Awful weather

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bowhunter15
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Awful weather

Unread postby bowhunter15 » Mon Apr 16, 2012 1:02 pm

I had a good feeling that this morning might be the last I would be able to hunt due to school commitments this week. I woke up at 4am and sure enough the whole state was red on the weather radar, with torrential downpours happening outside. So I just slept in, even if I could make it out my camera equipment couldn't. Ended up getting sick anyways, and got another 8 hours of sleep and got my first food to stay down about an hour ago.

Tomorrow I have a test from 9 to 10. Getting out before that isn't going to happen because of rush hour traffic back to the cities. But I might go out afterwards. It's supposed to be windy (> 20 mph) and rainy up until about 11am, then the rain should stop and the wind should die down to about 15-17mph. :roll: Now I've heard many times in the past that turkeys are silent after being shook around in trees all night, especially combined with the rain. That shouldn't mean that they don't still move, right? I was thinking about trying a mobile still hunting strategy for a few hours: set up near the top of a ridge where I can see a ways, and sit and wait 20-30 min, then move on to the next spot, sit and wait 20-30 min, etc. Think this is about the best shot I would have? Do turkeys tend to stay lower in elevation with this kind of weather, stick to certain tree types (like pines over hardwoods) etc?

Image

The upper red dot is where I saw the tom around 1:30 on Wednesday, in the calm sunshine. The lower red dot is where the tom was roosting yesterday morning before he went off to the southwest. The four red circles are where I had planned on concentrating efforts from 11pm to 3pm tomorrow. I know that on a normal day, the ridge tops would be my best best, but with the wind, perhaps they'd prefer to stay down closer to the thick riverbottom?


patman
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Re: Awful weather

Unread postby patman » Mon Apr 16, 2012 1:26 pm

Awful weather is right I just got back from Kansas. The first two day where really windy but dry then three bad storms and the ankle deep creek turned into chest deep rapids. I did'nt get a bird but called one in for the land owners son in law it was his first turkey hunt. We called him in at 3pm on top of a ridge but it was the downwind side he gobbled 30 or 40 times before he shot the tom. You don't have to be low but out of the wind. Good luck
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Ack
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Re: Awful weather

Unread postby Ack » Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:32 pm

I've shot birds in both fields and woods in high winds....turkeys don't care much about wind, it's part of their everyday routine.
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Stanley
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Re: Awful weather

Unread postby Stanley » Tue Apr 17, 2012 4:42 am

I have found over the years that birds do hang out more on the leeward side of timbers on real windy days. I try to hunt open fields on the leeward side on extremely windy days. It is easier for me and the birds. You can also get by with much more movement on windy days. I do believe they move less on extremely windy days and hang out in low lying areas more.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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bowhunter15
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Re: Awful weather

Unread postby bowhunter15 » Tue Apr 17, 2012 8:31 am

Thanks guys, that all makes sense. I wasn't able to make it out today after all. Just too much stuff to get done. I will try to get back out tomorrow morning for a couple hours before lab, and then again afterwards if I am able. I will try to set up by where I heard the bird on roost Saturday, only try to get much closer this time before it starts to get light. It's not supposed to be windy or rainy, just cold, about 31 degrees which should be fine. It's the last day of my season and only the second morning I will have gone hunting, so I'm hoping to get lucky.


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