public land turkey hunting

Unread postby **Bowhunting Brian** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 5:14 am

going to buy a tag for zone 3 (only thing that is left). if anyone has experience with this, is public land turkey hunting harder than deer hunting with hunter competition? I am going to put some miles on the truck doing some scouting for birds. what is the best time to look? I was thinking looking for strutting toms around 2 to 4 in the afternoon. anyone care to help a guy out? thanks.

Unread postby **BassBoysLLP** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 7:12 am

Zone 3 is by far my favorite zone for public hunting. Lots of land, not a ton of pressure compared to the southern zones.

Best time to scout is first light for gobbling and 12-3pm time period when the Toms get lonely. Most of the afternoon birds will be moving, not necessarily strutting.

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Unread postby **Bowhunting Brian** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 6:15 am

Change of plans. Zone 1 now. Going blind. Anyone wanna give some ideas where to go. It would be appreciated. I'm just starting out on some state land that has the most acreage so far.

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Unread postby **Bowhunting Brian** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 6:24 am

I think Brooklyn state land in Dane County.

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Unread postby **hunter_mike** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 2:21 pm

Brian, You should have no trouble finding some gobbler action, it is pretty good hunting all around. Don't rule out some of the smaller properties either. A public brushy hidden field that butts up to unpressured private woods was my ticket to an easy kill last year.

Unread postby **kurt** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 2:28 pm

Yeah I have also had good luck just asking farmers for turkey hunting ... if I see birds driving around I might stop and ask it's not like deer hunting. Most farmer's I know don't like turkeys.

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Unread postby **wdog** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 4:14 pm

I don't think your going to get anyone to give you any prime spots. But like others have said don't over look the small spots your best bet is to just put some tire on the road and boot on the ground. Good luck we will be going in blind zone 3 period D. It can be done.

Unread postby **matt1336** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 2:20 am

Farmers hate turkeys....especially during planting season. It wouldn't hurt to ask. Don't fall in love with your call on public land. Less is more when calling imo. Bring the binos and look for strutters, then get your sneak on. Have fun!

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Unread postby **Bowhunting Brian** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 5:11 am

wdog wrote:I don't think your going to get anyone to give you any prime spots. But like others have said don't over look the small spots your best bet is to just put some tire on the road and boot on the ground. Good luck we will be going in blind zone 3 period D. It can be done.

I know. I'm not asking for gps coordinates, just general knowlegde if there are birds around any state land. I'm going blind so I'll have to move around, but want to minimalize my costs if possible.

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Unread postby **fishlips** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 6:02 am

If you can dial in on an area with a decent amount of public in a small area, you can also do some scouting from the road and get out and setup pretty quickly. I don't hunt zone 1, but where I have hunted in zone 3 there is no shortage of birds out there.

Unread postby **ZSV** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 8:17 am

fishlips wrote:If you can dial in on an area with a decent amount of public in a small area, you can also do some scouting from the road and get out and setup pretty quickly. I don't hunt zone 1, but where I have hunted in zone 3 there is no shortage of birds out there.

I just did some scouting from the road today. 1st season in my area opened Saturday, but I'm hunting late season because it's longer. Anyway, I just wanted to check out an area I haven't been to before and it didn't take much driving to find a couple in a field. I even had a hen cross the road 50 yards ahead of me. I'm pretty excited, this was all public and there wasn't anyone in any of the 4 parking lots.

I was driving pretty slow with my windows down and actually heard 2 gobblers in the timber, but couldn't see them. I plan on doing this again at sun up to try to figure out where they are roosting.

Good luck!

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Unread postby **mauser06** » Sun Apr 12, 2015 8:40 am

Can't help locally..

But I've done my fair share of public land turkey hunting..

My advice...

Find birds off the beaten path...and still be prepared for other hunters to spoil your hunts lol...it can be frustrating at times...but can be awesome hunting too...

If at all possible try to hunt later in the week...Wednesday and Thursday are usually best for me..

And the later the season the less hunters I find to deal with...even "busy" days like Saturday... Seems like pressure dies quick...I do fairly well later in the season...though I deal with bugs and green up and such...nothing that's a big deal to me...

Also....public land gives me room to run n gun and stretch my legs...for that reason I prefer it over private land...and that's why I primarily turkey hunt public land..

Here our private land is small...you have a real short window to work a bird..of at all...before they hit the fields for the day...and I don't care much for sitting on a field edge..I can run n gun public land all day and have called in birds clear up to our noon quit time..left birds because i had to get out of the woods by 1...

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My YouTube Channel · Unread postby **bowhunter15** » Mon Apr 13, 2015 3:57 am

If it gives you some idea of difficulty deer vs. turkey on public land... I've hunted turkeys for the past 4 seasons. During that time, I've killed 1 turkey and 8 deer on public. My success rate is much lower on turkeys. That being said, I generally haven't put as much effort into scouting turkeys as I have deer. That's so crucial in my opinion now. Often when turkey hunting, I go in blind, then play cat and mouse during the season. When I've taken the time to pre-scout, I've gotten much closer to birds.

Unread postby **Jackson Marsh** » Mon Apr 13, 2015 6:00 am

bowhunter15 wrote:If it gives you some idea of difficulty deer vs. turkey on public land... I've hunted turkeys for the past 4 seasons. During that time, I've killed 1 turkey and 8 deer on public. My success rate is much lower on turkeys. That being said, I generally haven't put as much effort into scouting turkeys as I have deer. That's so crucial in my opinion now. Often when turkey hunting, I go in blind, then play cat and mouse during the season. When I've taken the time to pre-scout, I've gotten much closer to birds.

I'm kind of the same way. I think it's easier to deer hunt, but I put much more effort into it also. I've killed more P&Y caliber bucks off of public than I have turkeys. I suck at turkey hunting :lol:

Unread postby **JJWI** » Mon Apr 13, 2015 7:02 am

Public areas can be just as good or better than private lands. I think the key to hunting public land is confidence! If you go in to a public area with the attitude that you are going to fail, you are going to fail. It is no different than hunting mature bucks on these type of areas. You have to know were they are going to be, and were they want to go. You can't kill what isn't there.

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