hunt Turkeys a lot like deer and try to cut them off from where they are already headed.I have a couple of brush blinds made and one pop-up. They are set and the Turkeys are getting used to them. One near a peanut field the other on a logging road they walk in the swamp and another on a strutting area on a small sand ridge. When I use my leafy suit I run and bow. Killed a Turkey both ways last year and the year before.RC

[RC]

I seldom use a decoy and call very little.RC

[Altiman94]

I think I'll go at them with the blind this year...just b/c I can move around more and bring more stuff with me....but I think it could be done with a good ghille and a lot of background cover.  Set up against a blowdown and call away....now I've got the desire to go without a blind!!!

[PSUBowhunter]

You guys have my respect. I have been trying for three years to get a bird with no blind. I just cant seem to close the deal. I may resort to a blind this year.......but then again it is a blast trying to get drawn back on one.

[joe skipp]

Hey Aaron...you still making those great recurve soft bow cases? I love mine...may need one for the longbow and new recurve.

[two4hooking]

I am shooting the longbow well....and I snuck up within 15 steps at full draw on a hen a few weeks ago..... count me in!
   
Looking at gluing some real feather son my collapsible Jake, mouth calling, crossing my fingers....

[wooddamon1]

I'm in! I've had so much fun chasing turkeys with my bow out here in CO. I haven't killed one, but I'll be back home in MI in May trying to ambush one from blowdowns/brushpiles or just running until I get on some.
I've busted up flocks before (unintentionally   ), but then sat and yelped softly with a mouth call and had them come back to re-group but I either didn't have enough cover or whatever...
Once I had a gobbler flush as I stood up to make a move and he flew left to right in a level line and as I swung with him I almost tripped on a stump so I never got a shot off, but man was that a fun day...

Can't wait til May!

[snakebit40]

[b.glass]

I will be hunting on public grounds if I get drawn, 5/6-5/8. I have no private property that has turkeys. All public property is by drawing only. Ghillie suit. I hate packing in a blind. That one that Mudd put together would be tempting to try though.

I don't call as a rule. It seems to spook them around here. I like to scout them and try to be where they are going to be.

All that being said, I have never been "sucessful". It's fun trying though.

~Bona

[Rob W.]

Bona you are welcome to try it again down my way. Just give me a shout.    


Rob

[b.glass]

Hey Rob! I thought you would never ask!  :p  

I'll see what I can work out.

~Bona

b.glass, i hate to say it, but I use a Ghillie poncho and all it takes is a smooth 2 second draw anchor release shot rhythm. The turkeys around here don't seem to be able to put the bush that shoots a bow thing together.  It may be better than a blind and a lot more portable and cheaper.

[b.glass]

I have never had a turkey within shooting range, hen or tom. I don't use decoys either. I've had turkeys spook with them too.

I've been told I wasn't a bad caller. But I've had toms gobble on the roost then go the other way after fly down.

I'm trying to get my son to go out during the youth season. They are having a drawing on Resevior property for the youth season.

I normally hunt alone.

I agree with the ghillie suit. I used one last year and got the closest ever to a shot. Probably a jake.

[KentuckyTJ]

This farm is perfectly set up for hunting them without a blind. Lots of birds and long skinny fields with big cedars on the edges. Its simply a sit and wait game. They will come its just a matter of time.

 

 

 

 

[huntsmanlance]

Hey guys...last year i used a face net but i didnt like that at all.....i want to try the facepaint or burnt cork but doesnt all of that stuff just rub off or run off if you sweat or it rains?