Public Land Strategies

[BrentM]

There goes that deer hunting mentality again. "hunt over sign". Seems to imply fellas that do it are just ambushers.
Far, far from it. -quote

I wasn't implying that at all.....far from it. I don't mind hunting over a bunch of sign and not hearing anything at all if it's on a place where I know who's been there and when. On public land though just because you find a place that's all scratched up doesn't mean that somebody didn't run through there the previous afternoon walking right down the road blowing a call wide open and scatter them into the next county. You might see strut marks in a sandy place too, but that doesn't mean that turkey in question is even alive anymore on public land, especially if it hasn't rained in a few days to wash them away......There is just no substitute as far as scouting or hunting or anything else goes for listening and hearing a turkey gobble. You KNOW he is there then. One good thing about public land is that you usually have alot of acres to work with and a real good road system. If I don't hear anything early I usually just start walking real slow and quiet and stop and listen for a few minutes every couple hundred yards or so. Sometimes its fruitless, but alot of times you won't have to walk too far before you either hear a turkey gobble or sometimes you'll just hear one drumming if you have a good quiet road.

Throw out those blanket statements about "they don't know they are on public land" all you want but those SOBs sure know there's a lot more freaky looking camo clad blobs running around making hen calls (Gobbles even) on public land! -quote

I'm not trying to start a debate over who's public land is tougher to hunt, so don't take it that way but I hunt public land in Alabama that gets hunted hard 46 days a season. On top of that they are all mountain birds, so that makes it that much more difficult. I'm fortunate enough to have a few good places to hunt on private land, but unfortunately all of them but one border on that same huge tract of public land on at least one side......so I guess that means that prettymuch every turkey I've ever killed in Alabama has spent a good part of his life being fooled with on public land. Thing is though they're still just turkeys......they still have to do all the same things turkeys do everyday they just have a smaller comfort zone and are a little more cautious about it.
I just think that some folks get so nervous about making a mistake fooling with public land birds that they set up 300 yards from a gobbling turkey and sit there and scratch leaves and cluck one time and the turkey probably never even knows they are in the world to start with.
I'd rather take a chance on running one off every now and then as to sit back and be scared of him and not ever really be in the game to start with. I'm not saying pull up and sit on the seat of a 4 wheeler and start yelping as soon as you cut the engine off (which I have seen guys do more than once) I'm just saying don't be afraid to carry on a conversation with a turkey and communicate with him just like real turkeys do in the woods just because you're on public land. They're still turkeys.
Hope you don't take this as me trying to give you advice because I know you're way beyond taking advice from an amateur like me, this was directed the guys who haven't hunted alot that are either terrified of or stay away from perfectly good public hunting land because they think the birds there are unkillable.

[GLS]

Fortunately I live and hunt on flat land. On WMA's where there are gated roads forbidding all motorized wheels, this helps move quickly and silently.

[2ounce6s]

Brent,
No offense taken and none intended to be given. We are just talking about opposite extremes. Being savy on public land IMHO means recognizing a good spot to hunt and sticking with it instead of bumbling along chasing the wind like the majority of hunters do. I'm no expert but recognized a while back to exploit a good spot with sign when I saw it. As said before, here it was hard for a few years through the mid-late 2000s to just find a tom to work. Tagging out through those years altered my hunting style, slowed it down maybe, and made my overly opinionated I guess. I walk an average of 4-6 miles a day on public land and like you am not afraid to work in on a tom. I just take my time, hunt all day and enjoy it. Best of luck to you in coming seasons.

[JUGHEAD]

I'm just saying don't be afraid to carry on a conversation with a turkey and communicate with him just like real turkeys do in the woods just because you're on public land. They're still turkeys.
Hope you don't take this as me trying to give you advice because I know you're way beyond taking advice from an amateur like me, this was directed the guys who haven't hunted alot that are either terrified of or stay away from perfectly good public hunting land because they think the birds there are unkillable.

Looking back over last season, the part that I'm most thankful about in terms of getting up the learning curve quicker, is that PhD was the only remaining vocal turkey that one morning. I learned ALOT (or hope I did anyway) that morning about fooling with a bird that had been fooled with a ton and called to a ton.

[savduck]

I hunt public land all over GA and SC. I kill quite a few. You hunt them as you hunt any turkey. Early in the season, they are just like private land birds. They gobble and you go to them. Later in the season, they take a little more finesse. Some take less calling, leaf scratching. Some are killable later in the day or afternoon. Some you have to move on and follow until you get to a place where they are comfortable, some you have to wait on. Really though, they are no more cagy than a smart private land bird with pressure.